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28th September 2008 - Day 18 Journeys End, Bremen to UK18 Days, countless miles and 3 cars - today marked the last day of our epic trip to the Arctic and back. We should of been returning through the Channel Tunnel in Speedbird but it wasn't to be - we returned home as foot passengers on the Calais - Dover ferry (due to the fire in the tunnel causing problems). It's with a tinge of sadness I say that as Speedbird sits over one thousand miles away in Norway covered in salt with a damaged door, a Park Lane wheel, a broken alternator and bonnet release.

The MINI did make it to the Arctic but we walked back onto UK soil, maybe this epic trip was more an achievement for us than the car in this case. We drove every single day and I'll tell you it was completely exhausting, mum had to drive most of the way today as I couldn't keep my eyes open for more than about half an hour at a time. Speedbird breaking down pretty much marked the end of our driving holiday, then it became just a case of getting home as quickly and easily as possible - which it was neither of. However we still enjoyed everyday of the trip and have learnt a lot about Scandinavia including the places we would and wouldn't want to go to again.

It was an amazing trip - more epic than we could of ever imagined but are we glad to be home? Oh yes...

27th September 2008 - Day 17 Bremen, Germany (home of Beck's Beer)Although it's sad to say I think both of us won't be unhappy to be home now, driving everyday lost it's appeal about the same time as we lost Speedbird and both of us are finding it tiring. Infact, to prove that point, I've never been able to sleep in the car but in the last few days I have slept nearly all the time while mum's driving. Today we left Scandinavia which was sad as we had really enjoyed our time there and Malmö was a great place to spend our last night in Sweden. Pushing onwards we were soon crossing the bridge linking Sweden & Denmark once again, although the first time now seems like a lifetime ago! It didn't feel like it took long to reach Germany as the day passed in a blur but in reality it was another 5 hour drive which isn't bad compared to some of the daily drives we've been faced with.

Soon we were in Bremen Germany for the last night of our epic trip, Bremen is much like Malmö in many ways - a young, busy, pretty city with a lot going on. It was another beautiful day so we decided to walk to the place Bremen is famous for - the birth place of Beck's beer in 1873 and where the beer is still produced today. Unfortunately we missed the tour so will have to return here in the future, we still got to buy some things in the shop though. Bremen is a lovely city which we hope to spend more time at in the future.

Tomorrow is our last day and we return to the UK as foot passengers on the Calais-Dover ferry - the MINI did make it to the Arctic but this really isn't how this trip should of ended...

26th September 2008 - Day 16 Malmö, SwedenAs time goes on we miss Speedbird more and more - although we fit in very well having a Volvo in Sweden, it seems like every other car is another V50. I'm not sure if there is something unfriendly between the Norwegians and Swedish but their road manner towards us suggests there is! After a reasonable drive we arrived at Malmö in Sweden which was our stop-over for the evening. Malmö is a very pretty, young, busy city which has been through a lot of redevelopment in recent years. The 'Turning Torso' by Calatrava is a spectacular building in Malmö and the tallest building in Scandinavia. In the evening the city was as busy as ever and we sat outside eating our dinner as seems custom to in the city. It's a shame we didn't have more time to spend here..

25th September 2008 - Day 15 We now have a Volvo Well the MINI had gone and so had the Mazda 2 (thank goodness!) and now we had a massive Volvo V50 1.6 Diesel to get us from Norway to France, after a day of driving I can safely say I like this car - the engine has a lot of punch, it's comfortable and has a big boot. It doesn't handle anything like the MINI but I didn't expect it to at that size! Because we had to catch up on a day due to losing a night as we had to stay at a hotel near the airport it's been a long drive today, over 10 hours so I'm just going to leave it at that today.

24th September 2008 - Day 14 Trying to work out how to get homeDay 14 was pretty much a nightmare to be honest - we left our hotel with no idea what to do as we had heard nothing about the MINI and had no idea how we were going to get home. To cut a long story short we spent a long time on the phone to MINI finding that Speedbird indeed has a broken alternator which they didn't have a replacement for in Norway or Sweden. Speedbird will be taken back to the UK broken for our local dealership to fix. On top of that Speedbird was accidently damage at the Norwegian dealership with several scratches on the door right down to the metal work, a workshop accident which happened because they forgot it was a right hand drive car. Luckily they are paying to have the damage fixed, which is likely to be a re-spray of the door but they have still given us a diagnoses bill to pay We then spent 3 hours at an airport arranging the hire car which will be driving from Norway to France.

