It's not Disney but...

[Aussie Wendy]

It's not to Disney but it is to the land of Frozen - that counts doesn't it?

A pre-trippy for our big adventures to the north next June-July. In a brief summary, the adventure includes time with our daughter in Sweden (so day trips to Stockholm and the surrounds of Uppsala), road tripping through Norway (far too short a time but pesky daughter's commitments intervened) and some of Sweden, cruise ship style overnight ferry to Turku in Finland (we're on infamous "party boat" so we're gonna party!!), followed by trains to and time in Helsinki, St Petersburg and Moscow, then home.

Good job I have been well prepared in uber planning for Disney - the logistics of this trip is doing my head in and I have a longer spreadsheet than for any Disney trip. Discovering all the most highly recommended places with "acceptable" prices were already sold out for next summer - !!! it has been a scramble to plot to the last detail what we can feasibly fit in, what we have to forego, how long it will take us to drive those windy, windy, narrow-narrow-narrow scenic roads and where we might want to stop - to work out where we will need to lay our heads each night and then find somewhere that sleeps 3 adults with parking. Oslo - you are not a friendly city for tourists with a car or on a budget. Helsinki you rock!

As time goes by and if people are interested, I will fill in the details of where we are staying each night on the "road trip" and beyond (beyond is after we dump our daughter at Oslo airport to head off to a conference and 3 goes back to 2) and what I think we will be up to. It's going to be an interesting assortment of cabins in camping sites near rivers and fjords, hotels, guesthouses, and self-contained apartments. All but a night in Turku (debating between 2 hotels) and Moscow is now booked. Visas for Russia and trains to and in Russia have to wait til 3 months out. A kayak trip on a fjord is already booked; a hike on a glacier will await local weather conditions.

I will investigate a Flickr or other account or suck it up and make use of one of the "please come back. Here is a discount voucher" to Photobucket as I will not be able to resist sharing with you all some of the 10 million photos I know we will take.

Stay tuned....

 

[aussie shaz]

Looking forward to hearing all about it. Sounds fantastic.

 

[Montanabel]

Yes please! Would love to hear about this trip!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Oh my Wendy - I am so excited for you! Your trip sounds awesome and exactly the type of trip I want to do one day.

Would love to see an itinerary of your cabins/hotels etc. Knowing you, you will have found places that are unique and charming.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Ooooooh I'm on board to follow along with this amazing adventure. It sounds absolutely incredible. A little more roughing it than my minimum 4 star hubby could handle but hey, you never know. I say no detail is too small to share Wendy!!!!!

 

[viaggiamo]

I'm in too...sounds like an amazing trip!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Still waiting for that update...

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Hej hej.

So the trip starts with hopefully, perhaps a Dismeet in Sydney during the Vivid Sydney Festival. Still exploring handy downtown hotels. DH likes having a kitchenette.
(A pic from a few years ago)

Then on the Monday of the long weekend we head out in Premium Economy seats - for us a few more perks than our usual economy even if its not business - this is to see if there is any value in paying the extra (and I got a deal which made it worthwhile to give it a try). Maybe one day we'll fly frequently enough for Business upgrades-but I doubt it! A change of planes in Singapore, a brief touchdown in Moscow and we arrive early am in Stockholm. Our daughter's house mate is graciously letting us camp with them, although it is a small house in the garden of their landlord's house, but she will be away on a field trip for much of the time we stay. DD is looking forward to sharing all her fave places, most especially the forest she walks through to work.

We have around 10 days to look at Uppsala and surrounding areas and Stockholm before the Midsummer weekend when everyone apparently parties. Uppsala looks pretty and is a small University town.

Our daughter is recommending we book a couple of nights in the city to see Stockholm properly so we can get up early and be at tourist sights at opening time. Haven't looked into that yet and not sure if we will just wing it while there. So far the short list of "to dos" includes the old town area of Gamla Stan, possibly the Royal Palace Apartments, the Medieval Museum, the now hip Sodermalm district, the Swedish History Museum, Djurgarden (island) with the Vasa Museum, the ABBA Museum and Skansen open air museum with its historical collection of houses and church and wildlife park (the oldest open air museum in the world) among other attractions , and lots of nature walks here. Probably at least one boat trip to see a bit of the archipelago or a canal tour. We will also over the days with DD explore one of the royal palaces on Lake Malaran (probably the infamous Drottningholm though Stromsholm also takes my fancy).

