Scandinavia - Finland & Baltic States Tour 2013

[Tahoe_XC]

Very cool. Hopefully you have timed your trip to coincide the mid summer solstice Scandinavia, from a culture perspective it is amazing to watch how wild and crazy such reserved and polite the people can become on a day that never ends.

Drive safe!

[ssicarman]

Obviously my knowledge of flags is lacking. Did a fast guess on what I saw of your route on posted map. Apparently I did not look close enough.

Lets try again:
Wales, UK, France, Belgium (I thought that I had it in there as I had to verify my spelling but it would appear I did not put it in), Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and then the repeats back to Wales. Who knew this would be so educational.

Enjoy the journey. Looking forward to your travelogue.

[XCovlov70]

Obviously my knowledge of flags is lacking. Did a fast guess on what I saw of your route on posted map. Apparently I did not look close enough.

Lets try again:
Wales, UK, France, Belgium (I thought that I had it in there as I had to verify my spelling but it would appear I did not put it in), Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and then the repeats back to Wales. Who knew this would be so educational.

Enjoy the journey. Looking forward to your travelogue.

Brilliant 10 out of 10 when I get to your part of the world then a Pint of Beer will be on me!

[XCovlov70]

Stage 1 UK – Calais (214 Miles)

As our previous ‘Adventure’ our first stage will be through the UK.
Well let’s face it when you live on an Island you don’t have a lot of choice in which direction you can go to get off!

Still at least we remembered to pack the 8Kg of ‘Porridge Oats’ for Breakfast!

So once again we are heading across country this time in the pouring rain to hop on the Eurotunnel Train, then as we exit ‘Le Manche’ 40 minutes later we are in France!

Over we go on the Second Severn Crossing
When I get on this Bridge it reminds me of the Oresund Bridge that we crossed on our Arctic Circle Tour in 2010 but it is a lot shorter in length so when I summon up The Ride of The Valkyrie’s’ the music is too long for the short trip across, so we have to speed the music up!





A short ‘Pit Stop’ for a sandwich and then to check Dinner in the Slow Cooker that I forgot to switch on as we left the secure compound having hitched up to the Tin Tent.
This time it’s a Beef Curry!



I kid you not the 20Amp Outlet in ‘Flamenco Reds’ “Posterior” combined with a Slow Cooker and 600W Inverter beats anything for cooking when ‘On the road’ and it has been very interesting to hear about other folks copying this method of ‘Meals on Wheels’!

Not much further finds us traversing the M25 reputedly the ‘World’s Largest Car Park’ as this Motorway goes right around the outer perimeter of London and gets absolutely jam packed at certain times with traffic that can be stationary for quite some time, thankfully today it kept moving!



After a few more miles and a bit more time passing the various road signs…



We arrive at ‘Le Manche’ and start the check in process.

Checked in now and Flamenco Red is patiently waiting for the train, while the Slow Cooker has a short rest to let the juices soak into the meat!

While making a comfort break in the waiting room I spotted this picture which was taken when the Tunnellers that worked from the UK and the other team that worked from France finally met at some point under the English Channel.
I remember reading that they had broken through within a very close distance of side to side position of the two tunnels which was a fantastic achievement at the time.



While after the noticeboard announces ‘Departure’ for our slot we get passed the Police and Customs check as well as a quick verification that the LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) Bottles are turned off and we are in the lane for boarding.
As we get the ‘Green’ boarding light we make our way around to the train, crawl onboard and 45 minutes later we are through and into….



Next stop is one of the Carrefour Markets in Calais where we can give ‘Flamenco Red’ a good drink of that wonderful thing called ‘Gazole’ before we get tucked into a nicely cooked dinner, and quiet night before setting off quite early for the next stage that will see us way up North in Germany.


Bonne nuit! (Good night!)

[XCovlov70]

Stage 2 Calais – Rheda Weidenbrück (320 Miles)

Bonjour!

After a rather wet & windy night, it was up and away by 06:45 this morning for the stage that took us through France, Belgium & The Netherlands into Germany and our next stop at Rheda (Weidenbrück is on the other side of the Motorway)!

1st From France into Belgium….



With a miserable grey sky but temperature was not too bad at 12C



With some rather interesting buildings as we travelled along the motorway!



