01.01.2023
The flight to Stockholm
Our Unimog is in Uppsala for repairs. We had a difficult start with our first major Route. On the way up to Sweden we stopped in Flensburg overnight and the brakes had frozen at -14 °C.
I was told by an unimog expert that air compression brakes no longer need draining and the drying cartridges take care of all moisture in the air system. Well, it turns out that this theory is incorrect and drying cartridges are saturated after driving in the rain for 6 hours.
Anyway the brakes were sorted out and Michael carried on to Kappelskär north of Stockholm. That is where the ferry to Turku in Finnland starts.
He didn't make it onto the ferry as the clutch system didn't react as he was about to drive on board.
That took a whole day at freezing temperatures to sort out. A mercedes mechanic came and sorted things out so that Michael could drive the 100 kilimeters to the next Mercedes Truck garage, which was in Uppsala. It turns out that a cylinder in the gearbox needed to be replaced. The problem was, it had been replaced 10 days and 600 kilometers before that in Neuss. That was when we made the decision to take the UNIMOG back home to base and find out what was wrong with the clutch/gearbox.
Michael then flew back home for Christmas. We flew back to Uppsala on the 01.01.2023 and had time to look at the old city and enjoy the pub life. The saying that every cloud has a silver lining applied in this case. The next day we drove all the way to Cologne.
Information about Uppsala:
It is the oldest university town in Sweden, with a population of 150,000. There are also 40,000 students on top oft hat and so the student life in the city is very prominent. Uppsala has the largest cathedral in Sweden, and this is where the kings and queens are crowned.