T e x t M e s s a g e s :
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13 - 15:59.15pm:
Update: The ice has moved away from the shore at Parnu. We are still going to Estonia but some 50kms north. Will update.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14 - 9:30.33am:
Sailing up the Elbe. Arriving 1pm. Plan to drive to Norkoping and look for a bed then on to Stockholm for ferry. Racing is to be at Haapsalu, Estonia.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14 - 20:48.57pm:
In Sweden now. Stopped in Aljunga, same place as we stopped in December on way home from Torsaker. 300 miles to Stockholm tomorrow. Going for a beer and bed.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15 - 09:38.23am:
Think Neil should have invested in a house brick. His Ford Escort can only do 50mph on hills. Temperature 3 degrees outside. ETA 1400 Stockholm. Catching ferry to Tallin overnight. Will arrive Estonia 10am.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15 - 18:08.17pm:
Didn't have much time to spare to make the ferry. Neil's Escort struggled with his two yachts. Team gopher Graeme Nelson is Neil's navigator. Heard from Chris Williams. Ice is good. About 4km x 5km on the Baltic Sea. Juniors had 10 races today. Chris has booked us in a hotel about 3kms out of the town centre. Our ferry now working its way through islands. Brit team eating at 8pm (+1GMT). 30 icesailors including Americans on board. Neil has been swimming in the ship's pool. Asked him to be careful about pulling the plug out. Water might come in instead!
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16 - 07:20.20am:
Had breakfast. Coming into Tallin. No sea ice! Have no map, have loaded GPS with Estonia. Have plenty of friends ot follow. Awaiting Customs!!!
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16 - 08:16.51am:
Through Customs. Have guide making a convoy up of all iceboaters. 10-4 good buddy!
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16 - 20:00.00pm:
The British Ice Sailing Team of Gareth Rowland and Neil Marsden along with Team Manager Graeme Nelson have arrived at Haapsalu, scene of this year's DN World Icesailing Championships. I spoke with Gareth by phone a few minutes ago. He and his fellow travellers arrived much on time and had a bit of sailing out on the ice. Gareth said there was a bit of wind about this afternoon and on the downwind legs "...you really motored." Conditions are excellent with good weather and temps around 2 degrees. There is a big wind predicted tomorrow (Sunday) and the call is for training on the ice starting at 10.00am - 3 practice races. Team Manager Graeme Nelson had his first go at iceboating and came unstuck when sailing upwind his mast step gave way and everything came crashing down. "He hadn't even put a tack in," Gareth said. "Not sure what caused the failure but it knocked a hole in the deck when it ripped the mast step screws out and has bent the mast slider. "Wiped everything off at deck level. The mast has a bit of a crack in it. The Russians are here now and they always have pretty good gear with them so we will see what we can do to get some help from them." Gareth said the Graeme isn't competing at the event and has come along to try his hand at sailing and act as the Brit team gopher. "He'll be sailing in the background and will be around to get stuff of us when we want it." There was, Gareth said, some difficulty at the Estonian border for several of the travelling icesailors. Apparently some Danish and Swedish didn't have complete travel documents, particularly vehicle registration papers and were forced to leave their vehicles on "the other side" of the border. Evidently cars are readily stolen in Estonia and internationals can only take cars etc into the country if they have proof of ownership etc. There was some hurried transferring and repacking of iceboats and gear onto other vehicles and trailers so that the "barred" icesailors could proceed on their way to Haapaslu. According to Gareth Haapsalu's a nice town, Food is good at the restaurants although the menu choice is pork and potatoes or potatoes and pork. A meal for three cost GBP13 (British pounds). The local beer is about 20 Krons for 1/2 litre (25 Krons equals roughly one GBP. Not bad ale according to Gareth and the multitude who were in the bar with him at the time of the telephone call reiterated somewhat loudly his endorsement. Local beers are "Koof", "Frederik" and "Le Coq", the latter which is in a "flash" bottle. Gareth said the British team have no desire to try "team training" on the local spirits!
R e p o r t O n e :
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17 - 09:36.40am:
Well here we are in Estonia at Haapaslu some 100 km south of Tallinn. We might have been at Parnu (also Estonia) but the 40cm of ice covering an area of several square kilometres disappeared overnight blown by the wind 50 m offshore! This left Commodore Hans Adolfsson with just one option, Haapsalu - the only sailable ice in this part of Northern Europe.
