Scandinavia etc

[austin]

We will probably do our own thing, but we head off towards Scandinavia soonish with a very detailed plan of heading east for a bit then North for a very long way until we run out of scenery, then south until a ferry reappears.

So any must sees, must do's on a very vague and very flexible itinerary. We will not be going to Auschwitz or Belsen or anything similar. Too upsetting and we don't need that. Also not that interested in culture, churches, arts or performances unless they are very rustic, local and authentic. We much prefer natural scenery, local people doing their thing and associated random encounters, local festivals, street food, and stuff like that. We also quite like epic scale abandoned or derelict industry, strange buildings and the like. Anne additionally likes the usual girly stuff - shops, romantic historical / tragic stuff, cake and hunky men in uniform. I can put up with the the first three for a while, and leave her to her fantasies on the fourth one.

Seriously though, the route is completely unplanned in any detail other than (ish): Rotterdam, Germany, Czech republic, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Norway & Sweden & Norway & Sweden until we run out of superlatives, Denmark, Holland...... home. We will be camping most of the time in our super dooper new (to us) Vango F10 tent - which we tried out this week in fab weather in Dumfries and Galloway

So hints and tips very welcome.

 

[soho]

I could go on and on,but I'll keep it short. Suggestions -

Boat to Hamburg, ride to North Jutland in Denmark, and take a ferry to Kristiansand/Norway.

Or - Hamburg to Copenhagen, then an overnight ferry to Oslo/Norway (lovely food and a good sleep) missing out boring ride up through Sweden (really).

Denmark is flat and boring (except the coast road ride from Copenhagen to Helsingor for the short ferry cross to Sweden if you want to ride all the way ?) Sweden is all flat and all trees all the way North to Oslo. Norway is FABULOUS everywhere and the ride to the top isn't really neccessary as south to mid country is ALL spectacular, best riding though, would be up the western coast line hugging the Fjords.

Only single negative is Norways prices, stock up in Danish supermarkets before the ferry !

 

[Steve T]

Absolutly no idea of what to look at or watch at that end of Euroland, but I'm already booking a bulk supply of popcorn and fizzy drinks to consume whilst viewing your pictures and reading your words as you chew up the miles.

Steve T

 

[soho]

Just noticed how far east you are going ! There is a ferry from Ystad,southern Sweden that sails to Bornholm and then on to Poland.Very few people have done this route, it very different ! Google map - Christiansø
Bornholm to Christiansø. You can visit Christiansø from Gudhjem and the trip takes about 1 hour it's amazing.

 

[Raymo]

Kjell
posted this on XRV a while back

High Roads in Norway

and here

The ten highest roads in Norway:

Norway is Ace, ( can be bloody wet and cold thought, but when the weather is good it is really good )

You don't need to batter all the way up as the western fjords are great and there are some great roads, only open in the summer ( well maintained too ).

These were the old roads and are now replaced by tunnels ( avoid them if you can but do the longest one, for a laugh

Every thing is expensive, ( take plenty of whisky , don't drink it..... as drink driving is just a tad short of a hanging offence, but its good for bartering), and you can wild camp anywhere

 

[Alba]

Another cracking tour,enjoy and post post post

 

[Buggles]

I did 2.5 weeks in Norway some time ago, and I'd gladly spend a month or more riding there (I just can't afford it).

The Trollstigen road is a must do, as is the Telemark area. Food is bloody expensive, as is everything else. Make sure you don't break anything on your bike, as Norwegian mechanics have hourly rates that would make a city barrister blush in embarrassment.

Most campsites have log cabins as well that are only a little more expensive. Lifesaver when the local weather has your gear soaked well past the point of water resistance.

Really jealous, looks like an amazing trip!

