We wake up early with the light coming through the tent material, so we hang around dozing for a while. But then, just as we are planning to get up and have some breakfast, a light rain shower begins. It does not last long, but it certainly gets the ground and our tent wet. This is a problem for two reasons - it makes it hard to have breakfast outside and we really do not want to pack up a wet tent. So, what to do - we lay back and doze off for a bit longer.
We then have breakfast in our tent and around 10 AM we decide that it is time to get ready and pack up. Things have started to dry off and by the time we wash up and get everything else ready, the tent is pretty much dry and ready to be packed. Then it is time to do a bit of exploring around here.
After leaving the campsite, our first stop is at the Tilsandede Kirke. We park our car and then walk the short distance over the dunes to this abandoned church. This is a classic example of nature and her strength and force. Not too long after construction, the sands and dunes started to encroach on the church. And it did not take long for the sand to take over. Today, when you enter the tower (left standing as a navigational landmark), you have to take a few steps down from the new exterior ground level.
Back at the car, we decide to go and check out Gl. Skagen. On the main road we notice that the traffic is overwhelming. Where do all these people come from and - maybe more importantly - where are they all going. We decide that it will be a quick visit to Gl. Skagen. We have a ferry to catch this afternoon, and we do not want to miss it.
We spend about an hour at this small village (the same place we saw the sunset from yesterday) - most of the time spent on the stony beach. We wandered up the beach for a ways, checking out some of houses and the views out to the North Sea. Then back through town. It is pleasant - a bit nicer than Skagen. Maybe because it is a bit smaller.
Then it is back on the road. We decide to head to Frederikshavn to catch our ferry to Norway. Yes, we are going back to Norway. As we drive down the one road that leads to Skagen, we are so glad that we are going south and not north. The north bound lane is just chock full of cars. They are crawling along. Where are they all going to fit - there cannot be enough parking space in that small place for all these cars. We certainly are not coming back here in the peak season in the summer.
On our way down to Frederikshavn, we fill up with petrol and do a bit of shopping. We get to the ferry pier shortly after 2 PM and check in for our ferry. We then have about half an hour to have another picnic lunch on the boot of our car in a ferry queue. This seems to be a regular occurrence. At 3 PM we drive onto the large ferry and park our car and head up to the passenger decks. The ride is about six hours, so we go and find some seats to call home for the afternoon. The ferry departs a little late at 3:40 PM.
We do not do too much while on board. We relax, read, shop and have dinner. The duty free shop does not have a super selection, but we find a few things of interest. We stock up on candy and some bottles of wine (a little over our limit, but ...). Dinner is a simple affair in the self serve dining room. A children's show is in progress, which keeps us amused for a while. Then back to our seats to hang out.
The ship arrives in Larvik at 9:30 PM and we drive off 15 minutes later. As we drive down the steep ramp, a customs officer sends us to the red channel. We are pretty much the only car sent to this line. We soon find out why - they have noticed our German export plates and seem worried that we are going to sell our car in Norway. They are not at all interested to see if we are bringing in too much booze. It takes some time to convince them that we will re-export the car. In fact, at one point, they told us to proceed, only to stop us after a short while. The guy came over and asked us again if we really were not going to sell the car in Norway. We said "of course not, officer", and he let us proceed.
We then had an almost two hour drive to Oslo. Pretty much uneventful. Once near our destination we began the search for a car parking space. This time we had a more difficult time. The spot that we found was a bit far away, so Lars dropped off Jacqui with the bags and went and parked the car. At around midnight, we were in Tante Berit's apartment, settling into what has become our home in Norway.