Scandanavian Journey Part 3 Forums

labbad

18th to 29th June

Made the final push to Trondheim on Monday the 18th to collect Alan from the airport. On the way I got a phone call to tell me he had missed the plane which was a major disappointment. I headed for a campsite just north of Trondheim called Gallberget really a nondescript kind of place which I don't remember too much about, however it was a place to doss for a day or two while awaiting Alan's arrival.
Had an early start and headed for Trondheim airport and collected Alan at 8 a.m.. He had got some sleep the previous night not much by all accounts but he felt good enough to stay going. So we headed north, as we had lost a day, and had a good early start we finished up covering 240 miles for the day and found a campsite at Skogmo near Bronnosund. It wasn't a great campsite but it did the job. Interestingly enough the auld fella who ran at the place told us we were the first Irish people to ever stay there. Again the weather was beautiful and it was a lovely drive beautiful countryside not spectacular scenery but interesting nonetheless. We stayed off the main highway the E6 and stuck to a coastal road.
Had a late start the following day Thursday the weather was again beautiful. Having got up I was fustering around filling up with water, disconnecting the electricity etc when I sat in the drivers seat thinking Alan was still in bed over my head I had the key in the ignition ready to start up when Alan walked out of the shower building, just as well he didn't take five minutes longer. We had decided to stop in a Shell station for a hotdog and coffee, which every Shell station sold the hotdogs were wrapped in rashers, I could have quite happily lived on them and nothing else.
The scenery on the journey that day was mind blowing, we covered a good distance but the journey was broken up between driving and ferry trips of which there were four up along the west coast of Norway. The ferry boats were not that expensive and were a welcome break as we were quite tired after the long run on the day before.
Found a lovely little side road at the entrance to a tunnel beside a stream with a waterfall so we decided to stay the night. Left it at around 9:30 a.m. the following day Friday. Went through the tunnel and funnily enough Alan said there would be somewhere beautiful at the other end of the tunnel where we could have parked and needless to say he was right. We exited the tunnel to majestic scenery and a beautiful parking spot. What harm we can't complain the scenery up to now varied between spectacular and just beautiful. We skirted the Svartisen Glacier which is the second largest in Europe, it can be quite clearly seen, this towering mass of ice between the mountain peaks with a long tongue moving down a valley towards a lake. There was a spot where you could get a boat across the lake and climb about two kilometres up to the ice. Alan headed off but I declined, I took out my deckchair and basked in the sun. It was amazing I was receiving texts from home about the terrible weather, and here I was 20 miles inside the Arctic Circle enjoying the most beautiful summer weather. Alan arrived back with a load of photos of the glacier.
We headed on to a town called Boda where we were picking up my youngest son David from the airport at around 1:30 a.m.. We checked out the airport first and then went looking for somewhere to put in a few hours while we waited. We went to have a look at the Saltstraumen Maelstrom which is under a bridge as you head into Bodo, however we hit it at the wrong stage of the tide, while the water was moving strong it wasn't what I imagined a Maelstrom should look like, considering it is supposed to be the worst in Europe. We found a nice little spot beside the sea to while away a few hours as we waited. Alan got out his fishing rod and in the following hour caught around a dozen fish, we couldn't decide whether they were cod or Pollok.
Collected Dadhi from the airport at around 1:30 a.m. and got to bed at about 3 a.m., of course this far north it was still daylight. We found a lovely parking spot beside a fjord and slept until 9:30 a.m. and got on the road at around 10 a.m. heading north towards Tromso. It rained a little for the first hour or two dried up around lunchtime it turned out to be a beautiful evening. The scenery was again beautiful, I got a slagging from the two lads about my love for photographing mountains (having been born in Killarney Co Kerry in south west Ireland I love mountains and lakes). Again found a lovely lay-by to park up for the night, beside a fjord, Alan and David went for a swim and tried a little fishing without success.
The following morning that would have been a Sunday the 24th the two lads went for another swim. Next thing we knew a tour bus of Swiss arrived in the lay-by and got out, and talk of getting in-your-face they all but got into the camper, an ignorant shower. We met and lovely English couple at this lay-by and had a nice chat with them. We pushed on north towards the North Cape, we found a small quite campsite beside a lake, across the lake in the mountains we could see a glacier which calved into the lake. We also met an nice German couple with two children and an Alsatian dog. The wife wanted some Irish euro's as she collected them, luckily I was able to oblige.
It was a beautiful evening so the awning was extended, the barbecue was taken out and we had a feed of pork chops and soapy Norwegian potatoes the whole lot was eaten with relish. Eventually we were driven indoors by the mosquitoes which attacked about 9 p.m..
The following morning was miserable, rain and cold as we headed out at around 9:30 a.m. still pushing north. At about 4 p.m. we got to a place called Alta which is near enough on a latitude of 70° north. We visited the museum where there are 6000-year-old rocks drawings which was quite interesting. We then discussed the whole question of whether we should push any further north, the books we had and the people we met all suggested The North Cape was a rip-off and not worth visiting. Time was also a factor, this was Monday the 25th and the two lads had to be back at the airport at Torp in seven days time, at this stage we had Finland and Sweden to spend some time in also.
In the end we decided to head south into Finland and covered hundred and sixty kilometres and found a nice restaurant. We were of course back dealing with euro's again. We all had beef stuffed with reindeer and chips which went down no trouble.
We left Finland the following day and headed into Sweden. We covered around 220 miles and arrived at a town called Jokkmokk we found a nice lay-by beside a lake and bedded down for the night. I woke up at around 5:30 a.m. with the sound of a mosquito buzzing in my ear,(I reckon I nearly went into shock from blood loss from feeding mosquitoes) David was also awake so we had a cup of coffee and headed south at around 9 a.m. we came to a town called Entikopme. We stopped at a hotel for breakfast, it was a buffet affair and cost 8euro a head but was worth every penny as we had a right feed. We stayed going till we got to a town called Oustersund. We found a lovely place to park in the centre of the town beside a river there were six or seven campers and caravans already there. We had grub and the two lads were able to go up the town for a drink as it was within easy walking distance. The following morning we decided we had enough of Sweden and headed west from Norway. Unfortunately our abiding memories of Finland and Sweden were mosquito bites and endless miles of trees on both sides of the road, 800 miles of trees in fact.
Found a grand place to park beside a river in a town called Os not far inside the Norwegian border at around 6 p.m