No 56k: Holyfuckingshit! Pineapples! [FG Roadtrip 2015 - Finland/Norway Edition] Photo Thread

all my pictures are uploaded here :D -> https://www.flickr.com/gp/82026320@N02/pBq0J0

I will just post a few of my personal favs' and apetizers.

Where it all begins. Entering the ferry in travem?nde on 30h boattrip to Helsinki. Beer was okay and food was expensive. That is pretty much all you could do onboard :/ *boring*


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

Peter and his butt still optimistic before the hot,cold and rainy 6000 km roadtrip ..


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

We got of the boat meeting with the others at an gas station outside the harbour. (Sadly we lost the ferry race with the brits and Adrian, because unloading took forever [ Thanks Finnlines :shakefist: ]
The next station was an supercar cars&coffee meet near the Helsinki airport to meet up with more fins. Also getting moose and coffee :p.


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

Some pictures of the cars


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

there were alot of boosted Supras ..


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

In great FG Ringmeet tradtion we also had time to stand around and do nothing:
*Note I don't know why either L?ga gives me her [*resting bitchface*] stare to me. I didn't tell an bad joke just yet ... I swear [ .... that happened later.]*


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

After we had enough of standing around We went on to our most serious and emotional destionation on this whole trip. Our next stop was Jussi's a.k.a. Thuljavi's resting place :(. We meet up with Jussi's parents at the cemetery, who guided us to his grave. We spoke out our heartfelt condolence to the family and the whole group stayed silence [SIZE=-1]in remembrance of him. I think DaBoom has an picture of us there.

More happy news and sillyness shall be resumed in the next part.

to be continued
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Crunched through the photos finally. Others took a lot more photos (Misrabelle), so get on posting them! Meanwhile here's my short summary.

I met the rest of the group at our local Sportscar Breakfast Club, and after consuming the breakfast we went to visit Thujalvi's grave. Sad start of the trip, but this was the best opportunity to do it. I also took my windshield, doors and the roof and put them in them Adrian's T5. I wasn't quite 100% committed to doing the entire trip without the windshield at this point, but it was one of my personal goals. And I'm glad that I powered through the rainy days. I know the temptation to leave the windshield on, once it's installed, would be too great, even though it really diminishes the experience. Even when it's raining, driving with a helmet is less unpleasant due to better visibility. The "only" real issue is... well.. getting wet :mrgreen:

First day, first casualty :(


Grilling at DaBoom's place


The following are taken by Lastsoul, when he wanted to play with my camera and kept shooting everything around him. Also accidentally recorded a video :lol:







The man himself, with refreshments




The first of many many ferries. The only free one!


At public's parents house. Saab is already being worked on :)


This happened like 2km from the cabin! Also new calipers were found unbelievable quickly and cheaply :)


This was a very rainy day. And the 7 got quite dirty on the final dirt road stretch. I almost threw in a towel regarding the windshield that day. Discovered that my waterproof clothes were nowhere near waterproof. But I also kinda gave up on staying dry, as long as it's warm enough.


Having dinner while some people are getting new calipers for the Saab. Also indoctrination of non-Finns to appreciate the sauna has begun that day :)


Upgraded the car with some wooden parts! Bags no longer fall through the spare wheel carrier


At the Koli national park


Ingo standing on a rock. Some people hiked up the hill, others stayed behind and chilled.


A short elevator ride. Galantti must have an incredibly boring video somewhere ;)


Next "camping" spot. Next to the lake, naturally.


The glass grilling cabin was nothing short of excellent.




Finland m?n is like tis.




Everyone is turning orange. More sauna converts this evening.






Lazy selfies


At first I even bothered to take photos :)


Stopping for a pizza. Next to the lake, obviously.


There is an area which isn't covered with dead insects. Because it's protected by my face :)


The aeroscreen is starting to acquire some colour. Honestly though, it wasn't that bad, the aeroscreen is doing a good job directing insects out of the face. Into the forehead mostly. But with a hat for high-speed transfer days it didn't really bother me much.


Ingo standing on a rock.


Can you tell that we're pretty north from the angle of that dish? ;)




Everyone, make a stupid face




My preciouss




Ingo, rock.








I have realized why I was sitting in a puddle of water every time it rained, the problem wasn't the lack of a roof, but the lack of a door! Caterham (and others) sell these small "half-doors", the point of which I've never really understood until now. So I made my own cardboard-ducttape composite door.


Perfect! It really helped a lot to keep the water out.


