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Ian Stewart
Ian Stewart

Ian Stewart

har rejst i 52 lande Læs mere
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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    The rubbish in the foreground and the tyre hanging in the tree.
    Reindeer crossingThe campsite😕

    Sweden: Wild Camping

    23. august 2023, Sverige ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    So what goes up, must come down and since we had reached our northward most point, it was time for us to start following the swallows and heading back South. But first, we had to drive East to scoot around the Gulf of Bothnia (the sea btwn Sweden and Finland). The highlight of this drive eastwards into Sweden is we saw our first ever REINDEER!!😁 Only our 2nd animal in these desolate landscapes.😁

    Now, if you didn't know this already, Norway is regularly rated from various sources as the most EXPENSIVE country in Europe! Up there with Switzerland and Iceland. I think it's safe to say that if our credit card were a dog, its tail would be firmly tucked between its legs as we departed this beautiful country. So in this regard, we were happy to be heading back into Sweden (which I think highlights the fact that Norway is pricey when you start looking at Sweden as a 'cheap' country). But to hit the ground running with cost saving, we decided to exercise our "Allemansrätten", the Swedish word meaning "every man's right", which basically means you can camp anywhere free of charge (provided it's not right next to someone's house of course). We had had such a good experience earlier on our trip with these free shelters in the Swedish wilderness, that we thought this might be a good option. Well, where the other wild camping was one of the highlights, this was certainly one of the lowlights! With the shelter being a bit dilapidated and the road to it miserable (Olaf - our car - almost got stuck), we decided to move onto greener pastures. Sadly, it would seem our 'greener pastures' had been victim to Lord Kitchener's 'scorched earth policy' and were no better than the crappy shelter. We drove to a dead end in the forest and decided it was here that we'd camp. On closer inspection though, this area seemed to be someone's fly tipping haven, but we were both too tired to head out again and look for another spot. So we set up camp in a mosquito infested rubbish dump where I thought the tyre hanging in the tree really completed the Feng Shui of the place. A place to remind us that it's not all roses travelling and that will be remembered but which we would really hope to forget!    Læs mere

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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Crossing the Arctic Circle
    Beers in the jacuzzi

    Norway: The Arctic Circle!!

    22. august 2023, Norge ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    The next 2 days after Ålesund were spent driving the slow roads of Norway northwards. So basically 6hrs in a car each day with me driving through the endless rain listening to podcasts whilst Emma slept! She can't nap during the day, but pop Emz in a car and she passes out within about 20min!
    The coolest part of us heading northwards though is we entered into THE ARCTIC CIRCLE!!😁 The latitude of 23.5° from the poles (correlating to the 23.5° tilt of the Earth on its axis) where one can experience a polar night (no sunrise) in Winter and Midnight sun (no sunset) in Summer. This line does change though as the Earth is never exactly at a 23.5° tilt. This is the furthest we've both ever been Northwards on land and - by all likelihoods- will be the furthest we ever go North on this planet of ours. Our final latitude reached was 67.07°N. We celebrated with a cold beer in a jacuzzi at these cute little Arctic Cabins that we were staying at.    Læs mere

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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023

    Norway: Ålesund

    19. august 2023, Norge ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    So as a newly engaged couple, we left the hiking and the mountains behind us and headed to Ålesund, a town on the west coast of Norway. The name Ålesund we were told (by a Norwegian on our hike) means Eel Sound ('sound' as in water passage). I think this place is aptly named as what can be seen from my photos is how the water snakes its way around many islands in an eel-like fashion. The first night in Ålesund we could've spent phoning people to let the wide world know about our engagement, buuuuuut the Bokke were playing Wales and we had bought tickets to go and watch a local country band performing top American Country hits by Johnny Cash and the like. So engagement news was put on hold for a night. The Bokke thankfully smashed Wales and it was off to the Theatre Fabriken for the gig. The gig was good fun! Emz and I were definitely the youngest in attendance at this gig though by a looooong shot! It turns out the Norwegians like to dance though, so we got to sokkie and our heads must've looked like blonde and brunette boats, bobbing amongst the sea of greys and whites.
    The walk to the gig did give us a good view of the town and I think it was the best town we visited in Norway and would recommend the town to anyone visiting Norway. It is far smaller and also feels far less touristy than Bergen, yet still has really beautiful architecture and the beauty of all the little islands in the sounds.
    The next day we spent the morning engaging with the uninformed family and friends about our engagement. This was met with a lot of enthusiasm which was great from both family parties!😁 We then did another hike (yep, we can't seem to get enough of these bloody things!), but just to the view point over the city as can be seen from the photos. We also wanted to have a nice engagement supper in celebration, but forgot that it was a Sunday and in continental Europe, EVERYTHING seems to come to standstill on a Sunday! Or maybe we are the spoilt ones living in London where nothing is ever closed, who knows🤷🏻‍♂️ So the engagement supper was put on hold for now. Overall a great little town and one we both thoroughly enjoyed visiting!    Læs mere

