Thursday 13th March 1986. Another of my occasional football related European tours, this time in the Northern latitudes, tis posting covers the full trip hence is quite long!.
The main purpose of this trip was to attend a football match, but it stretched to nine days to encompass another consideration of being able to see the northern latitudes in real snow (rather than the leftover snow previously encountered in early summer visits), and setting out just a week before the spring equinox there would be a good amount of daylight in which to enjoy such views, and finally, having previously travelled by train on all but one of the routes planned to be covered on this trip – also both of the ferry routes and the Narvik bus - to travel on one of the routes in Finland I had not been on previously although this was dependant on other elements the outline plan coming together. Unfortunately, I have no detail of the locomotives which worked the various legs, and with the timetable of the day long gone, the times shown are actually taken from the April 1987 Thomas Cook timetable available on ‘Timetable World’ as being the closest match so may have some minor variances from the ‘actual’. And finally, apologies for missing accents from various place names.
Thursday 13th March 1986
Fly Aberdeen to Stavanger with Air UK, the first of the then two daily flights on this route.
Bus to town centre
13.40 Stavanger to Oslo S
Friday 14th March 1986
After a night in a hotel in Oslo, then securing seat and sleeper reservations for later in the day and some sightseeing
14.30 Oslo to Trondheim
22.55 Trondheim to Fauske
Saturday 15th March 1986
As on previous occasions when using the northwards overnight train from Trondheim, I rose from my sleeper berth well ahead of the approach to and crossing of the Arctic Circle where the snow was abundant, and I was now north of the Arctic Circle for a sixth time.
09.40 Bus Fauske to Narvik – initially I found this journey a little alarming as the bus sped along roads covered with hard packed snow. I was re-assured however at the first refreshment or ferry stop when I noticed the length of the studs in the tyres which were providing the grip.
15.35 Narvik to Kiruna – before boarding this train I had telephoned ahead (how many of us have used a public phone box in Narvik?) to secure a hotel bed in Kiruna to avoid the risk of ‘no room at the inn’ in seriously sub zero overnight temperatures, as otherwise I would have insufficient time to cover the ‘required route’ in Finland.
Sunday 16th March 1986
09.10 Kiruna to Boden
14.30 Boden to Haparanda – my recollection is a more modern bogie single railcar was provided rather than the 4 wheel railbus type from previous trips
16.50 Haparanda to Tornio – a five minute journey but crossing into the next time zone it arrives at 17.55 (Finnish time), and this on one of the old faithful 4 wheel railbuses
18.40 Tornio to Kemi
19.50 Kemi to Riihimaki – I was able to purchase a sleeper berth on the train
Monday 17th March 1986
08.23 Riihimaki to Parikkala
12.10 Parikkala to Savonlinna – the first leg of my ‘new’ route, which if I recall correctly was a loco and two coaches
13.30 Savonlinna to Pieksamaki – to complete my ‘new’ route, another ‘railbus’
15.30 Pieksamaki to Turku Harbour, and after less than 28 hours in Finland it was time to cross the Baltic Sea
21.30 Turku to Stockholm – Silja Line Ferry – cabin purchased before boarding
Tuesday 18th March 1986
Taxi to Central station (just 40 minutes between ship arrival and train departure)
07.40 Stockholm C to Storlien
17.10 bus – operated by NSB - Storlein to Trondheim (a previous trip on this route had been by train)
22.30 Trondheim to Oslo S – another night in NSB sleeping car
Wednesday 19th March 1986
07.40 Oslo S to Gothenburg
Stepping off the train in Gothenburg I saw the surprised look on the face of another Aberdeen fan I recognised previous European trips, although I knew he was sufficiently well connected to have travelled on the team charter flight but I had not previously been aware of his interest in railways. IFK Gothenburg 0 Aberdeen 0 – European Cup quarter final second leg. My second visit to the Ullevi Stadium, but sadly without the glory of the 1983 visit. On the face of it 0-0 away from home sounds a good result but unfortunately the first leg – played in much more wintry conditions two weeks previously had ended 2-2 meaning the Swedes progressed under the ‘away goals rule’.
Now I wanted to get to Oslo in time to catch the morning train to Bergen so I headed south!
21.50 Gothenburg to Halmstad. At Halmstad the seated coaches were detached, one sleeper and one couchette from Oslo continued to Hamburg (to be combined with a portion from Stockholm at Helsingborg). The previous year when I travelled on this train from Oslo to Hamburg, as we departed Oslo I had purchased my cheapest ever beer in Norway from the German Sleeping Car attendant as standard DB pricing applied.
Thursday 20th March 1986
00.41 Halmstad to Oslo S – on boarding I was able to purchase a couchette berth on this Copenhagen to Oslo train. This train did not call in Gothenburg at that time, hence my diversion via Halmstad, the southernmost point on the trip.
07.30 Oslo S to Bergen
Friday 21st March 1986
After a night in a hotel in Bergen
07.45 ‘Fast Ferry’ Bergen to Stavanger
Bus to Airport
Stavanger to Aberdeen on the afternoon Air UK flight
