Author: master_time-travel

Route Map to town:
Effortless and efficient public transport.

From a boat trip (most of them)

Day 26, 25.06.2017, Gävle – Uppsala – Stockholm

Route map: 188 km

Summary:
Stop over in Uppsala was rewarding and relaxing. Picked up my wife Ingrid at the Stockholm airport and found Bedräng Camping.

Bedräng Camping: http://www.bredangcamping.se/en/
Personal rating: 5/5

From Uppsala:

Day 25, 24.06.2017, Östersund – Gävle

Route map: 410 km

Summary of the day:
Peaceful driving in dull weather all day. Excellent roads. Less spectacular than the last days.

Camping in Gävle Camping Engesberg: https://www.campinggavle.se/
Personal rating: 5/5

From the road:

From Gävle:

From Camping site:

Day 24, 23.06.2017, Trondheim – Östersund

Route map: 276 km

Summary of the day:
Driving to town with motor-home because of distance and time. Then take the bike in town and find a charming, elegant and calm place. Finally heading westwards to Sweden through the typical Scandinavian landscape with waterfalls rivers, peaks and valleys.

Camping: Östersunds Stugby & Camping / https://www.ostersundscamping.se/en/
Personal rating: 5/5

From Trondheim town:

In Austria Mozart would rather be a Cafe..

From the road:

Day 23, 22.06.2017, Korgen – Trondheim

30.03.202026.11.2020master_time-travel

Route map: 473 km

Summary:
For the risk of sounding repetitive, great roads, great landscapes, enjoyable driving. Arrived on time, found parking near old town and manage part one of bike tour around the city.

Camping: Vikhammer Camping http://www.vikhammer.no/
Personal rating: 5/5

From the road:

First view of Trondheim – on bike:

Short drive form town to camping site:

Day 22, 21.06.2017, Solvaer – Korgen

30.03.202026.11.2020master_time-travel

Route map: 467 km

Summary:
Chatted yesterday to the lady at the reception of the camp site and found out that there is a ferry from Lodingen to Bognes to short cut quite a distance via Bjerkvik. Still another demanding day after that with lots of road works and tunnel after tunnel. Most of them narrow and poorly lit.
Great highlight to visit the Arctic Circle Center.

Camping in Korgen was informal next to the main school:

From the ferry:

From the road:

Arctic Circle Center

Afternoon and after driving entertainment in Korgen.

Day 21, 20.06.2017, Harstad – Solvaer

30.03.202026.11.2020master_time-travel

Route map: 154 km

Summary:
Short trip with again beautiful scenery as you would expect. Drove until I found a suitable camping site and then took the bike for further explorations. Reality exceeding my expectations.

Camping: Hammerstad Camping: https://hammerstadcamping.no/
Personal rating: 5/5

From the road:

Cycling with some views:

Treasures around the camping site:

Day 20, 19.06.2017, Tromsoe – Harstad

26.03.202026.11.2020master_time-travel

Route map: 296 km

Summary:
Another day with the typical Norwegian Fjords and the winding roads along them. I was actually heading for Narvik when it stroke me to test the Lofoten Island Group. They are advertised in every cruise to the North Kapp. In Bjerkvik I turned right instead of straight and I was in. Never regret.

Camping: Harstad Camping: https://harstadcamping.no/en/
Personal rating: 5/5

From the road:

Long exploration ride with bike, to the marinas, up the central hill into the woods and back.

From the top of the hill:

Harstad Church

Back at base camp:

Day 19, 18.06.2017, Oksfjord – Tromsoe

26.03.202026.11.2020master_time-travel

Route map: 283 km

Summary:
Despite the good road network I fell very tired about 1 hour before Tromsoe. Pulled over to a parking lot and took a long power nap. Worked very well. I did find an informal parking spot by luck, moved around with the bike in traditional fashion and enjoyed every minute there.

From the road:

Exploring Tromsoe:

During cycling around the peninsula the weather cleared up just for my ride.
Another day to be grateful.

Overnight parking in the background of a Motor-home dealership 🙂

Day 18, 17.06.2017, North Kapp – Hammerfest – Oksfjord

Route Map: 486 km

Summary:
486 km of demanding driving again. Beautiful scenery, good plan to take “detour” to Hammerfest, good luck to find Camping Oksfjord.

Camping Oksfjord: https://www.facebook.com/oksfjordfamiliecamp/
Personal rating: 4/5

On route to Hammerfest.

