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Hi, If Jennifer sees this I'd love to hear what tips you'd give for a 2 month tour.  Anyone else who has been, i'd love to hear from you as well.

Hi Purplehat,  First tip is you need deep pockets!  Norway is expensive, Sweden not so bad.

Which ferry are you thinking of using?  Taking a caravan on the ferry to Norway is very expensive.  If you have 2 months then you have good time, so I would suggest a  Channel crossing as you are in Kent..  Then driving either via Denmark and over the bridge or ferry to Sweden, or a ferry from one of the Baltic ports in Germany to Sweden.  You could go one way and come back the other. There are also  ferries between Denmark and Norway

Roads in Sweden are better than in Norway, not so twisty and fewer hills.  We usually travel north in Sweden and south in Norway, not really sure why!

There is loads to see.  You can get good maps and brochures from the tourist boards, and lots of info on-line.  Also info on camp sites.

Sweden is very foresty, nice lakes, but Norway has the better scenery, especially the fjords of the west coast.

OH comes from a little place south of Bodo, which is just inside the Arctic Circle. He retires next year so  we are off over there for 3 months next July, just about to try and book the ferry, for us Hull/Rotterdam is best as it saves a lot of driving.  But we haven't planned the rest of the route yet.  Probably via Denmark, to Sweden then all the way up the Baltic coast and into Finland.  Continuing north and eventually into Norway to drive right up to North Cape.  Returning south down the Norwegian coast to OH's homeplace.  Apparently there is a family gathering mid August.  We will stay there 3 or 4 weeks,  then come south in Norway hopefully visiting all the places we have not been to before.

We have family in Bergen, Stavanger and Oslo so will need to visit them too.  I'm starting to think even 3 months will not be long enough!!!  Would have liked to leave in early June to get a longer trip, but we cannot afford for him to retire early.!

I think you will find Norway more interesting than Sweden, so you might want to concentrate on it and see more of it.  There are plenty camp sites in the west and south, fewer further north.  Standards vary from basic to excellent, most charge extra for showers .  Best months for weather are mid June - mid September. Temperatures are similar to here.

I'm afraid "doing it cheaply" and "Norway" do not go together!!!    Trust me, OH is Norwegian and we go there a bit!

If you eat like Norwegians do then it does help.  Use fish, mutton, pork, frankfurters and mince.  Avoid chicken and beef.  In veggies stick to potatoes, carrots, turnip, cabbage and stuff in season, avoid imported exotics like courgettes, baby corn, mange tout etc.Stick to normal fruits like apples, and whatever is in season.  Avoid tinned food and drinks, do not buy alcohol, and don't eat out.

Things to take with you (if you like them) are cereal, tea, instant coffee, jam, marmelade, tins of anything, biscuits, wine etc.

Expect to pay up to  double what we pay here for milk, yogurt, bread, cheese and frozen food.

You really just need to "bite the bullet", forget UK prices, and do the best you can.

You do need the Camping Card for Sweden and Norway, you can get it in advance or at the first site you visit.

Two years ago I went to Norway on my bike - hard going at times but stunning views. No language problem as most people speak English - I'm someone who always tries to use the local language, but on this occasion I threw away the phrasebook! As others have said - very expensive, but you just have to get on with it. I never ate out, didn't even look at the alcohol, stayed in campsites and youth hostels and even slept rough one night. Surprisingly only one twilight did midges descend on me - this is Western Norway, I understand the further east and into Sweden you venture then the more midges greet you.

Not much wild life - a major disappointent; have they shot them all?

I want to take my non-cycling wife next year, so if we go it'll be the caravan and throwing money at the problem - but you only live once. 

I was not impressed by Bergen - crowded, wet and touristic, even had traffic congestion and I would not recommend the campsite near the trotting racetrack;  the 'sticks' are so much more interesting.

Cruises to Norway are advertised widely, and on the Bergen-Newcastle ferry I met people whose holiday cruise was simply the return ferry crossing!! Admittedly the ferry calls at Haugesund and Stavanger, and so has a route that threads its way along the coast - but it's not exactly exciting, unless you go on seawatch. I was bored to tears as well on a Sognalfjord ferry - no wildlife.

But it was different - beautiful, empty, quiet and full of little surprises, and the people were very good to me.

Some confirmation from a cycling forum www.cyclingplus.co.uk about mosquitoes in Southern Sweden 'would not even think about camping (in Southern Sweden) unless completely immune to mosquitoes - simply stopping to urinate would attract a horde of the little beasties'

On the other hand another another poster says 'I cannot remember any problem with beasties, except that one night when the campsite was in the forest' Which was my experience in Western Norway - Sognal, Stryn etc

Don't go to Finland then !

Although I did stop at a lakeside campsite there whilst on a business trip (got fed up going to the same Worst Western each trip and found a campsite with rooms in August) - the lake was freezing even though it was clear blue skies and + 30 C.