Well, that was a miserable day!

We had to drive right through the middle of the city of Hamburg, but we waited until almost 10:00am, and really, the traffic wasn't very bad. Certainly better than I expected, so that was good.

There's one direct route north and it's all on the freeway. We normally try and avoid the freeway, but the weather wasn't great and there wasn't anything we wanted to see along the way.

And the weather really wasn't great. In fact it was miserable! A high of only 12C (54F) and very windy with on and off rain storms all day. It felt like March, not the end of May!

This is a motorhome parking area in central Hamburg.

Convenient, but just a big parking lot with everybody crammed in right next to each other. And, at €25 ($34 CAD, $27 USD) per night electric included. We liked our free spot much better.

Heading through central Hamburg.

Scenery along the way.

Crooked building.

Getting on the freeway.

It rained hard, several times.

Fortunately Max handles really well in the wind. Not at all like Sherman was.

We pulled off at the town of Osterrönfeld where the Kiel shipping canal runs through. I had found a well reviewed overnight spot but when we got there, we didn't think it was that good. And it was really windy and we were parked under some trees. Not ideal. The skies cleared for a bit, and I decided to go for a walk over to another possibility. Of course half way there, it poured with rain and ice pellets. And it was so windy, I felt like I was in a blizzard! Then on the way back, the sun came out just as fast, and I was almost dry by the time I got back to Max.

But my walk was worth it, because the other free parking area was much better. It overlooked the canal so we could watch the ships go through. 

There are four or five actual motorhome areas lining the canal, but they range in price from €8 to €20 a night. Apparently this is a popular area due to the ships. In fact, one of them is on the opposite side of the canal from where we are, and it looks pretty much full. But where we are parked, we were the only rig that stayed the night. We found that odd.

We didn't leave the motorhome for the rest of the day. The following photos were taken first thing this morning...

Sunshine! But it's still cool and windy.

Max, watching the ships go by in the Kiel Canal.

An average of 90 ships per day pass through the canal.

There she goes...

Motorhomes packed in side by side paying €14 a night for the privilege.

No thanks.

But, it's a good thing not everybody likes free camping. Makes it much easier for those of us who do!

This is a rare hanging ferry.

We've never seen anything like it. It hangs from the railway bridge and you drive onto it and it takes you across the river... through the air!

Very cool!

Unfortunately, no motorhomes allowed, and only room for 4 cars at a time along with bicycles and pedestrians. Interestingly, it was damaged during a collision with a ship in 2016 and it only reopened this spring.

We watched them unloading this ship. 

Today, we cross into Denmark. We need to do some running around before we leave here though. Need to fill one LPG (propane) tank, and need to fill Max's AdBlue tank. And do a small grocery shop.

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