Hals

From one harbourside overnighter to another, we've driven a short distance from the luxury marina at Sæby to the working harbour here at Hals. It isn't an official motorhome area, but comments left on Park4Night by a resident said the town doesn't mind vans staying, enjoying the area and shopping in town.

A shallow bay lined with reeds spreads out in front of us; Will has tried fishing but the weeds make it difficult. To our right, a black wood community centre with a pyramidal roof stands empty and a row of yellow painted huts lead along the left side of the marina. The boats here are more practical than the cruisers at Sæby, many of them focused on fishing. A huge beige ship, that we believe is a ferry, is moored to a large concrete wall beyond them.

There was no shade so we took it easy after arriving in the afternoon, putting ice packs near Poppy's bed to cool the air. Will cooked up the three Weever fish he had gone on to catch after being stung by one yesterday. They were pretty bony but tasted good.

The following morning dawn saw a great burning ball of vermillion bridge the horizon just after 5am. It was going to be another hot one!

Part of the reason we chose Hals was for the Wednesday market mentioned on Park4night. There were a few food stalls under cover at the sea side of town, making us think that it was just a small affair, but beyond these we found a buzz of activity in the streets. It seemed the whole population had stepped out to sell their wares, with people coming from far and wide to trade alongside the locals. As well as the roving traders, shops extended their square footage to outside stalls, homes spilled out onto tables and gardens opened their gates for people to peruse the goods they offered. We kept approaching corners, thinkng we had reached the end, only to discover another street was buzzing with life from this weekly phenomenon. The number of independents selling their second hand goods meant it was a cross between a market and a car boot sale. There were so many different stalls it was difficult to take in all the items each displayed. We love this sort of thing, but by the end, even for us, it was verging on being too much! We came away with some smoked mackerel, locally made honey, fresh cherries and peas from a market gardener originally from Brighton and Vicky found some wool and toy stuffing in one of the yarn stores.

We were in two minds about whether to stay a second night, but the baking temperatures drove us to move on and seek shade. Before leaving, Vicky emptied our small box of rubbish in a bin and was grumbled at by an ill tempered old man who stuck his head out of one of the huts and called over the car park 'is it full yet?'. We hardly ever get anyone showing ill feeling towards us, but it is upsetting when somebody does, even though we don't believe we did anything wrong.Read more