Scandinavian Epic --- Did you know ?

Petrolia

Petrolia

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I've just been google earthing myself all over the place !

After 'doing' Denmark, West Sweden and perhaps Norway there is a cruise from Gothenberg (west coast) to Stockholm (East coast) that takes only 4 days. They are long days though and it would surely be far better to take a couple of weeks. Or if you're in a hurry just follow the cruise ship. Save on charts and pilots /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

You can clearly see the first section of the Gota canal, Gothengerg to lake Vanern from google eye 200km up /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Did you know once in Stockholm it is only :-
Stockholm to Helsinki 200nm
Helsinki to St Petersburg 160nm
St Petersburg to Tallin 170nm
Tallin to Riga 240nm.

Possibilities are almost endless.

Could be gone a long time !
 
Oh, the Baltic's ace. There are SO many islands to explore- I spent my summer doing just that. I also learnt that there are so many rocks, islets and islands that no-one's actually bothered to count them all. And apparently the definition of an island is whether or not it could support a sheep for a year! Not sure how accurate that is, though.

The only downside to the month was that we were beating every single day... more of a problem for me with big white triangular flappy things than it is for you, I suppose.

Stop off in Gotland and hire a tandem (assuming, of course, you're not travelling alone) from the place opposite the Marina. A brilliant way to see a very picturesque medieval town.
 
Spent my pre UK years covering Norwegian, Swedish and Danish coastline from Tromsø in North to Kiel Canal and SW Denemark in south .... years of cruising if you want to cover it all ... key must be to cover the best in the time you have....
 
whats the famous inland stretch in Sweden.. known as the Divorce Canal, because no couples manage to get through it without umpteen rows !!
 
Gotalans canal, it runs from Gothenburg via Vannen and Vatten, two large inland lakes and comes out at Stockholm.
 
Re: Scandinavian Epic --- Did you know ?

You could.
But your bio says you don't have a boat ?

If anyone else wanted to join it would be more fun. Trouble is I get every other month off work and it would be highly unlikely others could match my schedule. Except someone retired or taking a credit crunch gap year.
 
Re: Scandinavian Epic --- Did you know ?

Tom should have some route planning software which covers a fai bit (all + some) of your potential cruising area.... good for sofa cruising and distance planning at least... /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
Actually, the Gota Canal only goes from the Baltic to Lake Vanern. The stretch of canal between Goteborg and Lake Vanern is the Trollhatten Canal, which is very industrial with locks big enough to take coasters. The Gota Canal is more touristy cruising related where the locks are much smaller. I think 7 meters wide by 30 long, and each one in the summer is manned and operated by a different, attractive, cheery swedish girl. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

It doesn't however start at Stockholm. I went from the Baltic to the Skaggerack in 2005 via the canal and just getting from Stockholm to the start of the Canal took two weeks cruising in the Stockholm Archeapelago.

It is an experience definately. But personally I wouldn't loiter there for too long. Locks are pretty tiresome and there are about 30 of 'em.

The two big lakes are interesting too. Vanern is so vast it takes you out of sight of land and we had to stop for the night half way across, and Vattern is I think in places over 90 meters deep.
 
The actual distance I believe is about 150 miles. However, you'd be a fool to power straight past the archeapelago just to get either to the Canal or the city.

My point was though, don't be fooled. The Gota Canal is no where near stockholm. The distance is pretty much the same as Falmouth to Cowes, so if you're cruising, give yourself a week at least.
 
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