Rovaniemi, Finland - 26th June 2006 - 28th June 2006

Our first proper stop in Finland was at the small town of Rovaniemi just south of the Arctic Circle. It seems that Rovaniemi's claim to fame is that it boasts a theme park dedicated to Father Christmas and, on the Arctic Circle, the Santa Claus Post Office. Being just south of the Arctic Circle meant that there was still the issue of the place never getting dark, although it was far less of a problem than at Nordkapp - by which I mean the sun did at least try to set around midnight (although it did of course fail miserably).

Tromsø - 20th June 2006 - 23rd June 2006

After arriving in Tromsø and finding a place to stay (whcih in this case was on the floor of one of the classrooms in a local Catholic bible school - with their consent of course) we did what every self respecting Briton would do and headed straight to the nearest bar. The England/Sweden game was on, but after this was done with we stayed out for a few more beers and then we had had enough we headed home. It was very strange to find that in fact at two o'clock on the the morning of the 21st June 2006, as we made our way home, the light was so bright that you could be mistaken for thinking it was midday. Westood on the seafront watching the crazy seagulls as we soaked up the midnight (OK two am) sun and took in the view of the harbour. The 21 June 2006 is the Summer Solstice, but the forecast says there will be rain then and so we may not be able to enjoy this craziness then.

Road 7 from Oslo to Bergen, Norway - 13th June 2006 - 14th June 2006

This is one of the lakes alongside the road from Oslo to Bergen and was up in the mountains just before we reached the highest point on the road. Although the sun was out it was incredibly cold although we may have felt the cold more as we were on motorbikes and so for the nearly to hour ride to reach this point we had been slowly freezing ourselves to the bone.

Ängelholm, Sweden - 10th June 2006 - 12th June 2006

After an hour and half of being in Sweden we felt that we had made sufficient ground and so we stopped at the town of Ängelholm which we had already seen on the map as having a campsite near to the sea. I was not particularly impressed with the town and came away with the impression of it being a pretty dull place with not a huge amount to warrant a repeat visit in the future. Despite this the campsite, a few hundred yards from the beach was just what we needed. We spent two days there enjoying the fantastic weather and sitting on the beach relaxing. The sea was clear and it was a shame that it seemed to be full of jellyfish otherwise I would have gone in more. Still I stuck a toe in before I beat a hasty retreat after spotting a particularly large and vicious looking jelllyfish wafting its way to me. Perhaps I over exaggerate about the size of these things, but you get the idea! The campsite was separated from the sea by woods, which stretched, seemingly for miles in both directions, along the western Swedish coastline. As we headed further up Sweden there seemed to be a considerable amount of forest interrupted only by large, immaculately maintained, farms but very little in the way of any other settlements - certainly no more than at most the occasional small village. On the evening of the 11th we went for a wander along the beach and and woods and having got lost ended up at a railway crossing next to which was a bizzarre assortment of old railway carriages, trains and wagons. It seems that this was some sort of railway museum which and since it was not fenced off and there was no apparant security allowed one to effectively see some of the museum for free. Ever one for a bargain we took a look around before trying to find the way back to the campsite.

Stege, Denmark - 9th June 2006

After we arrived in Denmark we headed north towards Copenhagen. After thirty miles or so we found this campsite near a place called Stege which is itself on one of the many islands that make up this part of Denmark. The campsite was on the edge of the island and we camped on a pitch which was on, what the campsite owner descirbed as, a pier.´This was not a pier as we understand the term to mean (like the kind of thing one finds at Blackpool or Morecambe) but was rather simply a promontary which had been grassed over and put over to use by campers.

To say that the location was stunning was an understatement. We were bordered on each side by water and the only sounds we could hear were the noise of the ducks and wild geese which habited the island's coast. On the other side we had a view of the road bridge which linked the island with the main land (or more properly with the next island, a significant part of Denmark being made up of such islands).

The picture was spoilt only by the midges which descended upon us in swarms as the sun set and which we could hardly be surprised at given our proximity to the water. This was compensated by watching the sun set over the bridge at gone ten. In fact one of things we noticed most when we arrived in Denmark was the light and the fact that the sun was still very high in the sky even given the time in the evening. This has to be a sign of things to come as we head further norht into Norway and the get closer to midsummer and the longest day!

Ghent, Belgium - 6th June 2006 - 8th June 2006

Ghent was a truly amazing little university town and completely changed out views of Belgium (which up until then we had thought to be clean and rather dull). The centre of Ghent was full of beautiful old buildings around two main squares which between them contained two churches and an old municipal building of sorts which each boasted immense and imposing spires.

These three spires and ranged across the two squares and lead you down to the canal and the old town. In the summer evenings this area attracts a huge crowd of people of varying ages who sit around in groups chatting, drinking and enoying the sun and the long evenings. We had found a small hotel only a few minuites walk from the centre of town and which was actually on a boat - well more of a barge. The place was reasonably cheap, the people who ran it friendly and the town so laid back that we had no real inclination to leave and would certainly head back again. That said we were ready to leave when we eventually did and eager to get out of what we classed as being Western Europe and to get to Scandinavia.

London, Dover, Calais, De Panne - 5th June 2006

We left London around ten this morning and after negotiating our way around the London traffic we took the M20 down to Dover. We were running a bit late, but after a blast down the motorway we arrived in Dover with fifteen minutes to spare before we had to board our ferry. Once we arrived in Calais we immediately headed North seeing no need to hang around for too long in either Calais or Northern France. Shortly after we crossed the border and entered Belgium I needed petrol and so toook the first available exit off the motorway which took us to a small, clinical seaside resort called De Panne. The place was nice enough, but had the air of standing by for something - much like a room reserved for a party feels before anyone has really arrived, but after the party has officially started. The day went pretty much exactly as we hoped for and we didn't push ourselves too much by any stretch of the imagination.