We travel to compare our imagination with reality.
First trip Motor-home
Route map 333 km
Summary:
Final day with easy riding towards south-east again to home town Haag. Only short pit stop in Autobahn restaurant.
Leaving Berg.
Arriving in Haag:
In these 33 days of my first long run motor-home journey I collected tons of memories and impressions which could last for a life time. The amount of endorphins was also remarkable. And the latter ones are possibly the reason why I feel the addiction has started to catch me badly…
Route map 588 km
Summary:
It was a long day again. We reached Nürnberg in the afternoon and went for the walk. It is a magic place with lots of historical buildings and the like. Just not too late we looked to the camping site near town. Only to find out it was fully booked because of a big Motor Sport Event. Ups. Eventually we drove further south-west towards Regensburg and stopped in Berg.
Camping in Berg: https://www.camping-in-berg.de/
Personal rating: 5/5
From the road:
From Nürnberg
At Camping Berg
Route map 402 km
Summary:
What a rainy day, took the ferry from Rodbyhaven to Puttgarden and reached Lübeck in the afternoon, still time for some sight seeing and a coffee in town. There is no bad weather, just possibly unsuitable clothing.
Camping near Soltau: https://www.camping-imbrock.de/
Personal rating 5/5
From the road and ferry:
From rainy Lübeck. Remember, one of the “Hanse-Städte” as Riga and Tallinn, which I visited during the north bound journey.
No need to visit Soltau this evening in these conditions.
Route Map 23 minutes from Charlottenlund Camping to the City with perfect public transport (PPT).
From the stroll around Kopenhagen
Route Map 374 km
Summary:
Driving on excellent roads again and without any incident. Rather short stop over in Malmö for coffee and snacks before entering the long Öresund Bridge and Tunnel.
Camping in Kopenhagen: https://campingcopenhagen.dk/en/
Personal rating: 5/5
Limited from Malmö:
From Öresund:
The Camp site is mentioned at the top. We tried one closer to the city center which was full. But the one we used was very good accessible with public transport anyway.
Route map 315 km
Summary of the day:
With Metro to Gamla Stan (Old Town) again for more sight seeing with visiting churches and the Town Hall, where the Nobel Prices are celebrated. Smooth ride to Jönköping. Marvelous sunset.
Camping Jönköping: http://www.grannacamping.se/
Personal rating: 5/5
Still from Stockholm
Stockholm Stadshus
Royal Palace
Royal Chapel
From Granna Camping Jönköping
Position could be worse
Route Map to town:
Effortless and efficient public transport.
From a boat trip (most of them)
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:
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:
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:
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:
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.
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:
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:
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 🙂
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.
Breathtaking scenery every day, never becoming boring.
Best spot in Oksfjord Camping:
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.
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.
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 🙂
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.
Route map public transport:
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…
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.
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.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eremitage_(Sankt_Petersburg)
So much to see, so little time.
Strolling to the subway
Tba
My parking spot was in walking distance to the entrance of Peterhof, the famous summer residence of Zar Peter the Great. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Peterhof
It is impossible to describe in words or in photographs neither the grand design, the insurmountable beauty, the elegance, the tranquility nor the vastness and the hidden secrets and jewels of that place. It is surely on the same level as Versailles near Paris.
Entrance and first gardens:
Excellent water features all around.
The only little mishap for me was that I lost my bifocal glasses and could not find them 5 min after the incident. I walked back to my vehicle drove to the shopping mall nearby and found a shop which had reading glasses, what a piece of luck.
My next priority was to visit the Ermitage in the city. Interpreting the road signs as good as possible I looked for a bigger hotel to maybe stay on their parking lot. I found the Park Inn and went inside to ask.
They offered me their secured and enclosed parking for a nominal fee. Another piece of luck. The security guard allowed me even to plug in my electric connection cable. It was not posh, but safe and sound to stay there for another two nights. Never mind that the restaurant had German Weißbier… Another piece of..
Morning Drive to down town:
***
Evening drive towards Peterhof:
I did not stay at the Hotel, but in the road behind it.
As I mentioned a couple of times I had no functioning navigation and it took me all morning to find a place near the center of St. Petersburg and parked my motor-home in a parallel road of a main avenue and started to walk around and found an orthodox Church under renovation…
Decided to try the subways and explore where the Eremitage could be. Again weak preparations, lessons learned. Did not understand the process to buy a ticket and find directions in the subway. A young Russian gentlemen saw my misery and helped me to get the travel card which must be loaded with money. He said he is going to the maritime museum and I asked to join him as it was far too late for the Eremitage anyway. He agreed and we had a jolly good time walking to museum, inside and walking back.
