Author: Del

Start point.. Nidelv Camping, near Kristiansand, Norway.

Finish Point.. Skare, 200 km from Bergen.

Distance.. 300 Miles.

Total.. 1550 Miles.

Woke this morning to a damp and dreary start so what better day to visit a museum, so after breakfast I headed down to Kristiansand and the Kanonmuseumto look at the impressive 380mm Naval gun the resides there, on arriving at 10am I found it deserted, so checked the web and found it opens at 11am, also found out why there wasn’t much traffic on the road, it’s Ascension Day and everywhere is closed except for a few small convenience stores, not a good sign, I decide to take a walk around and get what pics I can anyway, by the time I head back to the van past the entrance its all opened up, I part with my 100 NOK and go for a look around, unfortunately the gun itself is having some maintenance done so no access to it at all, but the museums other exhibits were worth the money, mainly thanks to the Germans for recording everything they did, including photographing everything.

The detail and quality of the engineering that went into these fortifications is outstanding, every last little detail is thought of and over-engineered, It amazes me how they managed to lose the war when you look at the skill that went into their war effort.

The 380mm gun covered for maintenance.

The big gun all covered over for maintenance work.

After leaving the museum I headed up to Lysebotn which is famed for its road that switchbacks down to bottom of the fjord, dropping nearly 1000 metres, the 120 miles to get there took over 4 hours, the last 20 miles is single track road over 2 mountains, the scenery has to be seen to be believed, some of it is like a moon scape, the weather was still doing me no favours on the way over but the return journey saw the mist and clouds lift to let the sun shine through, and what had been hidden earlier was breathtaking.

I spent a lot of time stopping to take pictures but it got to a point where enough is enough, trying to cover such a large mileage everyday and fit in the sights and stopping for photos has made me realise that I may not have the time to reach as far north as I wanted, its difficult to get a good average speed on these road and they are sticklers for adhering to the limits as the fines are massive if caught speeding. I’ve got 500km before I get to the Atlantic road, and I’ll how I feel when I get there.

The phone signal out here in the wilds is a hit and miss so I apologise for the late posting. It will probably be like this the rest of the time I’m in the hills.

Start Point…. Dingle, Sweden.

Finishing point….. Nidelv Camping, an hour short of Kristiansand, Norway.

Distance 191 Miles.

Total. 1260 Miles.

Today I actually get into Norway, usual start to the day, up at at ’em about 7ish and leave by 8am, back onto the motorway towards Oslo and cross the un-guarded border at 9:30am, totally a non event as the road looks exactly the same, but after about half an hour I pull off and head towards Moss to catch the ferry toHorten, this cuts out Oslo altogether and save about 90 miles of boring motorway.

Departing from Moss.

One of the many islands seen on the crossing of Oslofjord.

In Europe every country flys its flag with pride…. I’ll just leave that with you……

Once across the water it was back onto the motorway system, hopefully for the last time, I got bored again so left it and pulled onto the coast road from Tvedestrand to Arendal and it was a truly scenic drive, they are in the process of building a new dual carriageway there and it amazing how many tunnels and bridges they build for such a short stretch of road, puts our lot to shame, anything in their way they just blow it up or bulldoze straight through it. Sorry there’s no pics but there were was no stopping on the old road.

Just some random pics as I drove the coast road.

As I was getting near my destination for tomorrow I saw a sign for a campsite so pulled in, the thought of a hot shower and a few beers was too tempting, and what a pleasant surprise, great campsite, It seems to me that most Scandinavians speak pretty good English and so I parted with yet more money and the chap at the reception says “just drive around until you find a nice spot and park there”. How chilled is that ?? So not English. !!

Well I’m done for the night, the campsite bar opens soon and they are doing a BBQ as well, so those pics may have to wait until tomorrow, It’s been a bit of a slog to get here and since its basically been eating up the motorway miles it not the most exciting trip but if what I’ve seen today is anything to go by it’s only going to get better, scenery wise anyway.

A couple from the campsite.

This muppet has no idea how to use the trim.

Entrance to the campsite.

On a final note if your not interested in bridges and tunnels look away now, these boys certainly know there stuff when it come to concrete and steel.

