Rally Chat Circumnavigation of the Baltic summer 2018

[Stewart]

So am I to assume I will be travelling alone, or am I being too impatient again. What's a couple of months or so and a couple of thousand quid or so in comparison to the the memories?

 

[Riverbankannie]

I guess it’s a big trip for others to commit to.
Hopefully you will meet lots of lovely people on the way.
Keep on posting your ideas and proposed dates and so on and it will keep this thread alive and just maybe someone will come along and be interested in joining you.

 

[hilldweller]

O.K. perhaps I will make it 6000 miles. Between the two MOTs, I have just completed 21000 miles in a year, so what is another few miles between friends.

Those are serious numbers. So how many MotoGPs did you get to ? A very entertaining season.

Next Big One will be 2019 when we have a Triumph powered Moto2.

 

[DBK]

So am I to assume I will be travelling alone, or am I being too impatient again. What's a couple of months or so and a couple of thousand quid or so in comparison to the the memories?

It sounds a great idea but I think it is very much a "niche" route. I'm off to Greece next spring then Spain/Portugal in late summer next year so we are fully booked, but we may do Scandinavia some day. I've visited all the main countries but not in a MH.
Realistically, I suggest on planning on doing it alone. If you can meet up with folk along the that would be a bonus.

 

[Stewart]

@hilldweller Most of those miles went following the motogps. They do not plan them to follow a logical sequence. I went from Jerez to Le Mans to Mugello and back to Barcelona for the first four in Europe. In all, I went to all 12 european GPs, the last one being Valencia a couple of weeks ago. To any bikers in our midst, it was worth every mile and every penny. I will happily discuss the pros and cons of all the GPs until you die of boredom. Tip - if one is over 65, entry to the Czech round is free! I got a campsite about a mile from the circuit at 100 euros for 5 nights including breakfast, evening meal and a nightly strip show. The strippers were that good that punters were paying them to put there clothes back on.

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[Stewart]

I am getting closer to this trip. I met a Norwegian couple somewhere in Spain last year and they invited me to visit them. They live near Nordcapp and their son is the Nordcapp local bobby. The objective now is to be in Northern Norway the first week in July. The locals suggest this is the best time. I still haven't planned the route though!

 

[TerryL]

Cross from Germany to Denmark to Copenhagen (suitable aire close to the city). then across the bridge (or go north and take the ferry) into Sweden. North through Sweden then into Norway (we took a side trip into Finland to see Father Christmas!) then straight north to Nordkapp. The main road north through Norway is awful - very slow with a good number of tolls on it. Hope you do better at Nordkapp than we did - shrouded in fog/mist/rain etc.

Return south through Norway around the coast then either drive back down through Sweden or take ferry direct to Denmark.

That was the essence of our trip, 6000 miles in total (including through UK from Newcastle to Folkestone) over a 6 week period. We loved it but had to cut it short due to mechanical problems but plan to go back maybe next year. Enjoy.

 

[Stewart]

Finally, I have a plan. I leave on the Harwich/Hook ferry on 13th June , travel up to Denmark and catch the Ferry to Sweden. As suggested in the previous post from @TerryL, I will go north through Sweden, visit NordKapp -which will have exceptionally good weather- and come back down the Norwegian coast. I plan to be back the first week in August. I have decided to do the circumnavigation of the Baltic for another year.
I really appreciate all the information from you people, it has been of great use.

 

[Bailey58]

You've made your plans but if you have a few hours/days to spare have a read of this blog "Our Tour". On top of the rest of it, which I didn't read, they crossed from Tallin I think to Finland, up to North Cape and then down through Norway, Lofoten Islands and Senja which some say are nicer and less touristy, and south through the rest of Norway before crossing Sweden to Stockholm, Malmo, Denmark and home to the UK.

I only picked up the blog from Tromso and south as that's all I was interested in but it's taken many hours copying and pasting before ending up with around 120 pages in a word doc. Full of info on parking spots and co-ords and places to visit on the way.

Edit: I expect you've looked into the various passes for the bridges and tolls?

 

[Stewart]

@Bailey58. I haven't looked at passes. Please enlighten me. I looked at the bridge from Denmark to Sweden and it appears to be 100 euro. That is the end of my research!
will certainly have a look at the blog.
When I say I have made my plans, it is a very loose plan ; when to leave, when to return, take a punt on the bit in between.

