May 6th
The Lighthouse at the End of the World
By Steve Jones
With some trepidation we are preparing for a trip to Norway to a place called Andenes on the Lofoten Islands. If you “googlearth” this location you see a beach which looks out of the Norwegian Sea and towards the Arctic Ocean. Somewhat worryingly the next town is called Bleik! Scrolling around you find that you have agreed to be north of the Arctic Circle by some distance and level with Murmansk!
How then do we come to be heading for this destination? Well Jan and I have family in Norway, my brother lives in Sogndal and his children now grown up, my niece and nephew, live in Trondheim. We had decided it was time to visit them and take our motorhome to get there now the ferry from Newcastle to Bergen no longer runs. Now I’ve always been partial to a challenge or two and fresh from taking the motorhome around the Monaco F1 Grand Prix circuit some two weeks before Jenson Button won it last year, I decided that the Arctic Circle would be a good challenge for this year!
As it happened I was browsing Motorhome Facts Website looking for like-minded lunatics who had taken the journey and chanced upon a request for site assessors for the Alan Rogers Organisation. An email to Rod Wheat and some subsequent exchange of vital statistics, a face to face meeting with him at NEC this year, lead to us earning the Polo Shirt, the box of Aide Memoire and some training.
So we are now preparing for a 6 week 4 day trip from the UK to north Norway and back via Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands. Planning shows the round trip to be 4,500 miles. The trepidation and the questions then as we come closer to departure on 26th May and return planned for the 13th July? It’s a long way! Its a long way between each campsite. It’s still snowing in Norway… Will it just be drive, inspect, write up, sleep, wake up, drive, inspect, …… and see nothing?
Now having allayed some of these fears during training at HQ in Spelmonden, we thought we’d pop across the Channel for a few days in France stay on at least one Alan Rogers campsite and do a “dummy” inspection incognito just to try out what we had found out. This all went well until we returned to an aire near Boulogne to find our ferry had been cancelled, the gas ran out with cheese to be imported in the fridge and we met a lady from Scandinavia! She was from Sweden and on her way back from overwintering in Portugal and we started up the usual conversations. All went well until she responded to our explanations of what we were up to with. “Why do you want to go to Norway and Sweden? It is far too cold, go to Portugal instead!”
So with the thought of the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Convoys to Murmansk we start to wonder.
Roddd… ! Do we have Duffle Coats with the Alan Rogers Logo on?
Oh yes and the Lighthouse at the End of the World? It is painted red, located in Andenes on the Lofoten Islands and we’ll let you know if we ever manage to get there!
May 10th
Getting Closer to the Lighthouse at the End of The World
By Steve Jones
We were quite relieved to have been given three local sites to assess before going to the end of the World! We are just about to set off and “do” these over the next three days.
Having realised it was a long way to go on the main inspection run, I booked the Camper Van in to my local garage for a checkup for the brakes and tyres. It wasn’t really due for a service and it passed with flying colours. I have great faith in my garage as the owner races trucks in the UK and Europe! With a clean bill of health I thought that it would be of some interest to see what the inside of the “home” for the next 6 or so weeks would be.
We leave for Harwich soon and take an overnight (20 hour) crossing to Esbjerg. The route to Norway will be via Fredrickshavn/Oslo ferry which takes about 9 hours. We have no sites to visit on this part of the journey so will probably be able to take in the old capital of Denmark on the way north.
May 20th
The Lighthouse at the End of the World getting further away
By Steve Jones
Apart from an insane idea to drive a motorhome over the Arctic Circle the reason for going to Scandinavia was to visit my brother and his family who live in Norway. As you can imagine we have asked for updates on the route we intend to take and the weather. Part of the family lives in Sogndal and part in Trondheim and there are roots in the Lofoten Islands.
Jan and I are preparing the paperwork getting the van sorted and generally beginning to panic about what we have let ourselves in for. So the most recent update from Norway was as follows! We are transporting some speakers for him through customs and they keep rabbits which have radiators in their hutches ……
Late return from Trondheim, so short reply.