Start point… Nyborg, Denmark, passing Copenhagen,Malmo,Kungsbacka (Gottskar) and Gothernburg.

Finishing point…. Dingle, about an hour North of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Distance. 338 Miles.

Total. 1069 Miles.

Well, today was an interesting one, I had a really great nights sleep and woke to beautiful sunshine, so once up put a brew on and enjoyed the fresh sea air and thought “what a wonderful day”, well, it could only go down hill from there.

My view this morning

So all was good as I travelled over the first bridge and as I was going across Sjaelland (Zealand) Island thought I’d get fuel and breakfast so called into the services just before Copenhagen, filled up (again) and went in to get breakfast, came out half an hour later to a parking ticket….That’s no beer for me tonight.

Bloody expensive breakfast. That’s about £65.

And I was off again over the second bridge and into Sweden, who still have border checks, the nice Mr policeman had plenty of questions but what threw me was his last one just as he was waving me off he asked “what football team do you support ?”, always thought thats the sort of thing the gestapo did to escaping POW’s.

Only 15 minutes later the motorway came to a standstill, all the traffic was being diverted off and through the small town of Helsingborg, that 3km took just over 2 hours to do.

The 50 KPH sign was wishful thinking.

As luck would have it I was still making good time and after another couple of hours decided to pull off at Kungsbacka and explore the countryside ending up at Onsala, which is on a small peninsula just south of Gothenburg.

Onsala Harbour.

Onsala and Hacklehagsvagen.

Once off the main highways, Sweden is a stunning country and would be worthy of a visit all on its own, it starts off pretty mundane but you soon get away from the industry and into the forests that line the motorway on one side and the ocean on the other. The only noticeable difference to the last 2 days are the bad state of the roads here, the motorways are a bit bumpy but the back roads are diabolical, every bit as bad as here.

I’ll put some random pics of bridges next as thats my thing.

Last but not least….

That is what you truckies call a proper trailer..

Thats it for today, check in tomorrow for the next thrilling episode—

Start point… Somewhere near Bremen, passing Hamburg and Flansburg.

Finish point… Nyborg Denmark.

Distance. 320 Miles.

Total. 730 Miles

After a late finish last night it was time for a lay in, so up at 7am and I was away for 8ish, today was going to be another slog up the motorways but I had time to take in some of the sights along the minor roads too.

Germany’s Health and Safety is the best in the world. (NOT).

All_photo’s and video’s are from a fixed camera on the dashboard.

After passing Bremen and all of its rush hour traffic I headed across to Hamburg where more congestion was waiting for me, but this time due to roadworks as they are widening the motorway there.

So after getting bored of watching the backs of lorries I turned of the motorway near Kiel and headed down towards Kappeln which is a small coastal town on the Baltic Sea, I got there just as the fairground rides were packing up and leaving so decided to pass on through and head up the scenic coast road towards Flensberg, and if flat green fields of grass are your thing this is the road for you, but as that describes the last 700 miles it’s not much to write home about, the nearest I got to a hill was the slip road back onto the motorway.

Kappeln, Germany.

After a couple of stops for tea breaks and buying copious amounts of beer before I hit the mega expensive Scandinavian countries proper I pulled off the motorway into the viewing area of the Storebaelt bridge or Denmark First Bridge at Knudshoved. (Really !!).

This bridge is 18km long in total and carries road and rail traffic although the trains use a tunnel for the second half of their crossing.

And on a lighter note, I found a lovely place to live……

That’s it for today, don’t forget to like the blog and Facebook page. And by all mean share with your friends and enemies alike.

Start point.. Lincoln, then to Harwich and the ferry to the Hook of Holland.

Finish point.. Somewhere near Bremen, Germany

Distance. 410 Miles. Plus 130 Miles for the Ferry Crossing

The alarm went off at 3am this morning, bit of a shock getting up that early but wanted to be at the Ferry in plenty of time, luckily most people were still tucked up in their beds so it was a clear run to Harwich and I was there for 8am, had a short wait and then boarded the Stena Lines “Stena Hollandica”, It must of had a recent refurb as the ship was spotlessly clean and the cabin was better than most hotels provide, considering it was classed as a single berth it would have slept 3 people easily, the only disappointment was the rather nasty and under cooked breakfast, think I’ll stick to the croissants on the return leg.