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[Bailey58]

I've got all the Scandi threads bookmarked and have lifted the useful stuff for my plans. The Brobizz pass is worth it for the discount especially if in a very large van.

Very quick copy and paste from @DavidG58's thread to follow but although our Norway trip is on hold until I get the van back I've got the Brobizz gizmo that goes on the screen and registered with EPC for payment for not only the Danish bridges if you use them but also for the many tolls in Norway, roads and tunnels. Apart from Brobizz there are other toll providers, EasyGo and Autopass among them and they all have links to each other so my head got dizzy when deciding who to go with but Brobizz seemed the likelier one for Oresundbron, the Copenhagen/Malmo link and the Storrebaelt, linking the Danish islands further west. The common factor is I think all providers appear to use EPC for billing to your registerd account which is easier than picking up a host of bills when you get home.

David's extract:

We used credit cards most of the time, they are widely accepted everywhere, there were plenty of cash machines. You do need some cash for honesty boxes which were widely used at camperstops, in Denmark the camperstop accepted euros as well (in Norway this was also sometimes an option).

Just remembered in Norway most petrol stations were card only... automatic pay at pump. To use cash was a hassle.ie reversing out from one pump into another pump which they could unlock from the shop.

Bev ordered our annual pass yesterday, then got involved in reading which toll booth we have to use, trying to convince me we have to use an auto booth, I hate them, always convinced that will be the time no cards work and I have the get a queue to back up, so will sneak into the manned booth lane.

Still hoping that pass also gives discount on the other bridge and that they don't check our weight, if over 6m and over 3.5tons the toll doubles to 100€, you can be over 6m as we are but if up to 3.5 tons (which we aren't) it is only 51€

As for breakdown, we have RAC full European cover, but I must check that extends to Norway, until I read your post I had just presumed it did to cover over 8m and over 5 tons we had to get RAC cover via C + CC, oddly you can't get that cover if you go directly to RAC

But by the time we travel we might have changed our insurers due to the mileage issues and are looking to include breakdown cover with that new policy so would have double cover

Looking at the easygo.com website (that the oresundbizz toll pass links to) the pass will work on the Storebælt Bridge. Prices are -
Camper vans over 6 m - max 3,500 kg 346,75 DKK
Camper vans over 3,500 kg up to 10 m 679,25 DKK
so worst case around £80 - still a discount
When we signed up for the toll pass they didn't ask for length, height or weight. I assumed the tool stations would auto sense the appropriate rate like in France but we ended up classed as a car on the Oresund bridge so I suspect you have a good chance of getting the car or small camper rate

I think the annual pass that we have also ordered means the rate per crossing drops to €44 which I think is also the car rate, but I am very easily confused and decided we will pay what is asked for

We nave ordered the bizz pass and like you didn't have to enter size, did you then use auto tolls with the bizz thing, or stop and use CC, or manual tolls ?

Auto open options terrify me, watching the lorries barely slow on the French tolls is very scary, not that the barrier will do a lot of damage to the front of a lorry compared to our MH

We used the bizzpass toll tag with no problem on the Oresund bridge - you can use any of the green lanes on the left marked with a car and the bizz symbol (dont use the green lanes on the right marked with a bus/truck). It also worked fine at all the other toll points in Norway. You will see the green light flash as you pass each toll gantry but the beep on our tag never worked.

The rate on the Oresund bridge should be €44 with the pass but we were charged €22. Well, nearly €22 but they charge in DKK everywhere so there is often a slight difference from the quoted € or NKK due to exchange fluctuations. Any transactions will be posted to your online account overnight so you can check the following day (although it did take 48hrs for them to decide what class to charge us on the bridge!).

Agree with Broken Link Removed, Revolut all the way. Fantastic resource for any traveler. Recently used in France and accepted everywhere including Aires. No need to worry about what currency you'll need, just load with sterling and let Revolut convert the transaction for you using the inter bank exchange rate.

 

[Stewart]

@Bailey58. You appear to have done all the spadework for me! I know I am a lazy git, but I have a 6 metre panel van conversion that is less than 3.5 tons, so if I get the gizmo I can use it throughout Denmark and Norway without fear. When you chose Brobizz was it because it is used in more locations? When I looked at the bridge between Denmark and Sweden, I came up with 100 euros, although the text suggests it is 51 euros. What did I do wrong?

