2019 Baltic and Scandinavian trip

[WouterP]

And just what forum are you talking about here...

Europe is indeed missing the free camping mentality and it's kind a shame. If you prohibit it then you can't teach your citizens neither to take care of their surroundings.

Perhaps we should start a OB political party to fight for our right to camp and to greenlane!

Haha i won't talk about that here ;)

It's a good idee but i don't have it for politicians ;)

 

[WouterP]

Day 4

Goodbye beautifull Austria, welcome less inviteing Slovakia.

So after a warm shower and a good meal with Nice view



We left the hotel.


The Road ahead is lang but comforteble due to airco and air suspension.
Talking about air suspension, it has been inactive since we drove down the field where we ate on the second day.

It was a fast moving dat and not so intertaining to write about.

We did 684.7 km today
And only stoped to eat and go to a store for some water and bread.
And some stuff for our onboard water/shower.
And also to stretch the 4 legs of turbo (our dog)
Luckely he don't mind to sit in the car all day







Now we are camped in Slovakia on a camping



Because it's also prohibited to camp in the nature even in prived land with the permission of the owner.

The plan for tomorrow is to make a Nice breakfasts with eggs and bacon and then go to the Tatra mountains to have e good hike.

now i'll enjoy the camp fire.

 

[WouterP]

Day 5

Tatra mountains

This morning we slept a bit Longeri made some bacon while the wife took everything out of the fridge and drawer and made the table.

We than went to some ski/ hiking village.
Around 11u we took the skilift to halfway the mountain.

The firts time for turbo and Elodie in a skilift and they did it good ;)

We went on a hike on the mountain and enjoyed the beautifull scenery









It all went well and wed e very nice experience.
For the way down you could also go on a sort of little trike without pedles
Something like this : (Google picture)



So offcource i took the mountain cart :)
And Elodie had to take turbo on the lift back down :)

We then crossed the border into Poland
Ant tomorrow we'll go back in to the Tatra mountains but on the Polish side and visit the famous lakes.

I take my book out for the first time now and have a good read

Good evening !

 

[WouterP]

Bad news

Dog are not allowed on the Polish side of the Tatra mountains ☹.
So no reading in my book yet.
We have to Found out where we're going tomorrow first

 

[WouterP]

Day 6

Today we went on route to bialowieza
One of the last ancient forests in europe

when we entered Poland yesterday, near Zakopane, they we're Building new houses everywhere. So we wanted to see te real poland.
So i sat the gps on ' no motorway's '
But i think Poland is renewing everything. The routes, the houses, the gasstations...

in Slovakia was it even word. They are building a very large highway from West to east.

we also did a few Creek crossings, that was Fun !
and we played with turbo in one :) his first time swimming .

we got a message from a 8*** nr that warned us for a storm that was coming




So we went to a hotel again..

tonight we are sleeping in the orangerie of a little "Castle". I'll take some pictures of it tomorrow.
The even have american Buffalo's and Arabic stalions. But we still have to find them. We Found som big blacck cows but those are not the Buffalo's the displayed.

We met a polish Guy who gave some offroad tracks to drive. The we're driving them with 4 Cars and he was so Nice to send al the gpx files to me. So mabey tomorrow we do some more offroading, finaly!

I'll ad a video of on of the Creek crossings and one from turbo swimming ;) if i figur out how to do it

See you tomorrow

 

[WouterP]

Day 7

We left after one of the lesser diners i had in a hotel.

Did a few kilometers and a lot of roadworks
For noon we ate somewhere in a Forest, the Nice thing of Poland is that there are so many dirt and Forest Roads
On that Forest route there was a tree Blocking the way, so i tot to use my saw (me happy)



I cut some dead branches of the tree next to the route, and drove around the fallen tree.
If i did cut the fallen tree, i think i would still be cutting ;)

Around 15u we saw some shop who selled some kind of boulles de Berlin, so naturaly we bought some. We Found a Nice Place near the river to eat them and have a coffee



Further on the Road the wind started to blow heavely.
We passed a truck and there was a bang and a 'bong' on the daschbord.
The Dash said : check side light.
So i pulled over and saw:



No more right Blinker and parking light.
Drove a little back and Found almost al the pices.