Drottningholm: (from the web)

Stromsholm (from the web)

Also will visit interesting towns like Sigtuna, Sweden's first town founded in AD980 but still researching environs and see where DD wants to show us! She will be at work til the midsummer weekend but we have one weekend with her free to sightsee with us.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

On the Sunday of Midsummer with everyone recovered from the excesses of Friday night partying (and hopefully heading in the opposite direction to all the traffic heading back into town after the long weekend though it is the traditional start of their summer hols) we travel north towards the border with Norway. So many routes to choose from but I am almost settled on one that is a little less direct but takes us via Lake Siljan. On the shores of a town here they make the infamous Dala horses but being the public hol weekend the factory isn't operating and the shop has short hours (if open). We may swing past anyway then continue north. I have a hankering for a tour of a Musk Ox sanctuary but I doubt we can make it there in time for their last tour at 4pm (which I would need to prebook) - unless we get away really early. Hard to judge - their roads versus ours - many have much lower speed limits. It is around 500km but guides say allow anywhere from 7 to 9 hours driving time.
DD gave me a mini Dala horse just like this one for Xmas. All pictures hereon are from the internet, from hotel or town or attraction official public tourist pages-I acknowledge none are my own work.


Musk Ox if we got there....


Overnight tonight is at Funasdalen at the Eriksgarden Fjalhotell, a popular skiing area in winter and by a lake. We had very limited options along this route.



At all our accommodation on the road trip apart from self contained cabins etc, we get a buffet breaky included. It will be interesting to compare range and quality! Some come highly rated by reviewers.

We head off next day over the border into Norway. First stop is the WH listed copper mining town of Roros. I am waiting to see tour times for 2018 but hope to do the tour of the mine outside of town. The town itself is very scenic with preserved wooden homes and an interesting sounding museum.





We then head south on what should be a scenic drive between the two national parks of Dovrefjell and Rondane to Dombas and then through Romsdalen under the vertical cliff of Trollveggen (Europe's highest vertical mountain wall) to our campsite cabin. This will be a 270km drive, likely 4 hours averaging 70km/hr as most of the roads are pretty good.

Official visit Norway website pic:

We have a self contained cabin. Some cabins in Norway though they have a kitchenette even don't have running water - you have to go and fetch cold water from a stand pipe. I made sure (I hope!!) that none of ours are like that and given our age, all have bathrooms for easy pop to the loo in the night!! (Typical cabin from the campground website)-bedroom behind for us and loft beds up top for DD.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Day 3 of the road trip has us heading up Trollstigen (Troll's ladder) before the tourist coaches clog the way. This is one of Norway's National Tourist Roads - roads of outstanding beauty. It twists through 11 hairpin bends climbing 858m and was opened by the King in 1936. It is one of several scenic routes only open in summer. The lookouts here and further along are worthy of viewing in themselves designed by Reiulf Ramstad architects; this one opened in 2012.



There are several other interesting stops along the plateau but apart from this first lookout we will be driving past as we have a date down the other side in Valldal with a kayak. It's 21km from the campsite and up "the ladder" and another 27km from this top lookout to Valldal so we will return later that afternoon to check out in more detail the others we drive past like Gudbrandsjuvet.

We have a 9.30 for 10am meeting with Valldal Naturopplevingar for a 4 hour kayak up a narrow arm of Norddalsfjord called Talford that includes a lunch stop near an old farm on the shoreline so we will have to make sure we are away early enough to allow for any delays going up Trollstigen. The company have been really nice and friendly in emails and they get good reviews so looking forward to this.



We stay in Valldal the night at Fjellro Turisthotel in a family room. This is an original preserved wooden building. They have an upmarket seafood restaurant here. We are not big fans of seafood but might be one of few options! It looks quaint.



This afternoon I hope we won't be too tired to pop back up the mountain to view at least the whirlpools of Gudbrandsjuvet (only 11km) and otherwise relax in the hotel's garden or by the fjord if the weather is good of course! (In my head it's all summer sunshine - but it will probably be grey and cloudy and rainy the whole time-lol!) This might have been a nice place to relax and explore for a few days somewhat away from the madding crowd but so much to see, places to be .....

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Wow Wendy, those plans are sounding great and the locations look stunning.
Your daughter looks like she has a beautiful walk to work.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Thanks WanderlustNZ - we can swop stories down the track!

 

[Zosha]

That looks like it's going to be amazing Wendy!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Day 3 of the road trip we are heading south to Hjelle near the Nordfjord region. Choice of routes - short Linge ferry and via Ørnevegen (Eagle Rd) down to Geiranger then either pre-book the car ferry to Hellesylt and round to Hjelle; or drive to Geiranger and then drive via 63 and Flydasjuvet lookout, with a detour to infamous Dasnibba lookout (both lookouts appear in many tourist brochures), and down to Hjelle; or a route less travelled by the tourists which entails a short ferry ride to Standa, driving around the opposite side of the fjord to Hellesylt and option of detouring along the narrow Norangsdalen (known as the Queen's route after 1993 silver wedding cruise of the King and Queen of Norway) and round to Hellesylt-this is the longest route. Could also drive Norangsdalen from Hellesylt after the ferry. From friend's pics I think I really want to see the Geiranger to Hellesylt arm by water so at this stage leaning towards booking the car ferry although have received advice that as we are kayaking a different arm of the same fjord we don't need to do this. If the weather is good we have lots of things to see in the Hjelle region so the shortest route gets us there in time for afternoon exploration without lingering over-long in cruise ship packed Geiranger. If weather is less kind then I think we may take the longer Norangsdalen route.

