TravelGuides

(TGA) - Driving from Ireland to Finland via Norway (and seriously in need of help)
I'm investigating the possiblility to travelling from Ireland to Finland and back. I'll be driving in my Landrover Defender in June/July for about a month the plan goes something like this -
* I was hoping to get a ferry from Dublin to Liverpool.
* Drive accross England to Newcastle.
* Get a freight ferry from Newcastle to Bergen.
* Drive from Bergen via the artic circle/ northern Norway to Pori in Finland (where my girlfriend is from)
* Drive to Turku/Helsinki
* Get (some ? ) ferry to either Sweden or Denmark
* Drive where every required and get another ferry to England
* Drive across England and get ferry back to Ireland
As you may have guessed the plan is somewhat incomplete
I'm just wondering if anybody has any thoughts on this. I have a couple of questions
1. How long will it take to drive from Bergen to Turku?
2. What is the easiest and cheapest way to get from Finland back to England?
3. Can anybody help me fill in the blanks?
4. Am I mental to even consider this?
Cheers
Griff
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Yes, you are mental ;)
1. It's very difficult to estimate the driving time from Bergen to Turku. Maybe you should turn from Trondheim to Sweden and continue to Haparanda and Tornio which is shortest way to head to Turku. From Tornio it's appr. 10 h to Helsinki, maybe same to Turku.
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1. The northern route you suggest through Norway to southern Finland is immense. I did it (in reverse) once, at a leisurely pace, and spent a week on it. Measure up the distance and do the maths, bearing in mind the roads are not of motorway standard for most of the way. The scenery is great, on the plus side.
2. My Brit mate does this run often, and he tells me the simplest route is the cheapest - i.e., ferry from Turku to Stockholm, drive down through Scandinavia, barrel through Germany to a Channel port for Dover.
3. There are a few too many blanks at this point to answer this part meaningfully.
4. No, but you'd better have deep pockets. The budget alternative is to fly Easyjet and hire a car locally.
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"* Drive from Bergen via the artic circle/ northern Norway to Pori in Finland (where my girlfriend is from)"
The scenery on the Norwegian coast is fantastic, but the roads are somewhat winding, so your average speed will not be much. I'd plan to stay several days in Norway, probably drive up to Tromso. Then over to Kilpisjarvi in Finland and down along the west coast of Finland. Again several days are recommended. (If you want to explore something rather that just sit in the car.)
Much duller option is to drive from Bergen cross to Sweden and finally Finland.
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Why not Dingle!!!???!! : )
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