2013 Motorcycle tour through Scandinavia on our BMW R1200GS Adventure Denmark Norway and Sweden ~ Photography Spot

2013 Motorcycle tour through Scandinavia on our BMW R1200GS

This tour involved a lot of very pleasurable planning with Google earth and Garmins Basecamp software. Whenever work was a bit tough, or Id had one of those days youd rather forget, I would indulge in route planning, checking out ferry times, looking at photos of places to visit and gleaning information on camp-sites.

We had the luxury of 32 days to do what was around 5500 miles so some days we were only on the bike for a couple of hours but others, such as the day we crossed Sweden were 450 miles and up to eight hours in the saddle. Hardly hardcore but wed decided after doing previous trips where serious miles were covered, to spend more time off the bike. We had rest days in Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm as well as a couple of days where we used the bike to explore but stayed in the same camp-site.
We took the DFDS ferry from Harwich to Esbjerg which seemed to be the best cost/time deal but it still was £570 quid so not what you would call cheap. More talk of money and travel costs later (it is Scandinavia after all).

Our Route up to the Arctic Circle and Back

Esbjerg to Oslo
Our first night was in Copenhagen but on the way back we would be here for a whole day so we just had a toddle into the centre.
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Copenhagen - Pretty at Dusk

One of the many lovely parks in Copenhagen

Crossing the huge bridge over into Sweden was an amazing experience on a motorcycle and (Millau Viaduct..type amazing) really made both of us excited about the trip ahead.

The Bridge between Denmark and Sweden

Denmark and south west Sweden are very flat but the Swedish coastline is very lovely and on the way up to Gothemburg we flitted down to the coast a few times.Copenhagen was a surprisingly compact city once your in the centre. It has a very cool feel about it. It rained very hard in the night but we were camping under trees so slept through the worst of it.
The landscape towards Oslo changed slowly from deciduous trees to more firs and progressively got more and more mountainous. We were surprised at the amount of new and very large business building are being built in Oslo. There is some serious redevelopment of land by the harbour. It also feels like a very affluent city but (as with most of Scandinavia) still has a village feel about it and you see lots of families, cool little shops and bars. You get the impression that the work life balance in these countries is better than the UK. Must see sites for us were the Kontiki museum and the Fram museum. Also we saw some Viking ships and the amazing Vigeland Sculpture Park. In the city centre this park is open to the public and on the scorching hot day we were there very busy. Families and lovers wandered through the many organic looking sculptures and climbing on or through them to have their pictures taken. This place gets over one million visitors a year and on a summers day I can think of few places Id rather have a stroll. Just to round off our day of culture we visited the infamous Munch museum but resisted the temptation to walk out with a priceless masterpiece.

Gothemberg Harbour - R1200GS Motorcycle tour

Gothemberg centre - r1200gs Motorcycle tour

Morning Coffee

Smogan - Scandinavia Motorcycle tour r1200gs

Smogan in the beautiful west coast of Sweden - nice marina

Smogan in the beautiful west coast of Sweden - busy harbour

Smogan in the beautiful west coast of Sweden - happy sunny Helen

Smogan in the beautiful west coast of Sweden - Bridge to the island

Smogan in the beautiful west coast of Sweden - reflections

Heading North through Sweden - forests and lakes. Very typical scene

Oslo- New building being built in the centre. All very posh.

On of Thor Heyerdahls rafts in the amazing Kon Tiki museum

The mighty Fram made famous by the adventures of Poler Explorer Roald Amundsun

Viking Museum in Oslo .. Stunning craft in every sense

The Vigeland Park is the worlds largest sculpture park made by a single artist, and is one of Norways most popular tourist attractions.

Dont like the look of the pole behind. Although juggling babies is fine!

A hovering wife.... Not sure how she does this. Strange optical illusion

Vigeland main sculptures on a hot day in summer.....heaven

Vigeland main sculptures on a hot day in summer.

Vigeland main sculptures . interesting forms and ideas.

Loving the art deco furniture in the park

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The nice thing is watching people interact with the sculpture in Vigeland Park

Another camp-site meal.... not bad for one pot cooking

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Through Norway - to Bodo
This part is better told by the photographs but I have to say nowhere else I have ever visited has offered such jaw dropping views again and again. You stop to photograph one and the ten minutes later you stop again. After several days of this your driving past towering hundred foot waterfalls with barely a glance. It sort of beats your sense of wonder into submission.
We zigzagged up the coast and country for sometime like a week and a half. Heading up to the port of Bodo where we were to get the ferry to the Lofoten Islands.
Highlights were the ferry from, Kilboghamn to Jektik crossing the Arctic circle, Lysebotn, Gierangerfjord and well it is all amazing and really like nowhere else Ive ever been.