By keef and annie hellinger, Jul 11 2016 01:08PM
Motorhome trip No27 : May 8th- July 8th 2016 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS->Scandinavia ->NOTTS 6140 miles
Feel free to use the MENU to find specifics on this travel blog This was the longest trip so far in our lovely Wendy house of a van, she “dun great” the whole trip…. Up hill, down dale and along the flat! A travel blog to cherish! 10 ferries, numerous islands, bridges and tunnels, 61 days, 6 countries, from the fjords to the Russian border, 44 campsites, 6140 miles and a few tanks of diesel – what a fabulous experience, feel like we have experienced & learnt so much plus I think I can prove I’m related to that great Viking – Harald Bluetooth, he of the rune symbols that all later day geeks know ;) Holland, North Germany, Denmark (all 3 parts – Jutland, Funen & Zealand), Sweden as high up as the lake district, Finland across the southern end and Norway as high up as Trondheim. It was such a wonderful opportunity, such a shame that the UK no longer runs ANY ferries to Scandinavia, we only met 4 other Brits in the whole 2 months and 2 of them were from Oz!. Because of the driving distances it is unlikely we will be able to return in the van as Scandinavia is awe-inspiring for scenery, culture and people. Anyhow we loved it, and we want to share some of that with you. Feel free to let us know if you have been and what you thought of it, thanks.
MENU
See calendars below for where we were when and there is a slideshow of all the campsites day by day. Note the Numbers referenced are the campsite number in the ACSI handbook or website. #hintasandtips
Want to see the SLIDESHOWS
We spent 15 days in Denmark, 14 days in Sweden, 10 days in Norway, 6 days in Finland and 10, 5 and 1 days in Holland, Germany and UK respectively getting there Highlights is tricky as there we so many but if pushed I would list Hallingskarvet National Park in Norway,the fjords of Norway, the Lake District of Sweden, Langeland Island & Kronborg Castle (Helsingor) Denmark and the ferry crossing to Finland (Kappelskar to Nanntali) Lowlights not many but prices and trying to find the campsite in Delft (low bridge), chickening out at the Russian border, we had no papers for the van and was seriously worried about officialdom, so turned around in a layby right next to the border crossing and scarpered 😉
The scary tag is for my beard and many tunnels (dark and damp with grotty road surfaces) and the russian border experience 😉
Scandinavian Slideshows
The one with speech (i.e The Talkies) is also associated with Blog 101 as indeed are the full sets with Audio Diary attached to the slideshows.
The TALKIES
Video with Speech, Also covered by BLOG 101
FULL SLIDESHOW WITH AUDIO DIARY OVERLAY
For those who would prefer to listen than read, entirely up to you
It is in 2 parts, the first covers 8th May to 5th June 2016 in audible diary accompanied by the complete set of images from both Denmark & Sweden back in 2016. It is 68 minutes long.
The second covers 6th June to 7th July 2016 with an auduble diary accompanied by a complete set of images for Norway, Finland, Holland and Germany. It is 2 hours 13 minutes long, so beware, you can of course watch and listen in parts but its a lot of images, actually 4.9 GB worth (tee-hee) but its there for prosperity.
DIARY
Here is a quick run through of the sites we stayed at day by day that accompany the written diary
Sunday 8th May 2016
Having packed the van we travelled down to Harwich and stayed at the Green Acres site at Dovercourt campsite, never again awfully run down and full of permies, in future trips i.e., that to the Faroes and Iceland completing our complete visitation of all Scandinavian countries covered by BLOG 135 we stayed up on the hill overlooking the sea, perfectly fine, great views and free and since the ferry always leaves so early in the morning to the Euro port in Rotterdam ideal.
Monday 9th May 2016
We travelled on the Stena Ferry Britannica from the port of Harwich to the Euro port in Rotterdam, Netherlands named the Hook of Holland. A pleasant journey, even went to see the new Star Wars movie, Annie fell to sleep and missed the bit where Harrison Ford dies ha-ha, interesting views plus very few actual customers, mostly cargo lorry drivers, does make me wonder how much longer this ferry will survive the ones from Newcastle to Bergen, Norway stopped in 2008, it was possible for a bit to use the cargo ferry from Immingham to Brevik, Norway but they now only take commercial vehicles and the other DFDS ferry from Harwich to Esbjerg, Jutland, Denmark has also stopped so there are NO ferry crossings direct to Scandinavia, we didn’t mind as were driving there and seeing a lot on route. After getting off the ferry we travelled along the coast, getting out of Rotterdam for us is always a nightmare at the first big roundabout as our Truck Nav gets confused, maybe next time we will get it right first time, maybe not, but at least whilst getting lost we always get to see all the lovely greenhouses and bulb selling establishments tee-hee, anyway we camped that night at De Brandling site in Zandvoort on the coast near Amsterdam, lovely beach view walk in the evening. We stayed here 2 days.
Tuesday 10th May 2016
Today we took the train into Amsterdam from Zandvoort which is at the end of the line. Had a lovely day out and about in the capital, walking around taking photos and generally soaking up the atmosphere along the canals, watching the boats and bikes everywhere. Some of what we saw was The Kafe Cobalt where Rembrandt once lived , Rijksmuseum, Dam Square, Henry Willig’s cheese shop, the Damrak trams, the interior of the old main post office, what an amazing building, old canal side merchant houses and bridges in prince henri kase, Amsterdam Central station, fast food vehicles selling Dutch delights, and a whole lot more. We had a canal cruise on a nice boat which gave us a great feel for the whole canal system and associated locks.We really enjoyed it and then caught the train back from Central station to Zandvoort, all very efficient. The walk back to the site took us past one of the very first Cente Parcs holiday establishments. That night whilst cooking we realised Keef had made a camping schoolboy error, the gas cylinder had run out, oh dear!