Full gear. Can't be bothered to get out of the car for the short stop. This is Norway side now, heading for Nordkapp!




DaBoom moving to high ground. This happened often.


Following is one of my personal highlights of the trip, the road to Nordkapp. A fast winding road in this deserted hilly scenery. The further we went, the more it felt like approaching the edge of the world.


Suddenly, it started to get completely surreal. In the fog the temperature dropped rapidly, and it was so windy I had trouble catching breath (I took the helmet off a while ago). The visibility wasn't great, but enough, since it was so light. Also coincidentally the tune in my headphones changed to a higher tempo at the moment we drove in to the fog, that moment and the whole drive really stuck in my memory :)


Nordkapp! Now give 35 euros to proceed another 100m... Ugh.




Taneli seems cold. Public approves of something.


The parking was packed with "Oslo-Nordkapp 2015" people, which happened to arrive on the same day. So we parked a bit further back at first.


Now is that a coincidence or what? The only other 7 I've seen until Adrian's place, and it's another orange Caterham at Nordkapp! They prepared well. I like the half-sized jerrycans!


It was pretty foggy at the cape at first


But then it cleared up, then it got foggy again, and the weather kept changing through the evening.


The first thing you see looking north from the "northernmost point" of Europe? Another landmass. Ok, the fact about this being a northernmost point is only accurate in terms of accessibility with a car.




Going for the most expensive meal of the trip. Was good though, no regrets.


We noticed some people driving up to that globe monument and taking photos, so Adrian went to ask and arranged us a permission to drive up there :)


Only 4 cars were allowed at the time, due to weight restrictions (the area is a roof of a viewing gallery underneath), so we shuffled cars around for a while. I didn't bother with group photos here, again, Misrabelle probably has them.


Then we went for a group photo on the globe monument, some biker was entrusted to take a photo of us


Checking the result


Nope, do-over :D


On the other side of the restaurant is a massive parking space, so we lined up for a proper group photo here.


We "camped" at the Nordkapp that night. It was pretty cool to observe a sunrise at 1am. Well, it didn't set a at all, technically. Snapped this on a phone at 2am.






Peter's rear tyre was getting so bad, that he resorted to paying Norwegian price for a new set


Random scenic spot. What's with stacked rocks everywhere? Really, nearly everywhere we stopped there were these silly piles of rocks.


The tent is pitched. The problem however, was that it was 7pm, we had no beer, no meat, and no shops that are open.


Luckily someone was crazy enough to drive to Finland for supplies :lol:


They only brought beer and meat, so we (public, really) cooked the meat with beer :)


Finally a chance to open tents!


:D


Still north of the arctic circle, cue spectacular sunsets.


All the photographers are out




Some maintenance while waiting for a ferry


This view is exactly what I expected Norway to be like. And it was. But also much more.


On the ferry from Lofoten to mainland


Arctic circle. Not as impressive when approached from the North ;)


View from a balcony at the next campsite :)


Next stop was Trondheim, at Adrian's grandma's house. The ski jumping hill was visible from her window, some of us went to have a closer look.


I really hated the walk up there, but it was worth the view.




Taneli decided to not take an easy way up, and climbed on the wrong side, without actual stairs :)




Most people stayed in the house for the night, but I felt it would be too hot inside for me, so I camped on the super-soft lawn instead, as did Dave and Arron. The view in the morning was pleasant :)


God damnit, Dave, slow down!




The freaky atlantic road bridge. Also DaBoom at some hill.


Waiting for another ferry crossing (too many fjords). Also fearless sparrows.


Well equipped




Looking for the next sleeping place we accidentally saw this thing. Holy shit.


The cars were abandoned randomly in a hurry :)


Inside was a really cool workshop with a friendly owner who showed us around




He said their policy was that visitors sign their whiteboard. So we did, and I attempted to draw a Finalgear logo :lol: I'm very sorry, they didn't have eraser sponges.




As we arrived at the next location, later to be referred to as "The View", the jaws dropped. An unbelievable location with a view into a mountain valley. The house was impeccable. Lots of room, more than enough beds, a proper kitchen, a massive Weber grill on the porch, two bathrooms, a hot tub, A SAUNA, a garage. Holyfuckingshit was repeated a couple of times that evening :) And it was relatively inexpensive too! We have to go back. I want to live there.


And if it gets could outside, you get a decent view from a comfy chair inside the house :)


Lol, we have a Rauma in our flatlands here, it looks a bit different ;)




The layers of dirt. I haven't washed the car outside Finland at all.


