To Lapland...

05:00 Set off & try to head out of Katvjik & Nordvijk. Finally find what seems to be a main highway northwards (or at leastm the opposite direction to Den Haag).
05:49 We have our first continental petrol fill up at Velserbroek, Rijksweg.
Petrol fill-up (2) 9.5 litres at 1.165 euros Cost: �11.07.
06:00 - 07:00 We stop at a service area for breakfast & a much needed clean up.
09:00 After Alkmaar we head for Den Helder but we reach a dead end. Lynn said that Texel was an island off the Dutch coast. We need a map; in a petrol station I look for a European Road Atlas. There isn't one but I check a local road map & discover that we need to head for Leeuwarden & then Gronigen.

We reached a dead end in Den Helder - the only way forward was a ferry to Texel island in the North Sea - so we turned around & noticed this badly parked submarine. We were expecting to see a massive clamp on its propeller...

10:00 We cross the amazing Afldyke road across the inland Ijsselsee.
11:00 Gronigen. We have trouble finding where to park & somehow end up driving through the pedetrian-only zone. Oops.
11:30-14:00 We park up & stock up on provisions in a local grocery. We then walk into the quaint & interesting town centre. We stop at Tourist Information to ask where we can buy European atlases & obtain a list of accomodation in case we need it. It is baking hot & wqe have to cross to the other side of the town centre island. On our return to the car we stop at the railway station Cambio (money exchange) to see if I can changed over some old Dutch money that a friend gave me, into Euros. They say this is only possible at the National bank in Amsterdam.

Overview Map: Netherlands & Northern Germany

22 July 2003 This is the main street of Gronigen, in North Eastern Holland. We accidentally drove into the 'car-free' zone & it was a difficult & panicky experience trying to escape back onto the legitemate roads.

14:00-14:30 We have difficulty leaving Gronigen in the right direction. One major road (the one we want) is being worked on & we end up driving around a sizable section of the Gronigen Ring before we find the Eastbound A7 twoards Germany.
15:30 Lynn feels tired so we turn off the motorway into the village of Sappemeer for a 40 minute sleep. I write my palmtop diary & when Lynn wakes up we go & get petrol.
Petrol fill-up (3) 11.51 litres at 1.075 euros Cost: �12.37.

16:00 Back onto the A7 with the German border within our sights. The Dutch motorway (or whatever they call dual carriageways) has now become a German Autobahn & there is suddenly no speed limit. Cars accelerate & zoom passed us at often fairly scary speeds: especially as we are stickingto 100-120 kilometres per hour for fule economy. The top speed of a smart car is 84 mph: Lynn says that a governor stops the car going faster than that - but the stop speed we have reached in this car is 120 kph (75 mph) when needing to for overtaking. I took a few movie shots to show the speed differential when a fats German car overtakes - I'm thinking of posting here at some point.

Another interesting point was the plethora of wind farms: even more than in the Netherlands I thought. Mounted on a variety of different, sometimes colourful gantries or pylons. I do think they are a delightful part of the landscape: there is an argument that they are noisy & spoil the scenery in remote wilderness locations (there is strong opposition to windfarms in parts of Wales) but who can argue against mounting wind turbines along fast highways. They add something to the experience: they spin quite gracefully & when grouped together the views.

Day 3 Wednesday 23 July 2003: Lubeck, Germany - Helsingborg, Sweden

Overview Map: SChleswig-Holstein (Germany), Denmark & Skane Lan (Sweden)

23 July 2003 On the motorway through Denmark we suddenly were confronted by an amazing bridge that stretched out across the sea. There were toll signs & we had to take the exit before the bridge to check that we would be able to pay for the toll by credit card - as we didn't have any Krona (the Danish currency). This photo doesn't do the bridge justice - it looks liek a single carriageway road but it is too dark to see that it was actually a 4-lane dual carriageway. Driving at 100 km/h (60 mph) it took ages to reach the first set of towers for this susp[ension bridge. The top of the pylons are 254 metres above the sea (approx 833 feet, 50 feet higher than London's tallest skyscraper, Canary Wharf) and the road we were travelling along is 75 metres above the sea (approx 250 feet)

For more information about this amazing bridge see: Great Belt Bridge.