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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Geiranger view
    On one of the fjords crossing by ferry

    Norway: Geiranger

    19. august 2023, Norge ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    This place gets a quick mention...it was on our way from where we hiked in Billingen to where we were going to next which was Alesund. This place -with it's many switchback roads - is incredibly beautiful and provides an excellent view of the fjords of Norway. As I keep doggedly saying to Emz, ' I can't believe that these fjords - absolute things of beauty - were formed by glaciers in the ice ages millions of years ago! It's also crazy to think that some of these rocks are older than bones! 'Bone' as a material only evolved 55mil years ago and some of these rocks are 2bil years old!' 🤯 Anyways, my compadre doesn't seem nearly as enthused about geology as I am and she just thinks it's funny that the whole glacier talk has kind of become a mantra for our trip.😔 I'll just have to keep 'chipping' away though and she might eventually come around to the idea...a bit like birdwatching🤓😏Læs mere

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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Post engagement photo
    The lake1Picnic just prior to engagementTiny bottle of prosecco that's travelled all the way from London!Sunset on the day we got engagedThe lake panorama viewInside the cute cabin on our last nightLive, the girl we met

    Norway:Hiking& she said YES!😁🥳💍

    17. august 2023, Norge ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    So as the title suggests, this was the BIG hike where Emz said YES to marrying me!😁 But it wasn't all as plain sailing as it would seem. Initially the plan was to do this on the previous hike, but a combination of having to write a poem in a card in a long drop (the only time I could get away from Emz) and us being so exhausted that mere survival held stronger sentiment than proposals, things never really materialised in the 'grazing a knee' department. So onto hike no. 2 in Reinheimen NP. A less challenging hike and one where surely nothing else could go wrong, right? Besides, Emz had already passed her final test with flying colours of doing 145km hiking across the Norwegian mtns with 5000m elevation gain in 10 days.😉 Anyways, the weather was set fair for our day 2 of hiking and this was D-day...the planned day! But things quickly didn't seem so rosy when poor Emz put on her hiking boots and was in absolute agony from them. Emz being Emz, wanted to attempt to hike on and thought that us not hiking that day would ruin our already amazing 3 month holiday. I managed to convince her through her tears that it was okay for us not to hike - especially if one was in pain - ; us not hiking wouldn't ruin the holiday and we could just chill at the cabin (by far the best cabin we'd stayed at as well) on the lake and have a picnic. Emz eventually came around to the idea and it was at this picnic on the rocks beside the lake where this amazing girl said YES! We both couldn't be happier!😁🥳💍

    We celebrated with a little bottle of prosecco I'd carried around for 145km, a bottle of nice french wine and some Norwegian people in the cabin made us blueberry pancakes for dessert which was lovely! We also met a girl named Live (pronounced 'lever') who joined us for the last 2 days of the hike and Emz and myself were both very impressed. I can't say I've met many 18yr olds that go hiking for 4 nights in the mountains by themselves and even have their own rifle!😳 Anyways, she kept us both entertained with her stories. All in all though, a great 4 day hike and Emz and myself think it's probably one of the best in Norway😏😉😁    Læs mere

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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023

    Norway: Lom

    15. august 2023, Norge ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    After leaving Bergen, it was back to the mountains for more....yep....hiking! But first for a night near our intended hiking spot in a cute little cabin of which by far the biggest highlight was seeing our first bit of Norwegian wildlife...we saw a MOOSE!!!🫎😁 Finally the binos came in handy in this relatively desolate environment!Læs mere

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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Wooden houses on the docks
    Beers at the beer bar!Cured deer starter...probably the best course of our 3 course mealLapskaus, essentially a stew with chopped up sausage in it. Pretty averagePlukkfisk: essentially a fish pie. Was okay. Emz's fish pie is better!

