We were back in Belgium end November 2013 and after the festivities in December, Christine had her surgery and we solved also the other "problems".
We decided that we wanted to travel again but with a car that had more space and a toilet. We did not wanted a truck with a living unit equipped with shower, sink, bunk, sitting area, etc ... but something agile as our Toyota HDJ80.
March 2014 : enters the Toyota HZJ78, 4200 cc, atmospheric 6 cylinder, equipped with two fuel tanks (total 270 l), winch, snorkel and dual spare tire aft bumper. We sold the stuff we didn't need, and ripped out the existing furniture and the unnecessary bells and whistles.
 |
| Sold the roof tent, luggage carrier, awning, Hi-jack and sand plates. |
PSP Expedition Campers,
http://www.psp-expeditioncampers.com/page/256/0/Toyota.html, chopped off the roof and installed a pop-up roof. Hence we had two floors and could stand up at the back of the car. We installed a Thetford Porta Potti in the new furniture we made ourselves and planned a trip to the North Cape - Norway to check the car and equipment.
 |
We were able to sleep in the pop-up and for the climate or stealth,
on the furniture by taking down the mattress from the pop-up tent. |
The idea was to climb up to the most northern point of Europe and then slide down with the isotherms to the south. No visas, so no planning of borders, places and dates.
On our first travel day, 13 July 2014, we stopped in Cloppenburg - Germany on a free overnight parking and spotted an adjacent open air museum with buildings and, mainly, farms from Lower Saxony from the 18th and 19th century. Worth a visit. During the night we did not sleep tight. Germany won against Argentina with 1 - 0 and became World Champion. Cloppenburg was not that far from the overnight parking lot and we have known, euuh ... heard it.
 |
Rich family kitchen, with on the left the "Sunday" room to receive visiting colleagues
and on the right the sleeping room with several alcoves. The stables were under the
same roof but separated from the living quarters by a large door. |
 |
Poor family farmhouse with livestock, kitchen and sleeping area in the one room building.
|
The poorer farmers lived next to the live stock. While the rich farmers had a separation between the stables and the living quarters. Rich or poor : you slept in an alcove and several alcoves in one room. Privacy was guaranteed by little doors at the alcove. You slept on straw and this combined with the always closed doors from the alcove, diseases were plenty.
 |
Left : the stables, right : the kitchen and "dinning room".
No chimney resulting in a black ceiling. |
 |
| Poor man's alcove. |
 |
| Rich family alcoves. |
The soil was poor and to upgrade the soil, giant plows were pulled by 4 steam engines (120 hp each) equipped with winches. The soil was upturned till 1,90 m deep.
 |
| Mothers in law have been lost in those ruts. |
Denmark.
We continued our journey on the east coast of Denmark, Jutland and stopped for the night on the island Romo, visited Ribe and camped next day at the Haurvig Kirke.
 |
| Romo harbour : important trading place during the Viking days. |
 |
East coast around noon in July, not far from Sondervig.
Maybe a tat windy for our taste but a hell of a day for the Vikings. |
Fyrkat, Jelling, Trelleborg and Roskilde : or the history of the Vikings with reconstructed long houses from fortresses, farms, festivals, museums displaying arms, jewellery and various types of the feared Viking ships.
 |
| Fyrkat : farms and model of a typical Viking fortress. |
 |
| Famous Jelling stone (with runes). |
 |
| Trelleborg Viking festival : drinking home made beer while roasting pigs. |
 |
| Trelleborg : scale model of a typical Viking fortress. |
 |
| Trelleborg : Viking festival 18/07/14. |
Helsingor or how to become rich because you live at an important waterway, the Öre Sunt : gate way to the Baltic. The Öre Sunt is a 4 km wide strait between Denmark and Sweden.
1427 : Eric from Pomerania, king of the Denmark, Sweden and Norway decided to tax the passage of ships through the strait. For that purpose he built the fortress "Krogen" in Helsingor and equipped the fort with cannons.
 |
| The fortress evolved from a wooden structure in 1427 to this. |
The Danes became very wealthy by cashing in these taxes until in 1850 the Americans refused to pay the Sound Dues. The tax was abolished in 1857 and the world paid a final lump sum of 36 million crowns to the Danes. Brazil never paid and only recently the "debt" has been cancelled during a state visit of Brazil to Denmark. That Sweden broke away from the Kalmar Union in 1523 and the Öre Sunt therefore was part of Sweden and part of Denmark did not seem to bother the international politics and all countries continued to pay until 1857... Probably I missed something there.
In the vaults under the castle, sleeps Holger Danske who will rise if the country is in danger and gather an army of boys and old men to defend the country.
 |
| Holger Danske : robust chap. |
Do not forget to bring or buy a torch to visit these fortified cellars. The torches can be bought at the entrance from a vending machine and the vaults are not illuminated. Clever : profit and no cost for the Danes.
