The Gulf of Bothnia

A real life mousse. The only one we saw on our trip, but a real treat.

Continuing the Scandinavian theme, we thought it was worth looking a little bit more at the Gulf of Bothnia. Looking at the map of Sweden and Finland, this is the large bay shaped part right at the top of the Baltic Sea. It's quite an unusual area as it doesn't have any stand-out tourist attractions. However, it does have it's very own charm and if you are doing either a Scandinavian or Baltic Tour, you are going to pass round it anyway!

We passed around the gulf late August, early September and the first thing we noticed was just how quiet it is in this part of the country. The northern parts of Sweden and Finland are less densely populated than the south and it seems that a lot of Swedes and Fins will gravitate south anyway for their holidays, leaving this area ghostly quiet.

Wendy on the beach on the Gulf of Bothnia.

Weather-wise it's not going to be spectacular in terms of the heat as you are quite a long way north here. You are not that far from the Arctic Circle. However, we were comfortable in jeans and jumpers, which is not bad for the time of the year.

The main attraction here is the gulf and the bay itself. The area is characterised by flat countryside and forest, interspersed with small towns. Many of the houses are wooden and there are lots of beach-type houses too.
The bay itself is flat with sandy beaches giving way to silty and muddy areas as you get nearer the sea. When we were there the water was very calm and we can't imagine it ever getting bad given its position right at the top of the Baltic Sea. Walking and cycling are the main attractions here and being Scandinavia, it is very geared up towards both with clearly marked walking and cycle paths.

Beautifully kept service lay-bys. Great for free overnight stops.

The main city on the Swedish side is Lulea. It is a university city so quite lively and is best described as typically Swedish. It is laid out in a grid system with plenty of modern architecture in amongst the more traditional buildings. It felt very much like a frontier town as it is the only bit of real urban civilisation for quite some distance.

Round on the Finnish side the largest conurbation is the city of Oulu, which in fact is the fifith largest in the country. It has all the sight you would expect of a large city including cathedral, city hall and a rnage of museums. It has embraced hi-tech and many people work in the industry.

A typcal wooden church in Finland

In terms of staying there are loads of campsites all the way round the gulf, including sites near the main cities. We used the ACSI CD for many of our sites but mainly just took our chances. This involved some excellent local sites, which we just found by chance. Many had saunas, some of which were included as part of the price.

Language can be more of a problem as fewer people speak English up north. Having said that, if you turn up at a campsite in a motorhome, it is pretty easy for them to understand what you are after!

Sweden and Finland have also embraced the free camping notion, with the 'right to roam'. This means that you are OK in service lay-bys (which are nothing like the ones in the UK), car parks, aires, harbours or any quiet spot away from houses. Many of the hotels and motels also had full camping facilities or parking areas with access to the facilities for only a few pounds a night.

A close encounter with Rudolph on a forest walk.

The Gulf of Bothnia is probably not a place you might head for in its own right, but it is well worth slowing down a bit as you pass round on your Scandinavian or Baltic Tour.

The Arctic Circle

One of our most exciting moments when motorhoming was getting to the Arctic Circle. While we were up there we made sure we criss-crossed it across all three Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden and Finland) and that we went to see one of its most famous residents. But more of that later.

Wendy at the Arctic Circle in Norway

When we did the biggest part of our grand trip over 2010/11, we always intended that our northern-most point would be the Arctic Circle. We did actually consider going all the way up to Nordkapp, Europe's most northerly point, but decided to save that for another trip (and probably another van!)

The Arctic Circle is one of the five circles of latitude around the Earth. This means that as well as being able to get to it in Scandinavia, it also runs through Russia, Canada, Greenland, America and Iceland. As the name suggests - it's cold!

We went there towards the end of August driving up the 2000-mile long E6 route. If you want to get up north in Norway, this is the road you will have to use. As you get further north, it gets more and more remote leaving you, a few locals, a few trucks and a few fellow motorhomers. Fill up with diesel when you can!

