Scandinavia - Finland & Baltic States Tour 2013

[XCovlov70]

Cue Willie Nelson to sing "On the Road Again".

Hope that you guys are keeping warm. Looks a little chilly.
The Volvo plant tour looking interesting. It was nice of the folks at Volvo to go above and beyond for you guys. I did a technicians tour of the Springhill TN Saturn plant in the late 90's and got the same no pictures rule. It was interesting seeing how they put them together. The museum tour was interesting as well.
As usual interesting pictures. Now all you need to do is see if you can find some better weather.


Did a bit of looking today for your yellow American car. It is a 1961-1964 Cadillac 6200.

http://www.100megsfree4.com/cadillac/cad1960/cad61s.htm

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=h...QEwAA&dur=3210

Must admit I was thinking of Johnny Cash and 'Walk the line' while we were doing the Volvo Tour!
I must admit that I am still getting over how the people at Volvo went out of their way for us, and it was truly fabulous to see all the stages of the assembly.

As far as the weather goes I think we might have a small problem until we get further inland as there is only one place seemingly in Norway that has worse weather than where we are and that amounts to 222 days of rain in the year!

Thanks for digging up the information on the car, I did think because of the shape that it might have been a Plymouth Dart if there was such a vehicle?

[XCovlov70]

Stage 11 Sykkylven - Ålesund (16.8 Miles)

God morgen! (Good Morning!)

On the road again by 08:00 this morning, thinking that the ferry was another 17 Miles down the road, but I clean forgot that TomTom was programmed to include the ferry!

So after 1.5miles we arrived at the ferry terminal at Ørsneset…



Even though the lights were on there was no chance of a cup of coffee as the terminal building did not open till 10:00….



Then the ferry arrives and like ‘Moby Dick’ the massive jaws open to disgorge the traffic and passengers onto the dockside…



I nearly expected to see someone with the Grand Prix ‘Start Flag’ as the cars came off the ferry 3 abreast!



While a couple of minutes later we were making our way aboard….



A very short but smooth crossing...



Normally two ferries operate this run but in winter with less traffic they only use the one Roll On – Roll Off Ferry, the other ferry is anchored and out of service…





While extra vehicle spaces are also on the upper sections along each side of the ferry, the man on the left of the picture was standing outside his car talking to the next vehicle driver along…



Even TomTom was still functioning and recalculating as we travelled across the water, but I do wish ‘Jane’ (The TomTom Voice) would stop telling me “In 80 Yards turn left” I’m on a boat ‘dear’ and cannot presently get off!



As we neared Magerholm the mouth once again opened wide…



Then while the ferries engines kept us up against the landing stage off we came…





Following the directions from TomTom we made our way on a cold and dismal day to our next campsite ‘Volsdalen’ which is 2 miles from the centre of Ålesund…



Campsite entrance…



Reception on the left for checking in….



While just around the corner on a very nice camping pitch is this 8 Meter ‘Kabe Royal Hacienda’ which I would imagine is extremely luxurious inside...



We are on the right, and when the clouds clear away along with the rain this is part of our view…



Then looking a bit further left….



While looking at a booklet from the Tourist Office in Strym about Geiringer Fjord we would have to wait for around 4 weeks before we stood any chance of getting there by the road we had planned to use, not only that, the road out of the place is a quite expensive Toll Road and does not open up until the end of May, so as they say for us “The best laid plans of mice and men” just went down the tubes for that part of the ‘Adventure’, so I think we will stick to the roads identified on the map as being kept open all year.

Just now we have a Hailstone Shower going through, and the noise of it makes it difficult to think let alone speak!
While the weather forecast for the next few days does not look at all promising.

God natt! (Goodnight)

[XCovlov70]

Stage 11A “First Day in Ålesund”

God morgen! (Good Morning!)

Oh what a nice quite night till the hailstones started at around 05:00hrs this morning, and after they had finished I did think there might be a good chance of a ‘mottled’ finish on the roof of the ‘Tin Tent’ a bit like the walls, but we are OK.
Interestingly the Barometer has started climbing and except for a couple of heavy showers it hasn’t been a bad day for sightseeing!

