Total number of miles since start of trip: 1479
Countries driven in: 5 (+Germany)
Oil changes in Germany: 3
There are a few very important stops we wanted to make in Germany. The first one was visiting Andi’s aunt, Annette, in Glandorf (near Osnabrueck). We proudly showed her Baloo, looked through our wedding photos and toasted with some wedding champagne. It was a little wedding celebration to share the moment with Annette.
The next day we went into Glandorf city centre – okay more like village centre. Martin was impressed with the size of Glandorf after imagining it more to be the size of Lower Withington, where he is from. Shops, post office, and church are all in walking distance. Most importantly though it has an ice cream place in the centre. So we sat down, had an ice cream and enjoyed the sunny day. It was a nice little treat, although not like we can complain that we didn’t get treats throughout the day. We had some cake and in the evening we had a BBQ. It was a really nice stay. Thanks, Annette, for a lovely stay at yours.
Also on our list of places to visit was Wolfsburg, which was well situated half way between Glandorf and Dresden (where Andi’s parents live). Also, Margret, Andi’s mum, works in Wolfsburg. So we could visit her and spend the evening getting a tour of the town, see all of Margret’s favourite places, check out a big outlet and visit the Autostadt (“car city”). Wolfsburg is the main town of Volkswagen. So of course everything there is all around cars. In the Autostadt there were a few car museums. One of them was about the history of cars, starting with the very first motorised vehicle all the way to modern cars and even concept cars. We found a few nice cars, including the first 4x4WD. However, at the end of it we decided to stick with our Baloo.
In the evening we had a wonderful meal with Margret and then enjoyed a circus performance before heading back to the hotel and to bed. Some people have to work the next day. – That’s Margret, not us. 😉
The next stop in Germany was Dresden. We of course wanted to stay at Andi’s parents and show them Baloo before we drive off into the distance. Also, we had to do a few admin things here. Andi had to get her international driving license. And we also became residents. So we are now resident in two countries. Wohoo. And Martin can say he’s living in Germany.
Whilst in Dresden we also had a little get together with friends and Andi turned 30.
Overall we had a very nice time there. Thanks to Margret and Karl-Heinz for spoiling us.
Before leaving the UK we had already decided to send Baloo through a service – just to have another check and also to change the oil. Rather than waiting in the UK and doing it there, Karl-Heinz, Andi’s dad, kindly arranged for a garage in Dresden to look at it. During the service there were a few other things that came to our attention, like new brake pads and some sealants, which we got done at the same time. The oil we wanted for Baloo was 10W40 but when we got the car back (oil change #1), they had put in 5W30, which isn’t viscous enough for us. We called them back and when they realised their mistake they did another oil change (#2) to give us the right oil.
So with the right oil in, we left Dresden on Tuesday, 5th July. We were now heading up north towards Denmark. But since that’s a bit far in one go for our little Baloo we decided to stop in Schwerin on the way up north. We found a nice campsite by the lake and a supermarket nearby. From now on all the countries are going to get more and more expensive, so we decided to stock up a little.
The next morning we did our normal pre-drive checks including all the fluid levels. We saw that the oil level on the dip stick was significantly over the H mark and well within the danger zone. We got quite worried since we just had the oil change and there shouldn’t be more in there. Also, the oil was very light, much lighter than we were used to. We called the garage and they said it’s all fine. The dip stick they said is the wrong one and we should use the home made grooves and the oil is light because it has just had two oil changes and therefore two clean-outs.
Hmmm, we were still a little worried as this was definitely not the level we had previously checked for. So we found the nearest garage and explained the situation. The garage was run by Russians. And they suggested we can drain the oil to see exactly how much is in there. So that’s what we did. They didn’t have any measuring cylinders but they took a few bottles, cut them open so that the oil could pour in and we could use them as rough measurements. In this case we were wondering whether it was 7l in there or 14l – so this rough style was fine and practical. They poured the oil out, getting quite a bit on themselves in the process. Indeed it was 7l. Phew, so it looks like the explanation with the dip stick was right and our main worry (diesel in the oil) was not the case.
The garage poured the oil back in and made a few more marks on our dip stick and all was good. (Oil change #3 although technically we poured the same oil back in.)
All was good. They didn’t want any money. So we gave them some beer. And it was interesting to see the dynamic between the Russian mechanics. Even though we may not make it to Russia we now know a bit what it may have been like to send the car to a mechanic in Russia (except for that communication in Russia may have been much harder).
Road Monkeys 