To see some the the many architectural delights Amsterdam has to offer click HERE
Wednesday 11th May 2016
Went into Zandvoort in search of a replacement / refill for our Orange UK Calor gas cylinder , found a camping shop but the guy said in Europe they only sold the Camping Gaz containers and we would need a new regulator to go with it as the 2 are not compatible. Expensive but essential and heavy to carry back through the no parking area of town. Still in the long run we have both types now and can mix and match for our trips either in the UK or Europe. Panicked a bit as parked in a short stay parking zone so grateful to get back, find we hadn’t been booked or clamped and set off on the next stage of our journey. Crossing the fantastic causeway across the Ijsselmeer (E22 or A7 you choose) we arrived at the lovely site at Koudum , Friesland, North Holland called Vakantiepark De Kuilart, which is both a marina and a campsite with boardwalks, a restaurant, shops and a swimming pool. Here our pitch was right on the river’s edge. Keef’s converted the gas cylinder to the new one borrowing the kind Dutch guy next pitches spanner ready to cook tea, as they say we were back “cooking on gas” ha-ha. We stayed here 2 nights.
Thursday 12th May 2016
Our 2nd night at the fabulous de Kuilart site in Koudum, we were on pitch B4. We had breakfast outside as the weather was so good and watched the pleasure cruiser pick up passengers from the jetty in front of us on the Johan Frisokanaal, magical times, we went for a few walks around and generally relaxed from some of the travelling. In the afternoon we went to their indoor swimming pool, very chlorinated but refreshing. Had trouble with the coins in the lockers, oh you Brits, ha-ha. Bought some nice bread and cakes in the site shop for tea.
Friday 13th May 2016
We moved onto the equally nice campsite, Wiedumerhout campsite at Wiedum based on a farm and on the edge of yet another canal, The Wiedumer Feart. We ate a very classy 3 course meal there in their Michelin starred chef’s restaurant as well as having a lovely walk along the edge of the many canals’ intersection and junctions there. All in all, a very relaxing time for 2 days. We remember entering in the van just as the farmer with his muck spreader was driving in, chaos and smelly but so rural.
Saturday 14th May 2016
Our second day relaxing at Wiedum. All very nice but time to move onto Scandinavia. Annie remembers the showers not being great there, indeed a little primitive.
Sunday 15th May 2016
We had a 2hours 30 minutes’ drive from Weidum in Holland to Wingst in Germany ging through the Weser tunnel. We stayed at the Knaus Campingpark in Wingst Schleswig-Holstein on pitch 96 where Keef had to practise his German to get booked in. It was a nice friendly father and son in the office who greeted us and offered us some nice German Kuchen or as we say in English cake, spicy and yummy. The site itself was how can I kindly say, in need of some TLC however the flowers were lovely, rhodis, azaleas and lilacs, super smells in the air.
The main towns we bypassed on our journey today were Groningen and Oldenburg, but we called into Leeuwarden first.
Monday 16th May 2016
We left Wingst and made our way to wischhagen where we caught the ferry across the river Elbe, what a wonderful journey accompanied by many tourists but also a whole bunch of motorcyclists who were touring around. The other side of the elbe is Gluckstadt. When we arrived we then had to wait for the Keil canal bridge to descend, we had previously in 2004 been up the Keil canal with Mum on a cruise holiday so this was seeing it from a very different angle. We have seen loads on windmills through out Holland and now Germany, we learnt it was National Windmill day today, who knew? We called in at Rendesburg , quite an old Schleswig-Holstein town , the town square was cobbled but amazingly interesting. This town was near the nord-ostersee canal also known as the Keil canal. We then had to take the sehestadt ferry across the Keil canal. We arrived at our campsite for the night at schlei-karschau but in Germany there is a siesta lunch break, so we had to wait patiently in some serious humidity until the office reopened, they do stay open quite late in the evening to be fair. We were on pitch 7, after setting up we went for a local walk along the boardwalk to the marina, and around the town, fascinating architecture.
Tuesday 17th May 2016
We left Karschau on the Baltic Sea inlet about 10 a.m. and travelled onto Mommark Marina Camping, South Jutland in Denmark through Flensburg near the border between Germany and Denmark re-joining the e45 motorway past Flensburg. At the border crossing at Ellund West the border guards were stopping most vehicles, indeed doing a thorough check on a pulled over white van man but seeing our British number plate they just let us straight through. We love the Danes.
We travelled along the coastal road along the Flensborg fjord thru Sonderborg just over the road bridge that joins main Jutland to the island of south jutland. Mommark is right on the east coast looking across the little belt at the small island of Marstal.
We were on pitch 63 overlooking the beach in our own walled pitch, just fabulous. When we arrived, we were royally greeted in good English by the site owner in his restaurant / café on site. A very helpful fellow. They didn’t accept our ACSI card, so we had to buy a Camping Radet / Key Europe card for Scandinavia, good value and worked for the rest of our holiday.
