Lack of energy
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Sunday, 19 August 2007
Scandanavian Trip
!0th to 13th June
Boarded the Irish Ferries ship the Isle of Inishmore in Rosslare heading for Pembroke in Wales at around 7:30 a.m... It’s about a four hour trip and the sea was calm so it was a very pleasant crossing.
I was surprised to discover that diesel is about one pound Stirling a litre which worked out at about €1.47 a litre compared to Ireland’s 1Euro a litre approx.
I picked out a campsite at Tuxford about halfway to the Port of South Shields in Newcastle upon Tyne, so on the Saturday morning I headed north. It was my first time working with coordinates on the sat nav and it worked out very well, I arrived at a lovely campsite. The campsite has wireless Internet access, my laptop I discovered is missing some software and I was unable to access the Internet. This was unfortunate as I had intended finding a campsite in Stavanger in Norway when I arrived there. This turned out not to be a problem at any rate as I had enough reading material to locate a campsite from the book supplied by Scandinavian camping company.
I got up on the Sunday morning at around 9 a.m. attempted to boil my small electric kettle with my new inverter which I bought from eBay it is supposedly a one thousand watt with two thousand watt peak, it nearly freaked out when I plugged in my little electric kettle. Made my cup of tea on the gas and had my breakfast.
At around 11 a.m. I headed for Newcastle and reached the docks at South Shields at about 2:40 p.m. miles ahead of time, I had a long day hanging around waiting for the boat, which I boarded at around 11 p.m.. The camper was searched by a very polite customs official whom I had a good chat with about scuba diving in west Cork. His main concern was that I did not have anybody else hidden in the camper.
Having boarded the vessel I headed for my cabin, it was an internal cabin, that is there were no windows/ports the cabin itself was okay it had a bathroom with shower, it was functional. The biggest drawback I found was the heat, which I could not control. However despite this I eventually got to sleep and was in no hurry to get up the following day. Needless to say when I did get up and go for something to eat the food was outrageously expensive, but that was not unexpected.
In Stavanger having disembarked I headed for Stavanger camping to spend the night. It was in a lovely location but the campsite was a bit of a disaster. There were no marked stands everyone was higgledy-piggledy parked on wet grass; I couldn’t get connected to electricity which was no great loss in the circumstances. But I was a bit worried about getting out of there in the morning so parked carefully and had no trouble.
I woke at the ungodly hour of 5:30 a.m. and decided to make an early start. The campsite while not quite in the middle of the city, but was surrounded by city and I decided that driving on the left as a beginner, that the quiet of the early morning might be the best time to make a move after a quick cup of tea I headed out. I was quite nervous at the start but quickly got into the run of things. I headed north and got my first baptism of Norway’s favourite pastime which seems to be “digging tunnels”. There were two tunnels going under a fjord the first is the deepest underwater tunnel in the world it just seemed to go down forever, my ears popped. They were not the longest tunnels I encountered but they certainly were an eye opener. Shortly after the second tunnel I had my first experience of another Norwegian standard transport method which is the car ferry, especially going up the west coast between all the little islands and head lands. A 25 minute crossing cost around €17.
Travelled through beautiful countryside not dissimilar to what you would find in West Cork, Kerry and up the west coast of Ireland.
Stopped at a supermarket and bought the makings of sandwiches. Bought a packet of cooked ham which had the delightful name of “skinke” and some rolls and had a grand lunch.
I had left Ireland with over euro 40 credit on my phone this was reduced to around 10 euro with very little effort in around a week of roaming with Meteor, with over a month in Norway still facing me I decided to try and buy a Norwegian SIM card for my phone. I had heard that Norwegian SIM cards have to be registered so you must have a local address. However this did not turn out to be totally correct, the sim card has to be registered, but you can register it with your passport as a visitor registration. I met two local girls who worked in a Shell filling station they both spoke perfect English and were extremely helpful. They translated the registration form for me and helped me fill it in, they then faxed the form to the relevant authority, and in about 20 minutes I had my new SIM card which cost me around €10. I also had 250 NK credit which is a little over 30 euro which lasted me right up to the week before I returned home four weeks later (heavy use).
This brings up another point everyone in Norway from the youngest to eldest spoke English, when I asked the two girls about this they informed me that they start to learn English from the time they are four to five years of age, this made life very easy for me.
