Just thought that we would let you know that our Pathfinder (Big Bertha as she is now called) came out of her winter quarters last week, went for a service and then we spent 5 days at Canterbury in the sun, wind, rain, snow, -1'C....and everything worked!
It is now all systems go for the Harwich- Esbjerg ferry on 7th May to Denmark (for 1 week) then ferry over to Norway from Hirtshals to Kristiansand. We intend to spend 3 lots of 3 days travelling up to Flam where we will stay for about 10 days coinciding with the Camping and Caravanning Rally there. Then 3 or 4 days back down to Oslo, probably staying at Drammen for a few days and catching public transport in to Oslo itself for sightseeing. After that drive on down through Sweden stopping at Uddevalla and Halmstad for about 3 days each, over the bridge back in to Denmark with one stop on the way back to Esbjerg....phew, sounds quite hectic writing it like that.
We have signed up for Camping Cheques and Camping Card so will use their sites wherever possible. I have now started a blog /thetravelmoores.blogspot.com/ and hopefully will keep it up to date as we go along. We have friends Down Under who want to know what we are up to and this seemed to be the easiest way.
Wow I would love to be that brave. We were out at easter in snow and -4 and it was fine, much better than I imagined. My parents took the motorcaravan to Norway and they "dug out " pitches which had walls of solid snow higher than the van.
------------- Good friends are hard to find, difficult to leave and impossible to forget.
Hoedown! Good Luck! You'll enjoy it. I spent many lovely holidays in Norway when I was younger, and still have some contacts there. But I never used the Hirtschals - Kristiansand ferry. I always went direct, including taking my car on a drive-on ferry from Tilbury to Goteborg one year, and from Harwich to Kristiansand years before that. Shame they don't run those lines any more (the Newcastle- Stavanger/Bergen runs have the monopoly nowadays); easy run up to Oslo from there. You'll find progress a bit slow in Norway- they have a very low overall speed limit. The drink-drive laws are absolute: just don't touch a drop if you're driving, you could end up in jail! All booze comes from a state-run chain of off-licences, and is quite expensive. Re-fuelling your vehicle is almost cheaper than buying a round of beers in a cafe. The amazing bridge between Copenhagen and Sweden was finished in 2000. It's a double decker with railway lines on a lower deck, and the roadway on the upper. I had the unrepeatable and wonderful experience of walking from Denmark to Sweden and back in June 2000, while on a work placement in Copenhagen. Before the bridge was open to traffic, walkers could go over and back. On the actual bridge section, one is very conscious of the sea far below! One paid the Danish Red Cross £10 for the priviledge. It's quite a way, so took many hours, but at the weekend there were 20,000 or so people all along the route, a unique carnival-like event, a fantastic sight on a fantastic construction. I will never forget it!
You're embarking on what will be an expensive tour, but you'll enjoy it immensely. May is a bit early in the year up there, you could get some cold nights, and maybe a fair bit of rain. However, the scenery in Norway is unbelievable. The people are great. The roads are superb. I envy you!
My husband and I did a 3 week trip from Harwich-Esberg then via Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, Bergen and back some 15-20 years ago. We use a book by an amercican Rick Steves called something like 2-22 days in Sweden, Denmark and Norway and it was v. good (even though you had to discount all the fairly obvious advice given for the benefit of American readers). I notice he has a Scandinavian guide out now but I'd recommend his tips and routes.
We did (following his advice) the overnight ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki, spent day in Helsinki and Ferry back to Stockholm (left car in locked car park in Stockholm, booked tickets here before we went) . Really pleasant mini-cruise v. popular with the Swedes, nice cabins, Smorgasbord dinner. Highlight of our trip.
I seem to remember we used camping cheques and more sites acccepted them than we were expecting.
Many thanks for all your comments...we shall certainly be packing our winter woollies and waterproofs after this! The driving distance is not such an issue with us, after 13,000km across Australia over 4 months. We both drive so can spell each other. We will deliberately keep each driving leg under 150 miles as we like to stop along the way to take in the sights and scenery.
We found the book mentioned, on the internet, it looks very good, but I don't think that we will have enough time to order one as it comes from the States.
We'll keep you posted as to how we get on, you never know we might start a new trend...Northwards to the cold, rather than southwards to the sun!!!
On Amazon they have Rick Steves Scandinavia pub 3rd April 2008 available now. ISBN 978-1566918671. I would suspect much of the content is the same as the 2-22 days one.
Can't remember where it is but there's a museum somewhere with some excellent Viking boats and a bog man, also somewhere en route up towards Bergen we did a fantastic glacier walk, where you get strapped together and hire Crampons - it'll be in the book. Every place we visited offered and English commentary.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Scandinavia here we come!