    Norway: Bergen

    14. august 2023, Norge ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    So after the hectic hiking in Hardangervidda, it was on to Bergen we went! What a picturesque city and faaaaar better in this regard than Oslo (although this wasn't difficult!🤦🏻‍♂️). Quite a touristy place, but there's definitely a reason for it! Beautiful, narrow cobbled streets with cute wooden houses, all built on these little islands and peninsulas created by the fjords. There was also a bustling fish market where they even had WHALE meat on offer. Norway is one of the few countries where whale hunting is still practiced, but we avoided trying the meat due to the ethical implications of whale hunting. Instead we settled for a Norwegian beer bar which had an impressive array of Norwegian beers and finally we ended the night with our first try of Norwegian cuisine at one of their fine dining restaurants. Emz and myself weren't overly impressed. The food was okay, but nothing special for the price. Still, Bergen is a place to be visited if going to Norway and we had a good time here!Læs mere

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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    1

    Driving in Norway

    13. august 2023, Norge ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    So this gets its own post! Driving in Norway is an experience...firstly, the speed limit is 80km/hr for most of the country, so it takes aaaaaages just to go relatively short distances eg it'll take 3hrs to go 150km with all the tunnels and ferries etc. That brings me onto the next point. Tunnels. God do they love a tunnel here! Including having circles in the tunnels which is interesting (see the video)!We also went through the longest tunnel I've ever (and probably will ever) go through...25km long! Emz and I almost passed out from holding our breath for that long!😉Læs mere

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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Day 4: Trolltunga, the touristy, Instagram famous photo from Norway
    Day 1: The start of our hikeDay 1: River on the way upDay 1: one of the many waterfallsA wet and cold Emz hiking in the rainA fancy grocery delivery to our Stavali, our first cabinDay 2: Starting outDay 2: Looking back at StavaliDay 2: Emz crossing glaciersDay 2: inside of one of the cabins (Torehytten)Day 3: our morning viewDay 3: a photo to prove we were on the same hike and it wasn't just Emz walking by herself!Day 3Day 3. More lakes/mtns/glaciers!1Day 4: heading down to TrolltungaDay 5: our final nights camping accommodation1

    Hiking Hardangervidda National Park

    9. august 2023, Norge ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

    So one of the biggest reasons for coming to Norway was for the epic hiking. Now they're pretty kitted out for this with all these cool cabins scattered across the country and trails in between, but planning the hikes ended up being trickier than we initially first thought. It's also difficult to gauge how intense the hike is going to be... especially when 1 has to factor in a heavy backpack.😬 Anyways, we probably bit off a bit more than we could chew for our first hike! It ended up being a gruelling 92km hike over 4 and a bit days with an elevation gain of 3800m! We averaged about 20km a day over VERY rough terrain ie post glacial boulder fields, glaciers, bogs, steep rock faces etc. It really pushed us both physically and mentally this hike, but it was cool to be able to say we managed to do it and we definitely learnt A LOT of lessons from this about packing light!😅 The hike had some incredible views though and was spectacular in every other regard!Læs mere

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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023

    Haglebu cabin

    8. august 2023, Norge ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    We were on our way to Hardangervidda NP to do some hiking when we found out Norway was having one of its worst storms in 25 years!😳 The government even sent us alerts to our phones about possible flooding/landslides etc. So we had to change plans and hole up in this cute little cabin for 2 nights to wait out the storm instead of hiking! We barely left the cabin...so another intense, tight game of Scrabble ensued...I won by 27 points with my last word ('Malted' onto a triple word score for those wondering😏). 2nd time in the last 3 games that it's been decided on the last word!Læs mere

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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Mobile saunas in the harbour which was quite cool!
    Oslo old harbourWe found on little artsy area with cool street art and a cool pub!A chandelier in the street outside the pub

    Norway: Oslo

    6. august 2023, Norge ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    It was a short trip from our campsite to Oslo, Norway...our first time in Norway!😁 But sadly we were a bit disappointed with Oslo...we stayed in our worst accommodation so far (a cheap, shared flat of which the fridge smelt strongly of off fish. Oslo itself didn't improve on this either. A very hilly city, but very little charm to it. Mostly blocks of flats and not much architecture or green spaces of note. Also expensive! Not our favourite stop and glad it was only for a night!Læs mere

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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Sunset night 1
    Sunset night 3Typical cute Swedish housesPeople with their caravan set upSome fixed accommodation in the campsiteAmazing pesto pasta...supper 2nd nightFinally got to braai! Had lekker pork chops with a great apple, apricot and couscous salad as well!