So having been fed with skinke sandwiches and with my new phone number I again headed north towards a town called Odda which I had decided would be my first stop on the road.
The second half of my first day in Norway set the scene for rest of the holiday I will never forget the journey to 0dda it was without doubt breathtakingly beautiful as snow-capped mountains, magnificent waterfalls and a fjord with the water so blue it was hard to believe, all unfolded before my eyes. I wrote earlier about how impressive the first two tunnels were but can now tell you they were puny compared to the tunnels I travelled through on the second-half of the day.
I reached 0dda at around three thirty and found the campsite Odda Camping without any bother thanks to the sat nav. It was a lovely site at the head of a fjord named Sarfjorden surrounded by mountains, right beside the sea. I discovered that my electric cable had the wrong connections for Norway which use the two pin system rather than the more usual three pin system. However the campsite owner most obliging lent to me a short lead with a two pin plug at one end and the three pin plug at the other end which allowed me to connect to the electricity outlet, he also before I left the following morning sold me the lead for around eight euro, this sorted my problem for the rest of the holiday.
Cooked up dinner spuds, pork chops and a turnip that my son Brian had put in the camper for a laugh. Got to bed early as I was knackered after my first day which I was delighted with.
The problem with going to bed early is one has the tendency of waking very early also, so after a cup of tea and a slice or two of bread I started on the road at 7:40 a.m.. The road wound along beside the fjord for about 40 miles it was absolutely beautiful. However the road was quite narrow and I met quite a few articulated lorries and tourist buses coming against me at speed I found this a little nerve wracking and the cause of a few skidmarks which were not necessarily on the road surface. Having reached the end of the road beside the fjord I hung a right at Vansbygd and headed towards Bjorkestolen which was my next choice of a campsite to spend the night, my journey for the day amounted to around 160 miles. Anyway I’m getting ahead of myself having turned right at Vansbygd the road started climbing up into the mountains. This was a total contrast to the earlier scenery it now started to become rugged and rough, raging torrents of rivers with massive volumes of water, waterfalls by the score and snow in all directions. There were 10 to 15 foot drifts of snow on both sides of the road; both sides of the road were also marked with 15 to 16 foot long bamboo sticks these were used to mark the sides of the road for the snowploughs. These mountains are not extraordinarily high I am talking about between 3000 and 4000 feet high at the most.
The campsite at Bjorkestolen was again very pretty beside a river, it was well packed with what seemed to be permanent accommodation there weren’t too many of the mobile homes or caravans occupied.
8 a.m. Thursday 14th and I am out of bed having good intentions, decided to make a hot breakfast so put on the porridge unfortunately used too much water and drank the porridge like tea, so much for that good intention. Made it to the road for 8:50 a.m. and headed towards Dokka, for the first time since I left my home on the 4th of June, the morning was dull and overcast. I was again climbing mountains and as I got through Hovda I ran into a full blown blizzard the snow was coming down thick and heavy, this went on for over half an hour. The morning in general was wet and miserable and I seemed to spend forever going up one side of a mountain and down the other in very poor visibility and at very low speed. When I reached Lillehammer the site of the 1994 winter Olympics the weather cleared and I had a lovely run north beside a river called Lagen. Not spectacular scenery but very pleasant later in the evening the wind got up and I got a bit of a shaking in the van.
I called in to a little country garage to get a fill of diesel and the woman behind the counter must not have liked the look of me as she told me that my Visa card was no good so I had to pay her with cash, this was a worry at the time because if she was correct and there was a problem with my credit card it might have been a very short holiday. However I soon discovered my credit card was okay and the entire episode was a result of her dirty suspicious little mind and I a picture of innocence.
The day finished exactly the opposite to how it started with the sunshine back, it was a beautiful summer’s evening. The campsite called Saeta was beside at beautiful broad river the same River Lagen which was now filled out the whole setting was very picturesque.
Woke at around 7 a.m. on Friday the 15th to a most beautiful day. Decided to spend the day with a few jobs that needed to be done. Tidied and cleaned for a start, my main ambition today was to get a loose fan belt tightened. With this in mind I spoke with the site owner and asked him where I could go to find a mechanic to tighten the fan belt and stop it screeching. Now the Norwegian for car is bil so the garage he sent me to was called Oya Bil when I got there, there were two mechanics out sick so they could not do the job and they sent me to another garage called, wait for it “Killi Bil”. Unfortunately they were unable to help me either.