So, that's the second time something Broke on this trip .
I screwed the electrics back together and put some electrical tapo on them, put the remainings of the light back in the spot and ducktaped it together.

We Found a garage on the Ay and stoped there to see if someone was home, there we're a lot of Cars with plates of different countries so that was a good sign.
But no one home
So up to the next one.
Luckely here there are garages every 500meters .
The next one couldn't speak a word English, so a showed everything, and that i wanted it soldered back together ( the next mod on the car is An 220v enverter and a sildering iron)
He die a good job of it and we tapes everything up with a good amount of ducktape.



So, again a story to tel

We drove for a next 1.5 hours and arived on the campspots in the Middle of the Forrest near bialowieza.



We are the bleu dot and in the red circle you have the ancient Forest of bialowieza, on the Polish side that is.
Tomorrow we'll visit that one ☺

After typing this, is time to go to sleep

 

[WouterP]

Btw here a foto of what the Castle looked like

 

[WouterP]

Day 8

This night we woke up because of the wind, it was blowing very strongley in the Trees around the camp site. Al the sound of the wind was really scary to hear but the sunny past was that the rtt just shaked 1 or 2 times.
But nevertheless i got out the tent to close the awning. And when i was closing it it started raining with those big drups. I was soked in no time.
So that was the first time we had propper rain in the rtt.
In the morning it was like nothing happend.
Nice and sunny and very warm :)
And we had some Nice tosted bread



We went to the center of bialowieza to book a tour in the old Forest and have some groceries.
But when we wanted to book the tour, you would never guess, dog waren't alouwed...
So yeah no ancient Forest for is this trip .
That's really a nummer, i Was looking forward to see the old threes and al the plants and how it used to look in europ back in the day.

so yeah, went back to camp and did some laundry



i can now wear some clean underpants again

Dis some good shopping also.

We than went on a walk in the Forrest near the camp place.

O, we also went to some kind of little zoo where the had some bisons and wolves and Deer.

Wen we Came back from the walk there was a Guy on a motorcycle who Will stay the night here, he is from England and drove already through belgium, Holland, Germany ,Denmark, Norway, Sweden ,Finland , estonia, latvia, lithuania and now Poland, he had some Nice storys and a Nice KTM bike as Well.

We al ate burgers together and had a really good time.
It's Nice to meet completley strangers and have some kind of connection with them.
As Mutch as i like to be Aline on trips like this, i also like it to connect with People with the same interstes and hear there story

And just a few minutes ago we we're looking at the shoting stars, because there are a lot of them now

So on this bomshell i wisch everyone good travels and a good night of sleep

 

[WouterP]

Day 9

We slept a little Longer and had a Nice long breakfasts with our new friends.

The biker left around noon
And the other guys went to the tour for the old Forest.

Weg had a 14 km walk in the woods that surround the camp place.
And offcource we took turbo and the other dog from here followed is the while time :)



O yesterday we saw a hazelworm (blind worm ?)



We then red in our books and did nothing :)
It was a Nice relaxed day.
We ate some burgers and rice and appelmousse.
Will read some more and go to sleep

Tomorrow we go to the mazurain lakes

 

[WouterP]

Day 10

Today was a day of surprises

We left the campspots where we stayed 3 nights.
Said goodbay to our new friends and turbo's new girlfriend ;)

And hit the rouad again.

First we went to a 'apoteka' for something against insect bites.
Elodie got bitten really bad.

We ate noon at a Nice lake in the mazurain region



And went to some kind of Fortress.
It wasn't what we expected but we got a little hicke out of it and also did turbo.