The advance party of the British team arrived with the Commodore from Sweden on the 14th to find a great expanse of super ice under a 12m per second wind. It was onto the ice directly (after lunch, that is) alongside keen Polish and Estonian juniors in training for their big match the next day.
On Friday 15th in continuing northerly winds we saw the wonderful Polish icesailing organisation swing into action and with the first start of the Junior Opti(mist) sailors - aged 10 to 16 - at noon the racing went like clockwork so that by the end of the day 10 races had been run, 5 for the Optis and 5 for the 16-20 year old DN Juniors.
Today saw the completion of the two Junior competitions with a further 3 races each under very challenging conditions. It was fantastic to see such skill and enthusiasm in young sailors who we all regard as the future of icesailing in Europe. It was also a considerable revelation to see how fast an Optimist sail can power a boat on ice. All this without a single collision or protest.
By this afternoon a large number of the adult competitors had arrived and started tuning and sailing practice. Conditions continued to be exhilarating with wind unabated on very fast ice resulting in a number of broken masts and spinouts with minor damage to boats and bodies.
The memory of a long and roundabout journey to reach Haapaslu receded fast in such great conditions.
Regards
Jenny Williams
R e p o r t T w o :
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17 - 22:15.48pm:
Somehow we omitted to put in yesterday's report the very important arrival of the main part of the UK team - Gareth Rowland, Neil Marsden and Graham Nelson who had driven from Hamburg via Denmark and Stockholm. Hot to trot they went straight to the ice like arrows and were soon enjoying the bracing conditions. A tribute to their staying powers since after retiring after partying into the wee hours they participated willy nilly in the celebrations going on in the next door ferry cabin until dawn (which don't come early up here).
Yesterday (Saturday) started with too brisk a wind for most people - the only ones out there were Chris Williams with his stormsail and a Belarus guy with an even smaller one - but after lunch it blew less and several informal races were run. In fact the planned Official Opening was postponed until 5pm because all the sailors were reluctant to stop having fun. However a representative boat for each nation present flying its national flag (18 in total) was eventually lined up. A sombre moment of silence in respect for the Vice-Chairman of the Polish National Committee, who died yesterday, was followed by the raising, and lowering to half mast, of the IDNIYRA-Europe flag by World Champion Karol Jablonski and Commodore Hans Adolfsson of Sweden declared the meeting open.
Then at sunset (and sunsets are something up here) came the FIREWORKS - Gareth's tour de force, each year they are more splendid and one American was heard to say "What pleasure". Thank you Gareth.
This evening there is a definite air of purpose as the competitors prepare for the first day's racing tomorrow (Monday).
Regards
Jenny Williams
R e p o r t T h r e e b y P h o n e :
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18 - 19:55.00pm:
Racing got underway at midday after the day started at 2 degrees and raining. Rain eased around 10.30am. Gareth said it was very cold out on the ice. Wind was about 15mph. The starting grid had to be shifted twice because the wind changed direction.
A Fleet had three races, B Fleet got in two while C and D Fleets had one apiece before they were all called off the ice.
Gareth, racing in D Fleet, said his only race was mediocre finishing in the middle of the pack. He had a good first lap but on the second "lost it downwind" to the bottom mark and just crept around the turn. He picked up several places on the final lap. He was unsure how Chris Williams and Neil Marsden fared.
Gareth intends filing a written report later in the evening which will include race results covering the British and American iceboaters.
R e p o r t F o u r :
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19 - 7:39.00am:
Yesterday morning we awoke to the sound of rain beating on the roof but it had eased by about 10am and the Polish organisation once again swung into action, starting the first day's racing with the mini-qualifiers at 11am. The first to sail was D Fleet, the first 12 finishers moving up into C Fleet who had the next race. This was followed by B Fleet (the first 12 of C Fleet sailing in this making a total of about 60 boats). The same procedure was followed into A Fleet so that after 3 races the competition fleets were established (Gold, Silver, Bronze and Aluminium).