Sweden.
24 - 27 July in Stockholm and sleeping/camping in the Karingböda National Parc about 50 km south of Stockholm.
In Oslo we visited the Vasa Museet (see hereunder), Skansen an open air museum with buildings from earlier ages and the Nordisk Museet.
Vasa Museet : or how a monumental mistake delivered a monumental monument.
1625, King Gustaf II ordered the expansion of the navy with amongst others the construction of the Vasa, the biggest man-of-war of that time. During the construction the king ordered a second deck with bigger guns on both decks. The hull was already under construction and due to the fixed delivery date, the construction and therefore the balast could not be altered. Nobody dared to mention the problem to the king and the ship made her maiden trip on the fixed date : 10 August 1628.
Only 20 minutes from the quay and still in the port, a light breeze tilted the Vasa so far over that the lower gun deck flooded. Tree minutes later the ship stood on the bodem of the port with the masts sticking out above low tide.
The guns were recuperated a couple of years later but the Vasa only in 1961 (333 years later) despite a number of attempts earlier. The ship was almost intact due to the low salt content from the Baltic Sea and on the other hand the low oxygen content of the port due to sewage dumping. The ship was towed to an existing dry dock, where she still resides, and conserved.
 |
| Vasa : length 69 m, hight 53 m, 700 ton, 64 guns, crew 145 and 300 soldiers. |
 |
| A must see in Stockholm. |
Brave men with a diving suit of 100 kg excavated for years, in the clay and mud, 6 tunnels under the Vasa with high pressure water guns. The tunnels were 1 m in diameter and everybody knows that you cannot see in a tunnel, in the dark, while stirring up mud and clay with a high pressure gun. Two steel cables, diameter 15 cm, per tunnel passed under the ship and the Vasa was lifted and floated to the dry dock.
 |
| Stockholm harbour. |
 |
| Stockholm harbour. Note the Spanish flag. |
Via the silver mines of Sala to Oslo - Norway.
 |
| Better follow the guide on her heels. |
 |
| Mora : swap-meet old timers. |
 |
| Camping 20 km before Torsby. |
 |
| Morning at the camping site. |
 |
Father and sons kayaking for 4 days down the river.
Sleeping in tents in the woods and food to be prepared on an open fire. |
Norway.
Oslo : Vikingskip Museer.
Two complete ships unearthed, used as graves for wealthy and important persons. Both graves were robbed about a decade after the persons were laid to rest. However a lot of artefacts survived in one of the graves but the gold and silver were gone.
Thor Heyerdahl Museer (the man who sailed the Oceans with the Kon Tiki, Ra, Ra II and Tigris : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_Heyerdahl.
 |
| Kon Tiki. |
 |
| Ra. |
And now to the north along the track Peer Gynt and mountain passes with glaciers from the Jostdalsbreen, the biggest glacier in Europe : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jostedal_Glacier. Visiting the oldest Stavkirkja from Norway in Urnes (1150).
 |
Camping close to Urnes on a almost deserted road,
with the fjord at our back door. |
 |
In the morning.
No sun but spectacular (no photoshop or special lenses!). |
 |
| Olden Briksdal. |
 |
| Entrance to the glacier in Olden Briksdal. |
 |
| Walk to the glacier. |
 |
| The Mask. Norwegian culture? |
 |
| Still going up. |
 |
| Bridge over troubled water (Simon & Garfunkel). |
 |
| Staying alive. |
 |
| Glacier from the Olden Briksdal. |
 |
| Evening BBQ, |
 |
| and camping in Olden Briksdal. |
 |
| Geirangerfjord : 100 km inland and 360 m deep. |
 |
| Stavkirke Rodven. |
 |
| This little guy helped to clean-out the honey jar. |
 |
| Just along the road close to the Artic Circle. |
 |
Between Mo I Ra and the Artic Circle : a monument for the Russian POW
who had to built the railway under extreme weather during WWII. |
|
 |
Polar Cirkel 10/08/2014, still in the same place notwithstanding
the continental drift! And it is a hoax : it's a dot and not a circle.
Fake news! |
 |
Norwegian national dish : Pizza at the Polar Circle Restaurant.
The other national dish was Spaghetti Bolognese.
Restorante : Il Sole. :-) |
 |
| No, she is not cleaning the monument. |
 |
I know!
However others did as well, the "monument" is about full.
