Sweden Offroad Tour... Thinking of taking part next year.

Hi all,

Myself and a friend are considering taking part in some overseas 4x4 event.

We have previously been considering going to Iceland but it is way too expensive. Our next choice location is Sweden, particularly the Sweden Off Road Tour as featured in this months LRO mag (we have been thinking about it for the last 9 months but now need to act).

Myself and a friend are considering taking part in next years event and would welcome any advice / experiences! Whats it like, Friendly, easy / hard?

Getting there is easy, drive to Newcastle, jump on a ferry and then head south for 70 miles at the other end.

Im assuming camping will be the order of the day, or should that be fortnight!

Perhaps most important is the type of off-roading - We are both experienced Green Laners and have taken part in RTV trials for the last 2 years. Will this be sufficient experience?

Neither vehicle has a winch (yet) - If anyone has any experience of this tour would this be a problem? I have a 200Tdi 90 with BFG AT

235x85 R16s. My mates 300Tdi Disco 1 has similar sized Khomo MTs.

Any experiences or advice please.

Thanks Jon

Reply to
Jon
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Do it.

Not seen that, but do it anyway. I love Sweden and the people are about as nice as you'll find anywhere.

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was my last jaunt - about time for another methinks...

Reply to
Mother

One note of caution though, I went on a Wales weekend with an organised company, it was one of the most embarassing experiences in my landy as there was a convoy of 15 trucks "broken up" into two groups about 20 seconds apart. Meeting other lane users was very embarassing, even meeting people on small country lanes was cringeworthy. I only stuck it out because I was logging the trip on a GPS so I could go back sometime with a more sensible convoy.

The chap organising it said that there's another chap who is involved with one of the landrover mags who regularly organises 50-strong convoys along those same lanes. It's not surprising that honeypot areas like Wales, the Yorkshire Dales and the Ridgeway tend to get a lot of heat applied to them.

Not sure if this applies in Sweden, but if you're convoy-sensitive then best check first.

Reply to
Ian Rawlings

Apart from the fact it would be "cool", it would be cool to do. And as Jon says, a hell of a lot cheaper than Iceland.

What sort of costs Jon ?

Steve

Reply to
Steve Taylor

Steve, Best I can tell to date Ferry crossing will be approx £1200 - £1500 (depending on how early you book your tickets) for 4 adults, 2 vehicles and 2 kids, based on Newcastle - Gothenburg with DFDS seaways. Others may be cheaper but I havent looked yet.

Each day's offroading (16 days in total if you do all the days) is approx £30 per vehicle, payable each morning. But the beauty is you dont have to do all the days, you can miss days out and then join the "party" further north a few days later - this is good because if the mrs wants to do a spot of shopping in Stockholm I can keep her happy too!

Camping costs - dont know

Food costs - last time I was in Kiruna (earlier this year) similar to the UK - Unless you go to the Icehotel restaurant, then get a mortgage before you go - (nice food there though)!!!!

regards, Jon

Reply to
Jon

To the best of my knowledge it is illegal to drive off the highway in Sweden unless the ground is covered in snow! The beauty of this tour is that all off-roading is on private and military grounds and express permission has been granted.

Jon

Reply to
Jon

Hello Jon, I'm a Canadian living over in Sweden. I can fill you in with the SORT.

The organizer, what he has done, is made it, so that you can make your way, as you wish between days events. Your not required to follow any set "convoy rules" , you can choose your routes, from location to location, travel with who you want and take as much time as you wish.

As for the daily events, they are all held on private lands or on military training areas. The level of difficulties, depends on you. Some of the facilities that I've taken my land rover to, had many different trails, depending or your skills or the vehicles abilities.

Off roading is 100% illegal in this country! Snow has nothing to do with it, sorry . There is a protected plant or something to that effect, which only grows here in Sweden. The politians, instead of listening to the people or any studies, didn't take the reasonable route and made any protected land reserves or sancuraries, they simply banned ALL access to everybody. Any and all 4x4ing, is now done on private lands.

If you do plan to come over this way, email me, we can meet up at a few of the events, next year or I can provide my garage and tools, if the need arises.

This year, the event to check out is the 'Norwegain Land Rover Club's'

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meet. It's their 30th anni. andit's expected to be 250-300 LR's there this year. The event will be aweek long, with off roading everyday! Of course, you can take part orjust sit back and watch or sun tan ( if the sun comes out ;) )

Cheers, Todd.

Reply to
tuko

Todd, Many thanks for your input and kind offer of a garage and tools - given that we are talking about old'ish Landrovers this is a nice comforting thought! It sounds like the Swedish government are a helpful bunch and always willing to listen their voting public!

Clearly we are still in the early stages of planning at the moment, but the more I hear about the event, the more I want to take part. I have saved your email address and will certainly be in touch if we manage to get the ferry booked!!

Have you done any of the SORT days before?

Just had a look at the Norwegian event... If only I had the time & money!!!

Regards, J>

Reply to
Jon

Who/Where was this Ian?

We were chatting about this at Eastnor over the weekend.

Reply to
Mother

I didn't think it was really that unreasonable - mind, after a week out in huts in the middle of nowhere...

Reply to
Mother

Expense.... Its all relative I supose. We went to the more expensive of the two restaurants they have and it was superb - cant really complain. But like I say it was quite expensive.

That said, after 16 days of doing the SORT, Im sure that same resaturant could be at the top of my list before resturning south.

...easy come, easy go...

Reply to
Jon

Todd (or any others with experience),

Just had a thought, clearly the tour is geared around getting from Falkenburg to Kiruna...

But what happens then? What are the provisions for getting "home" / back to Falkenburg? Is this organised too or do you have to make your own way back and find your own campsites / accomodation?

Just a thought because I would imagine it must take 3 long days driving to get from Kiruna to Gothenburg to katch the Ferry?

Thanks Jon

Reply to
Jon

Exactly Jon, You make your own way back to Gothenburg. I think the whole idea with the SORT is to provide you with an opportunity to experience Sweden and at the same time, enjoying some 4x4ing everyday.

The people that I've meet, that came over from your way, made it an summer vacation, where they took in other Land Rover events, while they were here. This way, there was no time restriction on them, or at least they had extra time if things did wrong with the landy. ( lets hope for the best of course )

Todd.

Reply to
tuko

It was in the Brecon Beacons a while ago, other than us we saw about

10 other trucks either individual trucks or groups of two or three. When green-laning it's extremely rare for me to ever come across someone else so even another 10 trucks not in our group is large.
Reply to
Ian Rawlings

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