Man-made cairns on the lunar landscape of the Arctic Circle

The advantage of the remoteness is that there are loads of free places to park up overnight for free. We were on a bit of a mission and didn't arrive until 10pm. It got very dark and very cold and there was very little on the road by this time. We pulled into the free aire that is in the car park of the Arctic Circle visitor centre, put some extra layers on the bed and settled in until the morning.

The visitor centre was fantastic although the cafe was closed (rather disappointingly) as we fancied brekky. The photos give you an idea of just how cold and wintery it is up there. It's very much like a lunar landscape. We didn't fell confident enough going for anything more than a short walk as it was quite foggy and the weather was very changeable.

Wendy at Santa Land in Finland

Later in our trip we drove along the quietest road we have ever been on. We literally saw no-one for about 8 hours as we passed from Norway into Sweden. We passed in and out of the Arctic Circle again just for the hell of it, and to get another photo.

Later on still we went to Rovaniemi in Finland. There is a fantastic site in the town, right on the river, and just a few miles north you can get into the Arctic Circle again, this time with the added advantage of Santa. A massive sign announces that "Santa is Here" even though it was early September. So yes, we did go and see him and yes we did pay 25 euros to the world's tallest elf for a photograph of us with Santa that now takes pride of place on our bedroom wall.

Me, Wendy and Santa. Santa's the big guy in the middle.

Getting up to the Arctic Circle was one of our happiest memories from our trips and it's a great talking point. We are not big fans of souvenirs, but we did make a concession on this occasion and we still have our 'Polarsirkel' t-shirts and van stickers.

Motorhoming through Northern Germany

We have been to Northern Germany a few times. It might seem like an odd choice of destination but we were attracted to it by accident really. We usually pass through it en-route to and from Scandinavia and the Baltic States and always take the time to spend a few extra days here.

Cologne Cathedral

The first thing to say about Germany as a whole is that it is superb for motorhomers. The network of aires (called stellplatz) is better (we think) even than the French one. There is literally an aire every few miles, which means if you don't like the look of one, you simply drive for a few minutes to find the next one. Many of them are free or charge a small amount (5-10 euros) for the night. They are all in a book (more of a magazine really) called Reise Mobil Bord Atlas, which is available in book shops. It costs around 25 euros and is in German, but you can work it out and you make your money back in one or two nights compared to paying for sites.

Our definition of Northern Germany is very loose indeed here basically covers the route from Holland up to the port of Travemunde i.e. the way we went en route to Sweden. Consequently we are missing out some of the larger towns in the north. Regular readers of the blog will know that I can never do justice to lots of the places we have been to and this will be no exception!

So here's the list of places that we would recommend going (on and around this route) and why:

Hamburg: Germany's second largest city. A massive centre for history, business and tourism. Apparently it has 2300 bridges! Not particularly easy to drive in with busy motorways around it. We stayed 20km out and went in on the train.

Lubeck. Amazing architecture and marzipan!

Cologne (Koln): Germany's fourth largest city nestling on the Rhine. Rich in history with an amazing cathedral. There is a cheap aire here right on the river and only about a mile from the city. Great cycling paths down the river. We preferred Cologne to Hamburg actually. 

Rhine and Mosel valleys: Heading south from here is what some guidebooks think is the most beautiful part of the Rhine valley. Heading east will take you down the Mosel. Both provide many opportunities for wine drinking as you might expect.

Lubeck: University and port town on the Elbe. Beautiful old town with associated architecture and also famous for marzipan production.

Travemunde: We only went here as it's where you catch the ferry to Sweden, but it is actually a beautiful seaside town with large bays running at right angles to each other (if that makes sense). The sea front is lined with restaurants and cafes and it also has a large aire right on the harbour.