Day 4 Thursday 24 July 2003: Helsingborg - Uppsala, Sweden

My name day in Finland! Quite a difficult day: a lot of mileage (kilometrage?!) to cover; & it finished with a disappointing setback when we found out we couldn't get a ferry to Finland. The roads in Sweden are very good quality but it was a very warm day & the sight of endless motorway eventually got a little wearing.

Day 5 Friday 25 July 2003: Uppsala - Skeleftea, Sweden

Still in Sweden! Its such a tough countruy to cross in a little car with only one driver. But today, despite covering more distance, appeared easier. For the second night running we stayed in a Scandic hotel & in the morning we made a mistake with breakfast, assuming it finished at 10:30 like the hotel in Helsingborg. It finished at 9:30 & I just made it: Lynn missed it completely. This, in fact became a blessing in disguise, as when we hit the road again we were on the look-out for somewhwere for Lynn to get brunch. We stopped at a service area outside Gavle and the had on offer a really nice vegetarian meal. Properly fed, Lynn had more stamina & the journey "over the top" (i.e. driving round the Gulf of Bothnia to reach Finland) started to seemed less daunting. We weren't too concerned when we couldn't find a ferry terminal at Sundsvall & pressed on northwards.

The next destination confirmation sign said Happaranda "659 kilometres". That is the Swedish border town. Phew - way to go! The next stretch of the journey, up to Ornskoldvisk was really beautful - we were driving through a picturesque world heritage stretch of coastline. Quite mountainous with some interesting bridges & views over rivers & lakes or sea inlets. Our spirits were lifeted further then we tuned into Radio Nova, a popular Finnish station, albeit very briefly.

Throughout Sweden the roads are fenced off to prevent reindeers wandering into the path of traffic. But Lynn spotted three reindeers are had to slow down quickly, attempting to warn an overtaking car of the vulnerable animal;s ahead. hankfully this driver managed toi stop in time too. I didn't get my camera out in time to take a photo -0 they were soo sweet. They crossed the road & I hope made it back safely into the fenced off area. We stopped the night in Skeleftea, a pleasant Northern Swedish town, at yet another Scandic hotel.

Day 6 Saturday 26 July 2003: Skeleftea, Sweden - Rovaniemi, Finland

Some peoplke have more car than they need...!

The final stretch of Sweden & we have the Finnish border in our sights! We loved our time in Sweden, it was most interesting, but boy - was it good to cross into Tornio! The final hundred miles in Sweden was interesting: we drove through a thunderstorm - & passed a chap who was rollblading topless -on our side of the road - he was propelling himself towards us with ski sticks & we wondered who vulnerable he was as lightning flashed & the torrential rain thundered down. We parked up in a lay-by during the worst part of the storm - Lynn was concrened that hailstones might break the glass ceiling of the car but fortunately it didn't.

This chap, like many others in rural Sweden & Finland, was quite amazed at the sight of the Smart Car

At Kalix, about 30 km form the border we tuned into Radio Nova once again & drove past Happaranda & then across a small bridge over the time zone into Tornio. We stopped for lunch in the Hesburger and listened to Finnish radio. It was also an opportunity to surf the web & catch up on my e-mails.

After a couple of hours we drove on to Rovaniemi. Just 120 km (75 miles) to go, but 40 km from the Lapland capital a strange event occurred: We were flagged down but a Yugoslavian man who claimed to have run out of petrol. He asked us for a litre of petrol and then asked us for money - he offered his supposedly gold ring. Despite his pleas we refused to help & drove on & had a uncomfortable vigourous debate about what to do. Lynn said do nothing: she reckoned it was a scam - I thought it might be worth reporting to the police - but we didn't know the area - so we did nothing.

We reached Matka Borealis, a Matka-koti (bed & breakfast) which we have stayed at on our annual winter holidays since 2001. It is so lovely to see Leila, the proprietor: she so friendly. Time to chill out :) After a rest we walked into the city centre. Rovaniemi without snow: I have vague memories from the early 80s but in recent years I have only experinced this city in winter.

We bought some Lapin Kulta after an evening meal at City Hotel's restaurant.

