John's Travel Blogs

Month: October 2025

  • Berlin to Caen

    Berlin to Caen

    The last few days we have done a lot of miles to reach our ferry port near Caen (France). We are booked on the 4.30pm to Portsmouth. We are currently sat in a really nice wine/delicatessan/bistro place having a lovely meal surrounded by bottles of wine. We plan to walk out with a few of them.

    On the way through Germany, we visited Detmold. My family spent a couple of years here when I was about 9 years old and my dad was in the army. He was based at the British army camp, now long gone. I managed to find our old house, the playground we used and the location of the ‘Sally Army’ we used.

  • Finland to Germany.. 6 countries in 2 days

    Finland to Germany.. 6 countries in 2 days

    we crossed from Helsinki (Finland) to Tallin (Estonia) on a three hour crossing with Viking Lines.

    We camped overnight near the border with Latvia and on the next day crossed both Latvia and Lithuiania into Poland.

    The countryside gradually changed from fir forests, to open farmland. Also the standard of driving changed. Lots of tailgating, aggressive driving and speeding.

    We stopped last night in Germany just outside Berlin, today we have walked around the city seeing sights such as the Brandenberg Gate, the Berlin wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Reichtag and lots more.

  • Helsinki

    Helsinki

    We spent the day in Helsinki, first doing a guided walking tour, then we did a bit of exploring on our own.

    We saw a couple of these autonomous delivery machines.

    Old sailing ships seem to be popular here, I counted 13, all registered in Helsinki.

    We had salmon soup, a local speciality at a beautiful wooden indoor market.

    Tomorrow we catch the 10.30am ferry to Tallin in Estonia.

  • Levi to Helsinki

    Levi to Helsinki

    The journey through Finland to the Southern capitol of Helsinki has been through yet more forests and lakes. Yesterday there was a noticeable change in the environment though. Bigger, busier roads, more people, we even noticed aircraft, something we had not seen in over a week. Our only stops were for fluid intake and outtakes.

    We are in a campsite in Helsinki; we are here two nights and plan to explore the city today, before we catch a ferry tomorrow morning to Tallin in Estonia.

  • Kiruna to Levi (Finland)

    Kiruna to Levi (Finland)

    After a brief visit to the mining town of Kiruna we travelled North East to cross into Finland at Karesuvanto. It is the furthest North i have ever been, and the start of the long track South to Helsinki.

    The day was mostly through more forests and lakes, very beautiful but also getting a little monotonous although we did see another reindeer herd.

    Last night we stopped in a town dominated by an artificial ski slope lit up on the hill above the town.

  • Days 10-12 Crossing the Artic Circle

    Days 10-12 Crossing the Artic Circle

    Day 10 was a very wet and monotonous drive through Sweden with the aim of crossing the Artic Circle. We saw lots of rain, wet roads, trees, lakes and then, near our destination for the day of Jokkmokk, we were given a wonderful surprise..

    The surprise was a herd of 30+ reindeer moving through the forest near the road. We stopped and watched them for a while.

    We stopped 2 nights at Jokkmokk, partly to rest, and partly to increase our chances of seeing the Northern lights. Unfortunately, although we had a mostly clear second night, the aurora failed to appear.

    Today we travelled about 2.5 hours further north to campsite near Kiruna, by a lake. They have wood burning sauna cabins here and we have booked one for tonight.

  • Day 9 Trondheim and back to Sweden

    Day 9 Trondheim and back to Sweden

    After a quick visit and look around Trondheim (we were not very impressed), we headed North East through the mountains back to Sweden.

    The scenery has been stunning all day with gorgeous views of snow covered mountains, ffyords, lakes and forests.

    Tomorrow we plan to head North and cross the Artic circle somewhere near Jokkmokk.

  • Day 8 Into Norway

    Day 8 Into Norway

    We woke to more rain in Sweden this morning so decided to do a long drive toward Trondheim in Normay. We have stopped about 30km away after driving through some spectacular scenery.

    Tomorrow we will investigate Trondheim and then start heading East back to Sweden and toward Finland.

  • Day 7 Sunne (Sweden)

    Yesterday we travelled through the middle of Sweden towards the Norwegian border. It rained all day as a storm is blowing through but we did manage a stop at Kata Gard which is the oldest known room in Sweden. It’s an old chapel built during the introduction of Christianity to the region. It’s also the site of a big monestary built later.

    Today we plan to cross into Norway.

  • Day 6, Denmark to Sweden

    Yesterday, after driving and walking to the most Northern tip of Denmark (on a sand bar), we travelled about a half hour South to Freiderkshavn and caught the Stena ferry to Gothenburg in Sweden.

    After the ferry, we travelled about an hour North and spent the night at a campsite in the middle of a forest. It’s beautiful here and we had hoped to walk one of the trails to a lake. But overnight a storm has blown in with lots of rain, so instead we plan to continue the journey North, stopping at an old Viking age church.