The plan was to drive to Wismar on Sunday. Unfortunately, WENNE had other plans and had problems with the clutch. Somewhere on the way to Wismar we found an Iveco workshop and parked in their backyard overnight.
First thing in the morning on Monday, it turned out that it wasn’t an official Iveco workshop. As is so often the case, you get the feeling that they’re not interested in our classic car, because they kept giving us all kinds of excuses. At least we were given an address in Bergeshagen, which we went to straight away. The problem with the clutch was getting worse and worse and we hoped to get there.
Ingo was very friendly and nice and took care of our problem. He sat us down in the “driver’s lounge” where we first treated ourselves to a hot chocolate and waited… and waited… and another coffee… and more waiting…
The problem is finding a suitable coupling for the year of manufacture. Ingo and his colleague wanted to have a look at the vehicle to see how best to access the coupling, as they thought that the cab could not be tilted due to the body. They were all the more enthusiastic when they were told that it was possible. However, since we and they have no idea how best to pull the cab backwards, they decided to install it without tilting the cab as soon as the spare part arrived.
Then wait, wait, wait again. Drinking cappuccino and coffee.
After about 3.5 hours of trying to find a suitable spare part without success, they were told that they had now written directly to Iveco and were waiting to receive the correct part number.
As this could take quite a while, we drove outside the workshop to a parking lane where we could park at night.
We were hungry, a little frustrated and didn’t feel like cooking. So we went around the corner to the “hot bar” and got two overflowing plates from the menu of the day for a few euros. The sales clerk, who was also very nice, said we were welcome to have seconds. But after this first large portion, we were full. There were 5 or 6 dishes of the day in total, but many of them were already finished, so Alex opted for chili and I went for chicken fricassee.
We had to rebook our ferry before 2 p.m., as this is only possible up to 24 hours before departure.
Cancellation was out of the question for us as we were not entitled to a refund. We rebooked the ferry in the hope that everything would work out this time, that the workshop would be able to get a new clutch for us promptly and that it would be installed quickly.
The next day around 2 p.m. we were told that the garage had at least found the part number and would now start looking for the right clutch.
On Wednesday morning we were finally told to bring our car into the yard at 6:45 a.m. on Friday so that they could fit the new clutch. While we were waiting, Alex noticed that it was time for another oil change. The garage was of course prepared to do this too.
Not much has happened in the meantime. It kept raining and thundering. It was a bit friendlier on Thursday. So we spent most of the time in the motorhome. We played games, listened to music, watched a movie, read, baked cakes and bread and talked about God and the world.
On Friday we were in the yard of the Iveco workshop in Bergeshagen at 6:45 a.m. on the dot.
At 7 a.m. the mechanics had started to fit the new clutch and, at our request, also changed the oil. As there was nothing special in the area apart from industry, we decided to wait in the “driver’s lounge”.
After almost 7 hours, they drove our WENNE out of the hall again. About 30 minutes later and a few euros poorer, we were finally on the road again.
A big thank you goes to the Iveco team in Bargeshagen. The friendly and always positive employees did everything they could to ensure that we could continue as quickly as possible.
Thank you also for allowing us to fill up our water tank with fresh water.
Shortly before Rostock, we parked in a large parking lot at the Ostsee Park. We topped up our supplies, filled up the tank for 1.44 and went to a launderette.
The area near the laundromat was, shall we say, a bit strange. So Alex preferred to stay at WENNE and I went to the laundromat across the street.
I had a nice encounter with a gentleman who owns a cleaning company. We got talking and he advised me not to spend the night in this parking lot. He said there were strange characters here and it was very dangerous.
But we weren’t going to do that anyway.
Alex, on the other hand, had a not so pleasant encounter. A man stopped to talk to him about the GDR and how his life had changed. He lives off the state and well, he kind of fulfilled the cliché of a typical welfare recipient. But he was friendly and nice. He probably just needed someone to talk to.
Later, I saw a woman with a baby carriage standing next to Alex. He told me that she probably had the baby carriage with her as a support, because she already had a few too many alcoholic drinks. She told Alex about her bad husband and asked him if he could help her find an apartment and organize the move. When Alex said no, she wanted money. But Alex didn’t give her any. She wanted Alex’s lucky charm hanging on the mirror, his ring on her finger, she even wanted to scratch off our stickers that were stuck to WENNE and stick them on her. Alex had a hard time getting rid of this person
After the dryer still hadn’t dried the laundry after 40 minutes, I gave up and went back to Alex. Then we drove out of this chaotic neighborhood to a large parking lot near a shopping center to spend the night there.
The next day our ferry left Rostock for Trelleborg at 14:15… We thought…
When we lined up to check in ourselves at around 11:15 am, we were informed that the ferry would be delayed by 2 hours.
When we were able to check in, we were lucky and stood in one of the many rows at the very front of the boarding area. So the wait wasn’t quite so boring as we could watch the hustle and bustle in this area. Shortly after 3pm a ferry from ttline arrived and we all thought it was ours. When all the vehicles had left and she set off again without us, the waiting continued.
About an hour later, our ttline Tinker Bell arrived. A short time later we were allowed to enter and at 17:30 we set off with a delay of over 3 hours.
I was very glad that the swell was very calm and my initial panic dissipated after a while. Only my pulse was racing until the end 🙈
After just under 6 hours, it was time for our adventure in Sweden to begin.
We first drove almost half an hour from the ferry port towards the north of Sweden. For this first night, we parked in a simple parking lot near a lake.
We were very excited to see what was in store for us from now on.