Thursday 2nd July

Up early today as the boat docked at Trondheim at 6.30am. After unloading all the cars, and grabbing a quick breakfast, we were ready for the long drive to Oslo.

First stop was the Nidarosdomen, or Nidaros Cathedral, in the centre of Trondheim. The early arrivals parked in front of the West Wall, but before we found them they had been asked to leave!

There was a bit of fog just as we left Trondheim, but apart from that it was a wonderfully hot and sunny day. We overtook Tom and Berit, then Martin and Yesca, just for photographic reasons of course.

It was a beautiful drive down a wide valley towards Roros, following a large salmon river. It was so pleasant to be in the cars again, and lovely to have sunshine.

We arrived in Roros at 11.30 giving us plenty of time for a walk round this UNESCO World Heritage site. Gathered around an old copper mine which operated up until the 1970s, the village contains one of the largest concentrations of old wooden houses in Norway.

Lunch was at a local hotel, and was traditional creamed moose stew followed by blueberry pie, served by the chef. This was the last time the entire group was all together so the first of the farewells started.

We then had a five hour plus drive to Oslo! The weather was still sunny which was nice at first but later we longed for sun visors as the newer cars had! We stopped for an ice cream at Koppang, then later at a rest site to stretch our legs. Mick found new employment as a wind screen washer man.

At the rest area we learnt that the lower section of the E6 road had recently been improved, using rusted crash barriers and fences to be easier on the eye, individually designed wooden bridges over the road to keep drivers interested, and LED lighting; impressive. They had also got the biggest concentration of wild lupins at the side of the road that we had yet seen.

We finally got to the hotel in Oslo at about 7.30, hot, tired and dusty. After checking in everyone ended up in the bar with cold beers! We were joined by Bjarne, Tove and their daughter and all 22 of us ate pizzas in the restaurant. Good food, but not very good service sadly. After temporarily fixing a fuel leak on the TR3, and saying lots more goodbyes, we collapsed into bed at around 11pm.

Miles driven : 352

 

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Wednesday 1st July

We managed to sleep late, and only just made it into the breakfast before it closed at 10am. For the first time on board I managed to get access to the Internet and so was able to update the blog. The weather had closed in and was grey and wet so we sat indoors and watched the world slide past.

After a lateish lunch most of our party continued to read or sleep. The scenery was gradually getting flatter and less interesting, though the increasing rain didn't help.

The only excitement in the afternoon was an hour stop at Bronnoysund where Mick, Mark and V went off in search of ice cream.

At 8pm, just before dinner, we all gathered in the library for a glass of fizz. Dave Burgess thanked Bjarne and Tove for a great trip, and Bjarne thanked us all for attending and becoming friends. Everyone agreed it had been a great experience!

 

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Tuesday 30th June. The Coastal Steamer

After a good night's sleep and breakfast we sat and watched the scenery glide past. We stopped at Risoyhamn then continued on through the Lofoten Islands.

After lunch we stopped in Sortland and visited the Hurtigruten museum and learnt the coastal steamer has been running since 1884, only interrupted for a short while by WWII. The reliability of the service is probably one reason that the north of Norway is so well populated. We later learnt that the government also offer tax advantages to those who live in the north.

Between Stokmarknes and Svolvaer we passed through the narrowest of the Lofoten fjords with some of the best scenery of the trip.

The captain took the boat on a short detour into the Trollfjord, a narrow (100m) very steep sided fjord. Our boat turned round in the small space, with it's bows nearly into the waterfall on the side, before resuming it's normal course.

After a quick glass of wine with Bjarne and Tove admiring their cabin upgrade, the boat stopped at Svolvaer and we all got off for a beer. We had driven past the outskirts of the town a few days earlier, but it appeared much bigger when approached from the seaward side, another indication of how important the sea trade is to these northern towns.

After dinner and a few drinks in the bar we finally saw a true midnight sun. There were virtually no clouds in the sky whilst we were in the bar, but, sadly, more arrived later. Everybody (nearly) gathered on the rear deck of the boat at midnight for drinks and photographs and we all took many pictures before retiring to bed.

Good day all round, more of the same for tomorrow.

 

 

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Monday 29th June

We woke earlier than we had hoped or expected, but felt remarkably awake. Our first stop of the day, 5 mins from the hotel, was at noon at the Alta Museum. We had a guided tour of the rock carvings there which mainly depicted hunting scenes and were dated from 2 to 7 thousand years ago. The red colouring had been added by archeologists in the 1970s when they had been found!

Lunch was at the museum, reindeer wraps with lettuce and a pink colourd sauce (cranberry yoghurt?), and then we were on the road again. Today was one of the few occasions when we had already driven the same roads once as we were headed south towards Skjervoy to pick up the coastal ferry

It was very cold, but sunny. Our first stop was at a Sami 'outlet centre', a set of rough huts at the side of the road. Three of us bought reindeer skins, and Tove tried on a splendid hat.

