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Showing posts from February, 2015

Norge15 - Rough route idea

The route is as near as I can get it as I haven't been able to account for the ferry from Hirtshals to Bergen. The logistics are pretty tight and I am thinking that there will be an extra strain on covering distances by the longer land route via Malmo and Copenhagen. The Bergen onwards routes is this:

Norge15 - Now we are cooking...

Planning. The date has moved to August now after the decision to go to Florida in May/June. Once the spreadsheet (a modern day pen and pencil), columns for date, day, daytime, overnight, staying in, was started I could start to see that we have 11 days for the trip and then I could begin putting a few ideas together. Slotting in ideas. Using the Harwich to Hoek van Holland ferry means that we can use the Thursday night to travel. Claire doesn't work on Fridays so we would get a head start instead of sleeping at home. The ride from the Hook to Hamburg and the halfway point is 320 miles.  If we went over on the short route on Friday, the ride would be about 480 miles; a longer day and less chance to have a look around once we get there. From Hamburg the ride to Hirtshals is another 320 miles according to Google Maps, and about six hours riding. Allowing for a few stops we should be there well in time for the boat to Norway. The original plan was

Norge15 - A glimmer of hope?

I have given up on the DFDS long ferry routes to Norway from Immingham as they are too inconvenient and the chances of the "competition" starting up this side of hell freezing over, nil. I was reading another blog where a guy was going to Sweden. His plan was to use the Harwich to Hoek van Holland overnight route, then ride across Germany and Denmark. That got me thinking and planning. When to go? The last time we went to Norway on the cruise it was June and we had "exceptional" weather according to the locals.  It was dry and mostly warm. So what about August? A little  googling  shows that although far more northerly than the UK, the climate is generally favourable due to the gulf stream. I don't have the holiday to get as far as the North Cape, maybe another time, but the turning around spot needs to be the  Atlantic Road  near Molde.  So, it will be out with paper and pencil, the days scribbled out and then working o