My home for the 7 hour crossing, complete with on-suite, and free TV..

It’s bye bye Blighty…..

And Hello Netherlands….

The run north east through the Netherlands was quite busy, probably due to people returning home after weekend breaks, there were lots of Motor homes and racevans towing trailers so must have been a big race meet on somewhere. By the time I got past Zwolle (yes, it really is spelt like that) the road cleared of most of the traffic.

The last stretch of twin track in the Netherlands before crossing the border and hitting the German Autobahns.

The weather was fine until I crossed the border into Germany where it proceeded to empty the contents of all the black clouds onto the top of the van and then followed me the next 100 miles, so at about 11pm I gave up and got parked up on the outskirts of Bremen. It really amazes me how the Germans will still do 120 MPH in the rain, any slouches, like me really have to be careful when pulling out to pass lorries as those headlights you see in the mirror half a mile back are soon pushing up your A**e to get passed, but at least they are polite about it.

Well thats it for tonight, the rush is over and the sight seeing starts tomorrow.

Have a happy Bank Holiday……..

www.facebook.com/severeweatherEU/photos/a.1423656947857402/2521348121421607

Looking good for Scandinavia 👍👍

Apparently the link is a generic one for their website, and their pics are covered by copyright so cant post them, the general theme is that they have highs of 24’C in central Scandinavia, fingers crossed it stays that way for the foreseeable…

So, just one week to go, I’m putting the finishing touches to the van, getting everything squared away and hopefully not forgetting anything important.

Passport, money, important documents and of course the credit card are all ready to go, health insurance and breakdown cover in place, vans fuelled up and checked over for the 3rd time, but I’m sure something will be forgotten, it always is.

This weekend is to make sure I’m not too rushed for time next Saturday, so I can say farewell to the family and get an early start Sunday morning as the ferry leaves Harwich at 10am.

It may not be the Ritz, but this little space is going to be home for the next 4, or possibly 5 weeks, It will keep me warm, dry and well fed, there’s no need for anything fancy as its the journey thats important, I’ll have the scenery to look at, good music on the stereo, and I’m sure there’s plenty of eating houses on the way. Oh, and I wont mention the beer……

That’s it really, until next week, the first post of the journey will hopefully be Sunday night, I’m not sure how far I’ll get into Germany but the plan is to update on a daily basis each evening.

Well, with only 2 weeks left before departure it is time to start trying to cram all my gear into the van, it’s surprising how much stuff one person will need for a small trip like this.

As you can see, the basics include tools, fuel, spares and essentials like jump leads, booster pack and electric pump for the tyres, don’t want to get stranded in the middle of nowhere with a flat battery or flat tyre.

There’s a mains hook up lead, awning tie down straps and ramps for the nights spent on proper campsites.

A good table is a necessity as there is nothing worse than trying to cook or eat off a wobbly table, there’s no chair in the pic as that’s not been delivered yet, after a recommendation from a friend, and trying one out in the shop I’ve gone for a high back Isabella Thor, very comfortable and supports your back really well.

Cooking will be taken care of by the twin burner inside the van or by a small folding BBQ, weather permitting, I’ve gone for the larger “906” CampinGaz bottles as these are readily available throughout Europe, albeit at a price premium. I carry 3 of these so as to make sure I don’t run out whilst in the wilderness.

It’s easy to take too much in the pots and pans department, so I’ve gone for one saucepan,one frying pan and a kettle, that’s as much as I can cope with really, and a toastier maker, one of the best inventions ever, if it fits between 2 slices of bread it can be toasted. Love it .

Next was to refit the bike rack as it’s a good possibility I’ll use the ole shove iron to run around towns and villages to save on the leg work, you get to cover a lot more distance than just walking

The red and white marker board is a legal requirement in Italy and recommended in most other countries. For the ferry crossing the bike will be inside the van and the rack folded up, this is to keep it under 6 metres long, making it cheaper to use the ferry.

