RV Roadtrip – Lithuania and Sweden Part 1

After the big stock up in Poland we had a few days before our ferry to Sweden and we debated a trip over to Vilnius and then over to the sea and the port city of Klaipėda, Lithuania. In the end we decided to just head to the camping near Klaipėda and save Vilnius for another trip.

That’s a funny looking jumping deer!

The camping near Klaipėda was fantastic. It was at a site called Dreverna, a place we could have stayed for more than a few days! An old fishermen’s village, first mentioned in 1253 and situated on the coast of the Curonian Lagoon by the mouth of river Dreverna, the camping was quiet and peaceful, though the showers were in tin sheds which was a little odd but we’ve seen much worse!

While at the camping we met a very nice couple from Norway. She was a dog breeder and had traveled to and competed in events in the USA. She also let us know that Sebastian’s pinch collar was verboten(forbidden) in the Nordics and we would face a fine if animal control saw it on him. Good to know. He’s been living a (mostly) pinch free life since then.

Arrival at the port.

We were a little sad to pull out of the peaceful Dreverna camping but it was time to catch the ferry to Sweden. Our ferry was an overnighter, about 8 hours, but by the time you have to arrive early to get the vehicle stowed and then disembark, it was more like 10. And the fridge (LPG) had to be off the entire time. We had planned for this, freezing some ice packs to store in the fridge and figuring the freezer would probably be fine, both compartments were full to the brim and loosing all that food would suck. Thankfully all went well and we didn’t have to toss any spoiled food.

In the queue to get on the boat.

We opted for a cabin on this ferry and had to book a pet friendly one, these have tile (linoleum) rather than carpet and there are a limited amount available so book early if you need one!

These ferries are massive things complete with duty free shops, bars and restaurants and sometimes casinos and live entertainment. We weren’t really into any of that and had a picnic dinner and some wine before bedding down in our bunks.

Apparently, overindulging in the bars is a thing on these boats and every single vehicle, from big rigs and cars to camping cars and motorcycles was breathalyzed once we rolled off the boat in Sweden. So keep that in mind if you take the ferry from Lithuania to Sweden.

On the road in Sweden.

Our first destination in Sweden was Angelholm Marina, which was a couple hour drive from the port. We had a couple of stops to make along the way and were fortunate enough to find a Fiat Professional/RV dealer along the way as one of our headlights was out. The service writer at Bengt in Örkelljunga was a super nice guy. All of the repair bays were full so he just came out and installed the bulb for us. (More tricky than it sounds!) They also had an Aire next to the dealership and we were tempted to just stay there for the night.

Look! It’s a boat car or is it a car boat?

The roads in Sweden, particularly the highways, are wide and easy to drive on. The Swedes seem to love their cars, particularly old American rides. And they love their motorhomes! Massive, massive things that would have trouble navigating all but the largest roads in the rest of Europe (we occasionally see the behemoths motoring around in the land south of the Nordics and shake our heads in disbelief).

An American classic!

Angleholm Marina was crowded when we got there and so we didn’t get parked up with any kind of view. Still, the place was nice and we had full use of the marina facilities.

One of the best things to come from the marina was a guide to all the marinas in Sweden,the Gasthamns Guiden. Though it was in Swedish, we were able to decipher the key takeaways thanks to Google Translate. This opened a whole new world of places we could camp as each marina listed if that was an option. We love camping in marinas!

Next up was Bua Hamn Marina, around 150 kms up the road. But first we needed to visit a vet as Sebastian was required to take a worming pill no more than 10 days before entering Norway. The vet we went to was Veterinarhuset Angelho and they witnessed and signed off on the pill, easy peasy.

We ended up with a decent pitch, though one row back from the water. We stayed at Bua Hamn for a couple of nights and hiked over to the Biskopshagens naturreservat (nature reserve) where supposedly there was some bouldering. I didn’t ever find it but it was a good adventure anyway. 

It seems like all transactions in Sweden are done with credit card, even for very small amounts. The marina had a little automated kiosk where you paid your nightly fee, even a coffee at the little food stall was paid for with credit card, in fact they had no way of taking cash or making change! The only thing that didn’t take credit cards were the showers at the marina. Shani had to run around asking fellow campers if they could trade some Krona for Euro coins. It was sort of funny, really.

Our final stop in Sweden before we went into Norway was actually a shopping center. We had read and been told about how expensive things were in the Nordics, especially Norway and we wanted to top off our food supplies before crossing the border.  

Tanum Shopping Centre is located only 30 minutes from the Norwegian border, perfect for our last stop. The center has 8 parking spots for camping cars, free electricity included! If you don’t want/need the electricity there were plenty of other spots to park up if the 8 are full. They also have a ton of Tesla charging stations and it was a virtual Tesla parade of cars and SUVs in and out while we were there.  

We both made several trips into the shopping center not only for the market but also the Dollar Store. Full to the brim again, we were ready to head into Norway.

The dreaded Customs office.

Stay tuned as we head into Norway, meet up with our friends Tom and Katie and are absolutely gobsmacked by the natural beauty of Norway and the Nordics.