Scandinavian trip in 2020

[NotGumby]

I’ve no plans for 2020 yet, so who knows, we might be able to join for all or part.

In 2014 we made a partial trip, 3 weeks, from Germany to Hirtshals DK, ferry across, and drove northwest to Trondheim, and back down through Norway and southern Sweden. Different camp every day. The southwest coast of Norway was skipped. Every motor home on the ferry turned left along the southern coast and we were alone on the road heading NW. I’m sure we missed some sights but we missed the mass tourism too. Caught up to it later on the coast though.

Southern Sweden was not interesting, and we racked up the kilometers to get through. I had heard this before we drove.

Mosquitoes were at any campground where there was water. Some worse than others. Only one camp in Norway was unbearable. I have heard that in Sweden, especially northern, the mosquitos will kill you. Full body coverage and mosquito-net hood is mandatory.


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[nickburt]

Many thanks @NotGumby - good info and you seem to have done what we're planning - missing the Southern coast. We aim to miss as much of the mass tourists as we can, although our current choice of time of year might not help that.

What time of year do you go? Mosquitoes are one thing, but did you encounter much problem with midges?

 

[Joey83]

Have not encountered any mosquitoes, but thats because I usually didnt stay in the middle of nowhere (have a bad back so camping has not been an option before I bought my current car).

 

[Neil Q Smith]

If I am around and free when you finalize the dates, I would be happy to help / meet-up / tag along.
Summer 2020 is still a long way off in my planning right now.
Will keep an eye on your posts, as your planning progresses.
Good Luck :)

 

[nickburt]

If I am around and free when you finalize the dates, I would be happy to help / meet-up / tag along.
Summer 2020 is still a long way off in my planning right now.
Will keep an eye on your posts, as your planning progresses.
Good Luck :)

Would be good to meet up if we can.

 

[NotGumby]

Many thanks @NotGumby - good info and you seem to have done what we're planning - missing the Southern coast. We aim to miss as much of the mass tourists as we can, although our current choice of time of year might not help that.

What time of year do you go? Mosquitoes are one thing, but did you encounter much problem with midges?

We went in July. No midges. I think the mosquitoes ate them all!

 

[NotGumby]

We kind of half way kept a journal of that trip. I’ll pull it out in the coming weeks and post some information on the campsites and attractions.


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[Neil Q Smith]

Would be good to meet up if we can.

Would be good to meet up if we can.

Sounds good :)
Look forward to meeting up.

Enjoy your planning, and don't forget to budet for a lot more than you think - Norway is not a cheap place to do anything...........

 

[nickburt]

We kind of half way kept a journal of that trip. I’ll pull it out in the coming weeks and post some information on the campsites and attractions.


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Many thanks, that would be good to take a look at.

 

[nickburt]

Sounds good :)
Look forward to meeting up.

Enjoy your planning, and don't forget to budet for a lot more than you think - Norway is not a cheap place to do anything...........

We are creating a budget for fuel, camping/cabins and food, plus attractions etc...
At the moment, we're basing it on current prices (that we can find on the internet), plus a margin for inflation. The only thing we can't predict is the impact of Brexit, but, I would guess that financially, it won't have an impact, as Brexit alone should not affect the cost of living.

 

[nickburt]

Just another question for those in Scandinavia (sorry, there's probably going to be a few like this!!!).

We have gas cooking kit - Trangia, Cadac Safari Chef and Jetboil. All three of these use a common gas cylinder with a threaded connection (EN417). Cylinders such as the Coleman C500, GoSystem 2250 and Primus 2202 all fit all of the kit, so we have commonality of gas for the three cookers.
Are these, or similar, with the EN417 threaded connection available in Scandinavia, or do we need to re-consider what we take.
From what I've seen, they should be available in the likes of Scandinavian Outdoor or Clas Ohlson and maybe other big stores that sell sports and camping equipment.