Next trip was a very scenic ferry to Geiranger. This is the view on the deck:


And this is what people were doing :D


I'm joking of course, but in every joke there's a grain... We need to go somewhere without possibility of data roaming ;) Anyway, the Geirangerfjord view was as good as it gets


Come on, this can only exists in promo pictures!


I love the overwhelming melancholy of this photo


But Peter insists he was just bored of my camera in his face :lol:




And my absolute favourite drive of the trip was the run down from Geiranger. I didn't stop much, and was ahead of the group for the most part, so didn't take many photos. But it was a really pleasant combination of tight hairpins and fast sweeping bends, with plenty of elevation changes and good visibility for dealing with those caravans. Loved it. Just as much or more than the best roads I've driven in Alps.




Last night in Norway. Adrian's dad's place. Sevens are finally next to each other :)


The size difference is not as big as I expected. The wheelbase is near identical, and proportions lengthwise are very close. The Donk has a wider track, and the body is quite a bit wider in the rear.


Back to sleep :(


Then we had a feast. Had to pace myself with meat, to make sure there's room for strawberries :)


Ferry to Denmark


Then was the ringmeet. And then we went home. The ferry left on tuesday-wednesday night, so the plan was to drive to Ingo's on Monday and spend the night there. We left DaBoom behind to wait for a key to his BMW, Public went ahead with MX-5, and I was going a bit slower behind. It was raining heavily. Getting wet was no longer the biggest issue, the water wasn't clearing fast enough from the autobahn, and my car aquaplanned severely at speeds above 70 km/h. Couldn't keep up with the damn trucks. Looking at the thread wear, not surprising.


So I gave up, and stopped for a night near Dortmund. It was a good decision, Tusday was a perfect, sunny day. Before going for the ferry, we visited a local breaker's yard. They had no E28s, so I left with nothing. Public found some door seals for the Polo.


On the ferry back to Finland, this bike was parked next to me. Absolutely amazing condition. Spotless. It's a Simson AWO 425, an old DDR bike from 1953 (iirc).


The cool old dude is travelling with his wife in a sidecar. He said they've been touring Scandinavia and Russia with this bike for the last 10 years or so. They were going to visit friends in Tornio now, without any solid plans for where to go next :)


And we're back where the roadtrip started 3 weeks ago. ABC Vuosaari at the harbour.


The 7 made it! I broke a clutch cable, lost a bolt in the front suspension arm, had some problems with rear wheel hub and consumed front tyres. Resisted the temptation to put the windshield on, for which I'm stupidly and irrationally proud :) And dragged the windshield with doors and the roof in other people's cars all this way. But I've learned that touring without windshield is completely doable, even in a pretty shitty weather. I also learned that I need PROPER rain gear. Preferably a one-piece overall that is actually waterproof, and not just rain-proof. And I need to drill holes in the lowest points of the seats. And I need to go over all the bolts in suspension and make sure to apply threadlock to every non-nyloc nut.
I checked my wheel angles yesterday, which explained the abnormal tyre wear. I had nearly zero camber on right front (which is very worn on the outside), and I had a massive amount of toe-in (which is why fronts are much worse than rear).

Appr. 6500 km
722 litres of 98
1236 euros for fuel
 
Here's my photodump from my phone; I have a bunch of DSLR shots that would be just as apt, but that takes digging through thousands of them. A lot of these have gone through Instagram, but eh. Finland pics first!

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Driving south from my town, heading to Helsinki :)

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Fiero and Viper at the SBC.

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With Lastsoul after the Museotie drive in Virolahti

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Matching stickers!

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Ogling at Posambique's Porsche

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Posambique's megafacepalm

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L?wenbrau!

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DaBoom's hidden star

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Heading out in the rain, second day of trip.

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Lubing the 944 with TOTAL CLASSIC

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Rainy Mikkeli

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Stopped for coffee at Kirkonvarkaus

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Important FinalGear business, with Timi checking the oil in the newly aerodynamic 7.

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Ferry queue.

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Ferry Porsche.

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At my parents' cottage.

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Excalibur! I mean, ex-caliper.

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Ex-tire.

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Good stuff.

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Fairlady's Clio

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Maksim's 7 in sunset, at the Ristij?rvi camping

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Arctic circle, going up!

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Glass igloo.

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At Inarinj?rvi.

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Lapland gold.

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Maybe it's a forum thread.