23rd September 2008 - Day 13 Trollstigen in a Mazda Well last night wasn't a bad dream - Speedbird really has gone. Today we had conflicting reports saying the car was ready to pick up only to find it had been mixed up with another car and the dealership still haven't located the problem (I can point it out to them if they need a hand! Smoke & flames aren't an everyday thing). How and when we will get home we have no idea until we know how long Speedbird is going to take to fix

Today we attempted the Trollstigen for the second time as yesterday we were in dense fog and cloud when we took Speedbird up one of the most famous roads in Norway. Today we had our Mazda 2 loan car which really didn't live up to the 'zoom zoom' slogan - to say it was slow on the mountain roads is a bit of an understatement. Still, for a loan car, it's not bad

22nd September 2008 - Day 12 Goodbye MINI!With a flame and puffs of smoke coming from what we believe to be the alternator (thanks Matt) today it was time to say goodbye to Speedbird for now at least. How this will effect the rest of our trip only time will tell... There is a lot more to be said for today but I will save that for another time.

21st September 2008 - Day 11 Trondheim to Molde t's getting to the point now where trying to remember which hotel you left in the morning seems like a difficult task, after over 70 hours of total driving time they all start to mix into one long memory rather than certain days. Ah yes now I remember - today we left our impressive huge hotel in Trondheim, a very nice city, and began our journey to Molde. Also for the first time in a few days we had some sunshine to go with it. Our highlight of today was expected to be 'The Atlantic Road' (Atlanterhavsvegen) and how wrong we were... All was going fine for the first few hours - the only issue being Speedbird is now covered in salt from the roads and we had constant reminders the washer fluid was getting low, in the end without being able to use it we could barely see out the windscreen! The roads were twisty and great fun to drive with the stunning surroundings of the beautiful fjords. The problem began when we couldn't find our way from Kristiansund to the next Island that has the Atlantic Road, the map showed a tunnel which led to the Island but we could not find it. After driving around and around, as well as ending up on another small Island that led nowhere, we were forced to conclude the tunnel hadn't been built! So that's how we ended up on the Kristiansund to Bremsnes ferry. These ferries have an open air car deck at the bottom and in this case an upper deck where you can stand and look at the view. So we leave Speedbird on the car deck and climb up to the upper deck to get a better view, you can sit in your car and many people choose to. About half way through the crossing we hit choppy waters and an alarm goes off - I naturally assume the ship is sinking and start looking for the nearest life raft, I can only imagine the other people looking around were assuming the same thing. That was until mum points out that Speedbird has got upset about the choppy seas and it's in fact her alarm that is ringing throughout the ship! Speedbird and I were happy to soon be back on solid ground, mum didn't seem too fussed either way. Then it was a short trip to The Atlantic Road and here comes disappointment with a capital D. Read the brochures and you expect something spectacular on a massive scale. The truth is, in our eyes at least, it is a small and short road which you can't really see the best of unless you are on a boat alongside it - the only thing that people seemed to be enjoying from it was how fast they could get over it in their cars and motorbikes. Maybe it's spectacular if the waves are crashing over the road but would you really want to be driving it when that is happening? Would I bother to return to this 'amazing' road? No.. So that brings us on to our stopping point for today - Molde. What a place - it has more than made up for the disappointment felt earlier in the day, in a word - spectacular. Our hotel sits on the waters edge with the harbor infront of us sat in an amazing fjord with a backdrop of snowcapped mountains. It's nearly 9.30pm here and we are sitting on our balcony watching the cruise ships and car ferries come and go, perfect... Tomorrow we go on The Troll's Ladder road - lets hope it leaves us more impressed than we were today with the Atlantic Road... As normal latest photos can be found by clicking the link above this post.

20th September 2008 - Day 10 We're on the road to hell... Today we drove from Mosjøen to Trondheim, the journey being a 'short' four hours for a change. The weather remained rainy today with Speedbird aquaplaning a few times. There isn't a huge amount to right home about today, other than we have been through Hell Literary! Hell is a small town in Norway and we also went into the Hell tunnel, which we wondered if we'd ever get out of. We arrived at our hotel in Trondheim early afternoon. Trondheim is a large, busy city and seems like a nice place so far! More soon...