Into Hammerfest

Good old HURTIG-ROUTEN coming in.

Otis Reding: “Watching the ships roll in..”

Breathtaking scenery every day, never becoming boring.

Best spot in Oksfjord Camping:

Day 17 (2), 16.06.2017, North Kapp

As it was daylight all night through I could start exploring the area. I was on high adrenaline levels because of the achievement of 4.517 km in 12 days of driving and because of the gratefulness to be allowed to experience a dream coming true.

In the restaurant I met a lady from England in my age group 60+ who cycled up from Greece in two months. Respect, respect.

Grateful for that weather with midnight sun, a 4.500 km trip without any incident but with uncountable places of interest, beautiful countries, capitals, cities, castles and museums.

Day 17, 16.06.2017, Kautokeino – North Kapp

Route Map: 364 km

Summary:
Final approach to the summit! Again a lonesome ride but filled with great landscapes and scenery. Also rather tiring because of a topography of mountains and valleys and winding roads all the time. But the excitement increased km by km.

Departure and some stops:

I missed to take pictures entering the final tunnel. It takes you plus/minus 280 m below sea level. I remember it to be a “funny” feeling.

Day 16, 15.06.2017, Oulu – Kautokeino

https://www.arcticmotel.com/

Route Map: 554 km

Summary:
If yesterday was a bit monotonous than today would be lonesome but still interesting. The reason for not being bored or even frustrated is manifold: everything is still new and with every km you come closer to your main destination, of which you dreamed about for quite some years: the North Kapp.

Camping: https://www.arcticmotel.com/
Personal rating: 3/5

Stopped only once for re-fueling and lived on my reserves.
From the road:

Smooth border crossing Finland to Norway

A good day of traveling in lonesome territories. But a little too tired to explore the town of Kautokeino nearby. Maybe some other time 🙂

Day 15, 14.06.2017, Helsinki – Oulu

Route map: 600 km

From Helsinki to the North Kapp means now serious business driving. The stretch to Oulu was a fine example of the vastness and emptiness of Finland. You just have to hang in and enjoy the repetitive landscape and look forward to the fine stop overs in-between.

Camping: https://nallikari.fi/nb/
Personal rating: 5/5

Route to town with bicycle:

Leaving the Camp Site which was East of Helsinki in good weather and good mood.

First stop over:

Great second pit stop.

Now cycling to Oulu. Even after the 600 km drive it was time enough because of the long days in that time of the year.

Back at Camp Site.

Day 14, 13.06.2017, Helsinki

Route map public transport:

**From just outside the Camping Site to the City Center.**

I decided to take the train and it took only 25 min to the City Center. And then I walked following my nose again and the crowed. During my short investigation last night I found a Rock Church and it cought my interest to search for it. But first came the center.

Overall impression as all over Scandinavia: very well organised, spotless, friendly, calm, relaxed, most attractive.

Fine culinary stands around the harbor basin.

The absolute high-lite of Helsinki for me was the Rock Church. Carved basically into an existing rock formation it had the most beautiful acoustics and for people like me an unbelievable amount of spirituality.

One should never have regrets Edith Piaf used to sing. I missed out on a harbor cruise for an unknown reason. Maybe next time…

Day 13, 12.06.2017, St. Petersburg – Helsinki

Route Map 398 km

Camping: https://www.hel.fi/helsinki/en/culture/leisure/rastila
Personal rating: 5/5

After two exciting days the travel routine came back with a smooth ride to Helsinki, the capital of Finland. In the morning I stopped at a fuel station outside St. Petersburg (Diesel was the cheapest of all countries, 0,60 €/l). They also had coffee and croissants. Good start of the day.

The closer Helsinki came, the worse the weather became. On arrival I tried to circle the city for some land marks, but in vain. Rush hour and rain killed any motivation and I looked for my planned Camping site.

It was a good opportunity for some house keeping including laundry activities. And hoping for the next day to reveal the secrets of Helsinki.

Day 12, 11.06.2017, St. Petersburg – Eremitage

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eremitage_(Sankt_Petersburg)

After a peaceful night and thanks to my Russian friend’s help with the Metro card I managed to reach the city center and walked to the Eremitage.

The Eremitage does not need any comment or rating. Its reputation is known all over the world. Just one word: after Peterhof the day before here was another indescribable collection of beauty, history and fine arts.

So much to see, so little time.

Strolling to the subway

Tba

Day 11, 10.06.2017, Peterhof