On the way back I cought a glimpse to the famous Museum.
Miraculously I found my parked motor-home after using the subway back and drove towards the west to Peterhof which I wanted to visit next day. From the main street I always check the side roads to find other motor-home travelers and I was lucky once again near the Samson Hotel.
Summary: Very good road network to St. Petersburg, dull weather, acceptable border process, indicated parking site was abandoned.
For parking site was abandoned I looked for a spot near Peterhof.
Found a quiet Cul de sac with a small security hut including a watchman. I asked him in English and with hand and feet whether I could park for one night. He agreed without hesitation. Later I found out I was in fine company in between the two buildings Konstantinovskiy Dvorets and Dacha Lindstrema.
Riga City Camping: Personal rating: 4/5
***
I think I left on time, found my way out of town and had another smooth sail towards the north. Drove endless miles along the “Rigischer Meerbusen” but had only very seldom a view to it.
Drove only 306 km with probably a “one-stop-strategy”.
Checked into Tallinn City Camping and again took the bike to ride to town. See for yourself what happened.
Main Square
A great Tuesday with bright weather ideally suited for a bike tour around the city center. The location of Riga City Camping supports that to 100%. As so many times on this trip, I found a place well organised, very relaxed, well kept and a symbiosis of land and sea, of old and new, of civilization and nature.
From Riga City Camping to Old Town by bike:
Summary of the day:
Transit from Kaliningrad to Riga. Short border process, short stop over in a small town. Found Riga City Camping easily.
Riga City Camping
Personal Rating: 5/5
https://www.latvia.travel/de/unterkunft/riga-city-camping
Leaving Kaliningrad was much easier than coming in. I was rather close to the main exit road and headed north-east to Riga. Also the border process at Tilsit was smooth and soon I was in Lithuania.
Border Bridge Short stop over in Siauliai
From the E 77 to Riga, smooth sailing though in gusty winds on superb road network. But when the trucks came, their draft pushed my motor home left, right and center 🙂
Approaching Riga.
Today only 165 km to Kaliningrad. Dull and rainy weather but excellent roads and bridges and low traffic volume.
I believe my data volume on my Austrian contract has already been exhausted and I did not have any Russian map on my Garmin Navigation Set. Luckily I printed the GPS coordinates of the camp site during my preparations. Garmin provided at least the present coordinates of my vehicle online. It was very demanding to watch and analyse the running numbers on the screen and behave well in traffic at the same time. Round about lunch time I found my hotel which has a motor-home parking area attached.
Camping at the fringe of town:
Personal rating: 3/5
http://www.baltica-hotel.ru/en/camping.html
The camp site is very basic but electricity is available and the site manager was very helpful and friendly. The shower was only in the basement of the hotel and was clean and efficient. Luxurious would be a slight exaggeration though.
From Hotel Baltica to town with public transport bus:
At the reception of the hotel I changed some money and got advice how to use the bus which had a station in front of the hotel. I decided to go for it and found an elderly lady as conductor selling the tickets. I was not in the mood to ask everybody whether they speak English so I was just riding the bus and got off when it looked to be in the center. I strolled around in the the mist, shot a few pictures, had a coffee and cake in a shopping mall and looked for the bus again. As I took the wrong direction, I fulfilled a complete round of that line back to the hotel.
Some green areas in between
In the case of Kaliningrad my motivation to go there on route to the North Kapp was uncertain from the outset. Finally I decided to ‘”take it with”. But my preparation was half hearted and I missed the “Bernstein Museum”, the Aquarium and surely many other attractions.
There will be another window in the future.
From Camping “STOGI” to Old Town with the bike:
Other than in St. Petersburg, which is really a large and busy Metropole, or in Helsinki, which was ok to walk, the bicycle strategy worked also exceptionally well in Danzig (Gdansk).
One is tempted to risk a preview to future places to visit along the north and east sea: the “Hansestädte”. It is all about “time-travel”, isn’t it?
Within this journey Kaliningrad (Königsberg), Riga and Tallin (Revel) will still feature. In 2019 Stettin, Greifswald, Stralsund, Rostock, Wismar, Hamburg and Utrecht will follow.
