The route - in brief

The plan is to travel by ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland, drive through The Netherlands and northern Germany to Denmark. Up the west coast of Denmark, down the east coast, across the islands of Funen and Zealand and then the Øresund Bridge to Sweden. Up the west coast of Sweden to Oslo for a two day excursion by rail to Bergen and back, then back into Sweden across to Stockholm. The canal cruise to Gothenburg is next, taking a week, then train back to Stockholm. Next is the vehicle ferry to Finland. Whilst there, we have the chance to take another ferry (as foot passengers) to Russia, visiting St. Petersburg for a day, maybe two. Back in Finland, there can be a day trip to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Heading homewards, we take the ferry from Helsinki to Travemȕnde, then heading back to Hook of Holland. That's it in a nutshell, but with two and a half months, we're going to take our time, spending a couple of days here and a couple there.