With not quite such an early start as yesterday’s, I departed on the ferry from Naantali towards Kappelskar in Sweden (which is about 80 km northeast of Stockholm) and is nothing more than a dock in the middle of nowhere.We left at 9-30 ,although, having been camping just 500 metres from the terminal (albeit a pleasant wooded area on the beach of the creek) I made the check-in queue again very early at 7-30.This time, despite arriving early, I was on nearly last. It turned out that the reason the crossing I had booked was the cheapest was because it was the lorry ferry, with 3 lorry decks and the top one in the open at the back of the ship.There were,however,a number of campervans, and a few private cars going on board. Choosing the crossing had been tricky, with 3 operators, two from Turku direct to Stockholm, and also options of day and night crossings. Several factors had decided my choice, not just the price. The Naantali to Kappelskar ferry calls in at the Aland islands in the middle of the Gulf of Bothnia(at the tiny port of Langnas)and in doing so has to pass through a huge archipelago of islands. A night ferry would mean missing most of this scenery. The route in fact was a meandering course through what turned out to be thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of low rocky islands, of all sizes ,with all but the smallest wooded, and this continued without a break all the way across to Stockholm, meaning that the view was almost that from a train window, something to watch constantly .The Aland islands themselves consist of about 6800 of these myriad of islands.With the channel very narrow at times we often passed islands within 100 metres, and even on some of the smallest there were occasional little huts or houses and small jetties, and boat activity.
The Åland Islands, or Åland , is a region of Finland that consists of an archipelago lying at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea. It is an autonomous territory and is demilitarised (e.g. the population is exempt from Finnish military conscription, which still exists) The language is Swedish,it has its own stamps, and the population is about 30,000.The EU waives certain Euro-wide regulations in relation to Åland . For example, they have preserved the historic rule that you are only able to own property here if you are an Ålander.
the Åland flag
It was a no frills service on the ferry, but included two free meals during the crossing, although the cafeteria was open at times to suit the lorry drivers(or was it the crew?), i.e. closing at 10-30 ,an hour after departure ,and not opening again till 4-30(an hour before arrival) I got the impression that most of the drivers had a cabin and went to sleep for most of the crossing, because straight after breakfast the one lounge/dining area emptied almost completely .In view of the fact that it was free it was rather unfortunate that I had already had breakfast, but with nothing available till 4-30 if I missed it, I “forced “ myself to have a helping of the free breakfast available, which, like yesterday’s on the Tallinn to Helsinki ferry, was a huge fry-up. This must be the Finnish breakfast.
The down–side of my choice of route was that it was a 100km drive into Stockholm after docking at Kappelskar, whereas other carriers would have docked right in the city centre. I hit my first fully booked sites today, with the two camper locations in central Stockholm booked solid when I rang this morning while waiting in the ferry queue. I had had to book something slightly out of the city, but wanted a proper campsite, to be safe of finding a place easily at 7pm when I would arrive in the city. The one that had spaces turned out to be like the campervan show,so many are parked on this huge site at Bredang. Actually,Finland,Sweden and Norway have a common law right of access, roughly translated as ‘Every Man’s Land’, which means you can camp anywhere for a night or two so long as it’s not obviously private land or you’re committing a parking violation. Online there is information about a number of carparks in central Stockholm you can get into with a van and where overnighting is tolerated, and this is where my van would come into its element, being self-sufficient. But with limited time, and a wariness of the notoriously bad Stockholm traffic (there is a congestion charge) I took the easy option. Sweden is not cheap: a basic carpark would be £12 for 24 hours(taking pot luck finding a space), parking in a row under a flyover on a camper park ,£20(but this was fully booked),and proper campsite at Bredang (a good one) £28. Athough I get a discount,at this rate It would be too expensive to stay in Sweden long, but I know from previous experience that in the countryside parking spots abound unlimited, and are free.
Arriving into the city on the inner ring motorway, I found why the traffic has a bad name .Stockholm is the busiest place I’ve been in for a while, with the 4,sometimes 5, lane motorway solid with traffic going at 30kph.It was at least moving steadily, probably because of variable speed limit controls. At one stage the road divided ,one half going down a tunnel,which I think the satnav possibly wanted me to enter, but then the road divided underground, and then later divided again, where of course the satnav had lost me and the tunnels went on and on for a km or two,I imagine crossing between islands.I took a gamble both times,and on emerging was relieved to find I had by pure luck I had taken the correct splits and was still on course.
The down–side of my choice of route was that it was a 100km drive into Stockholm after docking at Kappelskar, whereas other carriers would have docked right in the city centre. I hit my first fully booked sites today, with the two camper locations in central Stockholm booked solid when I rang this morning while waiting in the ferry queue. I had had to book something slightly out of the city, but wanted a proper campsite, to be safe of finding a place easily at 7pm when I would arrive in the city. The one that had spaces turned out to be like the campervan show,so many are parked on this huge site at Bredang. Actually,Finland,Sweden and Norway have a common law right of access, roughly translated as ‘Every Man’s Land’, which means you can camp anywhere for a night or two so long as it’s not obviously private land or you’re committing a parking violation. Online there is information about a number of carparks in central Stockholm you can get into with a van and where overnighting is tolerated, and this is where my van would come into its element, being self-sufficient. But with limited time, and a wariness of the notoriously bad Stockholm traffic (there is a congestion charge) I took the easy option. Sweden is not cheap: a basic carpark would be £12 for 24 hours(taking pot luck finding a space), parking in a row under a flyover on a camper park ,£20(but this was fully booked),and proper campsite at Bredang (a good one) £28. Athough I get a discount,at this rate It would be too expensive to stay in Sweden long, but I know from previous experience that in the countryside parking spots abound unlimited, and are free.
Arriving into the city on the inner ring motorway, I found why the traffic has a bad name .Stockholm is the busiest place I’ve been in for a while, with the 4,sometimes 5, lane motorway solid with traffic going at 30kph.It was at least moving steadily, probably because of variable speed limit controls. At one stage the road divided ,one half going down a tunnel,which I think the satnav possibly wanted me to enter, but then the road divided underground, and then later divided again, where of course the satnav had lost me and the tunnels went on and on for a km or two,I imagine crossing between islands.I took a gamble both times,and on emerging was relieved to find I had by pure luck I had taken the correct splits and was still on course.
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