Delscampertour

Start point. Hestia Hotel Susi, Tallin, Estonia.

Finish point. Hestia Hotel Susi, Tallin, Estonia.

Distance. About 8 Miles.

Total. 3050 Miles.

After a brief downpour this morning and a promise of sunshine and high temperatures all day I took the old bike back into Tallin for another wander around, although I had done the touristy bits yesterday I thought I’d have a look around outside the old town as well. To my surprise by the time I had got down there at 11am it was a hive of activity, far busier than I expected, but it’s no problem on a bike and running around the back streets I found a lot of car parks where it is quite cheap to park for 24 hours, the best being 6€, absolute bargain, but as always it’s not until you get boots on the ground that you find these places.

I tootled around for a couple of hours then started heading back, first visit was to the harbour and marina area, there were a couple of cruise ships in but I was surprised how small the mariner was, there must be more away from the city and probably at a cheaper rate.

I thought I’d take the scenic route back to the hotel and go through some of the many parks here. Only 10 minutes out from the centre of Tallin I was amazed to find such a gorgeous place at Kadrioru Park, the Kadrioru Muuseum is an ex palace that is now a museum, although I didn’t venture inside, the building and gardens are outstanding.

After cycling through the park I made a wrong turn and ended up in an area full of low rise flats, I wouldn’t call them apartments as these have all the hallmarks of the old soviet regime whereby they built hundreds of low rise tenements for the workers of the great socialist state. Even on a Sunday it was fairly busy in there and there were lots of shops open, but the parking is very limited for the residents and non existent at the shops, if you want your quota of bread and milk you have to walk and get it. But on the way out there was a kebab kiosk that gets really good ratings on Google, I can confirm that for 5€ you do get a very good chicken kebab and chips, with salad of course, but it would of helped if I had been able to speak Russian. Unfortunately no pics as it didn’t seem appropriate.

Sorry this is a day late I’ve been having internet issues, hopefully normal service has resumed.

Start point. Hestia Hotel Susi, Tallin, Estonia.

Finish point. Hestia Hotel Susi, Tallin, Estonia.

Distance. 5 Miles on the bike. But who’s counting ??

Total. 3050 Miles.

I hope you all like looking at pictures, as there’s going to be a few.

One reason for bringing the bike was to make this type of day out easier to do, on leaving the hotel it was a steady 15 minute ride into the Old Town of Tallin, once there I locked the bike up and spent the next 6 hours wandering the streets along with a million other tourists, the harbour had quite a few cruise ships in and most of the hotels I have been past have loads of coaches parked up.

There were two highlights of the day, one is the Tallinna Linnamuuseum, for a paltry 14€ you get a great workout going up and down thousands of steps for a couple of hours, in my case trying not to have a heart attack, but the exhibits were brilliant, with plenty of descriptions in English giving the whole history of Tallin and the various occupation forces that have invaded over the years. In the price you get to go down into the deepest recesses of the hill the old town is built on and along the Bastion passages, a true delight but not for the claustrophobic.

HIghlight number two was found when I was heading away from the tourists and tour groups that had filled up all the restaurants, on a side road I came across The Georgia Tavern, not that I read the sign on the way in, it was the aromatic smell of something spicy cooking that drew me in. Once inside and seated all on my lonesome it was time to browse the menu, again there were English translations and that made the choice easy, beef soup starter and lamb shashlik for main all washed down with Georgian amber ale. Simply excellent food and good sized portions, even by my standards. Its one eatery I can heartily recommend, that’s going into “Del’s Best Kebab’s of the World Guidebook.”

After that it was back to wandering again.

Estonia plays Northern Ireland tonight, here, only a non football loving muppet would book the hotel for this very weekend and not know that, according to one of the lads enjoying the local hostelry there are about 1700 fans here, from what I saw they were having a great time, there was a very party like atmosphere with some of them playing with giant blow up footballs in the streets outside the bars, and the police were being very discreet with only a handful on view and they were mainly on foot, fingers crossed it goes well for them tonight.

I must admit that the riot vans were pretty discreet compared to the ones in the UK.

Do you think they would notice one go missing, it would make a great campervan.

