Scandowegia

As we were 3km from the border, it didn’t take us long to hit the land of mountains, trees and many fjords. The roads are still alongside wheat fields, with beautiful dark red houses. Another tip – avoid Lillestrøm! The roads around it are a nightmare, quite a while spent on the ring road trying to get out of there (the 22 and the E6), finally managed to hit the road to Hamar and took the left hand route to Gjøvik – MUCH better.

Obviously our usual style pre-departure is up till 2am, packing and sorting stuff. Leaving Pembury, we hit the lorries queuing on the M20 as part of Operation Stack due to the French ferry workers being on strike (again). At Dover, we met a fellow Africa Twin rider called Tim, who had just finished his tour with the army and about to head off on RTW. So much stuff, including his (new) girlfriends’ helmet, as she will be joining him at some point en route (hands up who believes this one?!)

If heading towards Sweden, the obvious route is to Copenhagen (via an ice-cream stop by Tivoli Gardens, natch) and then over the Øresund Bridge. For those that are fans of The Bridge and general Scandinoir, this is a must. One tip, there are actually no viewing platforms, so make the most of it if you do get a glimpse. It’s also not as long as you think, so enjoy it whilst you’re on it!

The rains have been coming down, so utilised one of the cabins at the Viking Campsite as a dry store, even with the poor weather, the N.R. 60 really hurts the eyes. Every time you round a corner, you think it couldn’t get more stunning, and yet it does, with glaciers, waterfalls, steep roads and switchbacks. Quite a lot of tunnels on this route, we popped out of one and it was all ice, snow and clouds. Decided on a route with a ferry, which is always fun, to avoid a 25km tunnel, plus I found my first stave church with carved dragons and general woody loveliness.

For those that know us, a 5.30 start is almost unheard of, but as the ferries were jam-packed, we needed this one if we were going to get into Denmark.

Blatted through gorgeous scenery on the N.R.9, getting onto the 7.30am ferry for packets of Smash, not the insto mash but essentially choc covered maize snacks, a tad odd, although I think we managed to force down the bag.