JB

 

[austin]

Alrighty we are well on our way nearly a week in fact but wifi has been hard to find. We have crossed the Netherlands and Germany (4nights and the old east germany is particularly good) into Czech Republic where camped last night in Pilsner and drunk quite a lot of very nice very cheap beer. Later a hot and slow ride through Prague saw us and the bike overheating but some great sights and now about 20miles north cooling down and dodging some heavy looking rain clouds before finding a campsite somewhere abouts. Czech Republic is good.

Pics later.

 

[austin]

That's the tent up in a light shower but huge thunderclouds threaten however the campsite has a bar/restaurant and a kitchen shelter so what the hell.

Meagre pics from the phone.

First night - whole field to ourselves

Harra in the Harz mountains. Nights 3&4. And a little festival we bumped into. They (buxom wenches) forced us to eat loads of home baked cakes. Really they did

Pilsner

 

[Lowflyer]

Brilliant Austin,

Keep them pics coming, love your reports

Two observations so far

a) Being Civils biased, that is a fantastic cobble set pattern, really original, just like the old days sigh

b) Where are the pics of the buxom wenches, ??? we want to see those big ladies.

Great stuff Austin, hope you and Anne have a fantastic adventure ahead of you.

 

[Steve T]

Not jealous . . . . . . MUCH

Pop corn on order, awaiting next instalment

Stay safe

Steve T

 

[austin]

Aye, John them cobbles are something else. Proper granite? setts in a brain curdling pattern. We have seen them in a few places here. Harra is in the Thurnigen area of East Germany. Lots of mines one of their main products is Thurnigen stone ( a fine slate I think) used for putting a fine sharpness on knives and razors. I have one from my grandad and can remember him stropping his razor and a carving knife on it.

We have been a bit economical with the camera to date so will try and rectify that in the next few days.

We met a couple of rather sad brits today - living in Skoda town (can't recall what this place is really called) who moved here years ago because they were fans of Skoda. Weird, but I guess it takes allsorts.

Buxom wench..... I will see what I can do without getting a slap.

More to follow.

 

[boboneleg]

Looks cracking, onto the next place

 

[Flyfifer]

I chatted with Boatman, at Strontian, about his Nordkap trips and look forward to more pics from your trip as you wander North.
Looks ---- so far so good !!

Ian

 

[austin]

So, since my last update we have probably done a thousand or so miles. Crossed Czechia into the east of Slovakia and into the Tatra Mountains, out of the north of Slovakia past the high Tatra - which are awesome and on a par with the Tetons in Idaho for impact. We have traversed Poland South to north and crossed into Lithuania earlier today. Now two times zones to the east - same as Moscow.

Slovakia was great and we should have spent more time there but the weather forecast was dire for 2-3 days so we dashed north and avoided it all. We spoke to a couple of camper vanners who said it had been very wet so probably the right thing. The south of Poland is in the Tatra mountsins so scenery and roads are great but once north it gets rather flat and monotonous and busy. I can't say it has been one of our better journeys for the past two days. Campsites were also hard to come by in Poland and we ended up renting a cabin the other night. We had thought of wild camping in the forest of which there is an awful awful lot but the plagues of mosquitoes as soon as we stopped at a likely site put paid to that plan.

Last night we camped next to a couple of Romanian bikers on their way to Noordcap. One of them worked for a Romanian/Transylvanian radio station and phoned in a live update on their travels at 8.30 each morning. It is apparently very popular as travel for travels sake is unusual for Romanians. We were included this morning. Fame??

 

[Steve T]

Fame!

More like Infamy

"Infamy, infamy, they've all got it infamy"

Cracking progress and managing to stay dry = result when compared to your last Euro jaunt.

keep up the good work

Steve T



PS - why you put up piccy of hills that look like ladies Chesticals?

PPS - they look like ickle wickermen, those things in the field

 

[austin]

The name of the two mountains translates as the Stupid mountain apparently. Or so Czech guy who stopped to eat his lunch on that bench with us told us. The hay stooks are all over the place and look like something scary out of Dr Who. It seems that hay is a major crop here and we have seen it being cut with scythes, strimmers, tractors, and even quad bikes. Scythes and strimmers are best as there's usually a pretty young girl in short shorts with a pikel turning the straw just behind.

