On Friday, the 20th of March, we watched the partial eclipse of the sun through swirling grey clouds. Three days later, we are in Denmark with five countries behind us. First, we travelled North East across France, passing by Reims and the ancient battlefields and on to Sedan; on a wet Sunday morning, we passed into Belgium, travelling north. A little while later, the city of Liege was quickly followed by another country, the Netherlands, through Maastricht; now we are headed for Venlo, here another change of direction as we head east for Münster in Germany and North again through Germany to Denmark.
We are driving around Copenhagen's ring road after a night at the pretty harbour at Klintholme Haven. The road takes us alongside Copenhagen's international airport with its high-rise hotels and terminal buildings; in front of us, we can see the Baltic Sea and the massive bridge that will take us into Sweden. We sink deep into the tunnel and under the shipping lanes, rising again on an island out at sea, directly in front, the bridge towers up, the top disappearing into the low cloud; a train races past, heading for Sweden, and we climb steeply upwards like a departing aircraft, buffeted by the wind and rain and then descend into Sweden and the Province of Skåne.
Malmö is to the left, but we are turning right, headed for Karlskrona and Sweden's eastern coast. The journey before us is vast. Haparanda is five days north, provided the weather is kind to us. We will cross into Finland and join the Arctic highway at this border town, heading north again for Norway and the Barents Sea.
The scenery is stunning. Driving, we are oblivious to the outside temperature—that is, until we end our day's drive, take on fuel, or fill our water tank from the heated water closets at most garages. We make our night stops in the Fjords, at one with nature; this wild country has a massive feeling of solitude and peace.
As we progress north, hail and snow showers are becoming more frequent.
Although the sky became blue, the temperature dropped, and we saw the lakes and rivers frozen.
The landscape is beautiful in the freezing sunshine.
On day five of our journey, the weather turns to rain and sleet and quickly into heavy snow. We are forced to turn back to seek refuge. We follow the snowploughs back south and wait until it is safe to continue.
The roads, as is the sky, have been cleared, and we continue.
We hope to see a Moose or Elk in the English language and the name given to them in Eurasia. An Elk in the American language is a different species; it's a little confusing!
The further North we travel, the colder it gets. The Bothnian Sea is also frozen. Due to the snow, finding parking places to stop and take photographs has become challenging. We see fishermen sitting around holes cut through the ice and cars racing on frozen lakes. This really is another World!
The weather has really deteriorated; thank goodness for snowploughs!
On the journey, we have seen hundreds of migrating birds, especially Goosanders, Tufted, and Goldeneye ducks, all heading Northward to their breeding grounds.
We stopped to photograph the ice flows and found Goosanders catching a lift!
At Umeå, the city of Birch trees, the mighty Ume River is frozen and covered with deep snow.
We will cross the 66º North into the Arctic Circle.
Next stop, Finland.
By lunchtime, we are within one hundred kilometres of the Arctic Circle.
The snow is getting worse, but we are determined to reach that imaginary line drawn around the Earth at 66º North. Then we will have to decide what to do!
Only the main road is now passable for us, which has become difficult. All the minor roads are choked with snow.
We made it! We parked up somewhere North of 66º high in the Arctic Circle. For now, the snow has relented.
We have decided that it is not worth continuing as more heavy snow is forecast, we would not be able to photograph the birds and landscape that we had come for, and we are trapped on the main road between two snow walls. It is back to Sweden for us.
This may look pretty, but we had to battle South for two days to escape the worst blizzards we had ever experienced.
Cannot wait to see the blue sky and sun!
Our trip continues.
Happy days!
We are driving around Copenhagen's ring road after a night at the pretty harbour at Klintholme Haven. The road takes us alongside Copenhagen's international airport with its high-rise hotels and terminal buildings; in front of us, we can see the Baltic Sea and the massive bridge that will take us into Sweden. We sink deep into the tunnel and under the shipping lanes, rising again on an island out at sea, directly in front, the bridge towers up, the top disappearing into the low cloud; a train races past, heading for Sweden, and we climb steeply upwards like a departing aircraft, buffeted by the wind and rain and then descend into Sweden and the Province of Skåne.
Malmö is to the left, but we are turning right, headed for Karlskrona and Sweden's eastern coast. The journey before us is vast. Haparanda is five days north, provided the weather is kind to us. We will cross into Finland and join the Arctic highway at this border town, heading north again for Norway and the Barents Sea.
The scenery is stunning. Driving, we are oblivious to the outside temperature—that is, until we end our day's drive, take on fuel, or fill our water tank from the heated water closets at most garages. We make our night stops in the Fjords, at one with nature; this wild country has a massive feeling of solitude and peace.
As we progress north, hail and snow showers are becoming more frequent.
Although the sky became blue, the temperature dropped, and we saw the lakes and rivers frozen.
The landscape is beautiful in the freezing sunshine.
On day five of our journey, the weather turns to rain and sleet and quickly into heavy snow. We are forced to turn back to seek refuge. We follow the snowploughs back south and wait until it is safe to continue.
The roads, as is the sky, have been cleared, and we continue.
We hope to see a Moose or Elk in the English language and the name given to them in Eurasia. An Elk in the American language is a different species; it's a little confusing!
The further North we travel, the colder it gets. The Bothnian Sea is also frozen. Due to the snow, finding parking places to stop and take photographs has become challenging. We see fishermen sitting around holes cut through the ice and cars racing on frozen lakes. This really is another World!
The weather has really deteriorated; thank goodness for snowploughs!
On the journey, we have seen hundreds of migrating birds, especially Goosanders, Tufted, and Goldeneye ducks, all heading Northward to their breeding grounds.
We stopped to photograph the ice flows and found Goosanders catching a lift!
There is stillness and silence, with just the birds calling out on the water. It has turned slushy but is starting to freeze over again.
Sunday morning, there was heavy snow during the night, and we saw other camping cars half buried in the snow drifts. There is a lack of parishioners at the local church, but the road has been cleared, and we can continue.
We have a distant view over a frozen lake of snow buntings heading back north, always mobile and on their restless flight.
At Umeå, the city of Birch trees, the mighty Ume River is frozen and covered with deep snow.
We will cross the 66º North into the Arctic Circle.
Next stop, Finland.
By lunchtime, we are within one hundred kilometres of the Arctic Circle.
The snow is getting worse, but we are determined to reach that imaginary line drawn around the Earth at 66º North. Then we will have to decide what to do!
We made it! We parked up somewhere North of 66º high in the Arctic Circle. For now, the snow has relented.
We have decided that it is not worth continuing as more heavy snow is forecast, we would not be able to photograph the birds and landscape that we had come for, and we are trapped on the main road between two snow walls. It is back to Sweden for us.
This may look pretty, but we had to battle South for two days to escape the worst blizzards we had ever experienced.
Cannot wait to see the blue sky and sun!
Our trip continues.
Happy days!