Another addition is the viewing platform on the roof, this is to the rear half behind the solar panels and is basically some Phenolic resin coated plywood as used on trailer floors screwed down onto the roof rails. This is to allow me to stand on the roof and take photos, hopefully getting a slightly better perspective on things.

One benefit of having the solar panels and viewing platform is that they act as a second skin on the van, a bit like the safari roofs on old series land rovers, they provide an air gap so that in direct sunlight it insulates the roof a bit and when it rains you don’t get that annoying patter of the raindrops hitting the bare steel of the roof, well that’s the theory anyway…….

Ok, so next weekend will see me finish the packing and give the ole girl a wash down, ready for the run to catch the ferry on Sunday the 26th, fingers crossed that the weather stays good for the crossing.

Hi,

With only 6 weeks to go I’ve had the Van mot’d and serviced, all is ok, had a dry run fitting all the gear into the van that i’ll need for the 4 weeks away.

I’m ok with basic mechanics and a bit better with the electrics so I’m carrying a basic toolkit and only a couple of spares as there are plenty of Mercedes dealerships all across Europe and I’m not expecting any problems but better safe than sorry, I also have European Breakdown Cover as a last resort.

With 200 Watt of solar power charging the starter and twin leisure battery’s there should be ample power to run my Waeco CFX50 fridge and all the other gadgets such as TV, phone and iPad etc etc.

The 1500 watt inverter is reserved for the electric kettle and possibly microwave if a decide to take one, not sure yet if I’ll need it. There is mains hook-up for when I’m on campsites and that runs through a 20 amp charger to further top up the battery’s.

A table and a chair are essential as is the small barbecue that will be strapped to the rear of the van alongside the push bike, (apparently its not safe to carry it inside the vehicle due to the gases given off !! ), just in case I feel like getting energetic at some point, (the bike not the BBQ). The cooker inside is a smev twin burner with a sink at the side, which can be seen in almost every camper ever built, but it does a good job for its size and I’ll be running it off refillable CampinGaz bottles as these are readily available almost everywhere, albeit quite expensive, so I’m hoping to utilise the BBQ more often than not.

The Fiamma awning and sun view extension we’re wound out and rigged up and all is OK, the sun view is a nice addition as it blocks 80% of UV light but lets you still enjoy the view out, it worked a treat last year in Germany and France and is compact and light weight so no downsides there.

There will be a single box with the cooking essentials in, this will also be minimalistic, one frying pan, one saucepan, BBQ gear, a selection of crockery and utensils, a few herbs and spices to liven things up.

Awning and Sun View rolled out, last year at Bad Kissingen

Anything I’ve forgotten can always be picked up on the trip as Aldi and Lidl are everywhere.

As usual I’ve forgotten to take some pics so I’ll get some done over this bank holiday weekend and have a go at posting them here. Wish me luck.

Hi, Thanks for joining me,

Hopefully during the summer you will follow me on my journey from my home town of Lincoln (UK) through Europe up to the Scandinavian countries then back down passing through the Baltic states and Poland into Germany in time to attend the Abenteuer and Allrad show at Bad Kissingen around the 20th to 24th June 2019.

I will be tackling this mammoth journey alone in my prized Mercedes Sprinter camper, its already had a few forays in to France and Germany in the last few years but nothing on this scale.

This is my first attempt at writing a Blog about my travels so don’t be expecting an all singing all dancing site, it was a spur of the moment idea so that friends and family can follow my progress and it also gives me a chance to record the trip for posterity. Please feel free to comment on the blog layout/content or the journey itself as its all a steep learning curve for me using all this new fandangled technology.

The route planning for the trip was literally done in a couple of evenings whilst consuming immeasurable amounts of real ale, this lead to it going from a fortnight in Norway to a prolonged trip of up to around 6000 miles. Searching Google for what interesting sites were not to be missed I realised it would take a year or more to see all the best places so the list was whittled down to a few that interested me and would be on a route that took in a variety of landscapes.

The time I’ve allowed is enough for me to travel 5 days out of 7, so that I can alter the route whilst travelling or lay up in a beautiful place for a couple of days to get in some rest and relaxation. I plan on wild camping for a few days then stop overnight in a proper campsite to allow me to refresh the van and use the WiFi to update this blog.