The scenery was wonderful yet again, as we followed Ian and Mary's Jag along the side of fjords. They stopped at a lookout point while we carried on with Bjarne. At one point we passed a cluster of our cars around the midget. Despite a visit to the garage at 8am, it had failed again, and Hans Gunter generously towed it the rest of the way. Several cars have had problems this trip, but this was the only time we had to resort to a tow bar. Two cars did fail to make the final trek up to Nordkapp, however all the people got there thanks to generous offers of lifts from those with spare space.

We all got to Skjervoy for the Hurtigruten boat in plenty of time, especially as the boat arrived slightly late! All co-drivers had to board separately, then the cars were tightly packed into the hold.

Dinner was a three course meal, at set tables. Though a coastal steamer, the boat is more like a smal cruise ship, with tours arranged at any port where we stay long enough. The sun actually broke through the clouds just before midnight, so we finally feel we have seen the Midnight Sun!

The boat docked in Tromso at 11.45 pm, and we all headed into town for a drink. Tromso is known as the Paris of the North, and seems to be a town which stays awake all night. Not quite sunny but it was still fully light as we walked past the harbour.

A welcome beer, then it was back to the boat for our departure at 1.30 in the morning, and a very welcome sleep.

 

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Sunday 28th June. We reach Nordkapp

We had a nice lazy start to today as the morning was basically free time. After breakfast I had a chance to catch up on emails and blogging, whilst Mick went and played with the car. At 1pm we all met up for a lovely lunch just down the street. Amongst the buffet were lots of fresh vegetables and a delicious reindeer ragout.

Back to the cars, and we drove south of Alta to Sorrisniva where we divided into two groups. Our group did the river safari first, after several of us borrowed warm overalls. Mick is beginning to talk about a new TR regalia item, one piece insulated driving suits.

The boats were an interesting design, very slim and with large outboard motors. Small padded seats gave us a comfortable ride, sitting in a line down the centre of the boat.

We were taken 21 kms up stream, passing meadows, trees and then into a narrow canyon with waterfalls on each side. The salmon fishing in river said to be some of best in Norway, and we passed a large fishing lodge used by the King of Norway when he comes to stay in the area. There is very little road access to the river, so there were many boats on the banks along the way.

The return trip was much colder, and we were very glad to get back and to meet the other group round an open fire surrounded by reindeer skin covered benches.

The two groups then swopped agendas, they went on the boat trip, while we went to the slate quarry on the side of valley.

Our guide was the third generation of a family working the slate, and his helpful nephew made four generations. He showed us a traditional slate worker's hut from earlier times, and also where they wait for the Northern Lights display in the winter (they run holidays just to see the lights!). Working the slate has always been a hand industry, though they are now assisted by powerful machines. The workers are very muscular, which Mick confirmed when he later lifted a 10kg lump hammer that our guide had been using like a toffee hammer. Their main market now is roof tiles, many of which we recognised later on houses in the Alta region. The slate is greyer and thicker than Welsh slate, more like a granite.

Our guide demonstrated how the slate is split, then we each had the chance to make a slate coaster. Great fun, and a good souvenir of our trip.

Our evening meal was in a circular building back by the river, heated by a huge open fire in the very middle of the room. Food was very good, but no wine as we still had a long drive in front of us.

We left at 8.45pm, just as the rain started. The drive to Nordkapp took just under four hours, and it rained the whole way. Despite this the scenery was still awesome. We crossed a high plateau, then followed the edge of a fjord, with mountains glimpsed through the low cloud and mist. Small communities, and the occasional town were scattered across the whole area.

The TR3 is not a good vehicle for rainy weather! We got wetter then when we had the roof down, and developed synchronised wiping of the drips as we drove.

As we got further north and the land opened up we started to see reindeer at the sides of the road, eating the sparse grass. Dave Burgess had a reindeer jump the crash barrier just in front of him!

We finally arrived at Nordkapp at 24.40, just as the earlier arrivals from our group were allowed to drive up to the globe sculpture by the headland. We all parked, and many photos were taken as we enjoyed the feeling of having achieved our objective. It was still raining, and very cold, but the rain finally stopped just before we left at 01.20. Sadly the shop and toilets had all closed at 1am, so no souvenirs, and crossed legs for the return trip.

It was a long way back to Alta, but a more relaxed drive and we had the time to stop and take some photos of the reindeer. At least we didn't have to worry about driving in the dark.

The sun came out on our way back!

We got back to Alta around 4.40 in the morning, together with the final three cars of our group, and went straight to bed!

Total mileage for the day was 329 miles. Total mileage Oslo to Nordkapp: 1720 miles.

 

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