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Absolute suomiface from Maksim.

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We didn't go to Nuorgam, but this was otherwise quite apt.

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Last fuel-up with Finnish prices.

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Gotta have that FIN sticker.
 
Continuing on to the Norwegian side:

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13 eur's worth of 'Greek Salad' :)

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Drove to Honningsv?g past some wonderful seaside scenery.

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Nordkapp!

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20 euro soup... :mrgreen:

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Memories from the road...

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Sennalandet (this is whereabouts the Oslo-Nordkapp-drivers' obscene speeds were recorded)

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First nice lunch in Norway!

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Arron went for fish and chips...

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Fantastic views after Alta.

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Dat green sea.

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Belgian man finds mayonnaise!

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Fan speed three!

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Travel food from a Statoil.

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Wonderful Lofoten.

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Tents pitched.

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I swam in it, you know.

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On to the ferry towards Bod?.

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DaBoom's snacks.

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Ferry views.

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An arctic circle, after Saltfjellet.

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Proud arctic circle man.

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Knifeforks.

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I loved this camping site. :)

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Morning coffee.

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Ski jump view!

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Straight up gangsta cheese.

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Olympic beer with no alcohol and a distinct m?mmi taste. Caused some weird faces.

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Atlantic Highway. It was there.

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Another ferry to wait for. I got coffee.

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Arron was impressed with this cheese half.

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Commer!
 
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Last bit of the dump:

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I miss The View?.

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Trollstigen memories.

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Have some fjords!

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The eat is on.

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Ferrying to Denmark...

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And finally, Viktoria Station coffee.
 
Dashcam teasers from the Nordkapp road. Weather has been too good for me to go through my photos (or videos) yet.. :cool:

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Scenery died a bit (literally) as soon as we hit "mainland" again.
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I'm so sad i couldn't go, but seing how much it cost in fuel alone, it was waaay out of my reach. Need to do it at one time in life though. Those fjord ferry pics look just out of this world. And dabooms screencaps show awesome roads. Mxms description of some of the hairpins you encountered also sound very delicious.
 
I'm slowly going through my pictures, but I haven't had a day off since I got back, so it's taking awhile.
Have this, while you wait:


by misrabelle, on Flickr

Group shot before heading to the Atlantic Road Bridge.
 
:lol: Such a eclectic collection of vehicles....
 
None of us, that was a public gathering.
 
My pleasure!

- - - Updated - - -

I'm so sad i couldn't go, but seing how much it cost in fuel alone, it was waaay out of my reach. Need to do it at one time in life though. Those fjord ferry pics look just out of this world. And dabooms screencaps show awesome roads. Mxms description of some of the hairpins you encountered also sound very delicious.

For what the fuel cost, one could buy a really nice car...
 
For what the fuel cost, one could buy a really nice car...

Heh, not "really nice", I don't think so. Also, what's the point of another car if you have to trade a car-trip for it?

Nicjasno, my fuel costs are biased by the fact that I could only use 98 or higher, meaning V-Power in many northern places, 2eur/litre. Also the 7 might be consuming a bit more than the E30.
 
full album here -> https://www.flickr.com/gp/82026320@N02/48Ny9j

Yay :clap: to keep the Fotostream going ...

time to rest

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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

a wild 7 appears and is evolving ...


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

the look on mxm's face, after i told him jokingly, that we can use the bonnet with Zip ties and ductape to make a roof. Also the 7 started early to mark his terretory - first oil check


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

Mug shot


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

taking a picture of Dave ... taking a picture


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr
scenice view, dat Porsche :burnrubber:


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

such a shame it was slighty raining


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

Apperently next to sh*tting in the woods, camping in the woods is also thing in finland :p


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

Welcome to Tex... oh wait.


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

ferry time.
the auto blog/journalist connection


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

Problem ?


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

the other side of the island of publics parents weekend house.

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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

Next stop - Koli national park. Not quiet that view ...

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next stop. photobombed mxm trying to picture the 7 while another Dude tried to get a picture. This happened quite alot .... basicly at every petrol station. :lol:


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

Eye-Q on a stone

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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

shoes on an chair, don't question it. It's art.

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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

Our last stop in finnland - "camping" @ Inarij?rvi


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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

don't know the context to this one

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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

scenic

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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

setting new benchmarks ;)

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by Dennis Boberg, auf Flickr

Next Goal Norway and the Northcape
 
Norway looks identical to Canada, so friggin beautiful, eh.
 
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