 

[Lowflyer]

The name of the two mountains translates as the Stupid mountain apparently. Or so Czech guy who stopped to eat his lunch on that bench with us told us. The hay stooks are all over the place and look like something scary out of Dr Who. It seems that hay is a major crop here and we have seen it being cut with scythes, strimmers, tractors, and even quad bikes. Scythes and strimmers are best as there's usually a pretty young girl in short shorts with a pikel turning the straw just behind.

Would that be the same pretty young girl in short shorts that turned those hay stooks into phallic symbols ??

Nice one Austin, more pics please

 

[austin]

Last night's campsite was a bit poor - a truck stop for camper vans really but it had some grass and a picnic shelter next to the kids play area so we could get out the wind and rain. But it was right on a junction of the A1 = Lithuania's only motorway as far as I can tell - and the main drag into Kaunas, Lithuania's second city. It was a noisy and bright night with the traffic and the street lights. But we got the tent up and down in the dry so that was good.

Shopping for food is nightmare here, as was Poland, as I don't get barely a word of the lingo. Not that much is familiar either, even the bread is weird - we got some mint flavoured bread with soup at lunch today. and some of the flavours they add to things like yoghurt is so different - muesli flavoured anyone; Add it to muesli yes, but flavoured???. The meat is sold in cuts I don't get and apart from the obvious its hard to tell what you are buying. They also love their pickles and preserved fish - whole rows in the supermarket with dozens of sorts of pickled gherkins, cabbage, beetroot, onions, mixed veg, alongside the herring, sardines, eels, carp and all-sorts. Anyway it means we have had some weird camping meals - sweetened cheesey dumpling with a quick tomatoey ratatouille things I knocked up has been the oddest so far. I thought the dumplings would be like raviolis.

Also when just travelling around it feels like we are really missing out as there's loads of touristy type signs and information but all in languages I cant make head nor tail of. Frustrating and we have probably missed out on quite a lot. However most people in Lithuania so far do speak at least some english so once you can ask then help is usually forthcoming. The Scandinavian blondes are particularly nice (eh John).

We reached the Baltic sea at Klaipeda today. Its very windy and very cold but the town is OK with a decent old bit, and some huge docks that were pretty comprehensively sealed off from casual visitors. I think its Lithuania's only sea port and there's a huge rail yard too. Some of it will be legacy from the soviet era.

Some pics if they will upload. Wifi at the campsite seems slow.

Said campsite, not only the roads but a building site behind as well. Heck we really live it up sometimes.

Russian Registered car - the first I have ever seen. I didn't think they let them out. Probably from Kaliningrad a Russian enclave on the Baltic coast which is only a few miles away.

Soviet Era monument by the looks of things. I haven't looked up what the inscription says yet.

Most of the cities and towns we have been in have loads of parks and open spaces always immaculate too.

you will have to wait for other pics as iCloud seems to have stopped working....
Clipper in town for show


Baltic Sea was wild. Nice long beach and heavily geared for summer visitors. On a nice day I guess its great.

 

[austin]

Try again with photos from t'other day

Plus some from Latvia

A couple of Townscapes from the nearest place to our campsite

And our campsite. It's lovely and very peaceful.

Anne on the phone to son#2 who is off to South Korea before we get back

And the evening sun on our tent just now

And guess which idiot left his ignition on most of the afternoon. Luckily and with the help of google translate a guy at the campsite let me hook my battery up to his charger and all is good now.

Latvia is a nice place. A lot like parts of Scotland. Heavily wooded with open empty (crappy surfaced) roads and lots of lakes. Bugs too. Apart from the bugs there's a lot to like here - except the shops. I thought I had bought milk today. It was a litre of yoghurt. . Huh.