Inevitably being back in this part of the world, many Town minds kept drifting back to that night two years ago in Helsingborg when the small Swedish town was turned Blue. Around 6,000 people made the trip for that game, probably the most memorable actual match from the UEFA Cup run that season.
The game at Helsingør on Sunday provided those of us following the tour to make a return and take a second look and reminisce. Harry's Bar was an obvious point of focus, it having been entirely packed with Blues back then.
Helsingborg is not an unpleasant place by any stretch. This time of the year it is even more attractive than it was when we were here before as the winds made the coastal areas less than inviting. The town apparently had a reputation as a bit of a hole but the urban regeneration of recent years has turned it into a modern and slick place to be.
After a misty-eyed wander about and a look at the stadium, it was off on one of the very frequent ferries to Helsingør only 20 minutes or so away in Denmark. The boat trips are more than liberally sprinkled with Swedes keen to take advantage of the better beer prices in Denmark with many making the journey purely to bring back crates of ale.
Helsingør is best known for Kronberg, the castle which Shakespeare based Hamlet's Elsinore on. Other than that there isn't a lot. It's a port town with a lot of shops selling alcohol to the Swedes.
The Danish Ipswich Town Supporters had arranged a game against the Helsingør fans. I was added to the squad as a makeshift Dane at the last minute when it was discovered the game was eleven-a-side and not seven as expected.
Despite this handicap the Town lads ran out 7-3 winners on an afternoon when the temperatures reached dizzying heights. The arguably more sensible among us spent the afternoon trying out a few Helsingør bars before making our way to the Helsingør Stadion for the game.
It wasn't an unpleasant setting for a game, although not quite up their with Strandvallen, Mjällby's ground. Helsingborg fans were evident singing about how they hated Malmö, Helsingør and strangely some pro-Cardiff songs.
The PA man became a bit of a star with his overly careful pronunciations of the Town players names which involved long pauses. He even told us that the official attendance was not available but that it was ”about 847”.
Then it was back on the ferries back to Helsingborg, Trelleborg or Malmö, or on a train down to Copenhagen. Despite the focus of the tour being Trelleborg, for the club itself at least, the fans were widely dispersed across a number of towns.
Monday saw most Town fans make the trip back to Trelleborg with a bit of time to have a look round. Probably the most interesting aspect of the town is the rebuilt Viking fort. In the early nineties builders discovered the remains of a 1,000-year-old fort when starting work on some flats, in a not dissimilar way as at Carrow Road recently, although it is understood all they found there was a fossilised Premiership programme.
Archaologists were called in, building work stopped and in the next few years a wooden structure began to take the shape of its Viking-era predecessor. It looks spectacular with huge pikes of wood forming a protective wall.
Back then Trelleborg was a setting off point for the Vikings as they went on their way doing all the pillaging that they are so famous for and presumably some of them ended up in East Anglia at some point.
The entire Skäne region was Danish up until the 1700s and this still has an effect on the culture. The southern Swedish accent is not easy for other Swedes to understand and the pace of life is said to be slower here than elsewhere in the country.
The main industries of Trelleborg are the port and the rubber trade. The harbour has ships constantly coming and going from Poland and Germany. There is very little distance between the port and the centre of the town and large passenger ferries are suddenly just a few feet away after wandering a matter of steps from the centre.
Many of the passengers on the ferries use Trelleborg as a hub for travel to other parts of the region: Malmö is close by and, now that there is a bridge between Malmö and Copenhagen, the Danish capital is less than an hour away by road.
The Öresund Bridge, an incredible structure which makes you wonder how on earth it was built, was opened in 1999 and is in total 16km long. It has had a major effect on the region with Copenhagen now so easily accessible.
Partly due to the bridge the region is promoting its other features. Birdwatching, cycling, fishing and golf, are all offered in the Söderslätt area to the north of Trelleborg. The coast around Trelleborg also has 35km of shady beaches which are understandably popular when the weather is as it has been for most of our trip.
The hospitality the visiting Town supporters have received while out here has been second to none. We've been recommended pubs and had entertainment laid on including the football tournament, a beach volleyball session, barbecues and extensive drinking sessions, mainly in the now fans' favourite Tre Lycktor (Three Lights). They also sorted coaches to ferry us to the matches away from Trelleborg.
The T-shirt and badge of the tour have been the Swedish supporters' excellent version of the club badge with the horse replaced by an elk. No particular new song has jumped out but the version of the Shooting Stars 'He's a Baby' George Dawes chant has got a few airings as has a Dia-Dia-Diallo ditty to the tune of Pia-Pia-Piano.
Naturally, given our Trelleborgian (?) hosts' fine welcome, it was they who were the best organised when it came to the actual game. A brass band serenaded supporters as they entered their ground, as did a Swedish club-style singer.
The teams were lined up and introduced individually before the national anthems were sung, the ground led by a female singer. Joe Royle and his Trelleborg counterpart were interviewed as the game started and again at the end.
Eye-disturbingly-dressed Town director Richard Moore thanked Trelleborg on the behalf of the club and supporters and it was once more out into the town for some fraternisation with the locals and the Swedish and Danish supporters. Joe, the rest of the management and a few of the players popped in for a last orders ale and signed flags and posters, and were in many cases given elk badges by the Swedish supporters.
Today it's back home and time to start thinking about the season proper. The games out here may not have been the greatest or most important but those of us who made the trip will go home having had a good time, and keen to return next year for more of the same.