At about 1 o'clock the Gold Fleet had their first race, followed by the Silver Fleet and then a second Gold race, a Bronze race and lastly a third Gold race. [Full race results are published on the DN website - see link below]. In summary in the Gold Fleet at the end of the first day the leader was Mikkael Burczinski, with Karol Jablonski in second place and Ron Sherry fourth, Bernd Zeiger fifth. During the day there were a number of near misses, minor collisions, broken rigging and unshipped planks, mostly due to a constant strong wind up to 12 metre per second with gusts, but no skippers damaged. At one stage there was a dramatic reduction in visibility as the result of a short, intense snowstorm but this lifted after about 5 minutes.
This was an excellent day with some very challenging sailing and races which were conducted like clockwork, well done the Poles who had been on the ice setting up the course since 7.30 a.m. By 5.30 p.m. all the boats were back at the launching area and runners on their way to the sharpening machines ready for action the next day.
Regards
Jenny Williams
Results from Day One:
A Fleet
Michal Burczynski P114, 1
Karol Jablonski P36, 2
Ron Sherry US44, 3
Thomas Karlsson S580, 4
Bernd Zeiger G107, 5
Tomas Lindgren S81, 6
Ake Luks S5, 7
Pawel Burczynski P164, 8
Rene Kuulmann C22, 9
Thomas Gross S330, 10
B Fleet
Mats Rimmo S607, 1
C Fleet
Harald Axling S714, 1
D Fleet
Darius Kosecki P125, 1
R e p o r t F i v e b y P h o n e :
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19 - 10:36.43am:
Latest news from Haapsalu is racing has been abandoned and the event is moving to a reservoir near Tallinn, about 100km from Haapsalu, after overnight gales disrupted the ice.
According to Gareth Rowland in a telephone report a few minutes ago, a metre wide crack appeared in the ice near the shoreline which left a 6ft pile of ice up on the sea edge.
"Apparently cracks have also appeared out at sea," Gareth said. "The whole thing is moving so, even if we could sail, it would be too dangerous."
According to Gareth, apart from the dangerous ice conditions, the wind is blowing around 25mph and over 1/2" of snow has fallen.
"The weather is wicked," Gareth said. "The whole camp is packing up and moving, not sure of the exact site. We'll know more as the day goes on."
R e p o r t S i x :
TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 19 - 18:26.53pm:
Well today was a bit different: a sou'westerly initiated the break-up of the ice and boats were hastily brought ashore. Intense but short snow storms alternated with blue sky & a rather feeble sun - it all added up to a rest day. Never ones to waste an idle moment, the British team took themselves down to the spa hotel and gave their hard-beaten bodies a rare treat: a morning mud bath and in the afternoon a massage (the real McCoy, strong armed and daunting masseur for the boys and a better looking but just as fierce masseuse for Jenny - no messin' abaht). The mud room, with two oversized baby baths on trolleys, looked at first glance just like a morgue on TV, white plastic sheeting was filled from a bucket of warm mud and in you climbed to have it sloshed all over, then it was wrap up with a couple of layers of blanket and lights out for 20 minutes (see amazing copyright reserved adults only photo on website.)
The National Secretaries used the time to cover many of the topics to appear on the agenda at their formal meeting in Balaton (Hungary) in April. A record turnout of the largest number of national representatives totalling 17 of the countries presently registered.
The plan for tomorrow announced by Polish Organiser Stan Macur is probably to move to the nearest available sailable ice some 15km south west of here. A final decision is to be made at 9am. This means not moving all that gear out of this hotel and into another - HOORAY!
Regards
Jenny Williams
R e p o r t S e v e n :
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20 - 18:55:04pm:
Last evening after finishing the day's report your Intrepid Adventurers (still glowing from mud 'n' massage) set off again, this time in search of Chinese chow, as a change from the Baltic sort. The dining-room of the "Al Mare Spa Hotel" was not, as expected, empty of the early retiring, health-hunting regular guests: instead, an entertainment was taking place. A choir of local ladies in their splendid Estonian costumes and jewellery (the Haapsalu Women's Institute?) were singing - and as the occasion warranted, dancing - several catchy numbers with admirable enthusiasm and good humour. It was an unexpected treat. Later, when encores had been delivered and bows taken, a sextet of the performers returned to the dining-room and Gareth sweet-talked them into posing for a photograph (is there anyone, anywhere, whom Gareth cannot persuade to do anything?) [I think we should be told. - Ed.] It was only too late that our Graham realised the piece de resistance in the iceboat pix shown to the fair and mature Estonian choristers in return included Mud Man in all his gloopy glory...
