Nordkapp Odyssey 2025

Celebrating our 40th Wedding Anniversary

We had a wonderful trip in our Vantage Neo: 6000 miles, 60 days, 32 campsites plus one petrol station, 13 countries, 7 capital cities and 1 Nordkapp.

Our clockwise journey took us from France across Belgium, northern Germany and Denmark to the east coast of Sweden. It was then northwards inland into Finland and Norway’s Nordkapp. Going south took us through Finland and its western coastline before crossing the Baltic Sea to Estonia via Helsinki. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were followed by Poland before returning to our more usual haunts of Germany, Belgium and France.

We left the UK in heat and started to feel the cold as we drove northwards through Sweden. By the time we arrived in Norway, north of the Arctic Circle, the gas-meter was reading low. Everyone we had chatted to en-route had warned us to be stocked up with everything before the final stages to Nordkapp and so at Alta we were worried enough about the gas to find an LPG supplier. Now having only travelled in Europe in much warmer weather, we had never had the need to get gas. We made a rookie mistake – we had not checked before our travels about the connection and ours did not fit the pump! A very kind Norwegian found an adaptor in the store and even filled the tank for us, not that it needed much. It turns out the cold affects the measuring of the LPG and we had probably had enough to last us for our time in the frozen north.

We tend to book most of our sites before we set off enjoying the planning aspect; especially this time as we were travelling during what Scandinavian and Nordic countries consider out of season i.e. May and a large proportion of sites do not open until end of June. Our overnight stay at a petrol station came about as the site we’d planned to use had a group booked for the night. We were lucky though that they rang a couple of other places (not open) but one recommended the Neste petrol station. We were doubtful but it had a café and shop open 7-7 with secure and clean sanitary facilities for the campers. Plus, when you see a reindeer 25ft from your window it can’t be bad!

Campsites varied in size, occupancy and facilities. The larger ones in Scandinavia had saunas which were more prevalent than available washing machines. We found shower cubicles could be with a door, or a shower curtain or nothing at all (thank goodness for our onboard shower!) The site in Warsaw was like being in someone’s back garden and although small was perfectly formed.

We roughly planned our route/sites before commencing our journey, especially if we want to stay for more than one night to visit a specific city and use the public transport.

One surprise was using Stockholm’s underground stations and seeing their art – murals, tiles or lighting.

Even with planning, we can still be surprised. At the top of Norway in Alta is the modern Cathedral of the Northern Lights which we found quite breath-taking. In Helsinki it was Oodi, the public library (a magnificent modern building) with 3 floors, 2 cafes, facilities for 3-D printing, recording music, making videos as well as the more traditional books.

In Lithuania we spotted an unexpected ‘white mountain’ whilst driving which turned out not to be snow-topped but was an enormous pile of photogypsum, the waste from AB Lifosa, one of the largest fertilizer companies in Europe.

In Berlin, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, East Side Gallery (Berlin Wall) and the haunting Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe were reminders of the city’s troubled past. But the most popular photo site there must be the famous Checkpoint Charlie where there were queues!

And even closer to home in Brussels, our visit to the Atomium was different: travelling in what was once Europe’s fastest lift inside a tube with a futuristic light show to one of the spheres left my head reeling!

Away from civilisation the unexpected included wonderful, empty, sandy beaches especially near Oulu in Finland and Parnu in Estonia. We were lucky to be there on warm sunny days! We’d driven along roads in the far north where the snow drifts nearby were so deep only the cabin roofs were visible and it was still so cold that the rivers were frozen. But 2 days later, at Rovaniemi on the Arctic Circle, it was warm enough for us to sit outside eating an ice-cream.

One last thing – thank goodness for blackout blinds; it is rather disconcerting waking at 2am to find that the sun is shining!

By Vanessa