19th September 2008 - Day 9 Lofoten Islands to Mosjøen'Red sky in the morning, shepherds warning' and they were right, by the time we got from our hotel room to the car the rain had started - just what you want at 7.15am when you've got a wheel to change! An hour into the trip we had left the Lofoten Islands and were back on the mainland heading South, only to find the one and only road running South through Norway runs out of road so all the traffic has to get on a ferry to cross a fjord! It's all part of the adventure and the water was like a millpond, unfortunately we didn't spot any whales which can often be found in this particular fjord due to the deepness of the water. As we departed the ferry the stunning scenery continued with mountains and forests of orange and yellow trees, feeling the effects of an early autumn. Soon though the scenery became bleak which may of been emphasized by the fact it had been raining most of the day. We crossed the Arctic Circle for the second time, unfortunately the Arctic Centre was closed as we are 'out of season'. It was with saddest we left the Arctic - it is an amazing place that surpassed all our expectations and should be visited by everyone at least once in their lives, also the way people live in the Arctic is a different world from England.

18th September 2008 - Day 8 Lofoten IslandsFirstly I'm not going to bother to go through the hassles of yesterday (day 7) as I'd rather not think about it But the scenery was beautiful and we ended up unexpectedly in the Lofoten Islands with a day to spare.. (talking of spares...) Considering today was to be a day off it ended up being as tiring as any of the other days we have experienced so far. Today we were to explore the Lofoten Islands and the day didn't get off to a very good start with Sat-Nav leading us an hour in the wrong direction as half the roads on the islands weren't in the Sat-Nav database, this also involved us going through roadworks where they were using explosives to blow rocks apart! Finally we got onto the right road and began our journey with the mountains towering above us. The scenery was spectacular but the rain soon started, probably making the experience not quite as amazing as it could of been on a beautiful day. By lunchtime we were halfway down the Islands so decided to continue all the way to the town of 'Å' at the end of the last accessible island. The scenery got even more impressive as we approached Å - unfortunately by this time the rain was lashing down. We finally reached the end of the road, again and after taking many photos it was time to head back to our hotel. The road etiquette of drivers in Norway so far has been very good with people constantly pulling over if they are slowly you down - the condition of the roads on the other hand is a bit hit and miss. About half an hour from the hotel we hit a pot hole in the middle of the road that must of been more like a small meteor crater - you can't hit a wheel that hard and expect nothing to of happened. The wheel now felt a bit like a 50p piece and when we got back to the hotel we checked out the damage. The front left tyre was bulging out badly and the wheel appears to be buckled - we will know more when we remove it tomorrow. Luckily we came up with the idea to take a wheel off mum's MINI and put it in the back incase we had a puncture so hopefully tomorrow we will just swap them over. A small drama evaded by forward planning! Our day off turned into a 10 hour drive that used a tank of fuel and gave us a damaged wheel and tyre! Tomorrow we drop below the Arctic Circle - it has been an amazing experience.

16th September 2008 - Day 6 We've made it to Nordkapp!

Last night we spent most of the evening sitting in the cold before retreating to Speedbird with the sunroof open in some hope of seeing the Northern Lights. Finally we went inside to the warmth of the hotel, a few hours later mum spotted a green slither in the sky. We hurried outside to see a faint and strange display of white lights shimmering across the sky, it's hard to describe but we hope to see them again before we leave - the lights were faint due to a misty night and a full moon. Next morning Speedbird was covered in ice and the temperature read -3oC, which dropped to -4oC shortly after we departed. It felt like winter had come early to the Arctic with all the trees and ground covered in frost. As we made our way North we crossed the border leaving Finland and entering Norway for the first time. The scenery soon became more mountainous in Norway and the final route to Nordkapp takes you on a beautiful road which hugs the coastline. Think a mixture of scenery from Alaska, Scotland, the South of France and you've got an idea of what Norwegian scenery is like. Passing through the Nordkapp tunnel, the only route in and out of the most Northern point of Europe, will cost you £20/each way then £20/each to enter the North Cape, so before we get into what we had achieved the most Northern point of mainland Europe is a rip-off - we paid £80 for the pleasure before even thinking about hotels. The final leg of the journey involves driving a high pass which takes you way above the sea below and coming back down the road is a lot scarier than going up it! Finally after over 40 hours of driving 3905 kilometers we had made it to the end of the road, the top of mainland Europe. Although it was a great achievement we couldn't help but feel the anticlimax - Nordkapp is a bleak, windy & expensive place much like Lands End in many ways. We did all the normal tourist things - took photos in front of the globe that marks the top of Europe, looked at the creations of the 'Children of the Earth' and got a certificate to prove we had made it. It was great to have got to Nordkapp but other memories from this epic trip will stay with us longer than this one.