So after breakfast we went off to the most famous place in Ålesund that is called Aksla that has been photographed by visitors from all around the world.
It is a viewing point on top of a high hill that you can get to by either road or 418 steps from the centre of town.
However with the parking charges in the town centre of 13NOK/Hour (£1.60/Hour) ($2.40/Hour) we decided to drive up as the parking was free at the top of the hill, and the views were quite stunning even on a dull day…..













While any one causing a ‘problem’ was immediately fed to this hungry creature!



While this chap had a nice view, to me he was looking the wrong way…



From Aksla we could see a number of small islands like the one below..



Then inside the wall at the viewpoint we spotted a picture telling you how to get there, which was by a series of Tunnels, so we went off ‘Tunnelling’ between the islands…
The ‘3 Dotted lines’ in the picture below show the Tunnels which go down to 450feet below the Sea, and on two of them you go around in quite a tight circle, a bit like getting into or out of a multi storey carpark, to get to the depth before you go across to the ‘exit’…







While there is a bridge between the first and second Tunnel…



Making our way along we see the sign for a historic monument and make a small detour to find…



It turns out to be called ‘Hogstein’ and is a burial mound from early Roman times between 375 – 400AD and there are quite a few of them along the coast of Norway …



While a little further along was Hogstein Fyr (Lighthouse)…



With the Lighthouse Keeper and his staff’s houses that are still occupied today….





On our way to the next island we see this small passenger ferry making its way into the landing stage to collect one passenger before it sailed away rapidly to the next destination …



When we reach the next island we saw this rather large vessel and thought about the possibility of maybe being able to buy some fresh fish direct from the fishermen….



After finding a place to park I went off in search of an open door to ask the question.
Having found a man replacing a wheel on his fork lift truck I asked if there was any possibility of buying some fresh fish and was told that as the boats had not been able to put to sea because of the weather he only had frozen fish.

I was then asked “How much would you like?” and replied “About 1Kg”
I was asked to wait for a few minutes, he then drove off in his van, and came back with a plastic bag that contained a frozen full filleted side of a large Cod fish that he gave me and would not take any payment for!

Sincere thanks were given to a very kind gentleman.
It was then back to the campsite before the fish defrosted!





No need to tell you lot what’s on the menu for dinner tonight…
Yummy!!!

God natt! (Goodnight)

[XCovlov70]

Stage 11B “Second Day in Ålesund”

God morgen! (Good Morning!)

After our ‘Tunnel Hopping’ day and getting to see possibly the second best view in Norway called Aksla yesterday was spent doing the inevitable laundry and food shopping so we thought about a rather more leisurely day today going around the centre of Ålesund, so here are the results, and yes we found a safe place to leave ‘Flamenco Red’ that would not require a bank loan to get us back together as the weekend is free parking in town!

One of the main roads through town



One of the main churches in town, note the centre of the picture and the white pointed wall just in front of the church tower…



This is the image at the top of that white pointed wall in front of the church tower…



The church tower, however the church was all closed up…



While going further along into the centre of town…



Then in the centre of town…







While this next picture tells a little bit about the Fisherwoman…







Just a bit further is the Fisherman…



Some more town views…





While up one of the side streets we come to a very large school…





With another building in the same colour a bit further along the road…



Rather good ‘City Car’ not sure if it is Electric or not …



Some interesting items in the secondhand shop window….





While this lady looks out to sea for either the ship or person she is waiting for…



In 1904 a dramatic fire raged through Ålesund for 16 hours during which time 850 buildings were reduced to ashes and more than 10,000 people were made homeless. Miraculously only one person died as a result of the fire, and the town was rebuilt between 1904 and 1907.

Every year on 23rd January at 02:15 in the morning town fire enthusiasts from far and wide assemble to retrace the path of the fire.
The pictures below look like they have been defaced but the black lines are actually under a plastic coating as they are on outside stands down by the harbour…



Then as the rebuilding took place some of the new buildings had their re-build dates made in the walls…







While just pulling out of the harbour after dropping 1 passenger is the Hurtigruten ship ‘Lofoten’ which goes along the Norwegian coast from bottom to top and back again…





In the harbour we found a Fisherman selling his fish ‘Fresh Cod’ but you had to buy the whole fish and although it would have been excellent we did not have any room in either the fridge or freezer!



Life in days gone by…





If anyone can recall ‘Lombard Street’ in San Francisco that you can drive down then her is the Pedestrian version in Ålesund….