Day 7 Sunday 27 July 2003: A rest day in Rovaniemi, Finland

Did we need the rest? Oh!!! We really did! We drove up to Santa Park, a few kilometres north of the city and took this photograph of the car sitting on the Arctic Circle. The moment of truth: We made it! Our ambition fuilfilled at last! We drove back into Rovaniemi & headed out on the Kittila road for a short drive. We then went to the ski centre & had a ride on the ski lift: splendid views! Had a coffee at a coffee at the Sky Hotel. The hilltop it is sited on is a lovely place for a walk in the woods. I picked & ate some billberries & then we went on the dry summer louge, back down to the ski centre at the bottom. We booked a sauna at the MatkaKoti.

We made it! The Smart Car oon the Arctic Circle line

Day 8 Monday 28 July 2003: Another rest day in Rovaniemi, Finland

We visited a travel agent & booked a ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm. We now knew we could head South through Finland without getting stranded with too little time to get back home. Then a spot of clothes shopping for me: I bought some new jeans with splits at the back, & we had another ice cream. In the early evening we went for a nice meal at Rosso restaurant & a short evening drive to some lakes 20 km North of the Arctic Circle.

Day 9 Tuesday 29 July 2003: Rovaniemi - Oulu, Finland

We left Leila's & after a quick stop at the multiple-K Citymarket headed South back to Tornio. We had lunch at KotiPizza, where Leila's niece works, then visited the tourist information centre and then the Lapin Kulta brewery for a tour.

We then drove South, passed Kemi, & stopped for a rest in a lay by in the Simo area. We then drove on to Oulu & tried to find a suitable hotel. LYnn thought that the Ramada looked too posh & didn't reckon they would do enough of a discount. We asked & they said 84 Euros which we were happy to pay.

I spent a happy relaxing evening enjoying the sauna & swimming suite. They even have a Jacuzzi & they were open until 10 so I stayed there about 2.5 hours! Lynn stayed in the room & watched television. She was looking out for the Touyr de France but it didn't seem to come on - it probably finished at the weekend. I watched an American programme - not the Tonight Show was it - Conor (Something?). Quite amusing: two mock-stupid comedians visited Canada (Ottowa or Toronto) where there was a festival to promote the country following the SARS outbreak earlier in the year. Then Jackass came on & I really squirmed when one of the lads made a sick omelette (ate & regurgitated the ingredients & cookedit all up t a safe 160 degrees). Um - yuk! :(

Day 10 Wednesday 30 July 2003: Oulu - Seinajoki, Finland

The hot weather continued. Last night there was an almighty crash when a thunderstorm started in earnest. Lynn said that she heard the first thunder but she fell asleep. I listened to the storm for quite a while. A little later I even got up & film out of the window at the twilight scenery (although we were further south than Rovaniemi it never gets completely dark in July).

We spent the morning exploring Oulu: we walked around the town's shopping centre & I bought a new camcorder casette. As we set off from town I changed the casette but had trouble loading it: I tired several times but it kept rejecting it. We parked near the sea & went back to the department store where I bought it. As luck would have it, it started working as soon as I showed it to the guy at the counter. So we went for a walk & I did some filming. It was a steaming hot day: we thought about walking to the beach by the open sea but it was too far - especially in the heat. So we went back to the car & tried to drive there. The route that seemed to be signposted to the beach turned out not to be the case: some dead end by an industrial estate. So we gave up & left town.

Keskusta (Town Centre) a long zebra crossing seems to be a common feature of the pedestrian friendly cobbled streets of Central Oulu.

We headed south & then, following Leila's recommendation, chose the coast road. We stopped off in Raahe for a coffee. Quite a nice little town. We continued south westwards towards Kokkola listening to Radio Nova. There was not much sign of the coast which was a little disappointing. At Kokkola we started looking for accomodation & petrol. We couldn't find anywhere suitable in the town so we headed on a secondary road towards Pietassari & Uusikaarlepyy (bith towns have Swedish names too - the West Coast of Finland is very Swedish-speaking. It was actuaslly a lovely road as we were now crossing inlets of the sea. The petrol warning sign was on & the level dropped from 5.0 litres step by step in 0.5 litre increments. We found automatic stations which we couldn't use but near Uusikaarlepyy there was a staffed filling station. A guy there surveyed the Smart Car & said that he first thought it was a helicopter!