Wednesday 18th May 2016
Spent a lovely day here at Mommark, one of our fave campsites, few issues for Annie as builders had turned off the water to the showers but otherwise just fab. They have both a harbour, lighthouse, goat pen, small animal farm and both restaurant and heritage chairs outside, reminded me of a scene in the cult series the Prisoner. Some pitches were high on the hill with great views, we were on the flat by the harbour wall. Keef listened to music on headphones outside and read, Annie crocheted and read, very relaxing. We had a walk on the beach bordering the Baltic Sea, nice white sand and even tried out the first ever of a few selfies with our new selfie stick, we were not that good at it, tee-hee. We saw lots of fish such as plaice being brought in by the fishermen as they unloaded their harbour catch.
Thursday 19th May 2016
Sadly, we had to leave the truly magnificent Mommark today, we travelled across the road bridge that joined what is yet another island in South Jutland called Osterby to its far tip to visit a lovely little quaint fishing village called Sonderby and had a nice walk around there, having parked up the motorhome, the smell of wild lilacs growing in the hedgerows was magnificent. There was even a Sonderby Strand campsite there that looked nice, but we weren’t staying this early in the day. So we left Sonberby and travelled via the wonderful and interesting island of Romo , its causeway and dam, here we stopped at the lobster port of Havneby, onto Esbjerg stopping for a walk and look around the historical old capital of Denmark in Ribe, Viking capital way back when with lord angsvar circa 801 BC and modern capital circa 1400 AD, a truly interesting place, its main torvet (street and square) were lovely, the whole place had fab buildings and streets especially the famous puggaardgade, on the west coast of Jutland. We stopped at Esbjerg camping site , about an hour and a half drive from Mommark in theory but we spent all day as so much to see. We stayed at Esbjerg for 2 nights
Friday 20th May 2016
Relaxing day in Esbjerg, did a bit of washing and hung it on a makeshift line rigged up between the hedge and the back of the van, nice secluded grassy pitches. Had cinnamon buns and tea outside, bliss. The campsite had a swimming pool and goats. Mostly a relaxing day in the sun reading etc.
Saturday 21st May 2016
Today we travelled from Esbjerg to Farso in the North of Jutland, Denmark stopping at the wonderful town of Billund, the traditional home of the world-famous Lego. Learnt a lot about the founding father’s family, the Christiansen family still own it after Ole Kirk C the Danish carpenter started it with wooden bricks for his kids to build with, later obviously they evolved into the cheaper plastic variety we see worldwide today. In Billund we saw a full-scale house they were constructing in Lego, the amusement park, leaned lots of history and saw the Lego band. Such fun. We also visited Silkeborg, its river Gunena, bits about Hans Christian Andersen and Viborg on route. At Silkeborg besides seeing Tolland man in the museum (amazing) we saw a guy training for winter sports in summer going down the road on roller skates with ski poles. We have had some lovely Danish pasties so far, yummy, the real thing plus in Silkeborg museum we had homemade coconut cake. The campsite at Farso was OK with its traditional yellow buildings.
Sunday 22nd May 2016
We went from Farso North Jutland to Skagen at the top of Jutland via Limfjorden, the ancient Viking port and city from where they launched their “rape and pillage” excursions ha-ha, it is a huge fjord, then it was onto Vilsted So, where we had a walk, Logster, Alborg, the university town and home and birthplace of the man who created the Sydney Opera House, the one and only Jorn Utzon, indeed one of the buildings there was also designed by him, we loved Alborg a fine place and a walk along the river side is a must. Plus, we visited briefly Hirtshal the port town where we would return in 2018 to catch our ferry to the Faroes and Iceland and complete seeing all countries in Scandinavia, I have both the T-shirt and proof I have been to them all, tee-hee. The journey of the E45 should take 2 hours but as we were being tourists it took all day, who cares? At Skagen we were on pitch 76. We went there after having a stroll around the harbour, quite cold and windy and we saw lots and lots of ice-breaker trawlers and ships as well as a tall ship replica. Fascinating stuff.
Monday 23rd May 2016
We left the lovely Skagen high up in Jutland quite early after a refreshing breakfast, travelling on the E45 back through Alborg, the uni town, and through Randers and Arhus and Vejle , about 3 hours driving, to the road bridge, called the little belt bridge (E20) over Arhus bay onto Denmark’s middle island of Funen and the appropriately named Middelfart (tee-hee) which is where we camped for the night, day 16 of our trip. We stopped at Randers on Jutland to have a look at the cathedral and town square, very interesting. We also stopped on the outskirts of Arhus, on the way back from our Faroes and Iceland trip in 2018 we went all around the centre of Arhus, another big university town and Denmark’s 2nd largest city after Copenhagen. We stopped for most of the day at Jelling the ancient home of the Vikings visiting both the Stones and Church which are UNESCO World heritage. And the fabulous Viking Centre, known as Kongernes Jelling and National Museum of Denmark. King Gorm, His Misses Thyra and son Harold Bluetooth (who actually built the church) feature heavily in this area and their alleged burial mounds. The Middelfart site had a very nice pool but today it was a little too cold to use it.
