Our Final Hurrah!

We left the Cabins, what now feels like days ago and planted our flag. Our accomplishment is below:

Murjek to Stockholm

We boarded a train last night at 20:20 after it being delayed from 18:13 and arriving at the remote train station at 16:15. The train we are still currently on is as depicted in films an movies. With three beds on top of each other and the smallest amount of room possible. This said it is nice to stretch out and sleep, which I have done since 22:30 yesterday (Now being around 08:00). Firstly i needed the rest and secondly it passes the train journey, which if you actually take into account the sheer distance from top to bottom of Sweden; is comparatively quick.

We left JokkMokk with it being -9 Degrees C, with a feels like temp of -16 Degrees C.

On a side note – The night we ventured into town on our last night in JokkMokk; we went in to an oriental Pizza Place – the only one in town. Upon asking for a glass of tap water the waitress enquired whether i wished to have lemon, I stated that I didn’t and I only wanted tap water as I did not want to pay. The waitress then informed me that whilst water is free the cup is not and I would have to pay for it to be washed, I was outraged and insisted I wanted nothing. When quizzed as to why she is breaking EU law, she stated that in England we do not pay for it as we have a compulsory 2% service charge to which our whole group spoke up in unison at the sheer ignorance of the lady. I’m pretty sure if we walked in again she would ask us to leave. Bloody Brits demanding what’s law.

Our next leg of our epic journey takes us to Stockholm and then to Copenhagen – from which we get a day to explore the city.

It is still cold and snowy, everywhere you seem to go in Sweden the backdrop is trees and snow. Currently it is -6 Degrees C.

Just a quick one…

Playing Rounders in the Arctic Circle…

Arrival at the southern most Latitude

We arrived today at the Arctic circle line in JokkMokk.

To get here we have done a straight drive from Gothenburg to JokkMokk, swapping around drivers between myself and Thor and having 20 minute stops here and there. Now to spell this out for you that is a minimum of 16 hours 24 minutes of driving and 866 miles; but we did take detours which equated to over 1000 miles. The driving conditions were treacherous in the pitch black Swedish winter; with fully iced roads nearly all the way with rain, snow and grit mounting on the windscreen it was the hardest drive, in concentration terms, I have ever attempted.

But due to plan changes myself, Russell and Steve will not be driving back and will be boarding a train from Murjek (35 miles from where we are currently) and traveling to Copenhagen via Stockholm with a round trip time of around 22 hours. We have got a cabin for two days up in the Arctic circle and we leave on our railway adventure Thursday evening. I will have covered quite some ground in a few days.

On the way we stopped many places including Ostersund  – at which Swedish ‘lads’ decided to jump in a banged out old car throw a blue smoke bomb on the ground and do doughnuts in the shopping complex car park. I couldn’t blame then however as there is literally nothing to do in this area of Sweden, with nearly every shop closed.

The snow gathered as the miles slowly closed down; 200, 150, 100. By the time we were almost at our destination snow and ice covered everything – rivers and lakes were now drivable and the wind chill bitter.

We then reached our destination, had a beer and asked Steven if he would jump down a 50 foot snow drift. He of course obliged – Video to follow later.

More in depth posts to follow tomorrow. Right now I’m knackered after last waking up at 8am Monday Morning.

Some of the few pictures below of our scenery:

Currently the temperature is -2 degrees C. The weather has been very mild for the last two days owing to a storm. It is estimated to be around -12 degrees C tomorrow.

Ostersund

Just a short post to say that we have reached Ostersund and found another McDonalds. We have travelled roughly 400 miles so far today.

A short break, change drivers and we will be on the way again.

We have roughly 370 miles to our destination.

Until we find internet again!

Mora – First McDonalds with WIFI!!!

Internet has become hard to get and as such the posts have hit a lag. We are currently having a break in McDonalds, and as they always have wifi was our aim. However this did take nearly 200 miles to find.

However; the snow is now everywhere, very deep and roads are very frozen in the depths of the forests:

We have also seen a frozen lake and walked upon it.

It was also decided to keep driving until will get to Jokkmokk or Gallivare. Then we will get two days within the arctic circle rather than simply hitting it. This is also the cheaper option.

So far so good then.

KarlsKoga – Akutintag

For the uneducated amongst you, or simply those that do not understand Swedish. Akutintag roughly means “Emergency” which more or less equates to “Accident & Emergency”. Now I have explained that, i bet you want to know why we are here?

Russell has gone in to A&E due to an infection of some sort that has been ailing him for 2-3 days, the only drawback really is that in waiting; it has cost him 3800 Swedish Kronor. Quite an expenditure on our trip when we have spent less than 200 between us on essentials, and considering it would have been free in Denmark.

With the time ticking past, our drive will hopefully only be a little longer.

To Ostersund!

After waking up, eating breakfast of tinned fruit and grabbing a coffee in the Thermos, we were off! Next stop Ostersund! Only 500 miles away.

Only 1 and a half miles out the car started spluttering, apparently not liking running out of fuel. Thor had to reset the carburettor as the fuel to air sync had come out, easily fixed and only 5 minutes down.

Motorways have gotten more picturesque with snow covered landscapes only 30 miles out of Gøteburg.

The temperature still isn’t that cold, our thermometer mounted in the car has only measured a minimum temp of -0.7 degrees C so far. It should get a lot colder quite quickly now.

Our next planned stop is when we need to re-fuel, so around 2 hours.

Gøteburg!

After having our supper of pasta, hotdogs and tomato soup, we had a can of fruit each and a vodka or two before we settled in.

A short post just to say we have got here but I leave you with the below:

Steven enjoys Swedish accommodation

Current temperature is +3 degrees C (01:31)

Swedish road and The Mavericks.

After getting off the ferry in Sweden, driving through the border patrol and getting on the way again the roads have yet again turned into monotonous landscape.

We found out after the ferry that we had actually smuggled Steve and the beer into Sweden. Only 4 passengers had been accounted for on our ticket and therefore didn’t pay the required fee. A World first!

Sweden is darker and emptier than Denmark with less traffic. One interesting fact to point out – I never though I would be driving through Sweden listening to The Mavericks, it truly is a unique experience.

The rest of the crew except myself and Thor are asleep – after all, it is difficult staying in a bar all day in the middle of Copenhagen drinking to pass the time. Poor sods.

Currently we are 55 miles from our destination in Gothenburg and that distance is getting smaller all of the time. We have just passed Frillesås.

Unfortunately nothing interesting has happened today – simply the next stage on our 1700 mile journey.

The picture below shows the coast of Sweden from the ferry.

Currently it is +3.6 degrees C, with a feels like factor of -3.0 degrees C (20:08)