Followed by a nicely decorated wall that was painted on both sides looking onto the road



While next up was a short trip near Antwerp through the Kennedy Tunnel





Then a bit further down the road we spot this cloud formation that looks like a Mogul Skiing Field where we expected to see images in white with halos and a pair of wings come flying down or across and whooping it up!





Pushing on it wasn’t long before we came to the Dutch Border…



While it wasn’t much further to the German Border but interestingly the only ‘Euro’ sign was 800 meters before you got to it, so all we got was…



With a few places that looked different to what you normally see…









It wasn’t long before we reached our ‘Night Halt’ in the town of Rheda.



Quick spot of lunch after getting set up and it was then off into Rheda for a look around which is a rather nice ‘Old’ town…



One of the entrances to ‘Schloss Rheda’













This is ‘Schloss Rheda’ which is still occupied and so is private…







Then from there we made our way into the town centre passed the Maypole…













While as you get a bit further on you come to this slab concrete monolith of a ‘Town Hall’ that for me does absolutely nothing but look hideous surrounded by some really nice old houses….



Late on this afternoon we saw the Sunshine while the temperature got up to 20C!
It was almost ‘sunbathing weather’.

Here tonight, gone tomorrow for the next leg up to Fehmarn Burg!

Guten Nacht (Good night!)

[XCovlov70]

Stage 3 Rheda Weidenbrück – Fehmarn Burg (260 Miles)

Guten Morgen! (Good Morning!)

Nice bit of a lie in this morning as the trip is a bit shorter!

While it was back on the Autobahn and into the Monday traffic which was quite heavy at times with some drivers travelling way over the 120Kmph limit!





The results of the ‘speeding’ was found in a couple of places where the ‘accidents’ took place leading to rather long tailbacks while the mess was cleared up!



One of the Autobahn Bridges near Hamburg…



While in another ‘accident tailback’ it gave us a chance to see this rather interesting machine…



Water Tower and ‘Bug’ hanging on for dear life on the windscreen!



Then after a a couple of rest breaks we get to the signs for the Puttgarden Ferry and our next night halt!



While we didn’t expect to see any of this, this far South and with temperature of 21C today it was an even bigger surprise!



A complete roof of Solar Panels, sadly no good for the overnight halt!



‘Rastplatz’ just before Fehmarn…



While looking across the bay to the bridge that connects Fehmarn Burg & Puttgarden to the mainland…



Which after leaving the ‘Rastplatz’ we make our way around to…



And over…



Then after leaving the ‘Autobahn’ we make our way into the town of Fehmarn Burg with this rather nice church that we came back to have a closer look at after we found the main carpark and paid the appropriate fee for our stay…€2 x 2Hrs







While off into the town centre…





‘Rathaus’ (Town Hall) and this one was more in keeping with the other town buildings..





Spotted this house in the town that has been around for a bit of time…





While the horse statue in front of this hotel & restaurant had been decorated by schoolchildren….



Although our ferry is booked for tomorrow we went to see if we could sail a day early, but as the company wanted to charge us the same price again making our ticket double the price we declined their kind offer and went off to spend the night down by the seashore before coming back for the correct ferry tomorrow, so we are now listening to all the birds and waiting for the rabbits to appear as the banks are full of burrows!



Next stage is into Denmark…tomorrow.

Guten Nacht (Good night!)

[XCovlov70]

Stage 4 Fehmarn Burg - Rastplats Farø (50 Miles)

Guten Morgen! (Good Morning!)

Well the rain hammered down last night followed at 03:00 this morning by the fog horns of which I think there are 3 off them sounding off along the coast, still it was a fairly decent night’s rest with an 07:30 start for the ferry to Denmark while outside the ‘Tin Tent’ the day started like this, the bright ball in the centre is the sun!…



Off to the ferry gave us a misty road for starters…



Then after a short run we arrived at the check in gates…



While the man on check in read the wrong details until I asked him to turn the page over, then we were OK and he actually smiled! I had used the piece of paper to record the two reservations, one for this part and the other for Helsinki – Tallin which comes later….

We then got the confirmation paper that also included this superb offer that resulted in quite a number of people trying to consume their 20 Cigarettes during the 45 minute crossing which we thought was rather stupid!



When we got called forward to embark going up onto the upper deck, because I was not quick enough for ‘Mr Grumpy’ who was controlling the embarkation I got a very dour look along with a mouthful from a really unhappy man, which was a good start and pleasant way of advertising the ferry company for NO repeat business, ‘Customer Friendly?’ he was not!!