Tuesday 24th May 2016
Left Middlefart and travelled onto the town of Odense, Denmark’s 3rd city, we had a good look around the cobbled street centre, with all its lovely old traditional yellow washed buildings, not quite as nice as Ribe but almost and which there we went to visit Hans Christian Andersen’s boyhood home, this being where he was born, the gardens and museum nearby look nice as well, we peered thru the windows of both. We also had a walk and look around Svendborg close to the highway 9 bridge to the island of Tasinge. Svendborg’s marina, boardwalk and statue of the Snow Goose were all very pleasant. Svendborg’s harbour, station and crooked house were equally interesting. This is the place you catch the ferry to the island of Aero (or as I called it earlier Marstal) but it was just too expensive for us to consider sadly. My fave place there was the Hats and moustache shop, class ha-ha. We then travelled over the various bridges thru Tasinge island with its fab views onto the island of Langeland, our home for the next 2 days and camped at a very large site in one of the sections hedged out there at Emmerbolle strand, halfway up to the north of the island. A very nice and friendly campsite and right on the edge of the sandy beach. Chairs out time to relax, fact.
Wednesday 25th May 2016
A day at the Emmerbolle campsite on the island of Langeland chilling and then later after lunch when the sun was beating down, we carried our chairs down to the Stand , or beach in English. Glistening clear waters, keef went in swimming, basically we had the whole beach to ourselves for the afternoon, magical.
Thursday 26th May 2016
Packed up early after breakfast and went to explore the bits of Langeland island that we hadn’t already seen from top to bottom, it is however a very thin island with only a handful of roads. The island is famed for both its old windmills and grain production, anyhow once our sightseeing was complete, we went back over the various bridges back to the mainland of Funen via the titchy island of Sio first then Tasinge leaving Langeland at the bridge near Rudkobing. We so loved Langeland and would gladly return.
We travelled up the coastal road to Nyborg on Funen and then to the Storebaelt Bridge , an 18-kilometer-long suspension toll bridge that connect the main island of Funen where we were coming from to Zealand Island where we were going to. It goes across the Great Belt. The cost by 2022 is about £28 or 250 Danish Kroner, just can’t remember how much it was in 2016 but it had the same effect on us as the Confederation bridge in Canada back in 2010. Long and windy, indeed it was somewhat foggy as we drove across it. I’ve often wondered if New Zealand was discovered by a Dane hence its name but know it was first Maori or Polynesians, then Dutch then English, the reality when I have looked it up is the name “New Zealand” comes from “Zeeland” (which translates to “Sealand”) in Dutch, after the islands were seen by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman. Zeeland is a province of the Netherlands. Why is it call New Zealand? Zeeland is a low-lying coastal area in the southwestern region of the Dutch homeland whose name translates as “sea land.”
After the bridge we drove about another hour via Soro and Osted to the wonderful town of Roskilde and visited the Viking ship museum on the Roskilde Fjord, the ancients route out to plunder far off those lands, and boy were they good at it. In Genealogy I can trace one of my many family lines back to Aelgifu Elgiva NORTHUMBERLAND who married Gorm the Gormless’s father Horda Denmark (note I would certainly not have had the bottle back then to use that name direct to his face ha-ha) and therefore Viking warriors such as King Sweyn Forkbeard who ruled Britain her great grandson and by implication to Harald Bluetooth, whom I count as my 1st cousin 34 times removed, which I am well pleased with, even if latter DNA results tell me that my Viking blood has been watered down from 2% to miniscule, I’ll take that link, so proud.
Anyhow at the Viking boat museum we went on the tour, saw re-enactments of fashioning the wood for boat building and some long boat reconstructions but the real treat was inside the actual original Viking longboats that had been rescued and conserved from the waters where they sank. Trading ships, coastal ships and 34 man short long boats, 67 man long longboats, all fascinating especially accompanied by the informative tour talk, lots of pictures taken obviously. The Viking ship museum is UNESCO world heritage and deservedly so.
After the museum we went into the centre of Roskilde to visit the Domkirke , church inside of which were lavish mausoleums to various past Kings & Queens of Denmark. The church itself was magnificent. Harald Bluetooth and our hero, for various reasons that will remain nameless, Christian the 4th are walled up here. Chris 4 reigned the longest and was such an egoist he conquered , rebuilt and then renamed what became Oslo as Christiana after himself, wow!
We then travelled to Holbaek where we camped for two nights, a bit of a slopy pitch, but convenient for visiting the local areas.
Friday 27th May 2016
We were on the lovely Holbaek site today again, pitch 5, the site also had a large pool which we went in. We got great views of the Holbaek fjord which is part of the much larger Isefjord which in turn is part of the massive sea area known as the Kettegat.
We visited Helsingor (or as the Bard would have it Elsinore) and Kronberg Slot or castle from here today a drive of about 1 hour and how worth it was that. We spent most of the day there seeing all things Shakespeare and of course once again our much-maligned hero Chris 4 was everywhere, in our humble opinion he is Denmark’s answer to our own Henry 8th. There were many pictures of great actors and actresses who had performed the Bard’s works at Kronborg, such as Gielgud, Olivier, Jacobi, Burton, Leigh, Compton and mostly it would for obvious reasons be The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The modern-day prince of Denmark Christian is married to Mary Donaldson from Hobart, Tasmania, which is close to our hearts as cuz John & Diana live there.
