Friday 7th July It was a beautiful morning for our ferry trip from Bergen to Balestrand. That was the first good thing for the day. The second good thing was the prompt arrival of our Porter Service gentleman who was taking our large luggage items, including Daffy Defy, on to Oslo. This had been one… More

Wednesday 5th July: arrival day Our flight from Stockholm to Bergen went without event, other than the usual hassles checking in the bike. Our accommodation in Bergen was at the Ole Bull Hotel and Apartments where we had a one bedroom apartment on the 5th floor with a nice view and enough room for the… More

Sunday 2nd July: Nobel prize Museum and Royal Palace day It was overcast but not yet raining when Mark rose at 6 am and so he managed to get out for a bike ride. The drizzle started at around 9.30 am and continued for much of the day so he was lucky to get a… More

Friday 30th June Our first impressions of Stockholm were positive. The 40 minute drive in from the airport revealed a very clean city with well organised and flowing traffic, not a single horn was honking. It gelled with our experience thus far of finding everyone to be so polite and respectful up in this part… More

Wednesday 28th June It was another glorious morning albeit one that started at 3:50 am, but Mark waited until 6 am to head out for his early morning bike ride.  On his return we both went out for a walk. It’s at this point I think it best to mention that visitors to this region… More

Monday 26th June Our first impressions of Helsinki were most favourable. It was a 30 minute taxi ride from the airport to our apartment and the drive into town revealed a rather clean, well organised and lovely city. Just FYI: the population of Finland is comparable to Sydney, Australia and that of Helsinki is rather… More

  Friday 23rd June It was a beautiful sunny morning for our drive from Portland down to Boston. The journey was about 2 hours but we were stopping near the half-way mark to do some Outlet shopping. I had thought it would just be Mark doing the damage but I joined in as well. The… More

Tue 20th June It was an overcast morning as we took one last walk out to Bar Island and around the Shore Path. We were sorry to be leaving Bar Harbor as we would have liked another day or two here. The drive down to Portland was 3.5 hrs and we timed it to arrive… More

Sat 17th June The drive from Jackson NH to Bar Harbor ME was through constant rain and was a rather depressing 4+ hr journey. I’d envisaged much of this whole New England trip to be filled with quaint villages, in a bit of a Murder She Wrote, Cabot Cove kind of way but, oh, how… More

Thursday 15th June It was a clear morning for our drive across to Jackson, New Hampshire. The purpose for stopping in Jackson was really just to break up the long drive from Burlington, Vermont, to Bar Harbor, Maine but I turned it into a two-night stop so as to take in a tour of the… More