Thanks to everyone that donated money to Leukaemia Research and supported us on this epic trip!

15th September 2008 - Day 5 Crossing the Arctic CircleToday we left the city of Luleå in Sweden and were soon out in the sticks, sat-nav chose a route that took us off the beaten track and it soon transpired that it had come up trumps for us. The scenery was jaw droppingly beautiful with the autumn colours becoming even more prominent and the lakes/rivers getting larger with blue tinted water. We kept watching our coordinates on the sat-nav as we approached the Arctic Circle. Finally at 10:16am the magic 66'33 latitude flashed up and we entered the town of Polcirkeln, the current nearest home to the Arctic Circle (have a look at the explanation in the photos, the Arctic Circle moves every year). We'd done it - Speedbird had really become the Arctic MINI and our first goal was complete, to reach the Arctic. It soon became apparent that the Arctic wasn't the barren desolate place we had expected it to be, in fact there were more towns around the Arctic Circle than we'd seen for most of the trip and the scenery was also at it's best. A few hours later we crossed into Finland where, confusingly, the clocks go forward another hour. We soon arrived at our hotel for the night in Enontekiö - the hotel is situated on the banks of a beautiful lake. Reports suggested tonight would be a good night for solar activity (the Northern lights) but thus far they evade us. Tomorrow we head to the most Northern point of Europe!

14th September 2008 - Day 4 Sundsvall, Sweden to Luleå, SwedenI wouldn't call today a breeze but compared to the other 3 days of traveling it wasn't tough going as the mileage and length of the journey today were slightly shorter than we've experienced so far. Talking of which - we've now passed the 3,000km mark and been driving for a total of over 30 hours in 4 days. The journey from Sundsvall to Luleå was, at times, stunning beautiful with lakes and rivers surrounded by forests starting to display their autumn colours. Today was the first day it was noticeably darker in the morning and I'm guessing the sun will set sooner this evening, not that there is any sunshine - it's overcast and the daytime temperature is now around 8-9oC. Luleå seems to be a nice, clean city which we hope to explore more tomorrow before we leave for Finland. Luleå is the capital of the Swedish Lapland, it is situated on a peninsula where Lule Bay meets the Gulf of Bothnia. Tomorrow we should cross the Arctic Circle!

13th September 2008 - Day 3 Örserum, Sweden to Sundsvall, SwedenWhen we woke up this morning the sun was shining but Speedbird was covered in ice - it had obviously been a very cold night which makes us wonder how much colder it will be when we reach the Arctic. On the subject of which most of the Swedish people that have asked about our trip have never been to Nordkapp and seem to think we are mad to attempt such a trip - all of which makes us even more determined and excited about what we are doing. Getting in the car and driving each day has yet to lose it's appeal, it's part of the adventure and that's lucky because we have a long way to go. We share the driving but at points you can't help but feel very tired when this is the third day of driving for around 8 hours, in total we have been driving for around 24 hours and covered way over 2,000km. We made good time today - even though the motor-ways have started to become few and far between now, being replaced with single or dual carriageways which have a clever system of swapping with the other side of the road every few kilometers so that each direction gets a chance to pass that annoying caravan in front. We arrived in Sundsvall around 3pm - the sign for which has the backdrop of a massive factory! Not the greatest first impression but it's like any city really, busy and built up - not exactly pretty but not bad for a city that has been burnt down and rebuilt four times! Pilgrim's used to start the long journey to Trondheim in Norway from Sundsvall, all being well we will be there ourselves soon.

Another long day begins tomorrow as we continue on the long road North, all being well we should cross the Arctic Circle on Monday.