We could look out of the castles turret windows and see Oresund sound where the ferry makes it way across the short distance to Helsingborg on the other side, we did not use this route. The moat well laid out castle walls, courtyard , where we saw an actor dressed as Hamlet, the chapel and remains of what was the old town area were all fascinating in equal measures. There were numerous images of Kings and Queens (Dronning in Danish) on the walls, and apart from Christian the 4th, Queen Sophie and Alexandra of Denmark who married for her sins Prince Bertie, Victoria’s wayward son who later became Edward 7th of England. That’s your history lesson over folks! Helsingor also paid tribute to Hans Christian Andersen by having its own little mermaid.
Afterwards we drove back via Fredensborg Slot the royal residence that we had been to once before with Mum on our Baltic cruise in 2004 when we stopped at Copenhagen. We then drove to Fredriksborg Castle and had a walk around the lovely baroque gardens and lake all in very nice weather before returning to the campsite at Holbaek, all in all a great day out. We had a quick swim back at the site to cool off before tea.
Saturday 28th May 2016
Packed up early in Holbaek. Today we left Denmark for Sweden travelling over the Oresund sound, part of the Baltic Sea on the Oresund toll bridge, we stopped ever so briefly in the middle (naughty I know but only 5 seconds) to take a picture at the same spot where that film noir scandi series the Bridge found the dismembered torso. The Bridge is the largest in Europe and don’t remember how much the toll charge was but by 2022 it is £44 pounds or 390 Danish krona. The E20 motorway then turned into the E6 motorway which we used to skirt around Malmo, deciding not to drive through such a large city. We drove through Lund but did stop on the outskirts of Kristianstad for a brief look around before driving onto our campsite at Ahus on the eastern coast of Sweden on the Baltic sea past the quite impressive clear , still and reflective Hammarsjon lake. A great place to take a pic methinks! The campsite felt like you were in the woods on the edge of the Helga A tributary and overlooking the Aspets nature reserve. After setting up and our usual cuppa we had a bit of a walk around the site, the smell of burning wood on camp fires is infectious.
Sunday 29th May 2016
Before leaving we had a bit of a look around Ahus with its old building and a quick walk on the sandy beach edging the Baltic, I was not going to dip my toe in like the Great Lakes in Canada, it was freezing even at the end of May, ha-ha. Today we drove about 3 and a half hours and 150 miles up the coast of the Baltic Sea through Solvesborg, Karlshamn, Ronneby, Karlskrona, on the E22 and over to Oland Island across the Kalmar straits on the Oland Bridge, nice views all the way across. We stopped at what we affectionately named surfers paradise, or to give it its real name Beijershamn for lunch. Here we saw an outdoor shower fixed up to a motorhome so the guy could wash off his wet suit after surfing, a great idea we thought. Lots of lilacs everywhere, we went for a board walk after lunch near Morbylanga. Oland island has over 400 windmills, it is famous for them, they were everywhere. We visited Lange Jan lighthouse past Ottenby in the far south of the island. Having had a good look around the island from Grankulla in the north to Ottenby in the south we arrived at our campsite near Morbylanga. We liked Oland island a lot.
Monday 30th May 2016
Left the campsite at Morbylanga and went up the west coast of Oland Island to visit Borgholm Slot, and interesting castle with lovely views at Solliden Slott. It is home of King Karl Gustav 16th. After having a bit of a walk around the lovely laid out gardens and looking in the Royal gift shop it was time to leave Oland Island, so we travelled back over the Oland bridge back to the mainland at Kalmar. From here we visited Pataholm a heritage village with lovely old buildings and great harbour views. The Baltic Sea near here seem to have a thousand Islands a bit like those between Canada and America at Gananoque which we did in 2010. See our holiday website at HOLIDAY2010 dot co dot uk. It was about an hour from Borgholm slot to the historic village of Pataholm. We then went onto our campsite at Monsteras pitch 8 using the scenic route through Kalmar County and Timmernabben which took about 25 minutes. Lovely scenery along the water’s edge. At the campsite we went through the woods down to the boardwalk jetty in the harbour. Plus our first experience of the traditional Swedish cinnamon bun, our love affair had begun and this was the first of many, yummy yummy.
Tuesday 31st May 2016
Day 24 of our fab Scandinavian sojourn. Left Monsteras and travelled through Oskarshamn onto Vastervik where sadly the battery on the sat nav gave up because Keef hadn’t plugged it in properly to the cigarette lighter slot, schoolboy error, anyhow not really an issue as the route we were travelling today was quite straight forward. Keef had got a cheap old TomTom one off eBay and found and downloaded maps for Holland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland and added then on so having a very cheap journeys satnav. Today’s journey was only just over 2 hours travelling. We visited Sandvik and Kallvik both in Ostergotland county, out down a coastal road off the main road, a very interesting diversion. We had a walk around Kallvik and its harbour and jetty, just lovely and so peaceful. We drove on from here to our campsite at Valdermarsvik. A nice welcome at the café cum office when we arrived and the views from the site were to die for. The Valdermarsvik fjord was truly superb scenery, possibly the best we had seen so far. We took our chairs up onto the hillside over looking the fjord and sat in the sun, keef reading, annie crocheting.
Wednesday 1st June 2016
Set off from Valdermarsvik using the motorway initially up to the Gota canal which we crossed via the Bjornavad bridge near Norrkoping, it counts as Sweden’s longest tourist destination, going from east to west in its entirety. We stopped off to have a look at the lock keeper’s cottage and one of the canals many locks. From Norrkoping we travelled onto our campsite for the night at Oxelosund. Quite a big site with lots of permanent campers and holiday chalets. We camped on the grass in one of the many rows, all neatly laid out. After setting up we wandered off to explore. There was a lovely harbour area densely surrounded by high grasses and very few people. We walked on its deserted beach and this time Keef even had a paddle in the Baltic. A very nice area to stay.