If anyone has any thoughts/experience feel free to jump in and offer advice!

View from Ørnevegen


View fjord and waterfall from the water on the ferry


Alternate to ferry, view from Flydasjuvet (it is strongly recommended you do not climb through the fence and walk out to where this guy is standing!!)

and view from Dasnibba taken by friends


Third alternate route, a pic from Norangsdalen which also passes several interesting lakes with remnants of villages underwater that were destroyed by a landslide and later buried by the river that turned into a lake.



I have two main things to see in the afternoon all near Loen. If the weather is good the new (and incredibly expensive to ride up and down) Loen Skylift at the top of Mt Hoven with several interesting short hikes up top.



and a drive along Lake Lovatnet [pic (c) Mariëlle C TA] which has had hamlets along the shores wiped out by tsunami's caused by avalanches in 1905 and 1934. The lake is the classic glacial green. Beyond the foot of the lake you can take a short hike to the base of Kjenndalsbreen Glacier, which like most of the glaciers in this part of Norway is rapidly retreating (this glacier tongue is much quieter than Briksdal which all the cruise ships visit).


We are staying the night at the Hjelle Hotel because I couldn't find any vacancies for a reasonable price in Loen or Olden or any campsites with self contained cabins vacant. Loen/Olden is popular with cruise ships too. This is one of our dearest nights. The older part of the hotel dates from 1896. They have a separate motel annexe which if it had been just 2 of us would have been a cheaper option but with 3 we had to take the 2 bedroom family room - which does look very pretty! (and was cheaper than 2 x motel rooms) and has a balcony looking towards the lake. The plan if it is nice is probably check in/dump our gear with them, go out and visit Loen Skylift and do either a 2.2km or 2.6km walk up top, have dinner e.g. in Loen then drive out along Lake Lovatnet and eve hike to the glacier tongue.





View of the lake from the grounds ((C) Vicente M -TA)

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Day 4 of the road trip and more decisions but these don't involve the need to prebook a car ferry so can wing it at the time. Off to near Gaupne on the Sognerfjorden. My preferred route doesn't retrace our steps if we come in yesterday via Hellesylt and takes us in a detour north then south via Lom and a stop at the Lom Stave Church



Then driving national tourist route 55 through Jotunheimen National Park - through northern Europe's highest mountain pass at 1434m. Lots of scenic stops.



Then we drop down beside Lustrafjorden to our cabin in Viki camping on the shores of the fjord 9km north of Gaupne.

The alternate route is back around the fjord past Loen and Olden, Innvik and Utvik, across the peninsula to Skei, down to Sogndal past Fjaerland village, renowned for its book stores, and a couple more glacier tongues out of town we could visit, and Norsk Bremuseum (info on glaciers etc) that gets good reviews and up around to Gaupne.

We have two nights in a self contained cabin and I think all? most are on the shore of the fjord - time will tell what we are allocated!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Our next day we stay put (phew I can hear you saying.) But if the weather is kind DD and I at least, DH is still considering, plan on doing a glacier hike. Even if weather is bad we will go up to Jostedalsbreen National Park to see the Nigardsbreen Glacier from the tongue. This will be only around a 45 min drive up to the visitor centre so we can have a sleep-in and you can take a boat part of the way from there reducing the hike up to the glacier. The hike from the boat landing looks fun in itself (pics from friends who did it a few years ago)





Unless its pouring rain/blizzard DD and I plan on booking a day or two prior the Short Blue Ice Hike, the one our friends did. It takes 3-4 hrs including the boat trip with about 1.5 hrs actually hiking on the ice including through the blue ice (subject to conditions this year on the glacier of course). DH may come up to the glacier with us but not do the walk on it - subject to how his back is at the time since it goes through dodgy phases. Then he will go back to the VC when he has had enough to wait for us in the warm. I am hoping he decides to come as these days my back isn't much better than his. It's taken slow - the issue is people stepping on the rope and tugging etc and pulling you over or you slipping and jarring your back. We both might have to see how we are. DD will definitely do it of course (oh to be young and fit still!). Then it will be quiet evening looking at the view!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Wow, your camera is certainly going to get a workout. I’m envious of all those stunning views.

I saw that pic of the cabin with a balcony on the lake and my first thought was that it looked like a cruise ship. I got momentarily excited, thinking that you might be joining me in the world of cruising
Either way, it looks great

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I am so hooked on everything you are seeing and doing so far. The views are going to be breathtaking. I would be a no for the kayaking but some of the hiking especially the Blue Ice Hike sound awesome. Can't wait to follow along.

 

[masterpabu]

Your road trip through Norway sounds so lovely! And everything looks gorgeous! Now I really wish I did a road trip while I was there last year but I guess that just means I have to go back again haha! Looking forward to see the rest of your trip