12th September 2008 - Day 2 Spannan Germany to Örserum, SwedenYesterday we drove through Denmark which, to be honest, was very uninspiring - I'm sure Denmark has some nice areas but none are to be found by sitting on the motor-way to Sweden. Crossing Denmark involves crossing several Islands linked to the mainland by bridges. the last of which is the famous Oresund Bridge which connects the Danish city of Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmö. Crossing the sea is an experience and the Turning Torso, the tallest building in the EU designed by Calatrava, can be seen from the bridge. We will be getting a better view of this interesting building on our return. As we made our way North Sweden soon turned into a beautiful country with the motor-ways surrounded by forests - no wonder IKEA started in this country! Sweden also brought with it a sudden change in climate - gone had the 26oC in Germany to be replaced with fresh cold air of around 12oC. After another long day we passed Lake Vättern, second largest lake in Sweden and soon arrived at our hotel in Örserum. There are signposts for Elk everywhere but we have yet to spot the animal. Our hotel sat on the banks of another Lake and offered beautiful views in this stunning area, the hotel owner couldn't of been more helpful and spoke very good English. In the evening we had dinner in the nearby town of Gränna, on the eastern shores of the lake Vättern. Again the views were beautiful and the Swedish people very friendly - due to the cold temperatures I was even offered a blanket while I had dinner! We had a very restful sleep that night after a long days drive.

11th September 2008 - Day 1 England to Spannan, Germany. Well the first day has been a tough one, getting up at 3.50am and arriving at our hotel in the Northern tip of Germany a short time ago. For those of you that went to MINI United 2007 - we travelled much of the same route today but turned off before Amsterdam heading instead for the huge port of Hamburg and onto Spannan. Our hotel is like Fawlty Towers - when we arrived there was no one to be found and when somone did turn up they didn't speak a word of English, leaving us sitting in the garden for 20 mins while she prepared the room. Otherwise it's very nice. Today we were blessed with beautiful weather and temperatures of 26oC. Speedbird did her name proud, eating up the autobahn with great ease.

Tomorrow we begin our adventure properly, crossing the sea between Denmark & Sweden via the stunning bridge which you may of seen when Clarkson raced the SLR to Oslo

10th September 2008 - Tomorrow we leave! Tomorrow we begin our epic trip to the arctic, stay tuned for updates from the long road North and back. Above is our online tracking that will be updated daily, not hourly as the data usage costs so much in Europe!

4th September 2008 - A week to go! After all the planning our epic trip is about to begin with less than a week to go until our departure. Thanks to everyone who has donated to Leukaemia Research including Modnmini who made a very kind donation which took us to our target of £500, we won't stop there though - the more money we raise passed our target the better! Stay tuned for latest news, stories and photos from our trip as well as online tracking.

28th August 2008 - 2 weeks to go! Online tracking Info! Firstly a big thanks to everyone who has already donated to Leukaemia Research and thanks to Tim of MINIpassion in South Africa for mentioning the trip here. Today marks only a fortnight to go until we embark on our epic adventure to the Arctic. Nearly all the hotels are booked and confirmed while Speedbird, yes most MINI have names, has undergone a health check and oil change in preparation for the long road ahead. Planning the trip hasn't been easy with added surprises being thrown in such as the only road running North - South in Norway suddenly ending at the sea in a particular region, it seems we will be making at least three ferry crossings during our time in Norway. This really has turned into one big MINI adventure!

We are also currently sorting out online tracking via our iPhone 3G so you will be able to see exactly where Speedbird is at any given time, if it appears we are stuck in the snow somewhere please send out a rescue party! On September 11th online tracking will go live on this website.

21st August 2008 - 3 weeks to go! Final preparations are being put in place with only 3 weeks to go until our epic adventure. Our MINI Cooper S for the trip has been suited up with 'MINI to the Arctic' graphics as you can see below. Small changes have been made to the route which will see us departing September 11th, arriving at Nordkapp on September 16th and returning to the UK on September 28th. More news soon!

14th June 2008 - Announcing MINI To the Arctic Preparations for an epic adventure to the Arctic have begun to raise money for Leukaemia Research - from today onwards you can keep up to date on all the latest developments at either minitothearctic.com or arcticmini.eu