Thursday 2nd June 2016
From Oxelosund we travelled back through Nykoping onto the E4 motorway which we used to travel into Sweden’s capital, Stockholm, the total journey to the outskirts was only about 1 and a quarter hour but then finding the campsite at Bredang in the suburbs was a little more tricky. We did eventually get there were we would stay for 3 nights to give us time to really have a good look around Stockholm. The site was large and already had a Dutch motorhome caravanserai or duckling club as I prefer to call them on it. Just like one we saw near Ullapool in Scotland once. Anyhow, we parked up in one of the tarmacked slots which in fairness had all the facilities you need, each row was hedge lined to try and create aa semblance of privacy but with the numbers of folk walking past your van constantly that was impossible, we wouldn’t be at the site much over the next 3 days anyhow as sightseeing so all good. The site prices were high as well, understandably as the capital. UPDATE, this reference on reflection was for the site in Helsinki, having reviewed our images, whilst the price was high and it was packed it was grass pitches which were far less regimented that those in Helsinki (7th & 8th of June)
We walked from the campsite down to the station Bredang T-bana where we caught the equivalent of their metro into the centre alighting at Gamla Stan station. Their metro is known as the Stockholm Tunnelbana. We had a lovely long walk around, what a fabulous city seeing as much as we could right down to the harbour’s edge. Here we purchased a 2 day ticket for the Hop On Hop off sightseeing bus to enable us to get around all the attractions, we saw the ABBA museum although too expensive to go in, see the slideshows to see what we saw on day 1 in Stockholm, we had teas in the hard rock café before returning by metro to Bredang and the campsite, exhausted but truly inspired by what a great city Stockholm is.
Friday 3rd June 2016
Had breakfast then headed off again to walk past the very nice apartment blocks and gardens from the Bredang campsite to the metro and caught the train back into Gamla Stan where we walked back down to the harbour area and along past the boats and statues until we were outside the Swedish Handelsbanken at Kungsträdgårdsgatan 2, 106 70, Stockholm where the Hop ON Hop off bus stop no 1 is, we used it to alight this time near the Vasa Museum i.e. just near the funfair with rides that spread out across the harbour. We were in the museum for quite a while, all very interesting and almost Sweden’s answer to the Titanic, only many years before, OK quite a lot as built by command by then Swedish King Gustavus Aldolphus in the 1620’s, a huge ship heavily over laden that sank on its maiden voyage in Stockholm harbour soon after launch.
On the way to the bus, we had a look at both the opera house and the royal palace, indeed that was quite near the start bus stop. After making a complete loop again on the bus as part of our ticket you also got a harbour cruise which was a fascinating way of seeing from a very different perspective many of Stockholm’s gems, we had seen either by walking to or from the bus stop. In the harbour there were some mega Cruise ships which luckily weren’t moving else the wash may have capsized our little sight seeing boat, rather like the Vasa only maybe on a different scale, tee-hee. All day the weather was sunny and on occasions humid. We returned via train and foot to the campsite again thinking how privileged we were to have been able to spend two days in such a lovely city.
Saturday 4th June 2016
A day off at the campsite catching up with things like van duties, washing and just generally chilling, had a bit of a walk around the area in the afternoon, we were recharging our batteries for the next few days travel to Finland. Some lovely sunsets in the evening. Took lots of pictures
Sunday 5th June 2016
Finally left the wonderful Stockholm, would gladly come back another time. Travelled the 1 hour journey about 55 miles on the E18 to the port area of Kapellskar. Only stopped at Brevik on route for a very quick look around. Stayed at quite an interesting campsite not surprisingly called Kapellskar camping near the harbour. Our pitch was slightly up a hill, very lush grasslands with some good views. Went to sleep quite early as early morning start on the ferry to Finland tomorrow.
Monday 6th June 2022
Up early to catch the ferry, was a very short drive from the site to the Ferry port at Kapellskar, waited in line to get on our Viking line ferry for what turned out to be the most magnificent cruise we have ever been on, indeed better than the Baltic one with Mum in 2004 and way better than our 40th Anniversary cruise to the Caribbean and States in 2018, Blog 125. Our ship was called the Finnfellow, run by Finnlines, all food and drinks were included in the ticket price which was incredibly cheap for 2 adults and a motorhome, about £50 return in 2016 for a 4.5 hour journey in each direction, 150 miles of sea each way, truly stunning price. We only found this out food included when I tried to pay, and the lady said no, just help yourself whenever you wish, which we did. So, we got fed and saw some of the most magnificent scenery as we travelled along from Kapellskar in Sweden on the east coast to Naantali on the west coast of Finland via the sea of Aland and all its lovely little islands, the major one of which of course is mainland Aland and we called in there at Langnas , Lumparland to let off passengers and their vehicles and take more on. It is 30 kilometers from the Aland islands capital Mariehamn. The Aland islands are owned by Finland, but the residents speak Swedish. They and there are lots of these islands the main one our ship called in at being by far and away the largest are all in the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea.