Is it worth visiting Tallin ? I would definitely rate it on the to do list, it’s geared up to cater for all types of visitor, from the obligatory hen and stag do’s, to the family here for a weekend, to the many cruise ships that call in here on their Baltic sailings and even to a lone traveller, no matter how he gets here there is something for everyone. I’ll expect my cheque from the Estonian Tourist Board any day now.

Thanks for reading, enjoy.

Start point. SF-Caravan Hymenlaaksory, Finland.

Finish point. Hestia Hotel Susi, Tallin, Estonia.

Distance. 110 Miles. + 2 hour ferry crossing.

Total. 3050 Miles.

Todays the day I head back over the water into mainland Europe, there’s a little bit of me that just wants to stay here in this Gorgeous country and not bother coming back, before the trip I thought it would be Norway that would entice me, with its Fjords and mountains but I’ve really fallen in love with this place, it’s people and it’s laid back attitude, it comes across as a plain Jane of the Scandinavian countries and no doubt is not everybody’s cup of tea, but, (with an Austrian accent) ” I’ll be back”.

The trip down to Helsinki for the ferry was the first time in over 1500 miles that I’ve been on a Motorway, albeit a two lane jobbie, there wasn’t much to see and as I had a deadline to catch the Tallink ferry at lunchtime I didn’t hang about sightseeing, the stupid SatNav took me through the middle of Helsinki, and since I hadn’t seen any signs for the ferry terminal I blindly followed the piece of S***.

I was going to be an hour early but thanks to the sight seeing tour of the shopping centres of Helsinki I rolled up just as the check-in opened, good timing Garmin.

The ferry was very busy, and as they have about 7 sailings a day and I’d booked at the quietest time I can imagine its a constant flow for the dockers. The ferry itself was clean and tidy, plenty of places to eat or drink, including a Burger King, well you’ve got to see if its the same haven’t you !! People were sprawled out everywhere, floors, stairwells etc, as theres a distinct lack of seating, but there are cabins available even though its just a 2 hour crossing.

The arrival at Tallin was joke, there’s road works on the main exit road and there was also an “Incident” involving a lorry and car so it was 3 lanes down to 1 and your straight into the city centre rush hour traffic. It was nearly an hour before I got to the hotel thats less then 2 miles from the ferry terminal.

There’s a huge amount of hotels and Airbnb places in the center of Tallin but parking is either extra or in a public car park, not wanting to be far from my van I booked into a place near the airport, it was cheap enough that I could book 3 nights here and the van is parked just below my window, albeit 3 floors down.If someone tries to steal it I can always throw a can of beer at them, if there’s any left of course.

The restaurant produced a nice steak for me and it was washed down with a couple of pints of the local brew so this chappy is a happy one, not many pics I’m afraid, but I’ll be peddling into the old town tomorrow to enjoy the the touristy parts.

What numpty forgot the plug adapter, this is how international travellers make it work, you just need to improvise, job done.

That’s all folks……

Start point. Kangasniemi, Finland.

Finish point. SF-Caravan Hymenlaaksory. ( I think ).

Distance. 160 Miles.

Total. 2940 Miles.

Not too many words today, I’ve got camped about 2 hours from Helsinki and the drive here was fabulous, I had my first stretch of motorway for over 1000 miles and that was a simple two lane affair. I soon turned off and sought out a campsite. The campsites here have to be experienced when you compare them to the regimented affairs in the UK, the owner walked me around the site, pointed out all the important bits, like its the men’s Sauna at 7:30 for an hour and half and then you all go for a swim in the lake, its a COOL 19’C in the water, don’t think I have baths that hot..

I stopped off at two towns today, just to do a bit of the touristy stuff, and I’m pleased I did, I’ve seen when passing through the towns how nice they look but I now know what I’ve been missing by just driving past them.

The following pics are from Puumala..

There’s a cafe at the top of them stairs.

The next ones are from Ruokolahti…

Apparently thats the biggest Walnut ever found !!!!

Yes its a bear, and yes it does s*** in the woods, well it did until it got shot..

Google maps must be one of the best products ever invented and for it to be free is even better, I just click on my position, zoom out a bit and search camping and it comes up with results you can go through and pick one out based on the reviews given and then it gives you the directions how to get there. Soooo easy, and its a winner every time.

