Author: Stefan Axelsson

Last stint of this years grand tour. Helsingborg to our home in Åkersberga, with a lunch break in Vadstena. During the weekend, we’ll make a summary of the tour including cost, highlights and lowlights.

We decided to take a slight detour to the city of Vadstena for lunch. This included a stop at the former monastery at Alvastra. It dates back to 1143. It was closed in 1527 because of the reformation. But you can still see some remains from the old buildings.

Video from part of the drive around Omberg. One way, single track road. But beware of hikers and bikes going in the oposite direction! https://share.icloud.com/photos/02d0Sk9gJzxkVUg0wfIlKWt1g

After visiting Alvastra and driving the road around Omberg, we headed towards Vadstena.

In the interest of getting home before the shops close, we once more took to the highway. The E4 is very boring, but efficient if you want to cover miles in Sweden.

Today we drove the last 607 km to get back home. The next post will contain a summary of the 2023 tour.

Long transfer today, from Hook van Holland to Helsingborg. All in all a very uneventful day, but with some annoying delays and lack of food. The ferry arrived to Hook van Holland in the early morning with planned disembarking at 08:00. There was however a delay in getting off the ferry. Further delays led to it taking us more than one hour to get off the boat and passed the passport control! This took away any margin we had to the ferry between Puttgarden and Rødby. We had however booked an open ticket so that we could take another ferry. Subject to free spaces of course.

Several roadworks along A1 with corresponding stau ment that we only managed to get on a ferry from Puttgarden at 17:45. We finally reached the hotel in Helsingborg at 21:30. By which time there were no food available at the hotel. Despite the reception claiming that the roof top bar was open and serving food until 23:00. Turned out that their kitchen closed at 21:00. We took a short walk around the city center but no food were to be found anywhere. So, we ended up getting a bag of crisps, some nuts and Pepsi from the minibar…

Today we drove some serious miles, 949 km to be precise. Tomorrow will be the last stint, Helsingborg to Åkersberga (north of Stockholm).

After breakfast at a rainy Tan Hill Inn we drove eastwards. We considered going to York and the viking museum. But it turned out that you had to pre-book online and there were only time slots available after 16:00. Which was way to late for us. So, instead we set our sights at Staithes on the east coast. It looked pretty online when it showed up among things to do in Yorkshire.

Staithes was once one of the largest fishing ports in the North East. At the turn of the 20th century, there were 80 full-time fishing boats putting out from Staithes. At least according to Wikipedia. Now it’s turned to tourism instead with several hotels and restaurants. However, the village gave a run down impression. But it’s worth visiting if you happens to be in the area. We had lunch at the Royal George.

We then drove on mostly dual carriageways and motorways towards Norwich. It was raining heavily during part of the drive. So, the softtop stayed up all day. We drove 517 km today. Tomorrow we’ll visit the Lotus factory.

Last day in Scotland, going south. We left Lossiemouth after a nice breakfast at Norland B&B. The destination for today was Tan Hill Inn in the Pennines. So, quite a distance to drive today. We didn’t plan any other activities today because of this. But we had received recommendations for some roads through Cairngorms National Park.

We headed towards Cairngorms National Park and found B9008 and A939. Both turned out to be brilliant roads for sports cars. Unfortunately there were some caravans and mobile homes there as well.

We had lunch at Taste Perthshire. It was ok for being a service station type of establishment. We both had haggis before leaving Scotland. But I must admit that the one I had in Edinburgh was much better.

After lunch, we drove on more dual carrageways in order to get to our destination in reasonable time. We stopped in Penrith to fill up the tank before driving into the Pennines. We’ve visited Tan Hill Inn before, back in 2016. Since then there have new owners who are renovating the facilities. The room we got was really nice with views over the moor. Tan Hill Inn is famous for being the highest situated pub in England. It used to be a mining district, but now only the pub remains.

Today we drove 532 km. A mix between single track roads (again) and dual carriageways. Tomorrow we’ll be driving to Norwich on the east coast.

