Riga, Lithuania and Vilnius

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Riga’s old town had an amazing series of markets selling anything and everything within old hangars originally built to house Zeppelins (left). A festival was taking place in the cathedral square with a live band that was pretty good and although busy, the place wasn’t crowded. The House of the Blackheads is one of the most beautiful buildings in Riga (right).

About 45 miles south of Riga is Rundale Palace – an old Baroque place whose ceiling paintings and plasterwork, and parquet flooring have been restored. The gardens were extensive with a huge rose garden, and we stayed overnight on their car park. Here, we met a young Scottish couple who had travelled a pretty similar route to us with their small van, sleeping bags and canoes – it made our van look palatial!!

  Over the border in Lithuania we visited the Hill   of Crosses – this small mound has over 200,000 crucifixes according to the guide book, but I suspect this has been underestimated. It was a bizarre place with some crucifixes up to 3metres high.

We stayed on the city camp in the capital Vilnius. This small city has a huge number of churches (1 has 11 altars!) and it has a relaxed feel. We have been surprised at the amount of English everyone can speak and there has been information in English within the many castles and palaces we’ve visited. We have practised and used ‘thank you’ in each language which has been met with an appreciative smile! Before leaving Lithuania, we visited the picturesque Trakai Castle which is set on an island peninsula. Again, parts have been restored and re-built, but there are very few Lithuanian artefacts inside.

We arrived in Poland 2 days ago, and are currently on a small campsite at Krynica Morska on a spit of land east of Gdansk. The sun is shining and its lovely and warm and we have been entertained by up to a dozen adult and baby wild boar roaming the site! Gdansk next.

Will post again next week - love to all

Estonia, Tallinn and Latvia

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We’ve had a busy last week! The lovely Suomenlinna fortress is spread over 5 interconnected islands 20 minutes by boat from Helsinki, and although it was windy the sun shone. Some of the old fortress walls are still standing, and the islands are now home to 900 residents. The marina was hosting a classic boat event.

Our sailing that night to Tallinn was uneventful, arriving at midnight local time. We stayed for a couple of days at the city camp – a tarmacked serviced area about 3 miles out of town and an easy cycle ride in. The walled old town is beautiful with a relaxed atmosphere, a castle, many churches and great food - we ate out for 2 days and sampled the local beers and cider (tasted and smelt like pear drops - delicious!). We then headed south moving from sun and a cool wind through snow (?!) to persistent rain arriving at the university town of Tartu (Estonia’s 2^nd city).

South from there we entered Latvia and met drivers who take no notice of road markings and love to overtake regardless of whether they can see what’s ahead. We visited Sigulda – a small town in the Gauja National Park with 2 castles and the ruins of a third. Visits to the new castle where the civic offices are housed cost £1.84 each (parking free), so we’ve started to offset the expense of Norway. We are now in the city of Riga on their city camp for the next couple of days, but haven’t ventured far today due to the persistent rain. However, the forecast is better for our trip round the old town tomorrow. From there, we travel south into Lithuania.

 

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Finland and Helsinki

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The drive south was such a contrast – we quickly lost the mountains and sea to be replaced by a much flatter landscape with undulating hills and long straight roads between the millions of pine and silver birch trees.

We initially hugged the Swedish/Finnish border so that we had every opportunity to spend our remaining Swedish kroner before trekking south-east to the Finnish lake area. We skirted the Finnish/Russian border for a while just to see what the border crossing was like – armed at the roadside and according to the noticeboard, a 3km wide strip between the two countries within the forest areas.

 

 

 

The lake area is beautiful, particularly at Savonlinna; it has a well preserved medieval castle which hosts the world-renowned opera festival every year in July. We wild-camped here listening to live jazz from the nearby bar – very chilled!

 

Helsinki is a lovely small capital city with 2 cathedrals – one rather plain Lutheran white one, the other a Russian Orthodox with lots of glitz and gold inside. The market square was busy at the harbour with its fruit and vegetable and craft stalls. We timed our visit well as its festival time this weekend with live bands – some more lively than others!

 

 

Tomorrow we are visiting the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress which is the largest island fortress in the world; it’s rained all day today, so we’re hoping for an improvement tomorrow. Then we sail to Tallinn in Estonia later in the evening.