This morning's breakfast was lively with the sound of flying rumours: "Sandvika" [middle of N. Sweden], and "Racing's finished", but Glory Be! The ice was OK after all at the original site with a few longer planks at access and in brilliant sunshine and great wind the racing resumed with the first start at 1pm. In the interval Gareth and his camera visited the Old Town.
Regards
Jenny Williams
R e p o r t E i g h t b y P h o n e :
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20 - 20:55.00pm:
Had call from Gareth at 8.55PM Estonian time (GMT+1). Racing was held a "good kilometre south of Monday's original racetrack." Gareth reported it was a good area, no cracks, no holes. It was hard ice, a bit "pebbly" and a wind of 5-6 metres per second. Was stronger in the gusts further out on the ice. According to Gareth, sailing downwind
was "horrendous".
Gold Fleet had 3 races, Silver and Bronze had two and Aluminium Fleet had 3.
Unofficial results are:
GOLD FLEET:
US44 Ron Sherry, 12pts, 1st;
P114 Michal Burczynski, 13pts, 2nd;
P36 Karol Jablonski, 14pts, 3rd;
S81 Tomas Lindgren, 18pts, 4th;
S580 Thomas Karlsson, 19pts, 5th;
G107 Bernd Zeiger, 21pts, 6th.
US30 Leon Lebeau, 17th;
US3662 Greg Smith, 37th;
US4000 Randy Johnson, 40th;
US3283 Bruce Williams, 41st;
US45 Wendel Sherry, 49th;
US4137 Ken Smith Jnr, 50th.
SILVER FLEET
S607 Mats Rimmo, 4pts, 1st;
G479 Jorg Minarek, 14 pts, 2nd;
P14 Lukasz Burczynski, 17 pts, 3rd;
G890 Holger Petzke, 21pts, 4th;
L70 Dan Backlund, 27pts, 5th;
US2360 Pete Johns, 13th;
US5144 Michael Rehe, 29th;
US4065 Thomas Hamill, 36th;
US5084 Allan Stefanski, 44th;
US3433 Robert Cummins, 45th;
US1202 Doug Harvey, 47th;
US4315 Scott McDowell, 48th.
BRONZE FLEET:
G936 Jolst Kolb, 15pts, 1st;
P183 Jaroslaw Wojewski, 28pts, 2nd;
G900 Matthias Grothues-Spork, 35pts, 3rd;
G755 Stefan Schweneker, 35pts, 4th;
H404 Martin VanWettum, 36pts, 5th;
K10 Neil Marsden, 110pts, 28th;
K1 Chris Williams, 120pts, 31st;
US4387 Charlie Blair, 34th;
US4066 Rosemery Hamill, 35th.
ALUMINIUM FLEET
P155, 8pts, 1st;
G975 Detlef Huss, 16pts, 2nd;
H474, 17pts, 3rd;
G55 Andreas Seegers, 21pts, 4th;
K11 Gareth Rowland, 23rd.
R e p o r t N i n e b y P h o n e :
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21 - 10:25:00am:
Beautiful sunny day, -8 degrees, NO WIND. Presently C Fleet (Bronze) is on the line ready to start. D Fleet (Aluminium) is up next then Gold and Silver set to race but likely of any sailing today is zilch according to Gareth.
As well, Friday's racing looks likely to be disrupted. There are storm warnings being sent out for all along Sweden's coastline. The warnings are for winds of 15mph per second. With Estonia directly across the Baltic Sea from Sweden it is likely the storm will hit tomorrow afternoon.
R e p o r t T e n :
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21 - 18:54:19pm:
At the end of yesterday's racing the customary dinner was held, at a sanatorium(!) near town and just about all the competitors and their supporters (places booked for 200) enjoyed three good courses. So far we know about; but it has been very difficult, nay impossible to drag out of the three-fifths of the UK team who did not go directly back to base exactly what went on afterwards. We are only told that our ex-Colonial cousins, champagne and local maidens featured prominently...