Maps of our ferry journey
The slideshow to accompany this magnificent ferry trip is backed by Abba music, appropriately, the sea was calm, it was sunny and blissfully relaxing, we bought Finn Bear for Charlie (or Peanut as she was known in the womb!) We loved looking at Aland and its islands, eventually we came into the headlands off Turku, Finland, looking rather industrial, it is a main shipping, cargo port for Finland. It turned slightly to come into Naantali. We drove off, set the satnav to Finland and located our campsite for the night, a lush green hilly site on the edge of the Gulf of Bothnia, fab views down from our pitch all fringed by the green pines, elements of Canada here.
Tuesday 7th June 2022
Day 31. Drove from the lovely site at Naantali onto Rastila camping site in Helsinki the Finnish capital. We were on pitch 13.
The site was large and already had a Dutch motorhome caravanserai or duckling club as I prefer to call them on it. Just like one we saw near Ullapool in Scotland once. Anyhow, we parked up in one of the tarmacked slots which in fairness had all the facilities you need, each row was hedge lined to try and create aa semblance of privacy but with the numbers of folk walking past your van constantly that was impossible, we wouldn’t be at the site much over the next 2 days anyhow as sightseeing so all good. The site prices were high as well, understandably as the capital. The other great thing about the Rastila site was that the metro train station was right next door, hugely convenient for getting into the city centre. The journey via the scenic route which started off on Highway one through the industrial area of Turku was about 3 and a half hours, but worth doing. If we had just used the motorway into Helsinki, it would have been just over 1 hour but somewhat boring.
Our first stop after Naantali was the seaside resort town of Hanko , a past holiday resort for rich Russians, it was a 2-hour drive through some very nice scenery, woodlands, hills, abundant flora and fauna, didn’t see much native wildlife, although some bird species we have not come across before. Especially remember the lovely beach walk in the sunshine, some interesting old and new architecture, i.e., villa tellina and margarita, pine trees everywhere, water tower, old church, and the formal gardens all in flower. It was about hours’ drive after a fab time in Hanko to the site in Helsinki.
Wednesday 8th June 2017
Up early, breakfasted and caught the metro next door to the site, Rastila station into central Helsinki. Interesting colour scheme on the metro, all red. Anyhow it was a somewhat grey and miserable day weather wise but not on the discovery front. From the main station we found the stop for the Hop on Hop Off bus tour in the main square and having looked around both the cathedral and town hall, both very grandiose, we paid and got on for our voyage of discovery around the Finnish capital. In our humble opinion most of the architecture was drab Russian utilitarian. Had some lovely cardamom buns as a snack, yummy. The main square also commemorated Alexander 2nd of Finland who was murdered by the Russians. Still raining it was nice to get on the bus. Although the drizzle did obscure our view somewhat. Bus tours are a great way to find the things you really want to see about a city. Lots of trams, funfair and Finn sky wheel on the harbour area, market square was very interesting area, and the market was on today. Loved its Havis Amanda statue. Presidential palace, esplanade, lots of boating and rally cars (Finns are world champions at this sport) at eira beach, big cruise ships at the melkki cruise terminal, by the afternoon the sun had finally come out, so we got to see both the botanic gardens and the old Olympic stadium nearby, that where all their long distance runners are celebrated. We got off the bus after 1 and a bit trip around the circuit near the Hard Rock Café where we had a chocolate milk shake and not surprisingly Keef bought a T-shirt. Our waiter was from Hungary and had a very interesting chat with him, his English was superb, he loved living in Helsinki which was a great recommendation.
We then caught the metro back to Rastila and the campsite, as now sunny went for a walk around and saw both wooden holiday chalets and a Finnish dog show a bit like cruft’s, tee-hee, pooches everywhere. We also strolled down to Rastila’ s beach called uimaranta and its marina and harbour, all very pleasant especially as so warm. The Finns love their sauna’s and we saw wooden out buildings housing these everywhere.
Tea and bed early, tomorrow we are off to discover the rest of Finland, ok maybe!
Thursday 9th June 2017
Day 33 left the wonderful Rastila and Helsinki and travelled onto Hamina on the E18 which also doubles as a scenic route. We firstly stopped at the village of Porvoo on the Porvoo river, it had a lovely old heritage bridge , old boats, quaint wooden houses and shops riverside and cafes. We had a lovely long walk around, indeed whilst out by the old wooden historic river bridge we met a young girl on her bike who told us in brilliant English, they all speak it brilliantly, that she did tourists’ trips around the old town. I remember one of my first experiences in a garage in Finland , just outside Naantali where I couldn’t work out how to use my credit card and the little girl behind the counter said in strident English it’s the other way up sir, amazing, so wish I had done better at languages at school. The cathedral and its cobbled square were also wonderful. The old schoolhouse was equally amazing. Anyhow we walked back along the river to the wonderful old, cobbled town square. The old Irish Embassy built 1820 was amazing. We really liked Porvoo.
After Porvoo we drove onto to just before the Russian border past Vaalimaa, literally, next stop St Petersburg, which we loved when we visited in 2004 with Mum especially the Hermitage Museum, artwork to die for. Since we had no papers and didn’t want the motorhome impounded, we turned around just before the crossing in a layby and returned to Hamina town, another traditional old Finish town. It took about 30 minutes and 25 miles from the Russian border.