We then changed our plans again :)
We went to the border of lithuania.
And ate some good pizza's
The we Found some gorgous campspots to stay.
Just at the side of a lake
But with a lot of mosquito's



So tomorrowwe het rif of our last polish zloty and we enter lithuania i didn't think that was going to happen. But the plan now is to ake the ferry in paldiski (estonia) to kapellskär (Sweden) and see some Nice places on the route :)

and here is the morning vieuw



Sorry to uplaod this so late.
I typed it yesterday but didn't have any reception

 

[WouterP]

Day 11

Woke up to the view of the lake with the first sun hitting it's waters.

We didn't close the rtt just the bug mesh.
Didn't expect to sleep that good with it open.

We usede our last polish zloty's in the shop near the campspot and set to lithuania.

Everywhere on the side of the Road there are signs for deze campspots so that promised to be good :)

We drove to the city of Trakai to visit Trakai Island Castle



We then looked for a Place to sleep.
We went for a hotel because i got a message from 'alert rcb' again.



But now when i look at it again, it Geys me thinking, it's a polish number so i don't think it was Ment for the region we are in now...

But the hotel is oké i think.
It like a resort that stoped and now they just Rent some rooms i think.
It used to be very Nice but that was probably 5 years ago

But it is only 36 euro so that's not to bad
Btw here it is 1 hour later than in Poland, luckely the 'smart'phones reset the time on there own, otherwise we would be eurly for everything .

 

[Robert OB 33/48]

nice, very nice trip. Enjoy it more. Thanks for sharing this.

 

[WouterP]

Day 12

Latvia

We slept a bit Longer than usual.
The beds were good and the curtains made it pretty Dark in the room.
I think it was the Dark room why we slept so long.

After making breakfasts ( because that wasn't in the price of this wierd place) we left.
We took one of the three only highway's in lithuania.
It was a decent one, (better than the those in Belgium)

We bought a coffee in a gasstation shop An filled up the big tank of Mickey (the range rover )



That's cheap right

We then drive the other +-250 km to the border.
And crossed it without any difficuties.
Because there wasn't even a border. No buildings just a bit wider road .

Drove some more and ate some late noon (14.30) in the woods near the sea.



It was a Nice Place.
There were foundations of 2 houses in the open space between the Trees. I think they were there for some time.

After diner and doing the dishes
We went to the sea for a little relaxing



Then we looked for a campspots.
After a little drive we Found this one.





Just near the river





We had to Rush inside the car for a while because it started to Thunder and rain.
But that's al over now and we are enjoying the last sun to read a book next to this beautifull river.
Watch a Nice spot !

 

[WouterP]

Day 13

We left the campspots around 9
And went to find a post Office, and some shops to buy some food.

Found some in a little mall but the post office didn't open until 10.
So first we bought al the goods and then send out some cards to family and friends :)

After the groceries we went to the sea to check out some bunkers from when this place was in Sovjet hands.







It was a Nice Place to wander around.
lots and lots of bunkers

Then we drove some more to the widest waterfall in europe





This was a beautifull place. We wakker on top of the falls but because it was a bit to slippery we didn't cross them maybe next time

We ate some paste and went on to e place caled: cinevilla film park.
It's like a latvian Hollywood thing. It's not that impresive, but saw some Nice Cars i would like to drive









And the first defender of the trip



Then it was already time to look for a Place to camp.
Eventually we went to a camping caled Zanzibar.
Not to bad good reception and not to costley.

O yeah we drove some awsome gravel Roads today

 

[WouterP]

Day 14

Estonia

We slept long again, is was 10u30 before we left the campground.

We went to visit the aviation museum just near the entrence of the Riga aeroport.
It was full of Russian type fighterplanes and helicopters and some Nice Russian trucks.























Sorry for al these pics but it was really An amazing place !!

We then went on and ate at a little restaurant. Is was really good An really cheap :)

We also had a walk around a Castle.
But we couldn't visit is because of the dog, so we just Walker around it in Walker in the Nice park in front of it.