We looked at the route choices head that we couldn't continue along the coast & make it to Helsinki comfortably by Thursday evening so we decided to head inland towards Seinajoki. As we drove into the town, we agreed that we both liked the song playing on the radio at the time: the mainline was "Superficial - I'm a Misfit" (by Amy Studt). Heard this several times during the rest of the holiday & along with a handful of other songs (one or two Finnish songs) it will remain as an audio reminder of the holiday.

We checked out the Best Western City Hotel: 76 Euros for the night: that would do we had a nice evening meal & watched television & "veged out" for the evening. We were warned that the hotel had a disco night so it would possibly be noisy. Luckily Lynn fell asleep quickly & I listened to the voices of young Finns going slightly crazy on an evening out: they are quite noisy but don't sound as aggressive as their UK counterparts.

Day 11 Thursday 31 July 2003: Seinajoki - Helsinki, Finland

Another direction mistake this morning. We left Seinajoki in the wrong direction. We were following signs for Jyvaskyla but they suddenly vanished. I noticed that the sun was to our left & that meant we were heading in a West or South West direction. At the next main junction we turned left & headed towards Tampere. The idea was to turn off about 20 km along that road & head for Jyvaskyla. But we wre once again getting low on fuel. Most of the petrol stations seemed to be automatic: at one we stopped to ask where the next staffed petrol station was: the answer was 40 km to the south east at Parkano. So we continued on the road to Tampere.

Even when we reached Parkano, we weren't sure where this petrol station was. The road was up (Lynn was worried about her tyres). We stopped & asked at a shop for directions & then managed to find the elusive fill up point. The petrol warning display said that there was only 2.5 lites left in the tank at that point. At best, this would probably have got us about 35 kilometres further.

We drove on towards Tampere. We both think this is a magnificent city - it is beautifully located on an isthmus between two large lakes. It was lunchtime & very busy. We drove into the town centre but weren't sure where we could park - so we drove out & headed towards Jyvaskyla.

Lynn was concerned that we wouldn't get to Jyvaskyla or even Jamsa so I planned a route along secondary roads to cut across from Orivesi to Kuhmoinen. On this part of the journe we decided it might be interesting if I filmed the car driving through the Finnish forests from outside the car. Lynn dropped me off & then drove past while I took filmed the car going passed with both my camcorder & muy digital camera.

We had a quick coffee at Kuhmoinen then followed the Nelostie (the old route 4 Jyvaskyla-Helsinki road), stopping off briefly at the beautiful lakeside layby north of Padasjoki. We had another search for non-automatic petrol quest before we reached the Finnish capital. At the Scandic hotel we checked in & managed to get a room on the same floor as my mum, dad, sister & neice. We had a chat& then went to the Mex-Ital restuarant in Toolo for some vegetable fajitas. Yum!

Day 12 Friday 1 August 2003: A rest day in Helsinki, Finland. Overnight ferry - Stockholm, Sweden

I had a short sauna, went for breakfast & then went back for a longer relaxing sauna session - swimming & siittinbg on the sundesk chilling out. Eventuaslly Lynn came along to tuf me out. My mum & dad, sister & niece were leaving to fly back to Britain & had gone by the time I knocked on their doors - I saw dad briefly at breakfast. Lynn & I found out that there was a local library so I went there & sent another update e-mail to friends abotu our progress on the trip. We checked out & headed through town to the Katajanokka docks.

The departure from Helsinki was spectacular - a real "high". From the top deck of the 12 storey Viking Line boat (the Mariella) I took photos & looked in awe on the city we were leaving - quite beautiful. The sea around Helsinki is dotted with islands. As we passed one island this lad leapt off a 20-metre (60-foot) rock into the water. We watched fro a few heart-stopping seconds before he resurfaced.

I watched the coastal scenery of suburban maritime Helsinki for an hour or so - Lynn went to get something to eat & I joined her later - we had a Lapin Kulta in the bar. We went to see a film in the ship's cinema: Phone Booth - I thought it was quite entertaining but Lynn thought it was cheap & tedious: one location throughout - a New York Telephone Kiosk of course!

