• Rob Folmer
  • If Not Now than when
  • Rob Folmer
  • If Not Now than when

Baltic Sea Circle Rally 2020

A 16-day adventure by Rob & If Not Now than when Read more
  • Trip start
    February 22, 2020
  • Entering Sweden

    February 22, 2020 in Sweden ⋅ 🌧 5 °C

    We arrived in Sweden, and everything is going fine til now. Time for a food stop and after that we are heading to Jonkoping where will find a place to sleep.

  • Generator Problem in Jonkoping

    February 23, 2020 in Sweden ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    This morning we got surprised wit a generator problem. With the great assistance of Mercedes Benz NL support was quickly arranged. A broken wire caused the problem. Excellent service from the local Mercedes Dealer in Jonkoping. We are rolling again up to the northRead more

  • Coffee @ frederiksberg

    February 23, 2020 in Sweden ⋅ ☀️ 3 °C

    Passing Frederiksberg we discovered a small coffee stop. What do you think, a dutch couple is running this cafe. Great service, nice coffee with a tasteful and for the first time an Elk (Eland) croquetRead more

  • Nightstop @ Vilhelmina

    February 23, 2020 in Sweden ⋅ 🌙 1 °C

    After an exciting day, we finished in the area of Vilhelmina. No light pollution at all here, never saw so many stars in the sky. We enjoyed an excellent meal, finished the dishes and we are now watching out favorite serie spooks in our shelter. Life is hard.Read more

  • Repairstop @ Arsana

    February 24, 2020 in Sweden ⋅ ☀️ 0 °C

    During our morning inspection we noticed that our spare wheel frame started to move, probably caused by the intense tension and load of the spare wheel. We got in contact with Dack AB based in Arsana who delivered a perfect service.
    Top welding made our frame safe and stable again. Blue skies and sun and we are back on track to Vilhalmina. And we have new sponsor.
    Read more

  • Icedrifting @ Vilhelmina

    February 25, 2020 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ -10 °C

    Today is the ice drifting event @ vilhelmina. The temperature -20 degree C . We have decided not to join the whole event and leave on time to Bodo in Norway where want to take the nightboat to the lofotenRead more

  • Trip to Bodo

    February 25, 2020 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ -8 °C

    Today we entered the polar circle, the destination was Bodo in Norway, where we will take the night ferry to the lofoten. A wonderful trip, blue skies and icy roads. Especially when we approached the Norwegian border, what a huge mountains. Dirk & Peter thanks for monitoring us from Germany much appreciated but we took a more safer route to Bodo.Read more

  • Arriving at the Lofoten

    February 26, 2020 in Norway ⋅ 🌧 3 °C

    After a challenging seatrip where a number of people needed puke bags (heavy sea) we arrived early this morning at the lofoten. I travelled a lot but never saw such a massive island. Thousand words are not enough to give a proper descriptionRead more

  • Landed in Narvik

    February 26, 2020 in Norway ⋅ 🌧 2 °C

    Today we experienced the Lofoten area, for me one thing is sure ‘I certainly will return’ one day is just to short to experience this beautiful area. My GoPro camera made overtime today. The road conditions were difficult mainly icy roads but all the credits to Rob for the excellent driving. Tomorrow we are going further North again.Read more

  • Challenge of the day

    February 26, 2020 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 3 °C

    The challenge for today is to make picture with a least 10 Asian people, due to safety reasons we found 9 other foreigners who wanted to make a team picture with us. Just kidding, amazing how easy it is to make new friendsRead more

  • From Narvik to Alta

    February 27, 2020 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 0 °C

    Today we drove from Narvik to Alta. The team challenge for today was changing copilot with another team, the best way to add new friends. I changed with team 36 , Irina, Chris and Lea who are driving an Unimog. Great ride, I love the dog Lea and enjoyed the conversation with Chris. Again a wonderful ride, with at the end of the day a visible aurora. Again a tick in the box of my bucket list. (Attached the best Aurora pictures made by the other team members)Read more

  • From Alta to Honningsvag

    February 28, 2020 in Norway ⋅ ☀️ -11 °C

    Today we left Alta and headed North to Honningsvag. Every day I say to myself this is the most beautiful I have ever seen and then there is the next day with even more beautiful views. Today we passed ‘nowhere’ land with fantastic polar views and we enjoyed the almost 7 km Nordcape tunnel. Seeing this al absolutely increasing my respect for our planet. Tomorrow we will reach the Nordcape and after that we going east to Russia before we are starting our decent south.Read more

  • To the Nordcape

    February 29, 2020 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ -4 °C

    We left Honningsvag this morning for the final part North. Yesterday evening again an even better view on the amazing polar-lights. We arrived this morning at 08:00 @ the assembly point were we all come together. From here we are going in convoy mode to the Northcape following the snowplough. On the top we did the necessary photo shoots and celebrated with champagne our victory. We did it !!Read more

  • Driving to Inari Finland

    February 29, 2020 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ -3 °C

    Today we left the North-cape and drove to Inari in Finland where we are staying the night. Due to the low temperatures our engine will continuing this night on idle. Tomorrow we will continue our journey to Russia.Read more

  • Underway to St Petersburg

    March 2, 2020 in Russia ⋅ ☁️ -10 °C

    We left Murmansk and today we continue our journey to St Petersburg, 1000 km to go. Due to the fantastic Internet connection here our updates will be less frequent, so don’t worry :)
    At the moment we have a coffee stop, checking oil levels and enjoying Russian coffee.Read more

  • Visiting St Petersburg

    March 3, 2020 in Russia ⋅ ☁️ 0 °C

    We left this morning our night stop and continued the last 250 km to Sint-Petersburg. Halfway we stopped at a nice cafe for a coffee (pic.2) Around one we arrived in Sint-Petersburg where we parked our truck and took the subway to the city centre. After a good meal and some shopping we left Sint-Petersburg and crossed the Russian border in Narva (Estonia). We are staying the night in a small town called Aseri between Narva and Talinn.Read more

  • Hara Sadam ‘Russian Submarine base’

    March 4, 2020 in Estonia ⋅ ☁️ 1 °C

    After a perfect breakfast we left our ‘blessed’ night-stop (pic. 01) and headed to find the decommissioned Russian submarine base @ Hara. The attached pictures are giving a clear view that it is absolutely abandoned. Next stop is the team party @ the Raudsilla entertainment complex, large tipi’s, good food, drinks and two saunas together with a perfect atmosphere. All ingredients present for a wonderful evening.Read more

  • Visiting the KGB museum in Tallinn

    March 5, 2020 in Estonia ⋅ ☁️ 3 °C

    This morning we started with a breakfast at the campfire. We left the team meeting event and made a stop in Tallinn to visit the KGB museum located @ the top floor of the Estoria hotel. Very interesting to see the technics they used during the 80’s . Next stop will be RigaRead more

  • Driving to kaliningrad russia

    March 6, 2020 in Lithuania ⋅ ⛅ 1 °C

    Exactly 10 years ago I woke up in Dubai, and now we are driving to Kaliningrad Russia.Traveling and Exploring the world is nice.. I need to get start thinking what the special destination will be over 10 years. The last two weeks where excellent for enough inspirations and a lot of creative ideas already crossed my mind.I will keep you informed 😉Read more