Not necessary with box for speakers – easier to pack unpacked?
Successful family meal in Trondheim for Gerda’s birthday.
Bit of an animal safari trip up and down. Saw 5 moose, 4 deer, 2 yaks (musk ox?) and collected yet another rabbit. Cleared the night-closed mountain road with two minutes to spare.
Seem to be still avalanches and floods and things closing roads further north – not wishing to put you off.
‘night, Martin
So are we put off?!
May 25th
The Lighthouse at the End of the World may need a Lifeboat!
By Steve Jones
Whilst doing last minute plans we decided to see what was the latest we could arrive at the first campsite on our list. Turns out it has closed, was it something we said? This was quite a remote campsite to visit so I contacted my brother to see what the best route to the next site on the list would be. Given that Norwegian roads can be a little tight for width at times we had originally intended to go north using the E6 and there is a site just north of Lillehammer where the Winter Olympics took place. However to take in the sites Rod suggested, we decided to do this park called Rustberg on our way back. It thus became an option again to do on the way up. So the reply from local knowledge came as
Major snow-melting at the moment. Don’t know whether this has closed your first campsite, but a neighbouring site to Rustberg was shown on the news a couple of days ago with caravans floating by!
I’m fairly sure we stayed at Rustberg some twenty years ago. The campsite was on the other side of the road to the flooding, up on a hillside – so it should be a safe “ haven”.
If this wasn’t enough he went on…
Further north (than you’re going) the E6 is washed away in several places! Major snow/mudslide in the mountains near Mosjøen, also due to sudden high temperatures causing melting of large amounts of snow accumulated in long(er than usual) cold winter.
Temperatures fallen again now though, so everything will be back to normal by the time you get here.
Eurovision song contest held in Oslo on Saturday 29th. Not quite sure how this might affect you.
When are you actually leaving?
Well as it happens we land in Oslo on Saturday 29th!
Jun 1st
The Lighthouse at the End of the World again
By Steve Jones
We crossed from Harwich to Esbjerg and visited the old capital of Denmark on the way up to another ferry from Frederickshavn to Oslo. We timed the crossing perfectly to arrive in Oslo on the day we came last in the Eurovision Song contest held in Oslo this year. Moving north through spectacular scenery with TomTom POI not helping greatly! Two out of three sites were way out. The current one for Haneset Camping near Roros is closer to a rival ACSI campsite than the AR one it is supposed to be showing!
Currently covered 1312 km since leaving home by road and 29 hours worth of ferry knots! So if Rod’s not listening that is 1312 times 23 pence which just about buys a kilo of apples in Norway. The food is expensive to say the least. We have visited 4 sites so far, although we should have been to 5 by this time but the first one on the list was closed down!
I’ve posted a couple of photos in my picture album of a delightful site in the Dovrefjell region, called Magalaupe. We are off next to Trondheim for a quick visit to relations before heading for Andenes and the lighthouse at the end of the world.
Jun 8th
By Steve Jones
We have travelled some 1500 miles since leaving the UK. 68.22 N and 14.21 E. We have used 3 ferries so far 20 hours. 9 hours and the 4 hour crossing to Lofoten. Last night in glorious sunshine we watched the Midnight Sun until 1.15 a.m. and a photo may follow if we can get a good connection.
We have seen many Bobil (Camping-Car/Motorhome) but very few from the UK. Here on Lofoten it seems to be mainly French and German travellers.
Andenes is the next stop but the Lofoten is so spectacular that we stop frequently to admire the views. The weather has been kind and it is easy to forget how far north you are in the sunshine until you look up at the snow on the peaks.
With luck then we get to the Lighthouse at the End of the World in Andenes tomorrow. Described in the Rough Guide to Scandinavia thus: “Lines of low slung buildings lead up to the clutter of wooden warehouses and mini boat repair yards that edge the harbour and its prominent breakwaters. Its the fish and that alone that draws people to Andenes”!
