Travelling to Lapland in a caravan

When planning your main caravanning holiday for the year, not many people consider Lapland. Even less think about winter caravanning in Lapland.

Finland is poles away from the French coast or Spanish Sierras, where many caravanners might choose to head to. But Katy and James Butler, aka the Wobble Boxers, confess to not being “normal caravanners”.

“We like to go where many others don’t think of going when choosing our caravanning holidays,” said Katy.

Here, the daring duo and their five-year-old daughter share their reasons for choosing to go caravanning to Lapland this winter and the preparations they’ve made.

“This holiday hasn’t been thought up on a whim,” said James. “It’s been a Covid lockdown project, planning the places we could go.”

Why go caravanning to Lapland?

The Butlers are a family that loves snow, skiing and sledging and between them they have more than 75 years’ experience of caravanning.

“To see the northern lights has been a dream of ours for many years,” added James. “We’ve been to the French Alps a couple of times in winter and have been to Finland before but not during the winter months. And who doesn’t want to go see Santa with their family?”

“For me, the Arctic Circle has always been a place that extreme adventurers like Michael Palin visit and only a flight on a small six-seater seater aeroplane can get to. But in 2017, Bailey of Bristol went on their Arctic Adventure. We followed their journey on social media with huge jealously and we both said to each other “we need to go there”.

In April 2019 the stars aligned, and the Butlers headed off on their own journey to the Arctic.

“But there were no frosts, let alone new snow, and the northern lights weren’t spotted during the few hours of darkness, and the skiing was more like going down a slope made of slush puppy!” said James. “We loved the holiday, but we had unfinished business!”

Route planning a caravanning trip to Lapland

Having travelled to Finland in a caravan in 2019, the route planning for their forthcoming trip has been made easier, as there’s a known and tested route they can follow.

“But we’ve also looked at other routes. For example, do we go over the Oestrund bridge like last time, or do we go by ferry from Rostock in Germany to Sweden?

“This would cut down driving and travelling time and give us chance to sleep on the six-hour crossing. Although this option would involve a clear route and no hold ups, if we miss the ferry, we’d need to wait six hours for the next one…if there’s space!”

Caravanning to northern Finland during the dark depths of winter needs a lot of preparation, even in a modern caravan like the Butler’s Bailey Pegasus Grande SE Palermo.

“We have previous winter caravanning experience and have seen temperatures down to -14°C but going to Finland’s Arctic Circle in a caravan could see us going to -40°C! There’ll be no back up crew and no vehicle following to help us. It will be just us as a family team. So, I feel a huge responsibility to make sure the car and caravan is fully prepared for the trip ahead.”

Booking a caravan site in winter

One of the first things we researched was how many campsites were actually open in winter?

“There weren’t many to choose from and since Covid has blown through, even less choice with some having closed down and some choosing to only open during the summer. All of the campsites have been found online and booking has been made via email. Scandinavians have very good English. An email translated via an app to break the ice has always been replied in English, and not once have there been any misunderstandings.”

How do you prepare for extreme winter caravanning?

As part of their winter caravanning preparations, the Butlers were fortunate enough to be invited to the Truma UK Cold Climate Chamber for a day to test out their caravan.

“We did a very quick replica of the Grade 3 insulation test. We heated the caravan up inside the chamber as the external temperature was dropped to -26°C, the lowest the cold chamber has ever been and the coldest a caravan has ever been inside the chamber. But the Palermo passed with flying colours. If anything, the caravan was too hot!

“But it did make us think that if we were to be stuck on the roadside in a snow blizzard how would we cope in the caravan for 24 hours or maybe more until the snowfall clears?”

Caravan heating in winter

“We could run off gas for heating but at -26°C the heating is gas hungry and along with cooking etc, we would soon get through a full gas bottle – that’s if we have a full gas bottle at that point!”

This made lorry driver James look into a diesel space heater as diesel is far easier to get hold of.

“So, I bought a heater and installed it with the help of my daughter. We think it’s important that she takes part in the preparations to feel included in this trip, plus she loves helping daddy with DIY!”

Caravan water systems in winter

When caravanning in the Alps the Butlers found that the Aquaroll could freeze fairly quickly.

“Even with a thick coat around the barrel, the pipe up the sleeve and the Aquaroll stood on an insulated block, below -6°C, these measures weren’t always efficient.”

To get around this, they’ve installed an onboard water tank in the caravan.

“Some of our usual equipment will also be swapped out. For example, we’ll take a bucket instead of a waste container, as frozen wastewater is far easier to get out of a bucket than a small hole in a Wastemaster.”

Snow tyres

“We’ll be taking snow chains for the caravan and for all four wheels on the car, as well as snow tyres for the car and caravan. This is a legal requirement and a sensible one too.”

The car has also been adapted with ultra-low temperature coolant and an engine heater to pre-warm the engine before they turn the key.

Accessories for winter caravanning

As well as the extra heating, onboard water tank and snow chains and tyres, the Butlers will be taking other accessories for cold weather caravanning.

Things like waterproof and windproof gloves for setting up and clearing away snow etc, a head torch, propane gas cylinders, a towing cover, winter vent covers for the fridge, plus plenty of warm clothing for all the family and not forgetting the skis and sledge!

Pets and caravanning in Europe

The intrepid Butlers are also taking their two cats on their caravanning trip to Lapland.

If you’re taking your pet abroad, you can no longer use a pet passport. Instead, pets need an animal health certificate in the 10 days before travel! This has to be signed by a vet.

Caravan insurance

“We can plan and plan and plan but still the unexpected known could happen and if it does go wrong, we need specialist caravan insurance to back us up,” said James

The Butlers are insured with Caravan Guard and have the benefit of European cover for their caravan trip to Lapland.

“We’ve kept in touch to make them aware of our trip, the route we’re taking and have discussed the necessary security requirements for when we reach the very cold, snowy areas.”

Are they ready for the caravanning to Finland’s Arctic Circle?

“Will our car, caravan, us, our daughter, our cats, all be ready, and will we be able to conquer the extreme cold and 2,000 mile journey each way?

“We’re as ready as we shall ever be. We’ve prepared the caravan and the car, and we’ve done plenty of long journeys in the past so we’re feeling confident,” said James.

Caravanning with children

“We’ve prepared our daughter and have planned to defeat boredom kicking in with homemade “I spy” games, audio books, busy books and other games.

“We avoid using screens in the car and encourage looking at the views and things we pass. A game we play is called “Valid Spot”. If we see a Volvo (same marque car as our own) that isn’t ours and hasn’t been seen before, it’s a “valid spot.” If we see the same car again, or it’s our car, such as a reflection in a shop window, then it’s an “invalid spot.” Hopefully the game won’t get boring too quickly in Sweden as it’s the home of Volvo manufacturing!

“With everything we can possibly do, including having our skis serviced, there’s only one thing left to do…start the long journey north and get excited for skiing, and the full Santa, reindeer and husky experiences!”

We’ll be following the Butlers as they go caravanning from the UK, through France, Germany, Sweden and Finland and will be sharing some updates on our Facebook and Instagram channels.

To find out more about out specialist caravan insurance cover for your winter caravanning trips visit our website: https://www.caravanguard.co.uk/touring-caravan-insurance/