Within 10 minutes of arriving in Stockholm we had decided it was a wonderful city. We walked into town from the campsite, a pleasant 2.5km along the edge of the lake (could be sea at this point - tricky to tell where one becomes the other !) and over the bridge into Gamla Stan, the old city. The buildings are amazing. Stunning architecture, wonderful decorations and they all seem to harmonise so well with each other. We decided to find the Royal Palace first and did but on the opposite side to the entrance so had a good look round the other side first. There is water everywhere as Stockholm is built on a series of islands all linked by bridges so one side of the Palace is on the lake and the next side is ... read more

Long drive today and weather glorious so pleased we have cab aircon in the Tandy. I spent quite a bit of the trip trying very hard, but failing, to stay awake. Driving along the tree-lined E4 is like counting sheep. Its not that I don’t like trees, actually I like them a lot but not in such quantities and in such a monotonous arrangement. Both sides of the E4 are lined continuously with trees, nearly all conifers and, what I think makes it worse is the fence which is obviously newly installed between the forest and the road all the way along. Makes everything so regimented somehow. Not a branch out of place as it were. I presume it is to keep the Elks off the road but did still manage to spot one through the ... read more

Sadly what we have seen of Sweden so far has just not been quite as good as the other three Scandinavian countries we have visited and enjoyed so much this trip. Hopefully this will improve when we have seen areas other than this “Northern Wilderness”. We left Oulu in Finland and headed, expectantly along the coast road to the Swedish border. Unfortunately, despite having driven from one coastal town to another for 150+ miles on a road which follows the coastline of the Gulf of Bothnia we have still not seen the sea proper, just several very wide river estuaries. The sea is out there somewhere but not where we have been. Just before the border we took a detour at Tornio to some rather dramatic rapids on the Torne river at Kukkolaforsen. These extend for ... read more

All’s well again with the weather. Can’t do with persistent rain like yesterday’s, it stops us doing things and that is bad. Woke to glorious blue sky, albeit rather later than planned as stayed up late again watching the lovely midnight sun over the river. Packed up as quickly as we could and headed off for the Arctic Circle (Napapiiri), Finnish style this time. Lots of Santa’s Elves about the place as this is Santa’s village, supposedly where he lives, and the site for the Santa’s postbox where children send their Xmas letters to Santa. Stood on the Arctic Circle line and took photos and bought a few presents, as shops excellent, including really nice traditional hat for Emily’s birthday. Used Santa’s postbox to post things but not Emily’s as not sure which is her current ... read more

Hard to get up this morning as had very little sleep. Went to bed late as had to sort out the laptop which did a major go-slow on the internet and wouldn’t virus scan so was worried it had been ‘got out’ through some of the suspect wifi I have been using. Sorted it out and all ok by 3am ! Couldn’t then get to sleep as caravan behind us were partying - until 3.30 am. At 4.14 am it was not just broad daylight but it was also warm and brightly sunny which is not conducive to sleep. To get to Finland we had to go a little further North. We were hopeful the scenery would be something other than trees and tarmac but really it wasn’t so the I-spy jokes about things beginning with ... read more