We started the drive North about 10am Monday, not long after it got light (9:30am). It was easy driving on a freeway until we got to Gavle, where we stopped at a supermarket for supplies. The shopping centre was packed with holiday shoppers, and it took us about ten minutes to leave, the traffic was so dense.
The road dropped to two lanes, with frequent overtaking lanes. There was more signs of old snow about, and frozen lakes. At 2:30pm we stopped for a stretch as it got dark . We continued on driving through this dark world with buildings decorated with Christmas lights, and fighting the perception that it was late at night.
We stopped about 7pm, found a campsite in a pine forest, and set the tent up on a thin layer of snow. We cooked dinner and drank our cold beer (just leave in snow), and went to bed with two sleeping bags each (one inside another).
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Lucky you started the car after it sat in snow all night ! Beautiful photographs as always xx
I know, Sal. I think they must put different fuel and anti-freeze in cars here, because it always just seems to start with no cold-related problems. The hotel we stayed at on New Years Eve offered us a car heater for an extra $10. Apparently it keeps the inside of the car warm and stops ice forming on the outside. As we spend most of our time just leaving the car outside, we figured we didn’t need a heater for one night. And we don’t even know if the hire car has that heater thingy anyway.
The car has snow tyres (which are a legal requirement here in winter) with metal studs in them. Greg says driving in snow is a bit like driving in dirt, and thankfully he has had plenty of dirt road driving experience.