Yet again I pulled off the main road onto a gravel track for about a mile and good old google brought me straight to the gate of the campsite. I tootled on into the reception where once again the lady manning the desk spoke perfect English, as did her two elderly sidekicks who were more than welcoming, once signed in she then proceeded to walk me around the site with the usual ” park anywhere down there”, she showed me the swimming area of the lake, ( straight in front of where I’m now parked), the Finnish sauna, (that I’ll be using late), and the shower, ablutions block, kitchen, laundry room and the outside BBQ area, unfortunately the bar and entertainment are Friday and Saturday nights only, bugger, its so nice to get that personal touch.

I think that Finland is very much overlooked as a holiday destination from us brits point of view, it’s not expensive like Sweden and Norway, it may not have the Fjords and stunning mountains of Norway but it has great places to visit, excellent summers, there are lakes and parks in the smallest of villages that the locals use all summer and they really know how to make you feel welcome, if I could stay anywhere for longer I think this would be the place, the fact that there’s basically a kebab shop on every street corner is irrelevant.

One thing I did notice was how well the cemetery’s were kept, yes its a strange thing to notice, but considering the church and its surroundings are usually central to any populated area it does stand out, wether the date has any relevance I’m not sure, but 75 years ago today our brave boys ( for thats what most of them were) landed in France to start the campaign to put an end to Hitlers dominance of Europe. Thanks to there bravery and tenacity they succeeded to free Europe from his tyranny so that we can live in a free world, it’s a shame that others cannot see that there is nothing but death and destruction when you try to impose your beliefs on others. Rant over.

Thanks for following and reading my blog, please leave comments as I’m wanting feedback as to how you like it, or if I can add things you want to know about.

Start point. Pukinsaari Camping, Kristinestad, Finland.

Finish point. Kangasniemi, Finland.

Distance. 240 Miles.

Total. 2780 Miles.

The day got of to a rather lazy start, with me not leaving the campsite until 10am and slowly meandering across eastwards, with no definite destination in mind and being on the very quiet back roads it was a pleasant mornings drive, the sun was shining, the temperature had got up to the mid 20’s and I could plod along and take in the views.

Heading away from the coast across this part of Finland is a bit like being in Holland, it’s pretty flat with small farms dotted along both sides of the road with the odd bit of forest interrupting the view occasionally, I was starting to get worried it would end up getting monotonous like Sweden but I was worrying needlessly as the scenery improved as I drove deeper into the heart of the country.

You start to spot the odd small lake to start with, then the small lakes get a bit bigger, then they get more regular until your surrounded by lakes, trees, farms and the many thousands of houses that line the roads and lakes, your never far from civilisation here, it can look remote at times but every nook and cranny seems to have a house in it.

As you head along the backroads and trundle through the villages and towns you get the impression that space is unlimited, every property wether it is private or industrial is sprawled out over the countryside taking up as much room as it wants, the villages are spotless, with beautiful churches and municipal buildings. It’s impossible to notice how many shops there are here, the smallest of village gets everything it needs and the larger ones get American type malls that make you wonder how much money these people have to spend, I’ve been filling the van with diesel on a regular basis so that I’ve never less than half a tank to get me by, but there’s no need as petrol stations are more regular than the villages, they are literally everywhere.

One surprise I had was when cutting across from a minor road, like our b-roads, to a trunk road, as I turned right off the minor road, the sign directed me to turn right again so I was nearly heading back on myself, and the road had the distinct look of a private driveway, but I carried on, there was no route planned on the Sat Nav but it was switched on anyway, it was now showing me going across fields, and then the tarmac ran out and I was driving on a gravel track, it was like this for over 10km until the tarmac re-appeared as I was passing an old quarry, and the tarmac was in worse state than the track, this was to happen on two more occasions on back roads and there’s no warning signs or even a reduction in the speed limit.

Returning to the tarmac after 10km of Gravel track.

You certainly need your wits about you driving them roads, no wonder the Finns used to dominate the Rallying scene. No bridges today, so here’s a couple of boats…..

Here’s a couple of scrappers, an old Ford D-series and a Cat D-7.