When Lynn went to bed I went to the disco - I danced until 3am (Finnish Time). The DJ even played a Progidy track on my request. An hour or two after I went to bed, Lynn woke me saying we'd reached Ahvenemma/Aland - where the ship docked briefly before continuing across the Baltic Sea towards Sweden.

Day 13 Saturday 2 August 2003: Stockholm - Helsingborg, Sweden

Lynn got up early - I got up about an horu before we were due to dock. I filmed some of the scenery as we sailed along a channel between numerous Swedish islands. On dry land we had to navigate our way out of the Swedish capital - not as easy as it looks - we found ourselves heading on an eastbound motorway but eventually managed to find a route southwards & then southwestwards towards Sodetalje. The signage wasn't really6 adequate -w e spotted some other drivers from the boat who we think had taken the wrong route too.

The journey across Sweden back to Helsinborg was less tiring than the journey the opposite way on 24 July. We got a bit lost in Norrkoping when we stopped for a break. We had a lunch break at a nice servicxe area between Odeshog & Granna by Lake Vattern. After, we reached Jonkoping (passing the amusing Loch Ness Monster icon) we decided to leave the dual carriageway & drive on smller roads. We found that i was surprisingly hilly once we were away from the main E4 near Taberg. It was misty & seemed slight Welsh I thought. The road became smaller & we werer concerned thaty it would peter out into nothing - or worse still, an unmetalled shale road! We took another detour on larger roads later on & reached Helsingborig via the coastal road from Halmstad.

Day 14 Sunday 3 August 2003: Helsingborg, Sweden - Osnabruck, Germany

Back over the amazing bridges - back through Denmark & then looking for somewhere to stay the night in Germany. We thoguht that we might be able to make it to the Scandic hotel in Nijmegen in Netherlands but Lynn was getting tired & when we called it a day we were a good 100 miles away from the Dutch town. We stopped at a service station called Dammer Berge. A l,ime green smart car which passed us earlier (a girl smiling when she saw us), pulled up at the Service Area. We had a chat with them. They were travelling quite a distance: from Lubeck to Aachen, but they seemed quite iumpressed when they heard about our mammoth journey. They reckoned it was a good idea if we had a proper rest. I noticed a motel sign & asked how much it was: only 46 euros for a twin room. We followed a little country lane which took us round to the motel (over on the other side of the autobahn). basic but comfortable enough for our final night en route.

Day 15 Monday 4 August 2003: Osnabruck, Germany - London, United Kingdom

The motel was on the wrong side of the motorway so we set off northbound. We turned off & started following a country road westwards. But Lynn reckoned we woulnd;t make fast enough progress so we headed back to the autobahn & travelled Southbound to Oldenburg. We drove through the city looking for somewherte to stop for breakfast, but then joined a westbound autobahn & stopped at a service area close to the Dutch border. Lots of good cheap food - the autobahn services really are excellent value coimpared to the UK equivalent - & there are more of them. I filmed us crossing the border into the Netherlands & navigated us passed Hengelo, Appeldorn. Lovely sunny weather - its a pleasant country to travel through - & despite its high population density, the roads do not seem as congested as Britain - southwards towards Arnhem then westwards again passed Utretch & on towards Hoek van Holland - the stretch to the north of Rotterdam was called Rotterdam Ring - oh no - memories of Groningen Ring (see 22 July)!

Dutch houses & canal with greenhouses in background as we were queuing on the road to Hoek van Holland

There was a lot of traffic on the approach to Hoek. There was a car crash a few kilometres from the port. At the port we checked in for the Seacat sailing back to Britain. OIn board the ferry we saw "How to lose a guy in 10 days" - not excatly a great film - Lynn certainly did not enjoy it - she fell asleep for mosty of it - but it was a good way to get a comfortable seat! I did some more filming as we approached Felixstowe & Harwich.

Back along the A120 & A12 to London. As we passed Witham I managed to wipe the spreadsheet in which I'd been keeping meticulous records of odometer readings. I felt sick as a parrot - how could I just accidentally delete it! NBever mind, eh? I've got all of the petrol receipts & a number of readings from my daily diary account. We drove back into London & had some food in Tinseltown - & Lynn dropped me home before heading back to Sidcup. What a trip! We want to do it agaion - may be next year - watch this space!

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