After a lovely stay by the lakes we were on the road to Stockholm!

You see red Dala horse everywhere!! Plod now has one!! 🙂

We saw many red houses as we travelled through Sweden and Ive since found put that…Falu red or Falun red, is the name of a Swedish deep red paint well known for its use on wooden cottages and barns. The paint originated from the copper mine at Falun in Dalarna, Sweden. The traditional colour remains popular today due to its effectiveness in preserving wood.

Water topped up!! Sog emptied!! We’re ready to get on the road again!

Nigel was very pleased to find this road!!!

After a lovely stay by the lakes we were on the road to Stockholm!

You see red Dala horse everywhere!! Plod now has one!! 🙂

We saw many red houses as we travelled through Sweden and Ive since found put that…Falu red or Falun red, is the name of a Swedish deep red paint well known for its use on wooden cottages and barns. The paint originated from the copper mine at Falun in Dalarna, Sweden. The traditional colour remains popular today due to its effectiveness in preserving wood.

Water topped up!! Sog emptied!! We’re ready to get on the road again!

Nigel was very pleased to find this road!!!

Into Sweden and a stay by the lakes

 

 

After the stunning scenery of Norway Sweden, seemed very tame by comparison? So we decided to head for the Lake Siljan region- a favourite holiday destination of the Swedes according to the travel book. We headed for a lovely lake side camp site, which was really quiet, and the laundry facilities we needed- near to the town of Leksand. After a beer in the town of Leksand (£10 a pint!!) We decided to treat ourselves with an evening boat cruise, and dinner on the lake- while we watched the sun go down!!

Sunday lunch – brought with it a taste of South America a Fray Bentos pie and a good bottle of wine.

 

Norway treats us to more stunning scenery!

 

 

 

Narrow roads!!

After leaving Jorpeland and the fabulous views of Pulpit rock we headed north west towards Sweden. Even though  route (7) showed itself as a main road on the map, progress was slow as the roads wound their way up and around the landscape- but the scenery we saw was just stunning- with even some snow topping the mountains where we  climbed really high!!

We made our way through Oslo where we experienced the most complicated tunnel system with tunnels coming in and going off our tunnel route.

As the evening drew in we decided to stop in a town called Skarnes where we parked up behind a garage and burger bar- where we just had to have a burger and chips with our G&T before bed!! 

Preikestolen ( Pulpit Rock)

After  a wet evening and night  at the camp site- we decided to get up early and set off for Preikestolen or Pulpit Rock as it’s known. It’s a well known tourist attraction, attracting huge crowds, so we decided to beat the rush, which we successfully did!! The path is 2.m miles long and certainly not the easiest to climb with huge boulders to contend with- great exercise for our leg muscles I assured Nigel as he groaned about his knees!! 🙂  But it was certainly worth the climb, as the photos show we had the amazing views to ourselves the climb of 604 metres above Lysefjorden was worth every ache and pain!! We had certainly been lucky with the weather, as we came down and the crowds were going up- the rain and mist swept in and I’m not sure that their climb was going to be rewarded as ours had!!! 

On the road in Norway

We were  impressed by the fabulous scenery and numerous lakes – we went thorough numerous tunnels- some incredibly long!

Our first night in Norway-

Over night in a car park- cost £20!!

Beautiful lake – just up the road with a lay by where we could have pulled in for the night

 

Having set sail from Denmark at 9:30 in the evening for a 3 hour 15 minute crossing, it was not going to be an early night. The ferry was absolutely packed and full of people buying large quantities of Coca Cola, lemonade or fizzy orange drinks from the tax free shop, we can only imagine they must be very expensive in Norway? It reminded us of the booze cruises that we used to do from Dover to Calais- leading up to Christmas! 

We eventually found somewhere to stay at 2am- it was a car park just outside a campsite. We’d been met by the security guard who said it was fine to stay there over night- but we’d need to pop to reception in the morning to pay. Not a cheap stopover  in a car park for 6 hours, the privilege cost us £20!! Imagine how annoyed we were when next morning, we discovered a lovely spot next to a lake just up the road where we could have pulled in for the night- In the darkness of the early hours of the morning we’d not been able to see what we were passing!!

Exploring the beaches of north west Denmark

 

Well what a find were the beaches of north west Denmark!! Sun,white sand and a seemingly undiscovered- beach called Norlev Strand was where we decided to have lunch and soak up the sun’s rays and  fantastic atmosphere for a few hours, before heading a little further north to Hirtshalls where we were to board the next ferry to Norway.

A couple of nights in Thisted and life on board Plod again!!

We decided to head north to camp site on the edge of a lake in a tome called Thisted. This has given us the chance to try Danish Beer, Danish pastries, (we would recommend the pastries, much tastier then at home) and for Nigel to familiarise himself with cooking on board again (going well so far!!)  We walked into the town centre and were non too impressed with the smell!! We could have sworn it was pigs- sure enough our journey took us through a a pork processing factory, where there were several lorries queuing up full of pigs or  empty lorries and waiting to be washed out- think we need to try danish bacon next. Tomorrow we will leave, to explore the coast, before boarding an evening ferry crossing to Norway.

Ferry from Harwich to Esbjerg

 

We set sail from Harwich around 16:30 for the overnight crossing to Esbjerg in Denmark. Once we’d set sail and watched the coast line disappear- we headed for the bar and ordered two single Gin and tonics which cost £14!!! We had been led to believe that Denmark (the ship was Danish) was the cheapest of the scandinavian countries! Looks like  our more northern adventures are going to be expensive, it’s a good job Nigel has filled every available nook and cranny on board plod with booze!!