Once again the highways people are at it, I think there attitude is that it’s your own fault if you crash, you should slow down and concentrate harder, seems to work over here.

Super Duper Fadango Wheels. !!!!!

That’s it for today, not many photo’s I’m afraid, mainly because I was just enjoying the drive.

Start point. Umea, Sweden.

Finish point. Pukinsaari camping, Kristinestad, Finland.

Distance. 90 Miles.

Total 2550 Miles.

I wont beat about the bush, most of you that are following this blog know me on facebook, and I’ve already posted a few bits on there so you know where I am, for those that don’t do FB I’m at a small campsite called Pukinsaari Camping, in the small town of Kristinestad about 50miles south of where the ferry landed at Vaasa.

Some hairy German bikers heading onto the Ferry.

Arriving in Vaasa, Finland. Ooh look, its that round yellow thing in the sky.

The ferry crossing was every bit as boring as Sweden but arriving at the port town of Vaasa was a different matter all together, the scenery was similar to both Norway and Sweden but driving off the boat you could see the cleanliness of the place straight away, every thing nice and clean and tidy, except that the slip road down to the E12 was shut and with no diversion signs in place it was pot luck which way you went, but as one of the roads run parallel it was easy enough to just follow that until you hit a slip road back on to it and away from town.

Once on the E12 I took the back road south looking for a campsite, I had no plans to do much driving after yesterdays marathon and so I came across this little beauty at Kristinestad, only €16 for the night without electric, but the sun was shining and I took a chance the solar panels would do their job, got booked in, got the pass numbers for the kitchen and toilets/showers and wandered about until I found a spot away from any neighbours so if I need the engine to charge the battery’s or run the night heater I wont disturb anyone else.

There’s no bar or restaurant here so the old shove iron finally came of the back of the van and was pressed into service getting me back into the village, it’s only 1km but I’ve not ridden it for a couple of years and was in need of liquid coolant, aka, beer, when I arrived. As luck would have it there’s not many places open yet and the bar I chose also did food. Those on FB know where this is going, I’m a big lover of Kebabs, and low and behold would you believe it, it’s on the menu, ordering a small (not) one and a large beer I settled in for the evening, catching up with messages and phone calls to family to reassure them I’m safe and well…. and so they know where to search for the body if I don’t make it back to the van.

What can I say, it’s just gorgeous, stunning, exquisite, etc etc etc…………

That is what cobbles are supposed to look like.

Due to the new route there is now no rushing about and so tomorrow’s schedule is uncertain, I’ll see what happens, thats all I can say.

View across the water from the campsite.

Next ones an oldie but one of the best yet, yes it’s a bridge……..

On a final note, I’ve been told that I didn’t see a moose yesterday, it was a reindeer. If thats the case then Santa will never get airborne when they’ve got such a huge A**E. Poor kids, no pressies this Christmas.

Starting point. Hell, near Trondheim, Norway.

Finishing point. Umea, Sweden.

Distance. 350 Miles.

Total. 2450 miles.

Well today was another day that didn’t quite go to plan, I didn’t bother setting of until about 10am as I planned to take 2 days to get across to the Ferry Port of Umea on the Swedish east coast, it was going to be an easy 300 km per day.

The day started great, I managed to get all the gear packed away this morning before the rain arrived, and as I headed east on the E14 it was a truly scenic drive, the mountains had turned into big hills covered with a lush green forest, the road was on the north side of the valley and the flood plains were to the right of me running down to the river, on the south bank the railway line was cut into the side of the hill and so for about 50 miles it was an easy and relaxing drive.

The road started to climb as I neared the Swedish border and you could just make out in the distance the mountains with their scattering of bright white snow topped peaks. As I drove through the un-manned border crossing the terrain started to change, the trees were losing their greenness and were starting to look kind of shabby, the plateaux at that height was rocky with a scattering of trees and scrub, the roads that were lovely and smooth in Norway gave way to rough, uneven and cracked tarmac.

The road started to drop away and you could feel it was heading slightly downhill but in front the mountain range was looming large and I had visions of going over yet another mountain pass at a snails pace, but as we neared the foothills the road took a sudden turn north and into thick forest that lined both sides of the long straight roads and it stayed this way for the next 250 miles.