We shall see………
Jun 9th
The Lighthouse at the End of the World Reached
By Steve Jones
We arrived at Andenes Camping in freezing conditions having had sunshine since landing in Norway. To be honest it was an anticlimax because the road that passes through Bleik (the town which I was rude and unfair to in a previous blog) pronounced “Blake” in Norwegian was beautiful and we went by a camping site announcing hot water pools at 38 degrees C! It felt like -38 on the site we eventually reached after My POI had sent us somewhere else again!
There was no red carpet to greet us, in fact there was nobody around and a notice said if reception was closed then go to the camp reception at the Whale Centre near the lighthouse. Well that was it; we were off like a shot only to receive a “cool” welcome at the centre which was closing… “The manager might be in tomorrow? The service team could probably help when they arrived back at Andenes Camping at 18:00 that evening.”
What was left then? Obviously with the towering red lighthouse being the theme of the blog I felt a photo opportunity coming on and anyway it had stopped raining and a flash of blue sky was visible.
So the camera clicked and we headed back to the site to fill in the paperwork and make a list of what we needed to ask the manager if he/she turned up in the morning!
To cut a long story short we parked up in bitingly cold winds and rain but found some electricity and lo and behold things started to change like the song that began;
“Hello Mudda, hello farda, here I am at Camp Granada and true to the words outside the van I saw
“Wait a minute, its stopped raining…… however there was nobody prepared to go swimming or sailing, just a couple off for a stroll on the white sandy beach, complete with Helly Henson type rain gear!
I started to fill the report in and automatically checked to see if there were any unsecured wireless connections available? Found one but no signal…
After the evening meal I wandered round reception to find a young lad in the office as the site by now had filled with Bobils (Norwegian for Camping Car/Motorhome). He was to save the day despite it being his third day in what turned out to be his new holiday job! I suppose by now you have guessed that I could also tick the box on the sheets that say “Free WIFI”!
So now only 3000 more miles to get back home from the Lighthouse at the End of the World. Probably about the same number of German Camper Vans to share sites with on the way back.
Jun 11th
Return from the Lighthouse at the End of the World!
By Steve Jones
OK so once you have reached the goal what do you title the sequel? The inspiration for the original title was from Douglas Adams who wrote The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and various sequels in a volume subtitled a Trilogy in 4 parts! One of the parts was the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. As those who know Hitchhiker, Norway was designed by Slartibartfast and one of the more memorable quotes other than Marvin (the robot) “I think you ought to know I’m feeling very depressed.” was from Slarti talking to Arthur Dent before being transported to the place where he explained about designing Norway.
Slartibartfast:I must warn you, we’re going to pass through, well, a sort of gateway thing.
Arthur Dent: What?
Slartibartfast: It may disturb you. It scares the willies out of me.
More about “scared willies” later!
Having passed through our personal gateway, I guess we had to find something after the lighthouse to steer for and so we started heading home in a small way yesterday. This, or rather home, being about 4000 kilometres away at the moment! We travelled east to the city of Narvik which I remember from geography lessons some 50+ years ago was where iron ore from Sweden was exported by sea when the Baltic port (Lulea) froze over and so they built a railway linking Lulea and Narvik via Kiruna to take advantage of the fact it was ice free in winter. So a few prickles where felt at the back of my neck as we cruised by a sign that said E10 Lulea to the left and Narvik to the right. It hadn’t felt very ice free in Andenes! However we had left having found someone, called Maria, to talk to about the site and things started to look less miserable.
We arrived for the next visit at a lovely site in Harstad pronounced with a silent “d”, where “mine host” was an absolute star, witty and looked like a relative of Michael Schumaker! He greeted us with the fact that it was unusually cold for the time of year and that it was due to get warmer tomorrow.
He was right and today as we left “Harstar” it was and is gloriously sunny.
