2003 Scandanavian Circle - All Breakages To Be Paid For......Eventually

We are beginning to get used to these early starts as we are all packed, breakfasted, cabin cleaned and on the road by 8:30. Ian decided to take the A roads rather than the motorway and we were rewarded with empty roads once Gottenburg was left behind.

Having caught a few spots of rain the sun decided to come out making our exit from Sweden very pleasant. If only the welcome into Norway could have been the same as within minutes of entering the country the heavens opened up and waterproofs were put on and taken off all the way to Lillehammer.

Guzzisue needed to stop to cash some travellers cheques so this was done in a small town bank. This took about 20 minutes as nobody behind the counter could work out what they were!

Money sorted and we are on the way again and then Ian starts to have problems changing gear as the gear selector return spring breaks. The Guzzi is still rideable but Ian will to do a lot of left foot dancing on the toe and heel gear change for the rest of the holiday. We had thought about spending a little time in the fjord region again but now decided against this.

We can tell that we are back in Norway as the price of the cabins increase. The one we stayed in at Lillehammer costs as much as a motel 20 miles outside of town. On the plus side we can walk into the town centre and cook for ourselves.

In the evening we catch the news to find that there has been serious flooding with tunnels being pumped out by the fire brigade and campsites along with some roads being washed away. It was a wise decision not to go round the fjords. There was also a story about New York being plunged into darkness with a massive power cut.

2003 Scandanavian Circle - Gottenburg, Universeum And Beyond

This morning we awoke early to the sound of rain and a much cooler day. Guzzisue did a little washing followed by breakfast. We purchased our train tickets from the local petrol station and were in Gottenburg for 9:10am to find nowhere open! The shops open at 10:00, museums at 11:00, so we just wandered round not sure what to do, taking the occasional photograph like this sculpture of the gun. We have seen a similar one in a film with a scene in New York, so we think they may have been done by the same artist. Any information greatly received thanks.

While walking around we came across the Universeum and after a little deliberation decided to go in. The fact that it started to rain helped in the decision here me thinks.

The Universum is a national science discovery centre for all the family, basically an indoor nature trail with a tropical rainforest and aquatic environments with live animals ranging from birds to reptiles and sharks. The Universum really grabbed our interest and we were in there for over three hours! This would have been longer but we could not understand the Swedish signs in the experimental part. In conclusion a place well worth a visit and it gets my recommendation.

Mid afternoon we enter Liseberg, Scandanavia’s largest amusement park. Inside they have a large wooden roller coaster based on a 1920’s one.

The queue for this ride was 40 minutes and the rain turned to short heavy downpours, so we decided against this ride. We basically just ambled round the park for a few hours before catching the train back to the campsite.

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.