Scandinavia Trip

[kayj_prod]

I've been wanting to drive around Norway for quite some time now, and so finally this year I've managed to keep hold of a two week gap to make the most of such a trip. Will get to really test my Probax seat re-upholstring. Obviously with Simon Mac's recent voyage, this is something that at least one of us has recent experience of... though I don't have the aim for getting to the arctic circle!

 

Here is the route I have planned at the moment. I'm just looking at whether I can do the Stockholm segment as I looked more into road speeds and it is going to take me longer to get from point to point than I first thought as a lot of the areas of Norway I'll be visiting have low road speeds. 

 

 

This will be a mixed camping and hotel trip. I've been researching hotels with parking garages so pretty happy the car will be safe! The camping stops are mainly just over night stops between legs. 

 

So really my only concern at this stage is how my car will cope with 3500 miles in two weeks! That's more than it has ever done in a year! It had a C service at Legacy Storm a few months ago and has just done some local journeys since then so should all be good. Going for new tyres later and I have a tie link  end to replace. I've been round it and checked bolts and fluids. Anything I should consider to take with me? 

 

I'm not planning any autobahn speed tests, and I think the lower road speeds up there will keep some of the pressure off my limited BHP. 

[mwn11]

Get some european breakdown cover and just go! Itl be fine and if not can get it back to the UK and just rent a car over there.

[Simon Mac]

Cool!  I hope I can take some credit for the inspiration

 

  

Personally I'd skip Stockholm. It's a LONG way. My biggest day (just over 600 miles) from Flensburg to just outside Stockholm was VERY boring. Looking at your map it's looking like you are opting for the same route via the E4, and TBH it's a boring/tiring motorway slog. 

 

Now up to you, the penalties for speeding in Sweden are income linked, i.e. expensive, but if you stick to the "blue routes" not the E roads you will enjoy it far more, and in general traffic is VERY light, and those cars you do see are generally doing 120kmh despite posted 100 limits.  I got talking to a complete petrol head local at one petrol station (he owned an Audi Quattro and an MGB), and we had a pretty frank discussion about this. The result was in his opinion 20 kmh over on deserted roads is almost accepted norm, and certainly what I saw from the local cars.

 

 

Norway certainly does have low speed limits, pretty much 50mph on all but the main routes, and if you get caught at 85 it's instant jail time   People seem much more conforming to the limit too, as despite not being income linked the fines are stiff, and it didn't seem socially acceptable to break the limits.  (Now I won't say how fast I went on the Trollstigen, but the thought of the jail time was a factor  )

 

One thing I'd be tempted with instead of the Lillehammer portion via the E6 is this route:

http://www.visitnorway.com/uk/where-to-go-uk/east/valdres/what-to-do-in-valdres/valdresflye-national-tourist-route/

 

My average hotel bill was probably in the £80 a night using booking.com (a lot of the time representing 40% saving), and all the hotels were nice. I actually quite like wild camping, but given there are still wild wolves and bears in the region, I think I'd stick to hotels  (Saying that I did camp in the outback once, but that's a different story )

 

 

 

As for what to take... well I'd recommend a small emergency kit actually even if you don't camp. Water camping, gas stove, some food, tea coffee + all the normal warning triangles / vests you are supposed to have on the continent.  Just in case you do have a problem it may be a long wait for recovery. I'd also take some duct tape in case you need a temporary bodge

 

Erm.. probably forgotten loads, so if you need any other advice please don't hesitate to ask!

[russelld]

Have a great trip Keith :-)

 

Take some of this :

 

http://www.pyramidtravelproducts.co.uk/c/midge?gclid=CjwKEAjwxYGuBRCtoqjkrIPDqDwSJAAnd-rCG1irBFtouwgHcYHHneoxJ-9yAQ2R5o3xoZ-hZ74GMRoCOrLw_wcB

[Simon Mac]

PS there's a guy called CaptainSlow on TLF who is in the "Lotus Car Club of Sweden"

 

I'd drop him a PM, and see if they can offer you some local intel. My best routes were found after having spoken to locals

 

http://www.thelotusforums.com/forums/topic/75827-my-arctic-trip-in-the-v6-exige/page-2

[kayj_prod]

MWN11: Yeah, that was on my bargaining list when I got my insurance this year. Thanks for reminding me though, as I had my old Hagerty breakdown phone number stored in my phone, not the new details.

 

Russ: Yep, got that covered. I went to Indonesia earlier this year so still have a batch of strong DEET left. (I've actually got a small lump on my leg from a bite after going out in the morning before spraying any on!)

 

Simon: Yes, you just cemented my plans. You're actually  my reason for including Stockholm. I checked one of your locations in your twitter feed and saw you were near there. ...Looked it up in my big Lonely Planet 'must see' book. It looks beautiful. My route map doesn't quite show the length of each intended leg, so I won't have to do quite the daily mileage you did. I only want to get to Hamburg on day one, then Copenhagen on day two. This still leaves quite a long drive to Stockholm, but doable. I don't expect to be pushing the speed limit much especially on E roads. As for camping, I will be using sites rather than in the wild so I don't expect any issues there. 