Hamina town and its magnificent town hall had a feel of being a cross between Hanko and Porvoo as old traditional Finish towns. The Linnoitus fortress was also worth a visit. It was built by the Finns to stop the advancement of Peter the great who wanted to capture all the seaports along the coasts for Russia, maybe this is reminiscent of Putin in 2022 and Ukraine, sadly! After a good look around, we called into the Hamina campsite and restaurant, by the water’s edge and booked in. The site was quite empty, so we had the pick of the pitches. Very forestry, and we set up and went for a walk around, down to the sea and beach along one of the many boardwalks. A very nice, deserted beach. Had a long walk around the site, looking at the amazing wooden sauna buildings wood fired, must be amazing in winter.
Friday 10th June 2016
Keef couldn’t sleep so up early, about 5 a.m. and went and had a shower and a good look around. The site is on a very sandy base. Back afterwards and Annie had awoken and showered we had breakfast and set off on our journey back to Naantali with a real feel that we had at least in part sampled some of Finland’s culture and scenery and we liked it.
The journey back to Naantali was all via motorway and took just over 3 hours by passing Helsinki , through Espoo and Turku and back into the town for a look around which we hadn’t done when we stayed 4 days previously. We parked up and had a good walk along the boardwalk surrounding the harbour and marina, all very interesting. Weather not too bad. Bit overcast but warm. We then had a good walk around the old town, seeing many old traditional wooden houses , the town hall with its old clock tower hovers above every sight line in Naantali. Some of the streets were steep all leading back down to the harbour. A very interesting town. After that it was back to the campsite, this time we were on pitch 51, closer to the waters edge but still on the flat. Such nice views we then set up and relaxed for the rest of the day ready for our cruise back to Sweden tomorrow.
Saturday 11th June 2016
Having stayed in the same campsite at Nanntali we knew our way back to the ferry terminal , the Naantali Nadendal, pronounced Natalie, and so most of the day was spent doing that lovely ferry trip via the Aland islands and multiple little islands on route back to Kapellskar. Can’t recommend this trip enough, just so relaxing, and free food and drink as well, what more could you ask for. Our ship this time was the Finneagle. We saw a lot of salmon farms on route as well. We also got to watch, heaven forbid, the Queen’s 90th celebrations on the TV delivered in Finnish, amazing, ha-ha, I of course stood to attention. In general, it is all plain sailing but there is a very rocky coastline, so we saw many lighthouses through the Gulf of Bothnia. We even went past the Finnfellow , the one we went over to Finland on, on the way back , they obviously use 2 vessels on this trip. There are many private islands with their own boat jetties along the route. We eventually got back to the Kapellskar campsite in Sweden at about 6.30 in the evening. It is quite a long boat trip, but so enjoyable, at 8hours 34 minutes. This time we were on pitch 16, tired we retired early after a snack as well fed on the ferry trip. So loved Finland.
Sunday 12th June 2016
After breakfast set off reasonably early from the Kapellskar site on the banks of the sea of Aland in the gulf of bothnia. It was going to be a 5 hour plus drive today, initially back through Brevik and Norrtalje turning off the 77 onto the main E4 into the old capital of Sweden Uppsala which the Vikings used as one of their centres of governance, a fascinating place with lots of history and amazing buildings. We had a good long walk around seeing the old water mill, senate house, st olaf’s arch, the gamla or old town, the old catherdral or domkirke to name but a few and saw folk in traditional dress going to church, as it was Sunday, all very interesting.
Then it was onto the turning leading to alvkarlaby where there was a huge Chinese dragon gate with lions, a rather strange find in a Scandinavian area but extremely lavish and large. We then used the coastal road onto Gavle and then on from there to the start of Siljan lake at Rattvik. This whole area counts as the equivalent of the Swedish lake district and travelling along through Mora and lake Orsasjon to our campsite for the night at Alvdalens camping, a nice site on the banks of the Osterdalalven river. There were some interesting BBQ pit houses on site for use by anyone, we had a nice evening stroll around the site and along the river, all very pleasant.
The guy in the office offered me a chance to catch grayling and trout in the river, but I’m no fisherman. Tee-hee
Monday 13th June 2016
Spent a lovely 2nd day here in the lovely campsite, took the motorhome out to have a look at the nearby ski resorts including the wonderful ski jumping slopes, even though it was not winter you could easily envisage them being used, fascinating. We also had a good look around the area and then returned early to the site to both chill, stroll along the river again and have a nice BBQ in the evening, chicken if I remember rightly. From a taste perspective however chicken in Scandinavia is quite different.
Alvdalen has 4 ski areas using for both skiing and snowboarding. Including Grovefjall, Idre fjall and salen, it doesn’t take a great brain to realise the Fjall probably means mountain in Swedish tee-hee.
Tuesday 14th June 2016
After 2 days in the lovely Swedish lake district we are moving on across the border into Norway but first we visited the wonderful town of Nusnas, Dalarna county on the edge of the huge and majestic Siljan lake. Nusnas is about an hour away from Alvdalen and is the home of the world famous Dala horse. We visited the Grannas A Olssen workshops and watched some very skilled workers creating these wooden masterpieces. From the huge to the miniscule indeed so small you could only see them under a microscope. There was also a history museum within the workshop showing Dala horses back through time to some of the very first ever crafted. These would we worth a fortune if you owned them. They have travelled worldwide, indeed we bought one for our grand daughter which she still has in her bedroom to this day. They were a hit at the 1939 world fair.
This is the smallest available, fascinating, it is followed by a slideshow of all the images we took whilst visiting the Dala horse workshops, enjoy!