Motorhome News from Europe 27. Finland. 12th July 2005 A visit to Santa, north into Finnish Lapland - and snowchains It’s my birthday on Thursday and we have a wager. Janice says I’ll get 3 emails-worth of greetings and I reckon I’ll get about 15! Meanwhile, we’ve been researching the birding hereabouts. Page 77. Where to watch Birds in Scandinavia. ‘Valtavaara. This 10Km sq area of taiga is world famous as a site for red flanked bluetail’. Page 281 Lonely Planet Finland. ‘Valtavaara Hill is the best place in the region for birding: s [View Full Entry]

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Motorhome News from Europe 26 Sweden 5th July 2005 Across the Arctic Circle - twice; and into Finland If I asked you to paint me a picture of Lapland, it would of course have to include reindeer, wouldn’t it? It would also probably show Lapps in reindeer-skin coats, hood covered heads down, pulling a sleigh in a snow and wind-lashed landscape. Things have changed a bit. These days Sami, the indigenous people of Saapmi go about their business un-noticed and herding on foot is almost a thing of the past. The reindeer live freely in the forest and they are now [View Full Entry]

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Motorhome News from Europe 25. Sweden 28th June 2005 Heading north along the Baltic coast The eight hotels in the small town of Tallberg (pop 400) on Lake Siljan fill up with tourists each year for the few weeks of summer. Even the Japanese come here on their four day tour of Europe we’re told! Hans Christian Andersen came here once too, in 1850 (did he come by horse-drawn carriage?). It was his record of the beautiful hilltop views across the lake and the charismatic traditional dwellings that put the village on the map - though it’s my belief that it [View Full Entry]

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Motorhome News from Europe 24. Sweden June 2005 Goteborg (taking the time to smell the roses), to Stockholm and beyond Gothenborg, as we know it, is one of those places you pass through when you arrive in Sweden by ferry; but we had been led to believe there is more to this western port. The city was just a fifteen minute tram ride from our camp and with the promise of a bright sunny day, we set forth to find out more. In Swedish, Goteborg is pronounced; ‘Yut-te-boy’ apparently, so you might guess that we are going to struggle just a [View Full Entry]

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Motorhome News from Europe 23. Norway/Sweden June 2005 Oslo, Norway, and on into Sweden To the best of my knowledge, I have never seen a photograph of Oslo, so I had little by way of expectations when we arrived at the campsite overlooking the city, mid-morning. The E18 motorway runs straight into the City, through the tunnel under the centre and out the other side. Consequently, there is little traffic in the centre and it has a peaceful air, with wide streets and green parks everywhere. The pedestrianised main street, Carl Johans Gate, runs straight as an arrow about one and [View Full Entry]

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Motorhome News from Europe 22 Norway June 2005 From Norfolk to the outskirts of Oslo in a week. Yesterday, the last day of May, we ‘cast a final clout’, looked forward to a June, ‘bursting out all over’ and planned our departure from Norfolk for phase three of our motorhome tour of places that previous European holidays have failed to reach. Our unplanned return home in April offered us the chance to review our immediate options for our travels and, with just seven months before our departure for North America, our hearts and compass were finally set on Scan [View Full Entry]

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Motorhome News from Europe 21. Italy April 2005 From Dolomites to Lakes OK, so you already know we like the mountains; but the Dolomites are something else. Previously, I could find them on a map of course, but I really have no idea what my expectations were. Suffice to say, we have both been truly captivated by their charm. We are in Italy of course, but the Austrian border is no more than an hours drive away and whilst the local language is Italian, many of the signs are in German. Every town here has at least two names, sometimes three, [View Full Entry]

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Motorhome News from Europe 20. Italy March 2005 Somewhere in the Dolomites It’s been another busy week for the grey haired nomads. After leaving Perugia, we continued our tour of historic towns with visits to Gubbio and Urbino. Gubbio is, like Assisi and Perugia, an Umbrian hill town with grand piazzas, palazzos, fountains and churches. Despite it being a Sunday, the town was almost empty of tourists. The only crowds seemed to be attending a local football match. We found an excellent “sosta” (dedicated parking and overnighting area for motorhomes, often with wa [View Full Entry]

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Motorhome News from Europe 19. Italy March 2005 Amalfi, snowchains and Assisi Capri is everything you could possibly ask for. Take away the tourists and you are left with the most wonderful and romantic destination imaginable. It’s just half an hour by ferry from Sorrento, rising steeply from the Med on the edge of the Bay of Naples. It was busy at the portside; in the summer they expect around 5,000 visitors each day, but once off the beaten track we saw few people. The coastline is truly spectacular, the emerald sea meeting the steep cliffs at every viewpoint and white [View Full Entry]

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Motorhome News from Europe 18. Italy. March 2005 Sicily & Southern Italy. Pompei, Herculaneum and Naples (Napoli) Our first day camped near Palermo was a rest day, catching up with the laundry and shopping. We were to stay there for the next four nights. The next day it rained heavily non-stop and we were able to get to know the neighbours. One couple from London had already been there for several days, camping in an old Ford panel-van with no insulation. The cold nights were the least of their problems. Breathing alone was causing condensation to run down the walls, soaking [View Full Entry]

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