Road, forest, lake, small village, road, forest, lake, small town, etc,etc,etc For 250 Miles..

Luckily the speed limit in Sweden is higher than Norway so you could sit at 90 kph most of the time with short stretches at 100 kph, oh the joy !!!

A couple of hours after setting off it was lunchtime and on entering a one horse town called Jarpen I stopped at the first eatery that looked busy, its name “Kiosk-Grill” inspiring confidence that it served proper food, it so it did, the buffet for app £10 was unusual, it consisted of a hotpot style dish with sauté potatoes on top but the best bit was the big slabs of beef underneath, melt in your mouth beef, with veg all in a juicy gravy that had a hint of spice about it. The second dish looked like an omelette but about 2 inches thick and wasn’t made of eggs, don’t know what it was but that was also excellent, and then there was stuff like pizza,( not real food in my book), a cheese dish, basically just cheese sauce with grated cheese on top, and what I thought was spam, but turned out to be small round cuts of ham. All topped of with a good cup of coffee. All very edible and highly recommended if anyone is passing that way.

On the road it was back to the boring stuff, so I kept going and going and going, then out of nowhere there was a moose grazing on the grass verge, so after a quick u-turn and grabbing the camera I got a picture of its arse as it wandered back into the forest with it’s mates. Highlight of the day and is one of the best reasons to drive these roads.

And still the forest continued to enclose me, you could catch a glimpse of a lake now and again but it was lost as quick as you saw it. I realised I had made such good time I’d get myself booked on to tomorrows ferry crossing to Vaasa and into Finland for a few days, there’s only so much forest you can look at as it hides everything else.

Here’s a couple of the bridges.

Here’s how they do the roadworks up here………

And so to finish on a lighter note, what are these muppets doing…

Oh and one more, can you guess the main industry up here ????

All probably going to IKEA once its made into chipboard.

Starting point. Kristiansund.

Finishing point. Hell, that’s its real name. Just north of Trondheim.

Distance. 150 Miles.

Total. 2100 Miles.

Decided to take a little drive as I got bored doing nothing, and ended up in Trondheim, 120 Miles up the road, turned onto the E14 at Hell, that heads to sweden and the ferry across to Finland and turned off at the first campsite sign I had seen, this led on to a dirt track down a hill past a working farm to a small site similar to the CL club sites in England, there’s a mix of wooden lodges, large German caravans that haven’t moved for years and a few motorhomes that are probably just passing through, this is only the second campsite I’ve used here and for £20 with electric hook-up its OK.

As usual the owner took my money and just pointed me in the direction of the river and says park where you want, I only wish I’d brought both my hook-up leads as I cant quite reach the river bank with the short one I brought. I’ve settled in now, had a good long shower, the beer is flowing and if the weather stays fine the BBQ will be on later, for first time as its been a bit of a damp squid so far, hoping that’ll change as I head eastwards.

Little bit peckish !!!!

Not a bad view to settle down to. In Hell, Norway.

Start point. Vadheim, 100km north of Bergen.

Finish point, Kristiansand. Between Bergen and Trondheim.

Distance. 230 Miles.

Total. 1970 Miles.

One of the reasons I wanted to do this trip was the inspiration from Heinrich Peter Kostka, aka “Buzz”, who posted some pics on Facebook of his trip up to Norway to work, they were just stunning, and now that I’ve had the chance to see some of this amazing country its the best decision I could have made.

The one Fatal flaw I made in planning the trip was thinking it would just be a road trip and that was all, how wrong could I be. I eventually planned to get all the way to NordKapp at the very top of Norway and return through Finland etc, you probably gathered from my earlier posts that it was worrying me that I wouldn’t have time to do it, wellI now know there isn’t a cat in hells chance of doing it in my time frame.