    Sweden: Sandaholm Campsite

    5. august 2023, Sverige

    After sadly just 1 night at our secluded forest spot, we headed to a fixed camping area called Sandaholm camping in SW Sweden. Also a really nice campsite with nice facilities. It seems some of the Europeans take their holidaying seriously with a lot of semi permanent caravans present (people even had their own lawn mowers, stoeps etc) This campsite was right on the edge of a lake which provided for some great sunsets. We mostly relaxed here and were not too active. We did do a 10km run through the forest which was a amazing! This place was also plagued with some really intense thunderstorms, so we reverted back to the trusty Scrabble board...I won by 10 points☺️Læs mere

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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Our pozzie all to ourselves and a fire!
    1The Swedish churches

    Sweden: Wild Camping at Östra Frölunda

    2. august 2023, Sverige ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We left Copenhagen and entered into Sweden...what a country! Rolling forested mountains with countless lakes and cute red and white houses...reminiscent of Virginia. We left Copenhagen without having a set place to stay as Sweden has numerous of these 'shelters' scattered about which are mostly free, so we decided to try it out. What an amazing place! Our best place so far! A little romantic shelter next to the creek where we could have a fire as well. And it cost only £8 total!Læs mere

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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Nyhavn district
    Our first night with Tinashe and MiloViking goldTypical street in CopenhagenChristianiaEvening with Line and Wout1Smørrebrød...some traditional Danish cuisine

    Denmark: Copenhagen!

    2. august 2023, Danmark

    Copenhagen! Probably our favourite city so far! We stayed 2 nights here in an epic hostel! The first night we met a fellow South African (Tinashe) and a guy (Milo) from Maine in the hostel bar. The next day, slightly hungover, we went and checked the Viking exhibit at the National Museum. That evening we went to a place called Reffen to meet up with Wout and Line (some friends we'd met from a festival) and had a great time with them! The next day we did a cycle trip around the city recommended by Wout which was amazing! Especially the Christiania district! Copenhagen! Great place!Læs mere

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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    1A mushroom on our hike in the 'Klit Plantage' ---means Dune Forest 👍🏼
    The rolling dunes of Western DenmarkOur first nights meal...a gourmet salmon and broccoli pasta.Our mozzie infested camping set upLunch on the beach against a WW2 bunker with the ever present thunderstorm lurking in the backgroundGourmet meal on night number 2...chicken ala king2Hiding in the dune forest during the thunderstorm1No matter how bad it gets, Emz can still find time to read Harry Potter😂

    Denmark: Camping on the West Coast

    30. juli 2023, Danmark

    Our first time camping on our trip!! We stayed at a place called Nissum Fjord Camp grounds. The Danish West Coast can be summed up as MILLIONS of MOSQUITOS 🦟, long sandy beaches 🌊, endless rolling dunes and THUNDERSTORMS ⛈️ (of which we got caught in whilst hiking) and gourmet camping meals. A good 3 nights!Læs mere

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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    2Doner Kebab for supper

    Lübeck - Germany

    27. juli 2023, Tyskland ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Stayed a night in a backpackers here...a place with amazing medieval 'fairytale' like spires and architecture.

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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Berlin Wall on East Side Gallery
    Berlin Wall East Side Gallery 22Beating Emz in our room on the last move by 6 pointsTempelhof Airport: a historic site of Nazi Rallys in 1933 and an important airport for West BerlinA photo summing up Berlin...an abandoned airport tower on a historical airfield covered in grafittiPhoto of Nazi rally 1933 at Tempelhof fieldSchweinhaxen in Hofbrau beer hall1German music in Hofbrau beer houseBrandenburg GateTrabant cars of East Germany

    Berlin - Germany

    25. juli 2023, Tyskland ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    What a place! Very interesting both culturally and from a historical point of view, but yet very grungy and completely covered in graffiti. Seeing historical places such as the Berlin wall, Tempelhof airport, Brandenburg gate, Hitler's death place.Læs mere

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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Example of the witch statues
    Altenbrak2Traditional German cookeryWell earned beer on the hikeStandard cottages in the areaDam at the top of our hikeUs in front of the dam

    Altenbrak in Harz Mtns, Saxony, Germany

    24. juli 2023, Tyskland ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    We stopped in a little village called Altenbrak in the Harz Mountains for 2 nights. This place was really quaint and reminded us a lot of alpine skiing villages in its charm. A lot of the houses had witch statues/ornaments associated with them as this area was heavily involved in the witch hunts of the 1500-1600s. We also did an 18km through the mountains which were very reminiscent of the Magoebaskloof mountains near Tzaneen.Læs mere

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