At this stage I returned to the camping site got out my deck chair and turned my belly to the sun.
I was slowly winding my way towards Trondheim where I was to collect my son Alan. Ryanair have flights between Dublin and Oslo for 40 euro return and I was able to get him a one-way ticket from Oslo to Trondheim for €53. He was arriving on the 18th and Saeta campsite was around 200 km from Trondheim so it was within easy striking distance and I had three days to get there.
Now a weird thing happened on the following day Saturday the 16th. Woke up at around 7:30 a.m. poked around the camper had something to eat had a wash didn’t have to shave as I had decided to become hairy. At about 8:30 a.m. I opened the blinds to behold the German gentleman who had his caravan next door and his big Volvo car with a mechanic buried under the bonnet from Killi Bil garage. I asked the mechanic when he had finished with the German to tighten my fan belt which he did for the equivalent of about €10 which he didn’t want to take, fair dues to him.
I went on the road at around 10 a.m. heading for Domas which was a lovely journey not spectacular the road wound along a beautiful valley the river Lagen at its centre and snow covered hills down both sides. I pushed on to Andalsnes at the head of Romsdalsfjorden and stopped at a Statoil station to get diesel, as I suspected the Visa card was perfectly okay it even got a hotdog smothered in potato salad (so much for my diet) for me. I decided on lunch at around 12:30 p.m. so found a little layby beside a small waterfall in an idyllic spot.
Anyway I continued on the road which was very picturesque till I came to a lake called Eikisdalsvatnet which is a small lake by their standards but it was without doubt one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, I found a good spot beside a small stream with a waterfall coming off the mountain. I decided when eating to try “wild camping”. Legally in Norway you are entitled to camp anywhere you wish, the restrictions being that you are outside 150 m of a dwelling house and it’s not agricultural land, once these criteria are filled nobody can say boo to you, this is not the full list of criteria but the main points. The lake was surrounded by snow-capped mountains that fell shear into the water, the place was totally awesome. I also had my first experience in this spot of the midnight sun, I woke up at around 2 a.m. and it was as bright as when I went to bed at 12:30 a.m..
In the morning I had to give the van a blast of the heater for a while as it was quite chilly at around 7 a.m., not but it was another glorious sunny morning. I left this beautiful spot at around 9:30 a.m. and headed for Molde then on to Kristiansund and Trondheim. I found a large layby near Kristiansund and stopped for a cup of tea I then dozed off until about 5:30 p.m.. I was now within 60 km of Trondheim and I found a lovely spot beside the sea it looked like an old cleared building site of four or five acres. There were four other camper vans there before me so I had company for the night.
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. Crossed the artic circle on a ferry the circle is marked on the shore with a sculpture
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 a 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 a 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
30 June to the 8th July
We left Oz and headed towards Oslo the first town we came to was called Roros it is a world Heritage site, the centre of the town has century old houses on little narrow streets that are architecturally significant. We travelled through Lillehammer which was the 1994 Winter Olympic host town, at this stage it struck me as being a small and nondescript kind of place. We finished up in Dokka where we’re booked in to a campsite to get a fill of water and our toilet emptied, David tried the showers and they were useless. We went for a Chinese meal in Dokka and it was a fine feed for around €10ahead.
Saturday the 30th saw us leaving Dokka at around 12 midday, having got stuck in the wet grass, we did a fair good job of ploughing up the sites lawn, we got out of there as quick as we could. Meandered down towards Oslo beside a lovely lake, we had intended staying in a campsite outside Oslo but couldn’t find it so finished up in a campsite in Oslo called Ekeberg which was bloody expensive at around 295 kroner (€33) a night. However it was a beautiful site on a hill overlooking Oslo with every amenity imaginable.
Our first stop in Oslo on the Sunday was the museums which are all reasonably close together in a particular part of the city. I was interested in the old Viking ships of which there were three dating back to the eighth and ninth centuries they were very impressive. From there we went to the Kon Tiki Museum where we saw Tor Heyerdahls two craft the Kon Tiki and the Ra which he used on his expeditions, finally Amundsens Museum which housed the ship that he used to travel to the South Pole. Returned to the city centre where I found parking, Alan and David went for a walk around the city while I made a cup of tea and dossed. Returned to Ekeberg for the night.
