On Sunday morning, Ray drove me to Hamburg airport to fly home. He then drove on to Elmshorn for a house concert. Then the next day he had the long drive north to his home in Sweden.
As I’ve written before, touring in Germany is relatively easy although there can be some long drives. The roads and the drivers are generally very good. The autobahns are fast and mostly with little traffic in our direction although we did see some queues going the other way. Significantly, trucks are not allowed to travel on a Sunday which made the two long drives that we had on Sundays easier than they would have been on another day.
The country roads in this area are very pleasant to drive on. Many are tree lined. You have to watch out for entrances to villages where the speed limit drops to 50kph, often with no sign to warn you. You have to know. The speed cameras stand like dark and forbidding black cylinders just waiting to catch the unwary driver.
Looking back, we were very fortunate with the weather in the twelve days I was on the tour. While there was a lot of rain around us, I only put my rain jacket on once and then it wasn’t actually necessary.
We saw amazing venues and met some lovely people. Venues ranged from a Trade Union training centre, a boatyard, a Kloster (nunnery), two arts centres, a stage in a field and a private house. Amongst many others we met an archer, a boat builder, a tour guide turned dramatist turned farmer, a judge, a French polisher and the former director of the German post office.
The music and the reactions of the audiences to the music were both very good and it was lovely to see people enjoying live music in a variety of settings. I’m looking forward to later this year in October when Ray can present the songs from his new album to audiences in England and Wales.
A Visitor On Europe’s Roads 
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