On the Road Again!

Sadly all ideas of a trip to Norway aboard Döra with Claire on the back has had to be cancelled.   Why? Last week I had a small heart attack. I was rushed to the local ER complete with sirens and blue lights and had a stent fitted in one of my arteries and the others spring cleaned. So I am not going to be fit enough to ride to Scandinavia for two weeks with a pillion. Hopefully, some time in the future, heart and Claire's hip allowing, we can try again.   I had thought about simply re-planning it and taking the car and maybe even the dog.  Norway doesn't seem all that dog friendly.  Instead we will have to have something more local. Or a "staycation" as it is now called. Bummer!!!

After several months of planning the next "adventure" for Dora, Claire and me, to Norway, the project has gone on hold.  I am hoping to revive it in May and/or June 2016. I have the "Rough Guide", a road map plus a route or two safely stored in Tyre.

Having a few problems fitting the entire trip into the time available and thought that Plan B, anti-clockwise around the fjords, might be a better idea with the Bergen cruise being at the end of the trip rather than at the beginning. Currently the idea is for Claire to only have four days leave, but adding another day would make it more achievable. One  problem is that Google Maps won't plan a route through central Norway along road 55.  I guess this may be that this is because currently the roads are closed with snow and so it automatically routes around this area. a 60 mile journey becomes 197! The same goes for road 63. A 20 mile ride becomes 90! A work colleague says that Google should allow a date to be specified. I am buggered, if that exists, where to find it. Another one, an Android lover, says that the mapping app on there called Here Maps has an easy to find date selector. Sadly, it doesn't work on an iPhone. Using Here on the laptop works and uses  ⛔️ signs to ...

Dora's next adventure is to Norway.  See  Valhalla! I have a route and now need to see about ferries etc. Update 23rd February 2018 Valhalla blog was merged into DevallTravels some while back and the posts can be found here .

Dora's next adventure is to Norway.  See  Valhalla! I have a route and now need to see about ferries etc.

With the chosen dates almost set in stone due to dog sitting courtesy of my Aunt Yvonne and Audrey, I have been checking the ferries. When there are only one or two crossings a day on the ones we have chosen, it is important to get them booked. Harwich to the Hook of Holland, the only reasonable North Sea crossing for those of us in the south of England, currently coming in at £253 for the return crossing for me, Claire and Dora, inc cabin, it is filling up. The other is the "cruise" from Hirtshals in Denmark across to Bergen in Norway.  It takes 16 hours and arrives about 1230 (lunchtime) so we should be able to get some deck time and see the scenery slide past.  This one is about £150 for the single journey.   Both crossings are overnight for the most part and so we travel as we sleep.  The alternative, of shorter ferries, will use up more valuable day time. I chose August as a gamble on the Fjord weather and also that once we return from Florida in early June we n...

Plan A is coming along. The trip is effectively split into two parts. Before and after the "cruise". The before is the shortest.  The ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland. Overnight it's about £125 each way including a cabin. That's for two of us and Döra. A couple of longer days to cover the 600 miles to Hirtshals and then the cruise section. Hirtshals to Bergen, another overnight arriving at lunchtime the next day. And that leads us into 400 miles of fjord and around three small ferries like the one that featured in " The Heroes of Telemark " movie! Without the saboteurs I hope! Steadily moving ever northwards, through Olden, where we stopped off on the cruise in 2013. The cruise that gave me the inspiration for a bike trip to Norway and the fjords. The final ferry of the day takes us to Molde and the most expensive stop. Hotels are few and far between as you move north. Using the Visit Norway website to plan stops and then Booking.com to make some ...

One of my favourite pastimes is planning trips and holidays. At the moment I am looking at Norway . I think it will be a dream for this year and more chance next year. There just aren't enough days available for that kind of distance.  So what instead?

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:

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 to get to Hirtshals, hotel and then ea...

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 out the distances between each place. ...