17-Mar-2005 -- This is a journey from Ulaanbaatar (UB) in Mongolia to Kirriemuir in Scotland, covering 110 degrees of longitude and visiting 15 CPs on the way. The story starts at 47°N 105°E. This is CP 13. The previous point is 61°N 25°E.

The Silja ferry to Stockholm is enormous - bigger in tonnage and passenger numbers than the Titanic. The ferries stop off at the Aland islands – which are technically not part of the EU – in order to turn the whole trip into a booze cruise (lots of duty free alcohol). It was my first time on a ship in ice. Not solid ice but a continuous rumbling against the ship’s sides. The ferry takes about 15 hours – time for a good sleep – or much drinking! In the morning we had a quick tour of Stockholm before setting of on the road west again and towards a CP. There were two possible CP’s not far from our route (59N 16E and 59N 15E). We had decided to try for one point in each country so chose just the first one.

Taking the road from Strangnas to Malmköping, Flen and Katrineholm we were happy to find that the helpful Swedes supply takeaway maps at tourist information sites in lay byes. An icy minor road took us along the south shore of lake Viren to the point. The weather was poor – mild and drizzly with much melting snow.

Under the wet trees we could only manage 4 satellites and a minimum error of 9 metres. The GPS eventually settled on the zeros and we could move on to Norway and 60°N 10°E. But will we get there in daylight?