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Northern Norway and Nordkapp

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From the Arctic Circle we continued north to Bodo and our ferry crossing to the Lofoten Islands. The crossing was very calm and clear. The islands loom from the sea as sheer snow-topped jagged mountain peaks. Arriving at Moskenes we travelled south to the tiny fishing village of A with red wooden cabins perched on stilts on the sea-front rocks. Next to these traditional fisherman’s huts (and typical throughout the islands) are the many racks drying cod. Travelling through the islands, the scenery was as beautiful and dramatic as we’d read – a detour we were glad we’d made.

 

 

 

 

 

Back on the mainland, we headed for Tromso – a huge place (in comparison to other towns visited recently) where it was cold and drizzly. The Arctic Cathedral was the main draw here – a small triangular building with a plain interior of roughly-plastered walls and a stained glass window.

 

 

Then it was the long drive northwards to Nordkapp – the most northerly point in Europe at 77°10’21’’. Here, there is a visitors centre with obligatory gift shop and restaurant (unbelievably expensive even by Norway’s standards!), but the main draw is the globe monument from where we watched the midnight sun. Initially foggy, the cloud cleared at midnight for us to watch the sun dip towards the horizon and rise again – it’s as bright during the night as the daytime which makes sleeping fitful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve travelled 6356 miles so far and now head south towards Finland.

Thanks to you all for your messages and comments – glad you are enjoying reading about our trip.

Will post again next week - love to all

66.33°N Arctic Circle

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We’re so excited so cross this invisible line and wanted to share it with you all today.

We’ve travelled a total of 5450 miles on our journey so far, and this evening arrived at the Arctic Circle 66.33°N!

 

 

 

The weather is glorious – blue skies, sunshine and thick snow around, although it’s not cold. The journey here has been beautiful, with shimmering lakes, reindeer and a lonesome moose.

We're staying here on the car park tonight with about 8 other campers and will continue north tomorrow to the Lofoten Islands. 

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Norway and the fjords

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Well the hike up Preikestolen was so worth it! We set off early in the hope of avoiding the crowds and climbed the 606m above the fjord; fortunately, the weather was fantastic – blue sky and warm. The climb itself offers beautiful views with a lake near the summit, and wasn’t as hard a hike as expected. The summit is a flat-topped rock with sheer drops on 3 sides jutting out over the fjord offering breath-taking views. Peter lay flat and peered over the edge – not something for the faint-hearted! We’d timed it well, passing large groups of people on our descent for a well-deserved (but expensive) ice cream back at the car park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overnight, we stayed at Jorpeland harbour on the motorhome camping area – 3 other vans here and 2 are British (from Nottingham and Cockermouth). A local man commented that English vans were not a common site there and wondered if we were all on tour together! 

We then headed north east over the Hardanger mountain plateau – a bleak-looking landscape of tiny huts half buried in thick snow, before descending into the valley. The waterfalls are impressive with all the melt water and the views of the fjord and mountains are beautiful. We visited a stavkirke (wooden stave church) at Torpo – one of about 30 in Norway – which was built in the 1200s.

 

 

 

 

 

We’re on a campsite at Vang i Valdres on the side of the Vangsmjosa lake for a couple of days to chill and catch up with the washing. Couldn’t wish for a prettier spot for a rest before heading north!

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Sweden, Stockholm and Oslo

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The Oresund Bridge (19km long) is quite a bridge, and would have offered stunning views if it weren’t for the rain and mist……

Sweden’s typical spring is wet so we drove in the rain up the coast to Gothenburg then cross country to Stockholm. We parked (and stayed over) at the King and Queen’s residence at Drottningholm Palace – a beautiful place with extensive gardens which are free to explore, where we strolled past King Carl XVI Gustav walking his dog one evening.



Stockholm has old city charm and is big enough just to wander around and enjoy the sights. Gamla Stan has an old town square with narrow ginnels running from it, the Royal Palace is huge (although they live over at Drottningholm) and the Parliament building sits on its own island.

From Stockholm we headed west to Norway and Oslo, arriving on their National Day, so some buildings were closed to the public, but plenty of locals were in their national dress. The Opera House is a striking building with a sloping roof which you are encouraged to walk on offering views of the harbour.

 Across on the other side of the city is Vigeland Sculpture Park which was impressive - main sculpture pictured.

Back on the road, we headed east to the fjords. Climbing through the hills via tunnels was bizarre – and from the top it was like entering Narnia! We’re walking up the well-known Pulpit Rock (Preikestolen) tomorrow – a 4-5 hour hike, but the promised views should be worth it.

 

Will post again next week - love to all