Saturday 20 June 2015

The Caravan Club St Petersburg and the North Grand Tour 2015 Norway

Well Im pushing my luck this morning by hoping that I can blog Its all thanks to my wifi booster that for the past year or so has been worth its weight in gold. I cant believe how backward these Scandanavian Countres are in many respects.As for camping they definately have the worst campsites. In fairness its probably because their season is so short, about two months that its not worth spending money on their infrustructure. Hardstanding? Whats that? Paying for showers? Now that one really gets me. Its just over one pound for 6 minutes They say its that it makes us more enviromentally friendly! What a load of tosh! I fill our barrels up with water, heat it using their electricity and thats more eco friendly?! Soryy but I dont go dirty for anyone! Oh and generally there is one toilet block that is miles away from where you are camping which is hope;ess in the rain, and they seem to get plenty of it. Maybe its tha other alternative here of a free shower!
Sowe left Orebro in Sweden and travelled to Norway. The roads at best were slow You were fortunate if the motorway was a dual carriageway. Quite often it was single carriageway. There isnt a lot of traffic on them but then they allow these massive lorries pulling massive trailers, making them double length jugganaughts and people complain of caravans in the UK! Hey all that said at least we all got here safely Well it took us 5 hours to do 211 miles. One of our particiapants it took 12 hours! Yes they did get lost on a memtous scale It just showws the value of sat navs. How the hell they got this far without one is beyond me.I cerainly couldnt hae got out of Yorkshire!
Well Norway. Much, much prettier and nicer than Sweden. When you travel along the roads in Sweden there are no crops in the fields, no livestock, no hills...just trees and they are all the same type and bloody Volvos! Immediately you cross over the border the difference is apparant. It seems cleaner. Hills start to appear. Lovely houses. Chocolate box stuff The difference is almost immediately apparent and that was in the pouring rain! We are definately back in the 21st century Electronic toll booths. We dont quite know how we pay though! We have been told that a bill will land at our UK address> Well I wont lose sleep over that! Our car number was taken by cameras at various points along the way but there was no card machine or man to pay! Hey ho.
We had to skirt around Oslo and the traffic was busy. We made it to the campsite which to say the least is basic and definately not up to european standards. One toilet block and its a good 300 metres away over a field! Great when the grass is long and uneven in the rain..oh how I wish I had brought my wellies!
One very good thing is the public transport system. We had been provided with a 72hour Oslo pass. The bus stops right outside the campsite and within 20 minutes you are in the centre of Oslo. We did it yesterday. As we got off the bus we saw a boat about to leave. I wasnt sure where it went to but like idiots we ran to catch it as I was sure that I had read somewhere that all public transport including boats was free. We made it in time and then had to ask "where are we going to?!" Great fun and good laughs at our expense as the other travellers were so boring and organised and had worked out just what they wanted to see. To us anything was going to be a suprise! It was really pleasant. We went arpund the holocaust museum but it was manily in blooming norwegian so we only understood bits. They had an equivalent to Anne Franks but dont ask me what her name was now-/Ive slept! We had a nice walk around and we caught the very efficient boat back to the centre of Oslo in between persistent showers. A lovely place to visit but definately geared up for the tourist but a distinct lack of Japanese tourists-maybe it was too cold for them or maybe there werent any selfie sticks for sale!





I really enjoyed Oslo. So much so I forgot to take pics! The sun is shining today. Many have gone back in to Oslo again. I think we are going to have a leisurely day and plan for tomorrow, back into...grrrrr blooming Sweden! Why oh why is that Country stuck in the middle of where I want to be?! Maybe I will change my mind but it will really have to go some! 



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