Today the wheater was very gloomy. Rain, grey skies and 15 degree Celsius. We decided to stop and take a look at Urqhart Castle. However, it turned out that you had to book tickets online for a free slot. So, we had to kill off some time in nearby Drumnadrochit.

Urqhart castle dates back to at least the 1200s. However, it has been in ruins since 1692.

We then stopped for lunch in Inverness. By then it started to rain again. So, we didn’t walk around the city as planned. After eating lunch at the White house, we went on to fill up the car and drive to the B&B for the night. We did consider visiting Fort Georg. But the rain didn’t encourage outdoor activities.

Today we only drove 192 km. But tomorrow we’ll be heading south to Tan Hill Inn. That will be a full day of driving. We plan to stay away from the motorways. But this would partly depend on when we get started. Partly on the weather.

Today we started from a rainy Fort William. There was even a yellow warning because of heavy rain. We were glad to get out of the rat hole called The Caledonian Hotel. It is to be avoided at any cost, you’ll be better off sleeping in your car!

The first stop was the Commando Memorial, just outside of Fort William. It’s dedicated to the british commandos who fought and died in the second world war.

The target for today’s drive was the Neist Point lighthouse, on the western tip of the Isle of Skye. This took us through parts of the Highlands. There were some nice roads and views, despite the weather.

The last couple of miles to Neist Point was single track road. The road condition was horrible with lots of potholes. Plus sheeps to look out for on and beside the road. But the view from the point was breathtaking. Just as we made our way back from the lighthouse, the rain started to pick up.

After we’d climbed back to the car park, it was well beyond lunch time. So, we headed towards Portree. By then the rain was pouring down. Most restaurants had stopped serving lunch by the time we got there. But we found a café and treated ourself with some belgian waffles. We also bought a bottle of local gin from Misty Isle Gins.

The hotel for this night is The Dornie in Dornie. This is in a different league compared to the hotel in Fort William. Nice and clean rooms, friendly staff as a start. We decided to have dinner at the hotel. Dornie is a very small village and there are few other alternatives. The dinner and service was excellent! We had seafood plates and langustines respectively. Followed by icecream with chocolate or cheese plate. After this we took a late evening walk to the nearby Eilean Donan Castle. Tomorrow we’ll drive to Inverness via Loch Ness.

When we started planning this tour last Autumn, we considered taking a train ride. With the Jacobite Steam Train. But after looking at the fairs, we skipped this. Instead we decided that there must be something else to do in this region. Then we sort of forgot about the day we had available in Fort William. Last night we spent some time in the bar trying to make ourself heard while there was some local singer performing in the background. Based on the weather forecast, we concluded that Ben Nevis out of the question. Also, the whiskey distillery in Oban was fully booked. So, we opted to do some more driving. This time out on one of the nearby islands.

We settled for Isle of Mull and specifically Fionnphort. Which is as far you can get on that island. It was good that we practiced on driving at single track roads yesterday. Because today we drove approx 321 km of which 280 km where single track. So, we are getting the hang of it. A884 was nice to drive through the mountains before reaching Lochaline and the second ferry.

Once on Mull, the landscape started to shift. There are still forrests as well as open fields on higher ground. But also more villages along the shoreline. And you start to get the feeling that you are actually on an island near the Atlantic ocean. Today it was rainy but almost no wind. But we could only assume that this can be a very harsh place during Winter months.

Eventually we reached Fionnphort. We decided to have lunch there. There is a small shed by the ferry terminal that sells seafood. But we opted for the pub instead, the Keel Row. Good food and friendly staff. Three of us had fish’n’chips and one went for a burger. Across the straight lies another island, Iona. But beyond that you’ll find the Atlantic ocean.

On the way back, we decided to take another route once we were back on A861. We drove westward until we reached A830. Both the A861 (partly single track) and A830 offer some really fun driving. Once we got back to Fort William, we had dinner at a pub in the city. Tomorrow we’ll drive to Isle of Skye.