Itchy feet and making plans!

So like most avid adventurers, ever since returning home from the continent, i've been having seriously itchy feet. I seriously miss being away, travelling around in Tim, having to coax him up some monster hills, and setting up camp each night before moving onto somewhere different the next day.

So i spent a lot of time deciding on where we (Me and Tim) were going to head next, i looked into Africa, but realistically, and within the timeframe i wanted to go, i don't have the money or time to sort out the logistics required. So i started looking elsewhere in Europe, i started looking North on google maps, remembering conversations with fellow travellers of them telling me how Scandinavia has some of the most beautiful scenery on this planet. I looked at how far north you can get by car, to the Nordkapp, which is over 1500 miles further north than Edinburgh in itself. Whilst this did sound exciting, the more i looked into it the more i discovered that it is a fairly well trodden route, either up through Sweden and down through Norway, or the other way round. The road network is good and whilst there's a lot of distance involved, atleast 5000 miles as a round trip, i was still left wanting for more of a challenge.

Then i had an idea, an idea that should satisfy my need for more of a challenge. What if i was to try and get there during winter? Late January for example. The more i looked into the weather reports for previous years the more i started to plan. With heavy snowfall a daily occurance and reported temperatures as low as -40 in some parts of Sweeden, i was hooked. To me this had all the makings of a proper (Mini) expedition!

The North Cape, in Winter.

The plan so far is to catch the ferry from Harwich in Essex, to the Hook of Holland, before heading North through the Netherlands, Germany, into Denmark, and bridge hop across the 3 islands into Sweden. From there begins the long drive North, if time allows, travel through part of Finland before heading into Norway to the Nordkapp. Then following mainly the coastal road back down through Norway and then a quick drive back through Denmark, Germany and into Holland for the ferry home! All sounds so simple typing it now!

Been thinking about this for a while now, so i thought it was about time i made it public knowledge, keep checking back for updates to route planning. As well as for modifications to the car needed for this more extreme environment!

Thanks for reading, Joe.