They all made their fortunes with sea freight trade with their “Hanse-Kogge” and their wealth is visible still today in no uncertain terms.
This is only the beginning of the 9,500 km journey around to Scandinavia, but already now I am overwhelmed again and again from the beauty I meet everywhere.
With Google Maps I could not locate the Domo Oliva accurately enough so I asked a fellow cyclist. He said it is anyway my direction, follow me. When he had to stop, he pointed me in the right direction and it was close.
Camping Stogi Dansk: https://camping-gdansk.pl/en/
Personal rating: 5/5
On day one I did 600 km and on day 3 as well. From Krakau to Danzig you cross Poland from south to north and enjoy the views of passing trucks, elegant bridges and country side after country side intercepted by some settlements.
I arrived in late afternoon, found a good spot on the camping ground, took a short stroll and relaxed after this long stint.
Camping Adam Krakau: http://www.campingadam.pl/en/
Personal rating: 5/5
As I mentioned at the end of 31.05.2017, I arrived late at the camping ground, it was dark already. In the bright morning light I had a pleasant surprise finding myself in a park like environment.
I took my bicycle and followed Google Maps to the nearby Old Town. I was so surprised to find a spotless and beautifully restored jewel of a city. One palace followed the other, the same for the churches and cathedrals and castles. All over lush and green parks and recreation areas to recharge the batteries. The river Weichsel cuts through the city and offers great views and water leisure.
Needless to say that there are plenty of charming restaurants and street cafes which invite for refueling and letting the time stand still.
Camping Adam Krakau
Personal rating: 5/5
Great spot in the shade.
The days of research and planning were over. Today the Russian Consulate in Vienna promised the VISA for Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg to me and finally I could begin the first long journey in my new motor-home. One hopes in such a new situation to have packed all necessary items to survive more than a month.
As I decided rather late to include Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg into the destinations the VISA application became time critical. So I started my journey on the day they promised the paper. I had to go via Vienna anyway. Fortunately I found quickly a parking space, bought the parking ticket in a Tobacco Kiosk (little tricky in Vienna) and managed the collection on time.
Schallaburg on route to Vienna, Vienna, Slovakian border
*
Originally I planned to drive about 400 km on day 1 to Hranice in Slovakia. But the excitement to be on the road eventually pushed me further. Second destination was Krakau in Poland and I went for it. I collected then
600 km. Needless to say despite the excitement I was very tired and very happy that my navigation led me perfectly to the camping ground near the old town.
The dream to once in my life visit the North Kap was quite long standing. The idea to do it in a motor-home developed rather quick. After considering air travel plus rental car or public transport or railways plus buses or even in a normal passenger car and hotels it dawned on me that a motor-home could be the answer for flexibility, simplicity, efficiency, lifestyle and adventure.
As I do the documentation on my new website only in 2020, I had to dig into my notes and previous papers. I found tons of material in preparation. I searched and found one or two campsites for every day of the journey. And I planned with plus/minus 30-35 days. It was worth every minute of time I spent for that. The number of days demanded to drive between 200 and 600 km / day.
I visited 11 countries in 33 days with distance of 9.562 km which averages to 382 km/day in 25 days of driving. In 8 days I did not drive.
As it was my first long journey with the motor-home it was very exciting and rewarding. Scandinavia is so different from my previous destinations e.g., around the Mediterranean Sea or Africa and Asia, much more relaxed and tranquil. Latest touching on the “Lofoten Island Group” I knew: I will be back.
Remarks:
The total cost per day differ from the table of purpose. The reason is for the last 8 days my wife accompanied me from Stockholm to Haag and I could not separat the single items.
Data roaming Russia:
Also telephone data roaming cost in Russia I paid only later are added separately. I did not check the tariffs before and used Google Maps. That exceeded my data limit quickly and I they shut off my account until my wife paid in for me in between.
Toll stations are not visible, they operate electronically. One has to apply into the system upfront. I received 15 fines 2 weeks after returning and negotiated as good as I could. Finally I was lucky to get away with paying 27 Euros from 268.
That means, as a single traveler I needed 90,54 Euros per day excluding wife and data or 110,77 Euros including.
Only recently Russia introduced an online Visa Process for St. Petersburg. But in 2017 it was rather cumbersome and I managed only with the help of a friend, who lived in Moscow for some years, to obtain it in a rather short amount of time before departure.
