2003 Scandanavian Circle - Öresundsförbindelsen, Breakdown and Gottenburg

Surprisingly we were up , breakfasted, showered and on the road for nine o’clock, a new record for us! We picked up the E20 and headed for Copenhagen and onwards for the Öresundsförbindelsen, the bridge linking Denmark and Sweden. Having paid our toll we proceeded into a tunnel and came back into daylight in the middle of the Baltic Sea. This was an experience that we will not forget as we could not see any land at all! A must do trip if you can and I strongly recommend going from Copenhagen for a lifelong experience.

On Swedish soil we entered a tourist information centre to see if we could a campsite hut in Gottenburg, however there was a big festival on so everywhere was fully booked. We discussed this between and decided to head on towards Gottenburg to see what we could find in way of accommodation, or we would have done except the Guzzi didn’t want to play!

While Ian was changing relays and fuses a Swedish Harley rider came over and we had a little conversation telling him that we were last in Scandanavia in 1997. He remembered that summer well as they still talk about how good it was, just like the Brits talk about the Summer of ‘76.

Problem solved we headed our separate ways and slowly made our way north. We were a little taken aback when the speed limit went down when we left residential areas. This was explained when we saw our first moose near the roadside. They are built like the proverbial outhouse. A few days later we saw a report on television where a moose had charged at some cars, writing them off! Definitely an animal I don’t want to mess with.

Arriving in Gottenburg we spied the railway and decided to follow this away from the city. Our aim was to find somewhere near a railway station in order to get back into the centre in the morning. This was accomplished when we found a campsite with huts at Lerum, about 20kms out.

2003 Scandanavian Circle - I Have A Cunning Plan

For us there was quite a lot of planning for this years holiday. It had been decided that we would return to Scandanavia, but to which part? Recently the Øresund bridge had opened joining Denmark and Sweden together by road and rail. This became a must do for us. The first plan was to go by ferry to Bergen , ride across Norway to Sweden, across the Øresund bridge to Denmark and return home by riding through the Low Countries and Germany before getting the ferry at Calais. Due to ferry timetables this didn’t happen, so to Plan B. Ferry from Harwich to Esbjerg, ride to Copenhagen, across the bridge, ride through Sweden to Norway and catch the ferry home from Bergen, or back over the bridge and retrace our route home. We try not to retrace steps on holiday, so. onto Plan C. Ferry to Esbjerg, camp near Copenhagen for a few days, over the bridge travel through Sweden and onto Norway where we can catch a ferry back to Denmark and Esbjerg to get the return ferry home. Yes we have a rough plan at the third attempt so the ferry from Harwich to Esbjerg was booked for a Sunday sailing. We later received conformation that this sailing would now be on the Saturday, even better!