On the Monday we headed towards Torp airport at our ease, we went on a round about sort of way through Drammen, Konsberg, Notodden, Quarve and Skien. We found a handy place to park at the railway carpark at Porsgrunn.
Went for a Chinese which wasn’t great I had lamb which was rubbery Alan came out the best he had chicken satay David had squid which was also rubbery. We got a fill of diesel in Shell station which also had a system for emptying the toilet and we got a fill of fresh water.
Tuesday the third, the lads last day, torrential rain all day, went to the airport where we parked up made tea and read until it was time for them to leave at 6:30 p.m.. At 7 p.m. my other son Brian and a friend Alison arrived and we went to the railway carpark at Porsgrunn again where we bedded down for the night. At 12 midnight we got a rude awakening, there was a most spectacular display of fireworks over the town, I still do not know what it was for.
We left the car park at around 8 a.m. and headed north it was raining and a miserable day. As we got into the mountains we had some beautiful views of the mountains shrouded in clouds as we got higher the snow became heavy on the ground on both sides of the road in places and there were 10 to 15 foot high drifts. We finished up in a place called Rodal, in a beautiful campsite surrounded by mountains, there were literally dozens of waterfalls coming down the mountains due to the heavy rain.
On Thursday we continued north towards 0dda. Brian was hoping to see the glacier Folgetonni which is the third largest in Europe. The road to 0dda was again spectacular. We stopped in Odda and parked down near the quay, the two lads went for a walk around the shops I had a snooze. It was a very pretty town with some very colourful buildings. Headed for the glacier and finished up in a tunnel that went under the glacier an 11 km tunnel that seemed to go on and on and on. So we finished up on the other side just near enough to get a few distant photos of the glacier.
Stopped in another beautiful little village called Rosendal and had a few ice creams and a cup of tea. Continued to Yesse and found a campsite on a hill overlooking a fjord called Handangerfjord with the little village of Yesse in the distance at the head of the fjord it was really beautiful.
Voringfossen the waterfall was our next stop, so we left our lovely campsite at 10 a.m. and headed in that direction, about 90 km away. The sat nav must have been set for the shortest route because it took us over a narrow little mountain track about the width of the van, definitely skid mark time again. It was a bit scary but we got through it and the views were spectacular, however progress was painfully slow and at 12:30 p.m. we had just about half of the 90 km covered. We had to cross Eidjford for the second leg of the journey so we got a ferry at Bruravik to Brimnes. Travelled through Eidfjord and on to Handanger Nature Centre there was a clothes shop that sold native woollens which are very colourful, we bought a few bits and pieces, but that is not the end of that story more later. It wasn’t far from there to the waterfall but was uphill all the way, we climbed to about 2000 feet up a spectacular mountain road. The waterfall is the highest in Europe with a straight drop of over 600 feet is really spectacular. After the viewing we made some tea and had a few sandwiches before continuing on the road. We only travelled a short distance when we saw what we thought was as stone dam, a little further on we came across a small road that seemed to lead in the direction of the dam we followed this road and came to a car park overlooking the dam. It was a most spectacular and beautiful spot. You could look back down the valley for miles and miles, behind the dam you had the reservoir and beyond that the mountains covered in snow and the mass of a glacier between the mountain peaks, the place was really something special.
Left at around 10 a.m. the following morning that was Saturday the seventh and headed for Hamer it was a beautiful journey across the top of Norway with plenty of snow on the ground. Had a good feed of hamburgers and chips in Dokka and got a fill of diesel as well. Reached Hamer and stopped at a campsite called Hedfortoppen which was full to the gunwales it was so full there were stewards out in yellow jackets directing traffic, we discovered it was some kind of a religious festival/meeting. Our Irish number plates got some peculiar looks, Irish Catholics they were not, so we got out of there as fast as we could. We went into Hamer which is just south of Lillehammer and found the carpark to the ice skating stadium for the 1994 Winter Olympics, there were half a dozen campers and caravans there already it was a grand spot beside a river.
Had a look around the Olympic Hall on the Sunday morning before we left, thought it was surprising that it was all closed up, I thought there should have been some few locals out practising or training etc. We headed for Oslo and arrived there around 12:30 p.m. Brian and Allison headed off to have a look around the city they were not interested in museums, but had a good look around the shops.