 

What do you think about carrying spare fuel?

[Simon Mac]

Hamburg -> Copenhagen -> Stockholm over 3 sounds doable!  

 

Rather than carrying fuel I would download a petrol station map app. The worries others had shown were a little unfounded  I just filled up when I got to 2 bars remaining, and the only time I got a little worried was when up in northern Sweden, and because in general I always had that extra reserve it wasn't a massive problem. You would have to buy a petrol can in Holland as you aren't allowed to take them (even empty ones) on the ferry.

 

Now perversely I suspect the V6 is marginally better MPG wise on motorways than my old K series S2, but I think you will claw it back on the slower roads, which is where you'd more likely have a problem. My best fill was 37mpg, my worst 20mpg,  I was consistently seeing low 30s on the Swedish/Norwegian back roads with their low speed limits. Be great if you could keep a log of your mileage/fill amounts to compare!

 

I did have the benefit of Europe wide 4G roaming on my phone contract, however sometimes I longed for a paper map.

 

Finally you may want to take some extra screen wash, it's a legal requirement to use anti-freeze based screen wash, and I ended up buying a bottle from a petrol station for much more than it would cost here!

 

If you are going to Stockholm please can you photo the sign for "Tom Tit's Experiment" it had me in stitches

[kayj_prod]

Tom Tit's Experiment?!!! Ohhhhh kaayyyy...

 

I've started looking at mileage and estimated how far I will likely get on a tank and looked at locations of petrol stations. Should be OK... I'm not going as far out of civilisation as you, Simon! Thanks for the tip about screen wash... Didn't know that. I can just take a small bottle of concentrate.

[kayj_prod]

Slight change of plans now. I've decided to take Stockholm off the itinerary after all. (Looks like Tom Tit's Experiment is off the cards.) The whole point of going there would be to spend some time wandering... but that would mean less time to enjoy Norway. It's easy enough to fly to Stockholm for a city break another time.

 

I'm now heading up via Gothenberg and up through central Norway, still ending up in Kristiansund. 

[cjwjames]

Slight change of plans now. I've decided to take Stockholm off the itinerary after all. (Looks like Tom Tit's Experiment is off the cards.) The whole point of going there would be to spend some time wandering... but that would mean less time to enjoy Norway. It's easy enough to fly to Stockholm for a city break another time.

 

I'm now heading up via Gothenberg and up through central Norway, still ending up in Kristiansund.

No Tom tits for you then

[Simon Mac]

Slight change of plans now. I've decided to take Stockholm off the itinerary after all. (Looks like Tom Tit's Experiment is off the cards.) The whole point of going there would be to spend some time wandering... but that would mean less time to enjoy Norway. It's easy enough to fly to Stockholm for a city break another time.

 

I'm now heading up via Gothenberg and up through central Norway, still ending up in Kristiansund. 

 

Wise choice!

 

I'd still be tempted to drive up to Jönköping then take the 47/ 26 North west across to Kristiansund then back down via Gothenburg on the return leg. You get a nice contrast that way between flowing forest roads, and rugged coastal stuff.

 

Fuel is cheaper in Sweden, and the roads have higher speed limits.

[kayj_prod]

Cheers Simon.  I've dug out my AA glovebox euro roadmap today... at the moment I'm reliant on my GPS! I found in the back of it a print out of what would have been my first venture in to europe by road back in August 2000. That will have been in a 1.1l Fiat Punto!

 

My first over night in Sweden is Helsingborg, so I could head to Jönköping... I'm definitely coming back via ferry from Oslo as I have that booked. So rugged coastline or flowing forest... pretty much guaranteed I will see plenty of both on my trip.

 

I've also plotted in a route via the lærdal tunnel. Take me about 50 miles off the route I had, but that's peanuts to go through the longest tunnel in the world.  So long it has bigger chambers carved out of the rock where you can stop for a rest!  (Determined to get an entry into the MLOC calendar!)

[Phil S1]

Folks are going to extraordinary lengths this year to get an entry into the MLOC calendar.....should be some great images for us all to look at all next year 

Make sure you provide us with a good photo account on here too Keith!

[Simon Mac]

Keith, Sounds great and you must be almost set! 

 

An Elise in that tunnel should make a fab picture!  I am a bit disappointed I didn't get time to fit it in to my itinerary, so looking forward to the reports.

 

When's departure date ?

[Phil S1]

Hi Keith, good to see you today, hope the car felt good and you got home without any of the wheels falling off 

Now, how spooky was this? After tidying up in the garage I sat down and opened this month's EVO mag that had come through the post this morning....on the front cover there's an overhead shot of a new Merc on a great looking section of hairpin mountain pass. And where is this pass? NORWAY!

I don't know whether it's on your radar already but just in case it isn't have a look at a place called Trollstigen (Troll's Ladder). The road number is 63 and it's not far south from Kristiansund, so could well feature on your route.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Trollstigen,+6300+%C3%85ndalsnes,+Norway/@62.4573538,7.6773744,2569m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x46140e70c1e7a8af:0xcc14b0e753396f9e!6m1!1e1