Now I hope Jan won’t mind but the roads have been getting narrower as we worked our way north to the red lighthouse. You can see why they only have 80 km (50 m.p.h) because in many places 2 k.p.h. is probably too fast! So we’ve done the shuffle past a lorry with both of us edging back and forward just centimetres from the crash barriers. Anyway you can tell it is getting narrow as Jan’s knuckles whiten as one hand grips the seat and the other the door “grab handle”! Today we rejoined the E10 and found that you had elbow room when lorries flashed by and a gap between us and the crash barriers and to cap it all a line down the middle of the road! Imagine the sense of awe and wonderment as in the distance appeared a road sign with a 90 k.p.h. speed limit on it. Well the van actually goes well at 90 k.p.h. and we usually use the N roads in France instead of Peage Autoroutes.
So it was pedal to the metal but almost immediately switched back to the brake pedal to slow down behind a line of at least 10 cars travelling at 50 k.p.h. about 30 miles an hour. This was a traffic jam by our current standards in Norway. So that was it, mental preparation began for a white knuckle overtaking manoeuvre. The “willies were just about to be scared out of the passenger again”! However it dawned on me that cars and even lorries were slowing down and some coming to a complete stop on the opposite side of the road when they reached us. The brain began to take over caution returned to the right balance and it was soon clear to see that we had joined a funeral cortege.
Here we were then with the throttle on low power, in glorious sunshine with a reminder to be thankful we were still very much alive, able to sit back to take in the view of fjords and snow-capped mountains. So pinch yourself and remember you are still some 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle with Louis Armstrong singing on the iPod as part of a Michael Parkinson Collection, “What a Wonderful World”!
Steve and Jan
Jun 19th
Return from the Lighthouse at the End of the World!
By Steve Jones
I almost subtitled this “Road Blog” but thought better of it but the journey was always going to be tough
to get back from the Arctic Circle given our timetable. However we were at first slightly alarmed and then amused to hear our TomTom announce when starting out in the morning “In 266 kilometres, at the roundabout, take the second exit!”
We completed the 1012 km (630 miles ) in two days and stopped to look at one new campsite which may break up the journey. The factfile for Norway shows that a town called Fauske is the mid-point of the E6 which runs north/south from top to bottom of Norway, avoiding most of Slartibartfast’s coastal design. A town called Mosjøen is said to be the mid-point of Norway and this is where we thought there was a promising looking site. It is an undersold town really because it has a fascinating mix of old wooden buildings forming the old waterfront and a modern shopping precinct and also has cafes and reataurants. The view from the E6 is overshadowed by a huge aluminium factory and other industrial complexes so the temptation is to drive on by. However it has access to the RV 17 or “Kystriksveien” which goes north to Bodø using 3 ferries and where you can catch a ferry that takes 4 hours to get to Lofoten but saves hours of driving and avoids the only ferry on the E6! This part goes round most of Slarti’s Crinkly bits and is arguably
the most beautiful. The road is described as the most beautiful journey in the World”. The southern part of the RV 17 from Mosjøen goes to Steinkjer uses 4 ferries and also does many of Slarti’s designs! Rod’s slavedriving meant we had to carry on the E6 as we wanted to have a short stay with family in Trondheim. If you think this is the last you have heard about ferries then…..
All too soon we were on the road again and took another ferry which we have become quite blasé about and so stayed in the van on the relatively short crossing. We had managed to miss a ferry by a couple of minutes but this meant we were first in the queue. We ended parked at the front behind the lifting bow section that they start lifting before the ferry docks. Generally ferries head for the old digger tyres on the jetty and park it with engines running up against the dock while the vehicles unload before turning virtually straight round for the return trip mooring ropes are just not the done thing…
We have continued to make good progress but at the last and unbelievably unique camp we were informed there may be a problem with the ferry. We later discovered, in the words of my relations
“Forgot about Molde ferry – it forgot to stop at the quay, but did anyway! Ferry Molde – Vestnes ; Vestnes quay expected to be repaired on Thursday (today). Emergency route between Molde and Vikebukt, with four smaller ferries. You should be OK, but could experience delays (even if quay repaired, due to one less ferry!!)”. We also heard that there were no casualties but one van was damaged! The photo below is not the ferry in question but the view from the van as we approached the end of one journey – the green in the foreground is the ramp on the ferry over which we will soon drive on to the concrete bit in front!
