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I'm a newbie with a VW T5 174 planning the BIG DRIVE up north to the Lofoten Islands (or thereabouts) in August, and have read other Norway postings on here with interest.
I understand that it's not the easiest trip, in many respects, but my gf and I are determined to do it.
A few questions still remain unanswered, and wondered if you can help, please?
What will be the realistic travel time in days from either Bergen (limited ferry routes available from Newcastle) or Kristiansand (more routes available) to the arctic circle and beyond?
What are the roads like?
What is the traffic like?
What weather can I realistically expect in August?
How bad are the mossies and other lake insects, as we intend some lake/fjord kayaking?
How accessible are the fjords and lakes from roads?
Sorry, so many questions, answers to one or two would be appreciated!
A few questions still remain unanswered, and wondered if you can help, please?
What will be the realistic travel time in days from either Bergen (limited ferry routes available from Newcastle) or Kristiansand (more routes available) to the arctic circle and beyond?
A: If you avoid all sights and pretty places along the way (not advisable) and drive about 8-10 hours a day you could make it in 2-3 days one-way to the Polar Circle. Add 1-2 days if you start from Kristiansand.
What are the roads like?
A: The trunk roads are usually in excellent condition. Only on minor branch roads you may sometimes still hit gravel.
What is the traffic like?
A: Along the main roads, especially the E6, you will - seen from a Norwegian point of view - see a lot of traffic. But that is still much less than on an average UK motorway. Just be aware that speed limits are very strict, speed cams are not announced and even cloaked and fines for speeding are severe. Also be aware that especially at twilight elks or reindeer might cross the road.
What weather can I realistically expect in August?
A: All kinds of! Take that literally. Heavy rain, slight drizzle, gales, absolutely calm and pretty weather, fog, everything is possible. Temperatures may range between just above freezing (during the night) and up to 30 degrees C.
How bad are the mossies and other lake insects, as we intend some lake/fjord kayaking?
A: Difficult to say. Depending on weather, temperature, proximity to sweet water and many other conditions it will range from no mozzies at all to just terrible.
How accessible are the fjords and lakes from roads?
A: There are many places where you can park directly at the water and launch a canoe. Also many camp sites situated at the waterfront provide hire canoes and kajaks.
Best Regards,
Gerhard
______________________________________________________________ Euramobil Sport 585DS (C-class):
According to Autoroute 2006, Langesund to Bergen is 286 miles (460km approx). Autoroute picks the same route as Hagu shows, and gives a travelling time of approx 7 hours, including a 38 minute ferry trip, Kinsarvik to Kvanndal. This is really beautiful country, and I would take it a fair bit slower for the scenery alone. I remember (46 summers ago)driving from Nordfjordeid to Lillehammer and back in an old Skoda (they don't make them like that any more) fantastic trip The Skoda was painted a sort of beige/brown, the same colour as the road dust, so it looked the same colour whether it was needing a wash or just washed
Most of the roads were not tarmac at that time.
Go from Newcastle to Stavanger. From Stavanger towards Setesdal and make a detour to Kjerag.
http://www.alltheweb.com/search?advanced=1&cat=img&cs=utf8&q=kjerag&itag=crv&if%5B%5D=all&it%5B%5D=all&ibt= all&nooc=on&o=12
From Setesdal the choise is yours. You can go inland to avoid ferries or to Bergen and see more fjords. But you will se plenty fjords as you go north.
Best time to go north is june, starting of july. Late july and august is moscitoseason.
As a friend from Vadsų once said, Slap your thigh, if you kill less than 40, it is a bad year for moscitos.
Do not hesitate to contact me, I will do my best to help with info.
Livar@dubland.com
I don't think anyone has answered. The general speed limit is 80kph (50mph) 90kph (56mph) on motorway but there isn't much motorway as you have probably noticed. Of note also is a residential speed limit often 30kph (18mph). I'm going there in June and have been practising keeping below 50. Not easy, its only 1200rpm in 6th in my van.
Regards Frank
PS don't even think about a drink the limit is so low that the previous day's drinking may well take you over the limit.
______________________________________________________________ Regards Frank - - please follow me on twitter @FrankieBryant
Denn wir haben nichts in die Welt gebracht; darum offenbar ist, wir werden auch nichts hinausbringen.
RIP Peter and Fiona Our thoughts are with you Chris and Graham. Fighting with Mavis and Ray
Plusnet, Safari 5, G5 PowerPC iMac running OSX 10.5.8, Salisbury UK : Get behind early - it gives you more time to catch up.
The general speed limit is 80kph (50mph) 90kph (56mph) on motorway but there isn't much motorway as you have probably noticed.
Just some additions to Frank's posting:
There are only two general limits, and they are 50 kph (31 mph) in towns and 80 kph (50 mph) outside of towns. There is no general limit of 90 kph for motorways, officially even motorways in Norway (provided that you can find any, I did not succeed so far...) are limited to 80 kph. These general limits may be overridden by local signposts in both directions. So on dual carriageways (they do exist) you will frequently find signs allowing you 90 kph, however even here vehicles over 3.5 tons MTPLM have to stick to 80 kph. And rumour has it that meanwhile even some stretches are allowed up to 100 kph.
Some other traffic rules you might find a bit odd in Norway:
- (Dipped) headlights must always be on, even in broad daylight.
- The legal blood alcohol limit is 0.02 %, so practically zero, and infringements can get you jailed!
- In most of the "big cities" a congestion charge applies, however normally not on weekends or after 6 pm.
- It is common practice for slow vehicles to draw aside and give way if there is a sufficiently-wide hard shoulder.
And watch out for sheep, even in tunnels!
Best Regards,
Gerhard
______________________________________________________________ Euramobil Sport 585DS (C-class):
As said before, this is highly unpredictable. And the normal-sized mozzies are not that bad because you can keep them out of your van quite easily. However there lives also a kind of midges up there which can be quite nasty and flies through the common mosquito nets without any problem!
Best Regards,
Gerhard
______________________________________________________________ Euramobil Sport 585DS (C-class):
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France
Take that literally. Heavy rain, slight drizzle, gales, absolutely calm and pretty weather, fog, everything is possible. Temperatures may range between just above freezing (during the night) and up to 30 degrees C.
fantastic trip 
The Skoda was painted a sort of beige/brown, the same colour as the road dust, so it looked the same colour whether it was needing a wash or just washed 
Our thoughts are with you Chris and Graham. Fighting with Mavis and Ray 