After the walk we drove to the border of estonia and then some more :)
We are camped now at a very beautifull place near a lake. Ist 16€ but it very Well maintaind.
Just when we wanted to set up the rtt and awning it started to pour down !!
So luckely we are at a camping (we are the only once here) so we could go sit on the covered terrace right next to the lake

 

[WouterP]

Day 15

Booking the ferry

We left a gorgous please this morning and went to a museum An hour away.
It was a museum with Russian Cars...
Here are some of the pics i find most interesting























I have a few more ;)
If you want them give me a pm.

We spend some time in that museum offcource :) there we're some really good bases to make An Overland truck off. But the most of them we're to far gon..

We ten went on to the village of Paldiski to book a ferry to Sweden.
But the office was closed.
It was a wierd place overall. I think it's more for cargo. But eventually we managed to book a ferry ( via internet) for tomorrow 8u30. So we have to be there by 6u30.
It's not watch we wanted because we don't have a 'pet' room and the dog has to stay in the car the whole time. It like An 9 hour travel !!
Don't know how that Will work.
But we got the ferry booked.

We then Found a Nice Place to check out. It's like some kind of Stone grove that's shut down.
And now it's like An 'adventure' park you can hike the mountain and swim the lake ...
We had to pay 3 euro's each bit we had a Nice cold swim as had turbo. We met some french People who lived just 20 km from us, what a coincidence
We also had a climb up the mountain and a stunning vieuw over the lake.



After hiking some more we went to the other side of the lake to set up camp for the night



I talked to some divers over here befor supper,
And now i think i gone swim some more :)

 

[PB&Me]

Love it Wouter! Looks like you’re getting some good camping and rough road driving in after all.

 

[WouterP]

Love it Wouter! Looks like you’re getting some good camping and rough road driving in after all.

Yeah it's a Nice trip until now, i would like some more offroad driving but that's for An other time ;) the gravel Roads are very Well maintaind here, it's even beter Then on the normal Road back in Belgium
Tomorrow Sweden, so that Will Bring some more gravel i hope :)

 

[WouterP]

Day 16

Ferry day

We got up at 5u30 and started packing up the rtt
ent on the Road about 20min later.

Once we were in the port we had to validatie our tickets.
We than had to Wate until al the trailers without trucks were loaded and a few of the other trucks.
Because we had a dog we goed park the car on the topdeck just in the open.
After waiting some time again we entered the shop and took our keycards for the room, with ocean view (it was the only one stil available yesterday when we booked)
After receving the keycards we could enjoy a Nice breakfasts (included).
After breakfasts we checked out our room.
It was Nice and big
We took a warm shower, which was very Nice because the late evening swim yesterday was pretty cold.

The restaurant was closed until 4u30 but you could sit there anyway. There even were some Nice sofa's.


And the whole day you could take coffee, thee, water and Nice all included in the tickets.

At 4u30 there was super (included), witch wasn't bad ar all



Over the dat we went 5 times to the car to check out turbo.



You had to ring a Bell, then they send someone who let you near the Cars and who also stayed. Because obviously you waren't allowed to room around on your one on the car deck.

We set good on wall around 6u30 Swedish time. And went to look for a camp side.

It wasn't that easy to find a good one but eventually we Found a perfect place to stay. Just to bad it wasn't e few hours earlier.

 

[WouterP]

Day 17

Gorgeous Sweden
This day was mostly driving. As Will be all the others.
But the scenery was so beautifull today !
Sweden is sutch a magnificent country !
I love the nature, the Roads, the food, and the People are so kind here !!

We stoppen to stretch our legs on a Place that would be very good to camp





We then stopper again to eat something, also on a Nice lake. But the place was e little to smal to camp. But perfect for enjoying a meal





We then drive some more ;) and drove to the island of Öland and sat up camp, with ocean view Nice and early.
Need some relax time befor going home right !?





We are now going to enjoy the rain on the awning and the look of the calm ocean,



with a good book and some Nice food.