This country is just so huge, everything is BIG, the Fjords just keep getting bigger and bigger, the mountains have got themselves lost in the clouds and the distances you have to travel to cover any ground are unreal. I’ve already done 500 Miles more than Google predicted. And so it is with a bit of regret I’m giving up on that mission and instead going to head east and pick up the planned return leg of the journey somewhere in Finland. This will give me a more relaxing drive and time to take in the sights, especially in the Baltic States

On a brighter note the drive today was great, the E39 is Norways main west coast route from Kristiansand to Trondheim and is under constant improvement, they plan to do away with all the ferry crossings to speed up the flow of traffic, this will call for some massive building projects over and under the Fjords. As it is I used 3 ferries on todays little 230 Mile jaunt, nothing especially exciting happened and it was an easy run, the roads were quiet considering it’s a Saturday but it was still a full days drive, with all the waiting for the ferries etc..

Bugger, missed this one by a whisker, another 45 minute wait.

I continued to pull over at odd times to get a few pics to post her so I hope you enjoy them.

The main destination I had in mind for the trip was the Atlantic Road just south of Kristiansund, not to be confused with Kristiansand which is on the southern Norway coast famous for the Kanonmusuem I visited earlier in the week. The Storseisundet Bridge is the highlight in a series of bridges that make up this stretch of the Atlantic Road that link the small islands together. This marvel of engineering is featured in a lot of motoring adverts, namely Volvo Truck, and its the bizarre shape that makes it look, from some angles, to be an impossibly severe hump back of a bridge.

This angle makes it look really steep.

What it really looks like, not that bad is it.

.Well thats it for today, it’s Sunday tomorrow so day of rest before heading east, enjoy !!

Start point. Skare, 200 km from Bergen.

Finish point. Vadheim, 100 km north of Bergen.

Distance. 200 Miles.

Total. 1750 Miles.

With the worries last night of how I’m going to make it all the way to Nordcap I decided that today would be a relaxing drive, so I switched off the Sat Nav and followed the road signs to Bergen, and I’ll get as far as I get.

There’s no doubt that which ever road you take in this country you’ll go at a snails pace but will be rewarded with a panoramic view that is just amazing, at every turn of the corner, run through a tunnel or brow of a hill you never know what lies ahead, but you can be sure it’s worth the effort.

So as I set off following the signs for Bergen the first town I get to is Odda, its at the foot of Sorfjorden (Fjord), and the main road goes to the right and a smaller road to the left was the one towards Bergen, no worries, I thought…. as I’m driving along I realise that the road runs up to a ferry, nothing new there, but as I look across the Fjord the faster main road runs up and across the top of the Fjord and meets our road at the ferry terminal on the other side of the water, oh well its too late to turn back, about half way up the 30 mile long Fjord there are some road works where they are repairing what was left of the road after half the mountain decided it would rather be in the lake. Its been a recurring theme that any road works in the mountains are for repairs due to landslide or they are building better roads, bridges or tunnels, even a lowly back road gets a tunnel if there’s repeat landslides, and its all the better for it because those roads usually have a bloody great drop in to the murky waters below.

The Ferries that I’ve used so far have been pretty cheap, usually about 109NOK, (£10) so its a nice break and photo opportunity.

On departing the ferry it was a left turn to Bergen which was now about 60 Miles away, half way along there’s a small village called Norheimsund, and thats where I stopped for lunch, pulling into the car park your greeted with a view of a waterfall falling directly onto a House, strange, on closer inspection its just behind the building that is actually a gift shop for the idiot tourists like myself..

It was a short hop to Bergen where, having got all the car parks off google I then drove around looking for somewhere that would fit my van, virtually all the car parking is in garages, and thats ok for those in vans under 2m high, any on street parking was full and for a very limited amount of time.

I drove around for an hour or so and realised its the same as any old port town, the tourist brochures hype it up but the reality is that its not much different from Hull really, I know I might get some stick for that but its full of trucks running to the docks, the town was heaving with people with nothing better to do and I must of missed the histories parts as the road system is a nightmare unless you live there, rant over.

From there its northwardes up the E39 towards the Atlantic road, there was a hold up for about an hour after an accident near the Frekhaug Bridge.

Its not all plain sailing, after about 60 miles you cross the Sognefjorden on another ferry and thats where ive finished for the evening overlooking what I believe to be a Salmon farm, nice view to end the day with.

We will see what tomorrow brings, I don’t think the weather forecast is any better, but one can hope.

With the rubbish internet yesterday hopefully this video will down load now..

The switchbacks at Lysebotn.