Nord-Ostee Canal: An amazing piece of engineering that runs for around 100km with Kiel at one end and the North Sea at the other. Along the route are numerous picturesque towns and loads of aires and wild camping. Much of the canal has walking/cycle paths and small ferries or tunnels making it easy to get along and over. 

Overnight spot right on the Nord-Ostee Canal

Flensburg and Celle: If you are driving up to or back from Denmark there are a couple of places that really are worth an overnight stop. We only found these by accident as they coincided with the need to find an aire for the night. Flensburg has a beautiful harbour and Celle boasts lots of half-timbered houses and a massive town hall.

For those of you who know this area, you will probably wonder why I have missed out so many places: Bremen, Hanover, Munster etc. It' simply because we didn't get to them en route. I've said it before, but one of the great things about motorhoming is that every time you go you come back with a list of places that you want to go back to. We'll there there next time!

Summer in Sweden (Part 2)

After coming back of the Island we continued north skirting the coast. The main E22 'motorway' runs up this stretch but it's not a motorway in the traditional sense. First of all, it's not rammed with cars and lorries making the driving very relaxing. Also the service stops in Sweden are amazing. They are incredibly well kept with no graffiti or rubbish and really clean toilets. You can stay overnight safely at these places and some of them even have chemical toilet disposal points.

Immaculate motorway services stops

As you drive along the E22, you can choose to pull of onto any one of hundreds of small villages or harbour towns that line the coastline here. Although you are not yet on the Stockholm archipelago as such, this area is made up almost entirely of small islands and inland waterways where you can stop for a swim, or pick up a boat to tour around. It is often possible to tag along on on the post boats although you usually need to book a day in advance to get on these.

Beautiful Stockholm

By chance we pulled off to a place called Valdemarsvik where we ended up for a couple of nights. There is a free aire here right on the pretty little harbour. The town is at the end of a large inlet so has the feeling of a cove (minus the sandy beach). There are a few restaurants and bars here plus the friendliest Tourist Information staff that you could ever hope to meet. You can pick up boat trips here or drive or cycle along the inlets out to more open water on the Baltic sea. We managed to do some fantastic open water swimming here as there are quite a few pontoons provided giving direct access to the water.

The nest major stops north form here are Soderkoping and Nordkoping, both of which have aires and both of which are worth a day's visit. Soderkoping is on the 190km long Gota Canal, which claims to be Sweden's biggest tourist attraction. 

The Kaknas Tower

Further north from here we travelled onto Stockholm. As is often the case in this blog, I just don't have time to do justice to some places and Stockholm is one of them. Suffice to say that it is one of those places that you need to go before you die! We spent three days on the city centre site just 5 minutes bike ride into the city. it's an amazing water-bound city with stacks to do. Our particular highlight was viewing the city from the 155m Kaknas Tower.

After Stockholm we headed west. The main highlights in the central part of Sweden here are its two largest lakes, Vanern and Vattern. As you might expect it gets quite rural in this middle section and could best be described as lakes and forests, with all the activities you would associate with that.

We continue west with a two day visit to Gothenburg, which is a compact, pretty city. From there we went south to Malmo, which had a similar feel about it. It is also the gateway to the amazing Oresund Bridge, which we have now crossed twice in our lives. As a little tip, the price structure is for motorhomes up to 6m and then the price jumps for motorhomes between 6 and 10 metres. Nobody jumps out and checks so they took our word for it that we were 5.98 metres. If you are under 6 metres it's going to cost you about £100 to get to Denmark.

On the Oresund Bridge

Once you get over the border the first stop is Copenhagen where we spent three nights on a site just a few miles from the city centre. Again, I can't do justice to the city here, but it too needs to be on everyone's 'bucket list'. 

The direct route toll-free home now takes you through Denmark, Germany, a bit of Holland and Belgium and into France to pick up the Calais ferry. If you've got time there is plenty to keep you busy on the route home. On previous occasions we have built in trips to Hamburg, Koln and Brussels all of which were fantastic.