Meanwhile at the Bus Terminal you are offered a trip on….
With Return Tickets!



With a couple of last pictures across the water from the rear window of the ‘Tin Tent’





And finally what you expect to see in Norway as it would not be Norway without them…



‘On the road again’ tomorrow to Åndalsnes (Stage 12)

God natt! (Goodnight)

[ssicarman]

Nice to see some blue sky again. I really like the second and third last pictures as well as the departing coastal ship. The pictures from the view point looking over the town are quite something as well.

[XCovlov70]

Nice to see some blue sky again. I really like the second and third last pictures as well as the departing coastal ship. The pictures from the view point looking over the town are quite something as well.

You will have to pardon the 'pun' but "We aim to please"!

[XCovlov70]

Stage 12 Ålesund - Åndalsnes (76.8 Miles)

God morgen! (Good Morning!)

As I was putting yesterdays ‘events’ onto the Blog a group of men came into reception at the campsite and it was a local Men’s Choir who were practising for a competition at a hotel in Ålesund yesterday evening…

Their two songs for the competition were ‘Yesterday’ & ‘The Sloop John B’
At the end of ‘Yesterday’ I gave them a clap and told them that as I came from Liverpool, Paul McCartney would be proud of them!

I then went and got my good lady to listen to the rest of their practice session that they very kindly finished off with the Liverpool Football Club Anthem ‘You’ll never walk alone’ by Gerry Marsden, with an even bigger ‘Thank you’ and best wishes for the competition we hope they did well.

Sorry about the quality of the picture it was taken by one of those 'things' made by Apple!



As we left Volsdalen Camping this morning at 08:30 there was no one in reception to be able to say ‘Thank You’ to as the hospitality given to us by ‘Harris’ was excellent.

I must also extend my thanks to ‘Svien’ who offered me a place in his small fishing boat, and although I did not catch any fish it was very nice to be able to get a different perspective of the town from the water!

Back on the road and it’s not long before we are rolling along and being so early the roads are virtually free of traffic…











A nicely preserved Steam Tractor from days gone by…







Across the middle of the next picture are the 6 Fish Farming Nets…





Off to the right the Traffik Organisation are cutting out a new tunnel as the next section of road we went along was rather twisty and very close to the Fjord!!!





Then a few miles further on we get into a tunnel that is….





Passing a bit further along a nice different little church…



As we reach the end of the next stage in the tour…



After a further 6 miles…







We arrive at the campsite to find that it is closed while the information in the camping directory says it is supposed to be open all year…
I think the Troll at the entrance says it all!



Hey Ho, time to find somewhere else that is open.

By going back into the town we find that Åndalsnes Camping & Motel AS is open so we pull in and are told to find a place and get set up as the warden will be along later, so we do and the views around the camp are wonderful even if the wind is very cutting and cold…





As it was still relatively early we decided to have a bit of lunch (Beans on Toast!) and go into the centre of Åndalsnes for a look around…

As we pull into the carpark we see this ‘Live In Roof Box’ that opens up and has a boat window in the top face and air vents at the back so you can sleep in it!





Then we stopped and turned around to admire the view…





Åndalsnes Railway Station…



With this monument telling us it was built between 1924 &1999



While next it’s a Volvo, but what sort of Volvo?…



I think it might be just a bit more thirsty than Flamenco Red and maybe not as comfortable…



Town centre…



A few more views around the town….













It was our intention to take a ferry on the next stage but it seems we will miss out on a ‘scenic route’ so have decided to give the ferry a miss and for the extra few miles we will see what the scenic route has to offer?
All will be revealed soon we hope!!!

God natt! (Goodnight)

[giorgio]

Nice sea side ! Have a nice trip !

[ssicarman]

Interesting pictures again. Beginning to notice a yellow building theme.
Told 'Da boss' that her next Volvo was going to be a green one. Some one was not overly impressed when she saw the picture.

[XCovlov70]

Interesting pictures again. Beginning to notice a yellow building theme.
Told 'Da boss' that her next Volvo was going to be a green one. Some one was not overly impressed when she saw the picture.

Now there my good lady & 'Da Boss' differ as she wants one, specifically for shopping, as getting into and out of some of the supermarket spaces can be a bit difficult at times!