Lofoten Islands to Lapland -

Lofoton Islands to Lapland – Covering the miles this week!

Our Week 11 Europe Roadtrip saw us leave Lofoten Islands and make our way through Sweden to Finland and at the end of the week ferry us all to Estonia!

For the youtube video click here

It was on one hand, so sad to leave Norway knowing how much we loved it. But it is so expensive. It was a relief to know we had budgeted perfectly and were now on the easy stretch. Every country gets cheaper from here!

LOTS of driving this week. Miss B has been doing so well at her school work and is in a really great routine. Finished another book in the Chronicles of Narnia series, The Silver

Chair and we are onto the next one. The whole family is enjoying them. We have a library of movies with us too. Being able to watch the movie of the book titles we read and discuss the characters, is lots of fun.

We were so proud of making it 5 weeks without a paid campsite, which when you get to Scandinavia every dollar counts! Our decathlon Quechua camp shower was fantastic and scrubba washbag got us through.

Stopped and talked to more lovely families and travellers making their way either north or south and sharing lots of stories.

July 24

Lofoten Islands with sun!! It is pretty obvious but if you are heading to Lofoten do make sure you have some clear weather. The difference between the day we arrived which was overcast and today was amazing.

The bottom section is more AMAZING (in my opinion) so really disappointed the first day on the island was the overcast one.

Still it was great, ever changing from one end to the other. Wild camping is as easy on the Island as it is off.

Driving earlier than usual due to the distance we were travelling today, we were lucky enough to see a Moose! All very happy to see one in the wild and lots of comments of Rocky & Bullwinkle had Miss B wondering if her parents had lost it LOL!! (that happened years ago haha!)

You may be surprised we did not spend more time here but as we

are on a shengen visa and only have 3 months to see as much as possible you have to make sacrifices. Just have to come back and see our favourites again later!

Reindeer!! They are so beautiful but a little like sheep, they wander all over the road and you must have your eyes on your fries, at all times to ensure you don’t hit one.

July 25

Six months exactly to Christmas!! Who said that? No I am not getting organised already or trying to scare you, but it is and we went to visit Santas Village in Finland today. A town called Rovaniemi has various Santa related attractions.

It would be a spectacle at Christmas due to the snow and the magic of the season. We felt it was a little lack lustre and no beautiful sign to have photos by. We even took our Christmas Elf thinking that there would be a sign but no. It is on the Arctic Circle lattitude.

Miss B really enjoyed meeting Santa and we got a Christmas decoration from Santas Village which was pretty cool. (we LOVE Christmas and miss the decorating of our house – thank goodness Miss B was too young to remember when we left to travel!)

Last few days we had some car issues with power dropping out which we investigated (not only cause of the price of anything in Norway but nearly all the locals go on holidays!) Brett found the problem, bought some parts and tools and fixed it for under 30 Euros yay!! (at the time of writing all good no further problems). Such a clever hubby, so lucky to have him.

Arriving in Tauvo that night we had a beautiful walk on the beach, few drinks and a REALLY nice dinner of marinated pork chops and veggies. Did I mention how great it is to be in a cheaper country!!

July 26

LOTS of driving today and wait more driving! Finland is flat so it is pretty streamline highway sort of driving, just keep driving, just keep driving. LOL.

Finland is famous for cloudberry jam and this is often eaten with squeaky cheese! So we took off in search of them so we could try it out.

Found the squeaky cheese and in fact was well priced so grabbed it, the cloudberry jam is a bit more expensive and in a big jar we did not want to end up with a whole jar of jam we were not sure if we liked. We struck it lucky later in the week getting to taste test it at a market – YUM!

Ending the day in Rauma a beautiful old town famous for its wooden houses. Again, got lucky and happened on Lace Week which is one of their busiest weeks in Rauma. The Thursday night we arrived we took a walk after dinner and there was live entertainment and an international food festival set up.

July 27

Friday HUGE markets, performances, stalls and bric a brac were set up for the big day ahead.

A beautiful walk through the city and a second hand shop that was incredible with such an array of items from antiques, clothes, tools, memorabilia – was great to have a look around.

Book shop couple of shops down, we managed to secure three miniature books for one of our ongoing projects.

Watching a lady make lace in one of the shops, a must do on Lace week!! Was amazing to see how much time and effort goes into each individual piece, I do not think I have the patience for that and if I did make it there is NO WAY anyone is using it, touching it for fear of getting it dirty.