As we sat contemplating whether we can get to the next destination without taking the ferry and deciding that, thanks to Slartibartfast’s over ostentatious coastline design, this would probably be via Sweden, it was time to catch up on some paperwork.
The weather has taken a turn for the worst but not thankfully as bad as the sad news from the Var area in France. We were near Frejus last year… So I suppose this is in somewhat bad taste but the current campsite description says that it lies on the shores of the sheltered fjord which at this moment through the raindrops of our window has white-capped waves!
The last part of the journey here was one of those that you experience rarely. The Atlantic Ocean Road or Atlantahavsveien, designed to replace ferries, joins the island of Averøy to the mainland via a number of bridges and islands. It was stunning! It describes itself thus “This unique highway brings you out to where the mainland ends and the great ocean begins! Begun in 1983 and opened in 1989, 8 bridges had been created between islets and rocks”.
However we are soon off to do the Troll Road or Trollstigen which is described in the Rough Guide thus “The road negotiates the mountains by means of 11 hairpins with a maximum gradient of 1:12, but it is still a pretty straightforward drive until that is you meet a tour bus coming the other way – followed by a bit of nervous backing up and repositioning. Drivers and cyclists should be particularly careful in wet weather”. It snowed last night on the mountains above us and it’s raining now and has been for three days…..still we should make it shouldn’t we? Could be the return of the willies….
….. that’s as long as the ferry from Molde – Vestnes makes it in one piece!
Return from the Lighthouse at the End of the World – The Final Frontier or 2 or 3 or!
Needless to say we negotiated the Troll Road and spent some time in and around Sogndal with my family. We visited a couple of sites during the week and then three more on the way towards the first frontier which was the Swedish Border. We had a mixed bag of sites in Sweden but found one that took us 4 hours to walk round with a Pirate Theme running throughout the site. The west coast was beautiful and we found Hafstar Camping a delightful place to stay. However time was passing and we were finding ourselves away from home the longest we had ever been.
We’d given ourselves a break in Copenhagen to break the journey back and crossed with a ferry instead of the Oresund Bridge. A trip to the city centre found us entertained by a Jazz Festival but you visit this city to see the Little Mermaid.
Unfortunately all we found was a LCD screen showing a webcam image as she sits in at the Danish pavilion at the World Fair in Shanghai, China until February 2011!
We enjoyed Copenhagen but we were 6 weeks out and 5 campsites left. We’d missed the Oresund Bridge by taking a ferry to a campsite north of Copenhagen, however we crossed the Storebaelt Brdige skipping across the Danish Islands. There were still a couple of frontiers left so we headed for the first of two campsites in Germany. The second was in Bremen and we arrived the day Germany was competing in the semi-final of the World Cup. It was a quiet night and the flags disappeared from the cars the following day. We were left only with the need to explain that the lakeside beach was in easy reach after you pass the naturists beach first….. Thoughts of “Susie, what is the euphemism or standard AR wording for this description?”
As it happens we crossed another frontier into the Netherlands and needed the description again for the next campsite where the naturist beach was closer than the main beach. Must be something about lakeside beaches….. The Netherlands just didn’t do flags on cars but there was bunting everywhere including the site we spent the night at for the World Cup Final that turned out to be a quieter night than expected as well.
We spent our last night in Oude Maas which was close to the river and in fact we were kept awake by passing barges!
Statistics
22 campsites inspected in Norway, 5 in Sweden, 2 in Germany and 3 in the Netherlands.
7550 km covered, 4692 miles 689 litres of fuel costing £798. Furthest north was 69 degrees.