 

[Bailey58]

Forgive the pun but my research is all water under the bridge by now but, finding the invoice, the Brobizz cost 200DKr, around £23 at the time, January, and it's only a deposit which I believe you get back on its return. As said I got too confused to look much further but others went into it in David's thread and by buying the Brobizz it seems you get it much cheaper as a "frequent" traveller if I remember right, hence the half price. If you don't intend to cross that way, and return the same way, and go Hirtshals to Norway for instance then it may not be worth the extra £23. If and when we go I'm meeting relations on Sjaelland near Copenhagen so, given the cost of the Hirtshals crossing in a 7.5m van will probably come back via the bridge to make it worthwhile. Again that depends if it's worth me driving north east from Kristiansand to Oslo and all the way round the Swedish coast. Decisions, decisions.

 

[DavidG58]

what we did spot that although I am sure a cartel would be denied, whether you use the bridges or ferries you are going to end up paying more or less the same amount

I think the bridge needs to be used by anybody even half interested in the design but TBH we were rather no plussed by it, probably more dramatic from air or boat than in a vehicle using it

A trip we though that we will recall for the rest of our days

 

[Bailey58]

Can I ask what you paid for your RAC European cover @DavidG58 and is that standard or Arrival. I've got breakdown cover on individual vehicles through AIB (they use ERS) probably paying around £70+ on each vehicle including Europe on the van but I'm getting bogged down wading through the options with RAC and C&CC. I want the bells and whistles for a 7.5m van.

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[TerryL]

Stewart if you intend to use any campsites you will need a Camping Key Europe card, it's a camping carnet, as all the sites will ask for it. You can buy it beforehand online at www.scr.se or the first site you go on will sell you one. It also offers various discounts, the best one we found was the ferry ticket from Germany to Denmark.

As regards the auto-tolls, we never bothered with registering although we did keep a note of everyone we passed through. A week or so after we got home we received just one itemised invoice from a UK management company which I paid online.

 

[DavidG58]

Can I ask what you paid for your RAC European cover @DavidG58 and is that standard or Arrival. I've got breakdown cover on individual vehicles through AIB (they use ERS) probably paying around £70+ on each vehicle including Europe on the van but I'm getting bogged down wading through the options with RAC and C&CC. I want the bells and whistles for a 7.5m van.

I think I had my leg lifted this year on renewal, wasn't really watching carefully, but we have any vehicle being driven by me and or Bev, or even passengers in. It specifically covers over 5T and over 8m but I think we paid £301 at renewal

I will be must more alert next year in my first year retired (I hope)

But for the cover we get its now bad, although both our cars are still under manufacturers warranties and covered there as well

 

[Bailey58]

Stewart if you intend to use any campsites you will need a Camping Key Europe card, it's a camping carnet, as all the sites will ask for it. You can buy it beforehand online at www.scr.se or the first site you go on will sell you one. It also offers various discounts, the best one we found was the ferry ticket from Germany to Denmark.

As regards the auto-tolls, we never bothered with registering although we did keep a note of everyone we passed through. A week or so after we got home we received just one itemised invoice from a UK management company which I paid online.

We got ours Camping Key card through one of the main clubs, C&MC I think.

Edit: Yes C&MC and it was £5 plus postage, 150SEK on the Swedish website - £12.50

 

[PORKSTER]

@hilldweller Most of those miles went following the motogps. They do not plan them to follow a logical sequence. I went from Jerez to Le Mans to Mugello and back to Barcelona for the first four in Europe. In all, I went to all 12 european GPs, the last one being Valencia a couple of weeks ago. To any bikers in our midst, it was worth every mile and every penny. I will happily discuss the pros and cons of all the GPs until you die of boredom. Tip - if one is over 65, entry to the Czech round is free! I got a campsite about a mile from the circuit at 100 euros for 5 nights including breakfast, evening meal and a nightly strip show. The strippers were that good that punters were paying them to put there clothes back on.

Now you have my attention

 

[Stewart]

O.K. There is a new plan! Well it's not really a new plan - it's the old plan. One of the many wonderful things about this motorhoming lark is this ability to alter the schedule on a whim, and I just did. A trip round the Baltic is back on. It seems a bit pointless to make half the journey and not complete the other half., so I will go clockwise via Denmark and Sweden into Norway. i have to drop some furniture off near Gothenberg on the way, but that is another story.I can then drive the length of Norway to Nordkapp,, and come back via Finland and the ferry to Talin. I can make a visa free "cruise" from Talin to St. Petersberg if I wish, and then onwards to Blighty. I have two months to complete this trip so it should be no problem.

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