Today clear blue skies again and a temperature of -4C but this time sadly wind-less to begin with and the first race was scheduled for 1pm. The Bronze fleet sailed then on the second start line, moved about half a mile south of the original one due to a big wind shift, but after one lap when the leading boats took 2 minutes longer to get round than the minimum lap time the race was called off.
A sad development for the British team because the leading boat at both windward and leeward marks was our own K10 Neil Marsden! A lengthy wait and yet another start line move followed, with hopes for better wind, but this never materialised and all sailing was abandoned for the day at 4.15pm. Fingers crossed for better luck tomorrow.
However, as usual no moment was left unturned by our photographer and some great pix of people and boats were the result.
Regards
Jenny Williams
R e p o r t E le v e n o n F r I d a y ' s R a c I n g :
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24 - 16:45:24pm:
When we went down on the ice on Friday morning for the last day the wind was very strong. Race order for the day was C Fleet then D, A, B, C, D, etc. I did not have time to talk to Chris (K1) in the C fleet before I was on the start line.
With such a strong wind I was not too keen on sailing. Decided that survival was better than gunning it. From the start line it was sailing on the pebble ice, not a real problem, just set the sail, adjust direction and the yacht went like hell. Tacking for the top mark was OK till you came near the mark. First lap I always overstand the tack so you have plenty of insurance for getting to the mark without pinching.
This time the yacht was hurtling towards the mark when you hit rough ice. It was the most frightening experience as the yacht was at full speed, other pilots were closing on the mark and we all were on the point of being out of control.
I let the sail well out - that didn't make much difference as I rounded the mark. Downwind was on rough ice as well! A tack to the left was needed to escape back on top of the pebbles. Do that three times and you had a near trouser-filling experience. Ended up 26th which gave me a 23rd placing overall in D Fleet.
Watching the A fleet was interesting as US-44 Ron Sherry changed positions. The strong wind favoured the heavier pilots, so Ron had a fight on his hands. From memory four other yachts failed to finish as the strong wind took it's toll. B fleet was the same with several yachts failing.
I missed my C Fleet race as the wind was so strong. It was a question of hanging on to the yacht as the wind was taking one or two away, even with the brake on. I made my way to the start line for our race with the idea of making a decision to race or not at the drop of the flag. By then the wind was up to Force 5 at least... then the gusts!!!
Thank God the Race Committee decided to call the event off. Open water was behind us from a crack that had opened up. I de-rigged as it was far too dangerous to sail back downwind.
As we were too drive back via Latvia and Lithuania with the Polish contingent it was a quick pack up and back to the hotel after the prizegiving
Pictures of the day and a full update of our adventure back through Latvia and Lithuania will be coming tomorrow night.
Regards
Gareth K11
R e p o r t T w e l v e :
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25 - 14:14:21pm:
Hello all
Friday started fairly windy and it just got stronger and stronger. Haken Andersson from Sweden had phoned me to warn us that a storm was coming in over the Baltic the day before so we half expected it.
Because of the weather the racing was cancelled mid-afternoon and we had to pack up the yachts in a howling gale, with ice, dust and debris flying everywhere.
The Polish who we (Chris and Jenny Williams and I) were to travel back with decided to leave at 5pm, so after a bite to eat which involved some pork thingy, potatoes and cold vegetables we hit the road. We would have preferred staying the night as the prospect of driving to Poland after a day on the ice was daunting.
The journey home was as an adventure but sort of expected. We had a four-vehicle convoy with Stan Macur towing his trailer, Chris and Jenny Williams, myself in Starship Disco (my LandRover Discovery) and bringing up the rear 15 people in a bus towing the scorers' gear and I think, a lot of weight as we found out later.
The weather was pretty extreme with the strong wind blowing spindrift snow and the frequent heavy snow storms almost made it a white-out on a couple of occasions. The wind was coming from the right side as we made our way to the Latvian border.
It took about an hour to cross into Latvia; the usual paperwork had to be done. Sadly we saw little of Latvia as I stared at the rear lights of Chris's trailer as it drifted in and out of view in the blizzards in the failing light for the 100 miles south past Riga on the A1 to the Lithuanian border. I made use of the spare Polish relief driver as the eyes were getting very droopy, eventually getting a pillow out and nodding off every now and then.
The weather was foul at the Lithuanian border with a howling gale and -4 degrees. No UK insurance company would cover us in Lithuania so we had to buy the Green Card at the border.
