BLIPmeet!

Woke up an hour later than we would have liked = 09.30.  AW made it at 10.00.  All outside was dark and wet, but the trip was to push through.  An hour later, the skies had lightened considerably, but traffic on the intended route was thick, no doubt as a result of the rain earlier.  By 11.00, we were ready, sort of, but we wanted to make sure we didn't forget anything, so, finally, by 11.30, we hopped into the car and were off.

Absolutely no traffic, at least not really, on the A59, and the skies had turned beautifully blue by the time we hit the A27 - A50 - A1.  As we had predicted, we hit the Dutch-German border at 14.00.  A short toilet stop for me and a candy bar for AW, then back on the road.  The first frustrating jam was at the junction of the German A1 and A30, with left going north and straight on heading towards Hanover.  We'd already agreed on the A1.  And then, disaster struck just past Osnabrück, where we literally stood still for close to three quarters of an hour.  No one knew what it was, and I wondered if we were going to move at all.  And then, suddenly, we could move and encountered no further obstacles.  We looked at the other side of the A1 and there was a terrible accident where one truck's cabin got squeezed after a collision with the truck in front of it, and that long stop was most likely because a trauma heli had to land on our half of the road.  We wonder if the driver in that smashed cabin made it out alive.

On and on  on the A1, then left on the 261 till it merged with the A7, till we finally got to where we had to be -- HAMBURG!  An error when the exit we took directly after the Elbe Tunnel brought us right back to the tunnel going back the way we came, so we spent about half an hour turning around at the pier on the wrong side of the river before finally getting back on the road to the tunnel again.  This time, we were more careful after we'd exited, and finally found the main road to the B&B where we met good friend and fellow blipper Evelyne!  What a grand reunion that was!  We'd planned this at the last minute and I told her we would surely come.

In short, a rather late night after an unusually long day, and on the road, too, but it all worked out.  In the shot is her dear partner of many, many years.  I finally met him and she finally got to meet AW.  Thanks, dear friend, for a most delicious dinner and very warm welcome!

Tomorrow, we will be exploring a bit of Hamburg.  Never mind the cloudy predictions, it will be a good day.