0314 Copenhagen DK to Gothenburg Sweden, via Bastad

28^th & 29^th July 2015

The most expensive bridge I have ever crossed !

We drove out of Copenhagen following the signs to Malmo in Sweden.  We knew there was a bridge to cross, and other (Scandinavian) travellers had previously told us that the northern road, that meant you caught a ferry from Elsinore to Helsingborg, “had a lot of traffic and not a lot to see”, so we went the bridge route.  First you go through a tunnel for 2-3 kms out to Pepperholm Island, and then the road come up onto the island, and you then cross the official border into Sweden, and then cross on the bridge. Great bridge, you are way up in the sky, and out to the south are lots and

lots of wind turbines in the middle of the water, all working hard.  Then as soon as you came off the bridge, there was a toll – 375 Danish Krone – That’s about A$75 !!  Might have been cheaper to have gone round the northern route using the ferry !!   Once I had recovered from the bridge sticker-price shock, we suddenly came to Swedish Customs – Uh oh – Were they goinf to confiscate our beer, ham, cheese etc ?  The lady officer was very friendly however, asked us about our trip to get this far, and sent us on our way !  Very pleasant.  So apart from the bridge toll, not a bad border as far as our border ratings go.  We were in Sweden ……….And still couldn’t understand any road signs, how to work the petrol pumps, or what people said.  But we were getting used to that………

Once in Sweden, nothing much seemed to change – Still wheat fields everywhere, and flat – Just more Volvos driving along the roads !    And Saabs.   Wherever possible we tried to drive on the smaller roads instead of the freeways, but the smaller roads kept disappearing, and you got forced to go back on the freeway – Quite frustrating, but it seems that unless you are going to the little villages, you are expected to travel on the freeway.  The weather was still looking quite grey and threatening, so we found some camping in a little town called Bastad. Very nice little camp site, and we just managed to get our supper cooked outdoors before the rain came down.  And it then rained most of the night !   Welcome to Sweden !

It was a very wet and windy night, and in the morning a number of the sites were covered in a few inches of water – Fortunately we were on a relatively dry spot, and although it was damp and threatening to rain more, we had a basically dry pack up, and headed off towards Gothenburg.  Once again, we tried to stay of the more boring main highways as much as possible, passing through little villages and homesteads in the countryside.  But once again, we kept getting forced back on to the freeways, until eventually we came

in towards Gothenburg.  A very large Amusement Park on the left is apparently the largest in Scandinavia, and they had a roller coast ride beside the road that was one of the old, all wooden ones – Quite impressive.  We then drove into the centre, got lost more than a few times on the smaller streets, with the driving quite difficult because now in addition to all the bicycles ones has to avoid at every crossing, there were trams as well !  I was happy to get out of the centre and get up into the hills behind where we found a camp site – But it was full !  So about 5 kms away we found another that was very pleasant, but less organized.  It was also very wet – They really have had major rains here in the past few days.  We met Dutch couple José  and Tiny and had a good chat with them before turning in for the night. 

Photos here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0314CopenhagenDKToGothenburgSweden?authkey=Gv1sRgCNvUmJmcu9mViwE