Met a lovely young man, Hermanni Vourisalo who uses ethically sourced timbers from around the world to make wooden bow ties! These are all individually numbered and has details of where the wood came from. He turned thirty and wanted to create something that was unique. If you are interested in this amazing take on the classic bow tie check out his site here. For the ladies he makes matching earrings!

Overall, we spent a great time in Rauma.

On the road again down to Helsinki…. The rest of the day was spent driving.

July 28

Arriving late yesterday we were familiar with our surroundings and today after usual chores set off to explore Helsinki. The clouds cleared and we ended up with beautiful sun all day – and it was hot sun like back home in Australia up north.

Setting off into Helsinki it was a lovely walk, there was not a lot that we wanted to see more of an explore to get a feel of the city, its people and the buildings and architecture.

Few hours in Helsinki and we were a little anxious to get back and connect up our solar blanket as I had been writing and doing work on my laptop while driving and ran the leisure battery a bit low. There was finally beautiful sunshine and we wanted to make sure we harnessed that energy!

Sorted the charging all good.

Lots of chatting with other travellers and locals alike. Even the Samsung girls came down and gave Miss B a white and pink see through visor, that we can not recall seeing since the 1980’s!! Maybe they are making a return?!

Had spaghetti Bolognese for dinner (family favourite) set the alarms, and off to sleep, tomorrow we catch the Ferry to Tallinn – Estonia!

July 29

Happy 25th Birthday to our eldest daughter, do not know where the time goes!! As soon as we were awake we shot off messages. Normally the earlier the better but with everyone on different time zones and her work hours we took the responsible approach and messaged. So proud of her and everything she has achieved in her first 25 years and can only begin to think what the next 25 will hold! Much love, one of the hard things while travelling. Missing these moments with those we love. Although she works away and I console myself with the fact I wouldn’t have got cuddles and kisses to her anyway!

Ferry to Estonia

Off to catch the Ferry to Tallinn, Estonia!! Chose Viking Line only on price and its red, everyone knows red goes faster! Boarded and went up to the passenger deck only to discover that we left the wallet in the van and they lock the cargo deck till we are in port – aarrggghh. We were really hungry, normally its just Miss B who wakes hungry, stays hungry and goes to bed hungry no matter how much food has been consumed in the course of the day. Brett had 3 Euro in his pocket and I went searching with little, to no hope, that we would find something to tide us over for 3 Euro. If I was in Norway I would not even have got out of my chair LOL.

Managed to get a Croissant for 2 Euro and a banana for 80c – Wahoo winning. Brett and I shared the banana and Miss B had the croissant (she did offer to share).

Note to self – don’t leave wallet in car/camper when making ferry crossings!

All good, we obviously survived and arriving in Tallinn we headed for the camp ground Brett had selected for proximity to city. On arriving the guy told us a price that was above what was in camper contact and did not have the time of day to discuss it, so we left. We like positive vibes and this place resembled a prison camp, concrete soviet style (not kidding).

Choosing the next camp ground along turned out to be THE best decision. On the water, all open and beautiful breezes.

July 30

We set off early to walk into Tallinn (approximately 6km) along the water it was really

beautiful. The old city is absolutely gorgeous, cobblestone streets, beautiful buildings and a pleasure to walk around.

There is a great lookout which has a view of the whole city.

Markets of both food and antiques were great to look at some over priced but you expect that in major cities. We were lucky enough to find another antique shop off the side of the famous pharmacy and Brett got a soviet 19th century lock for his collection = very happy man.

The youtube video has a lot more on the pharmacy which is a must see during your time in Tallinn.

Free Tour in Tallinn

There is a free tour offered from the tourist information centre twice daily in summer that is absolutely fantastic and although we missed most of it caught the end and were disappointed to have missed the whole tour. A MUST for those of you with kids. Animated tour guides and they teach you Estonian words. Explaining what life was like back in the day and taking you into places you would not even have known were there.

Until next week…..

What did we take

If you are interested in what we took, electronics, kitchen and all things we needed for the duration of our roadtrip click here. (we are slowly adding each week as we have data/time)

Having done a three and half month roadtrip last year in South Europe we were pretty confident in what we would need’this time. Also, what worked and what we would not bother taking again.

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