Hurry if you want to be famous before the rains and snow. |
 |
| Artic Circle Centre. |
 |
| Ferry to the Lofoten. |
 |
Since a while I was asking for an oil change but all workshops told me to
come back next week. On the Lofoten I asked if I could do it myself if I
bought the oil from the owner (I had filters with me). They helped me with
a carton to lay on and an used oil recipient. |
 |
| Camping in a bay on one of the islands. |
 |
| Small and very shy herd of reindeer. |
 |
Abandoned shelters or houses (most probably Sami) shaped like the tents.
All (5 or 6) had the same structure and inside a stove in the middle with
a window at the back. |
 |
Alta Museum (UNESCO World Heritage Site) : prehistoric rock carvings
showing hunters and animals. |
 |
| Prehistoric boat people. |
 |
| Berries and flowers above the Artic Circle, in the museum park. |
 |
| Others had different ideas of how getting there. |
 |
Surprise : clear weather, butt cold (fris aan de vis).
Only 2100 km from the North Pole. |
 |
| Christine and her new boy friend. |
Norway is one of the most beautiful countries we ever visited and probably the most expensive as well.
0,5 litres of Tuborg (the cheapest available) about 10 €, fuel about 1,50 - 2,00 €/litre.
 |
| Sleeping with the roof down in Käfjord, on the beach. COLD! |
 |
Weathered rock formations on the way back on the E69
(between the island and Lakselv). |
 |
Camping between Vestertana and Rustefjelbma on our way to Kirkenes.
Road 98. |
 |
| Along the 98. |
 |
Winter is coming (somewhere on the 98 before Kirkenes).
Also available : fuel, food, engine oil, plastic buckets, mouse poisson, ... |
 |
| Varangerbotn : Sami culture museum. |
 |
| Tribal clothing embellishments. |
 |
| Sami dwellings. |
 |
| Fireplace inside the hut. |
 |
Turning south at Kirkenes, towards Helsinki.
|
On Sunday 17 August we had King Crab and Reindeer Medallions in Hotel Rica - Kirkenes. The place looked deserted.
Finland.
On 17 August we crossed the border Norway - Finland and headed south till 21:00 hours to find a more comfortable temperature. The temperature had dropped significantly probably because of the vicinity of the vast landmass from mother Russia and on the other hand; the influence of the Gulf Stream disappeared being on the east side of the Scandinavian mountain range. The same latitude in Norway felt more comfortable.
 |
| Somewhere along the road, two males probably chatting about yesterday night... |
 |
| Go away human! |
 |
| Mail boxes. |
 |
| What did you say? |
 |
| Inari : Sami museum with different houses and dwellings. |
 |
| Inside the houses. |
 |
| Land lord flogs local farm aid. |
 |
| Earlier dwellings. |
 |
| Looking for mushrooms for dinner? |
 |
| Camping at a lake just outside Inari. |
We visited Joensuu, the university city, not far from the Russian border, where one of our sons stayed for 3 months in a student exchange program. He programmed computers for the university under guidance of a local teacher.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joensuu
 |
| Joensuu Orthodox Church. |
Friday 22 August : visit to the fortress of Savonlinna. The town and the castle are situated over a number of islands in the Kyrönsalmi
strait that connects the lakes Haukivesi and Pihlajavesi.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olavinlinna
A lot of Russians visited the castle and in the evening, in the countryside, we met a significant number of Russians on a weekend trip.
 |
| Double rainbow over one of the many lakes. |
 |
| The red brick tower top has been added under Russian occupation. |
 |
Naantali with the yachting harbour and the
wooden houses in the old town centre. |
Turku and the Turun Linna castle. Not one of the most beautiful castles but lively scenes displayed and a lot of history explained.
 |
Lively scenes and extensive history about the castle and
the mediaval way of living. |
 |
| Naval museum. |
On 25 August we took the ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn - Estland. By now the weather was horrible, cold and raining "cats and dogs". We had been receiving mails from the home front(s) about the bad weather in western Europe and apparently it was moving to north-east Europe. We decided to drive home and crossed Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and part of Germany in 3 days in the pouring rain.
 |
Dredger in Helsinki.
Green split barge? |
 |
28/08/14 : Free camping in the centre of Braunschweig - Germany,
not far from Wolfsburg (home of the stinky cars). |
 |
| Not the average motorhome. |
Christine was fed up with the nomad live and did not wanted to travel, living in a small camper, again. She told me this somewhere in Finland and my world crumbled. I had planned to visit the American continent in 2015 and she said that she did not want to join me.
The Toyota HZJ78 was sold in September 2015 to an English couple who are now on the ... American continent. Their trip started in the US and they are driving towards the south of the continent.
The website :
http://www.followthehound.com/ and the Facebook have the same name.
But, slowly the words "not join you" sank in... Does this mean: "go alone"?
Luckily I still had the HDJ80 and I started to make plans: Belgium - Australia or the Americas, ... alone?
To be continued...