On board and gate is closed, embarkation took all of 10 minutes for everyone!



Upper ‘roadway/ramp’ is hoisted away from the ferry…



Bow or Stern, not sure which as they are both ‘pointed’ starts to come down and seal off the front or back as we pull away from the dockside…







All closed up and off into the mist…



Passing by the outer harbour wall…



With a couple of pictures of the upper deck and inside…







45 minutes later it’s ‘roll off’ time as we have arrived in Denmark, and the sea was like a millpond…



Still misty so the Denmark Border sign is not that clear!



Oops! For a minute we thought we had somehow been transferred to Holland when we saw this along the roadside?



Not much further and we are at the Rastplats with the bridge just emerging out of the mist as it gets burnt off….



Then as the temperature climbed to 20C by just after midday the rest of the area came into view…





Next stage is into Sweden…tomorrow.

Good night! (Don’t know the Danish for Good Night!)

[XCovlov70]

Stage 5 Rastplats Farø – Angelholm (110 Miles)

Good Morning!

Well after a rather nice day, the dark clouds once again formed up and just after dinner the heavens opened once again and the rain hammered down!
Thankfully it did not last and having started off around 6C it slowly got warmer and reached 20C as we made our way North…

It was not long before we started to see the signs for the HelsingØr – Helsingborg Ferry…



While a short while after there it was…



Arriving at the check in gate with the booking paper the correct way around it was a couple of minutes and we were in Lane 8 ready for boarding which happened a short while after as there are 3 of these ferries providing a more or less continuous service across this stretch of water with a 20 minute journey time from one side to the other …





As we made our way around to the ferry there was just time for a quick picture of this rather nice building….



Then we found ourselves a bit like Jonah going into the mouth of the whale!



While a few minutes later having loaded the Trucks we were off to the other side…









Then 20 minutes later we are across waiting for the barrier to rise so we can drive off…



As we pass through the ferry complex and get outside we see the welcome sign for the city..



Then manage to pass through a little bit of the ‘Centrum’ before we head out to the Toll Free Motorway…











After a very short trip on the Motorway we reached our next planned halt but found that it was a bit tight for space for us, so decided to push on to a place called Angelholm as we had planned to call into a Lidl Supermarket for a bit of shopping, and found that they have an excellent carpark while just across the road is this rather nice thatched building…



Having then asked a young lady in Lidl how far the city centre was and told it was about 20 minutes walking, however she offered us a lift as she had an appointment so we accepted and set off with a nice conversation taking place along the way…

Having then been dropped off we made our way past the city hospital…



Crossing one of several bridges that cross a meandering river at different points around the city…







We found the town square with the Tourist Office….



With a couple of views around the square…





Before we made our way down to the railway station passing this rather nice old building on the way…



Then the town ‘Kyrke’…





And this rather interesting headstone on one of the graves with the Roman Legionnaires Helmet and Sword but Nils Arvid Biure who is buried there was a Major in the Skanska Dragon Regiment….



Back over another bridge….



Then we get to the Railway Station…





Could not help be impressed by the number of bicycles that people use to part commute with before getting the train…



However I have never seen a railway station that provided a Tyre Inflation facility like the one we saw here!



That’s it for today….

Further North tomorrow.

Good night! (Don’t know the Swedish for Good Night either but will find out!)

[ssicarman]

Green grass and flowers!

Thanks for the pictures. I enjoy the shots all of the old buildings, just something that we don't see here. We seem to have a culture here of if it is old it needs to be torn down.
The three wheel car was interesting. The motor home with mural of the American southwest was a surprise.

After a very short trip on the Motorway we reached our next planned halt but found that it was a bit tight for space for us, so decided to push on to a place called Angelholm as we had planned to call into a Lidl Supermarket for a bit of shopping, and found that they have an excellent carpark while just across the road is this rather nice thatched building…

When you say "carpark" do you mean this is where you overnighted/camped?

[XCovlov70]

Green grass and flowers!

Thanks for the pictures. I enjoy the shots all of the old buildings, just something that we don't see here. We seem to have a culture here of if it is old it needs to be torn down.
The three wheel car was interesting. The motor home with mural of the American southwest was a surprise.



When you say "carpark" do you mean this is where you overnighted/camped?

Hi ssicarman.
'Yes', we were mixed in the with the overnight 'Truckers' as there were no campsites in the area open until the 1st May!