 

[Joey83]

xxl.no sells the Coleman C500 camping gas and other camping equipment you might need. :)

https://www.xxl.no/search?q=Coleman

1 GBP = 10.78 NOK as of the time I'm writing this reply

 

[nickburt]

Thanks @Joey83 and the price is very similar to here in the UK, lets hope it stays that way !!

 

[magnusbornes]

Hi @nickburt!

Just took a look at your route.
The following may be just my personal preferences, but if you like views and sceneries more than endless forests; I will recommend spending more time in Norway (and less in Sweden/Finland. (No offence neighbours.) Don't get me wrong, I love gravel roads and forests too, but you will get a lot of that anyways.)
I will also recommend to stay along the coast. The E6 is quite boring and flat, and going over to Aurland and Geiranger in the west and Kystriksvegen/Rv17 through Brønnøysund and Saltstraumen are better alternatives. And you CAN NOT pass Lofoten on your way to North Cape. Go all the way out to Å, you will not regret it.

Safe trips! And welcome to Norway! [emoji1189]

Don't be afraid to ask if you have any questions. :)


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[nickburt]

Hi @nickburt!

Just took a look at your route.
The following may be just my personal preferences, but if you like views and sceneries more than endless forests; I will recommend spending more time in Norway (and less in Sweden/Finland. (No offence neighbours.) Don't get me wrong, I love gravel roads and forests too, but you will get a lot of that anyways.)
I will also recommend to stay along the coast. The E6 is quite boring and flat, and going over to Aurland and Geiranger in the west and Kystriksvegen/Rv17 through Brønnøysund and Saltstraumen are better alternatives. And you CAN NOT pass Lofoten on your way to North Cape. Go all the way out to Å, you will not regret it.

Safe trips! And welcome to Norway! [emoji1189]

Don't be afraid to ask if you have any questions. :)


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Many thanks @magnusbornes we'll take a look at your suggestions and see if we can incorporate within our timescales.
No doubt I will have a few more questions during the planning.

 

[nickburt]

Current revised route - still needs a good look at though to add better detail per day etc. and include sight seeing POIs.
Google Map

 

[nickburt]

We've been basing our travel on fairly conservative daily average speeds.
The first few days from Rotterdam to Oslo and the last few days from Copenhagen back to Rotterdam are calculated at 50 mph (80kmh), the rest of the trip is worked out at 30 mph (50 kmh).
We hope this is conservative, so that our driving time from camp site to camp site is kept down. We are trying to keep it to a 5 hrs per day maximum, so that we have a reasonable amount of time per day for stopping to look at things, or take a detour off the main route.
Bear in mind, also, we are driving a couple of old Land Rover Defenders, one a 200tdi 90 and the other a 300 tdi 130, so maximum speeds, even on motorways, are around 60 mph at the most, hence the lower daily averages.

We still have a lot of time for planning, and the current route is that plotted by Google Maps to get from A to B each day. We still need to add in all the places of interest we'd like to visit, which will add more time needed in each day.

Always open to suggestions from anyone with local knowledge and experience in any of the areas we're passing through, and for places that anyone thinks we shouldn't miss.
Unfortunately, as is always the case with these sort of trips, because we are time limited, we're going to have to miss out on some.

Look forward to seeing any suggestions, many thanks, keep them coming.

 

[magnusbornes]

Current revised route - still needs a good look at though to add better detail per day etc. and include sight seeing POIs.
Google Map

I think you posted the wrong link(?) [emoji848]


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[nickburt]

Hmm, @magnusbornes strange, my Google Map settings are for anyone with the link to be able to see the map.
Try this link. If it's not working, what error message are you getting

 

[magnusbornes]

Hmm, @magnusbornes strange, my Google Map settings are for anyone with the link to be able to see the map.
Try this link. If it's not working, what error message are you getting

I am sorry, the link is technically working, but I'm just confused by the fact that this map looks more like the first map you shared than the "revision A" map you posted earlier. [emoji848]


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