Without full clothing protection you were shivering with cold in a matter of seconds. The short walk to buy the Green Card was enough to make your signature unreadable. Then it was time to present them to the passport control and customs. You stood shaking with cold outside the passport control box window going through all the bureaucracy of having every piece of paperwork checked not once but twice - once by customs then passport control.
To make matters worse, inside the passport control box was a gorilla-sized guard who tried to press buttons on the computer. When that did not play ball the officer behind him pressed the buttons and saved us another three minute wait as the gorilla asked where the details of the car were on the registration form again.
Chris Williams had to provide paperwork for the trailer. 20 minutes of trying to explain that in the UK we do have documentation for trailers was to no avail.
The Polish contingent with us were very helpful, but having to relate everything in Russian made things worse. So it was back to Polish! Chris found some paperwork for the trailer but the chassis numbers on the front of the trailer did not match up. The guards would not let it pass as it could have been stolen for all they knew. So we were stuck, at midnight, howling gale, -4 degs! And the options weren't great.
Going back into Latvia could cause the same paperwork scenario, so it was a Catch 22! The chassis number of the trailer was supposed to be under the rear right of the trailer, but that was covered in ice, snow and a year's road dirt. Cleaning the ice and snow and crawling round underneath, no number could be found in the dark using a torch.
I holed up in the Disco got the sleeping bag back out and kept pressing the Webasto diesel heater to keep a reasonable temp in the Disco. The co-driver and I slept fitfully till 7am.
Meantime Chris had been negotiating for over five hours. A few phone calls to the Swedes who were on the ferry to Stockholm saved the day. They told us the "missing" number was on the rear of the chassis so under we went with Chris's pyjamas to clean it further, then emery paper to brighten up the chassis. Two numbers appeared that matched. Hooray luck at last! Further cleaning revealed the full number that matched the document. The guard was now happy so after five and a-half hours we were finally in Lithuania.
Lithuania proved a pretty drastic country. Horse and carts on the main road and another on a sleigh on a minor road. We wanted to stop for breakfast, so we pulled up at a pretty rough looking roadside place to find it full of truckers and only one girl behind the counter... we opted to drive on.
Then things went further amiss. The Polish bus with its complement of 15 that was following me was suddenly lost from view and on turning round I found that they had blown a tyre on the trailer. No one had a brace so it was into the Disco and rummage around for some sockets. Their spare was flat so again into the Disco, this time for my sandyacht tyre pump.
Not long back on the road and again we stop, just outside Kaunas for a further discussion. Drive on again!! Lost sight of the bus again. Second blown tyre on the other side! A wheel appeared from a fellow Pole who caught us up and fixed it. With no spares left we prayed that it would finish the journey as trying to find a tyre in Lithuania on a Saturday afternoon was not a good idea. Found only one more stop for food which was just as bad and busy as the first. Drive on again!!
Crossing the Polish border was not a problem and we had a very welcome breakfast at 3pm! Soup and schnitzel . With belly full the relief driver drove to Gzycko where the bus dropped the trailer off and where my driver lived. We then drove another hour or so to Olsztyn and some welcome food, beer and a bed after 30 hours on the road.
On Sunday Chris, Jenny and myself drove to Berlin, a 12-hour drive.
We were briefed by Stan as to how to take the short cut from Route 7 to Gdansk on to Route 6 the dual carriageway bypassing Gdansk and Gdynia. What Stan did not tell us was that there was a huge car boot sale at Pruszcz Gdanski. Took us over half an hour to crawl in the traffic onto Route 6. Then it was the long drive to Szczecin and the German border.
You still had to keep your eyes open as there were viscious potholes on the fast stretches, enough to damage your suspension should you hit one full on. The cities had many potholes as well, so it was slow down and weave your way on.
Arriving in Berlin I had been on the road for 54 hours and travelled 954 miles. The last bit I used the GPS and the computer map that goes to street level and found my way to a friend's house just off Kantstrasse.
So we knew that the journey through the Baltic States was going to be an experience, we just are very thankful that we drove in the convoy with the Polish as we would have never made it without them. The other magic thing is the mobile phone. Without that we would have been impossibly stranded.
Regards
Gareth K11
|