9th July to 16th July
Later we headed for Torp airport, we found a mediocre campsite about 20 miles from the airport beside a raging torrent of a river.
Monday the ninth Brian’s last day, the rain was bucketing down we stayed in the campsite until around 1 p.m.. As we had intended to travel to Sweden after dropping Brian at the airport we first went to the ferry terminal to check on times and prices. We then made our way to the airport and dropped Brian at around 4:45 p.m. after which we returned to the car ferry at Sandefjord and got the ferry to Stromstad in Sweden. We arrived in Sweden rather late it was 11 p.m. but we were lucky enough to find a carpark with plenty other campers and caravans and parked up for the night.
The following morning Tuesday the 10th we left Stromstad at 9 a.m. for lake Venem. We had intended spending two or three days in Sweden driving around the lake, however we were in Sweden the scenery returned to tree-lined roads with a few fields here and there. It was 357 miles around the lake and we did it in one-day, the lake is supposed to be beautiful but in those miles we saw it for about five minutes and we couldn’t get near it. We returned to Stromstad and went to a pub restaurant and had a lovely meal. We returned to the same car park and left for Norway the following morning on the 10 o’clock sailing.
We decided to see some of the south coast of Norway so we headed for Larvik and on to Kristansand a few miles before Kristansand we found an unusual campsite called Moglestue in the haggard of a farmyard run by an old woman who was quaint to say the least. We were told to stay away from the field on the left as they would be digging the spuds the following day. We found a grand spot under an old oaktree, we were able to connect to the electricity surprisingly enough and the amenities weren’t bad either.
The following morning we discussed what we would do next, remember what I said about the clothes shop at Eidfjord, it seems the clothes at this shop where half the price compared to the shops in Oslo so I was informed, so we(?) decided to head back in that direction for the remaining few days, it also took us through the best of the scenery again.
We left the farmyard and headed north there looked to be an interesting road running beside two lakes. It was a beautiful drive with fabulous scenery all the way from rolling fields to spectacular ravines with the quaint little villages at the base of towering mountains. We finished up that night in such a village the descent into the village was another skid mark situation, for 20 minutes, it included 20/30 hairpin bends down the side of a mountain, with the rich smell of hot brake linings. The campsite we stayed at was called Buoy in the town of Dalan. On the valley floor surrounded by mountains with a fine broad River it was majestic campsite large spacious and well laid out, it had all the amenities and they were first-class.
Left the campsite at about 10:30 a.m. and headed for the Trollwollen shop at Eidjford which was about 150 miles away through Rodal and Odda, one of the most beautiful drives in Norway, spectacular scenery around every bend in the road. Alison enjoyed the shopping I had a great chat with the shop owner he spoke perfect English and was a mine of information.
We went back to the car park at the dam and stayed another night.
Left the dam car park for the final time and headed back towards the ferry crossing we has used when Brian was around at Brimnes to Bruravik. Headed in the direction of Bergen on the coast. The scenery as well as the weather was beautiful, we found a carpark high up on a hillside overlooking a fjord named Bjornafjorden at around 5 p.m. the place is called Fusa and we settled down for the night. The wind got up with rain and we had a stormy night.
The Sunday morning was still rough, weather wise so we sat where we were until 1 p.m. we headed south in the rain and came to Grindfjorden which is about 40 km north of Stavanger. We found a beautiful campsite beside the fjord one of the very few we found with a hard surface. It was a beautiful spot beside the fjord with the mountains on the other side.
Finally the last day has arrived, headed for the docks at Stavanger at around 11 a.m. in miserable weather. We arrived there much much too early and had to hang around for a number of hours, eating drinking tea, reading, time passed. Alison headed up town for a walk around and to see a few shops.
Boarding time arrived and got settled on board. Went for a meal and had a large steak which was outrageously priced. Slept no problem and woke early went for breakfast around 8 a.m. it was a buffet affair where you could eat as much as you wanted, which I did and made up for overpriced steak the night before. It is a full day’s voyage that seemed unending however it should be said the sea was kind both coming and going, it was flat calm on both occasions which considering the reputation of the north sea was a blessing.
Finally disembarked in Newcastle at around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday the 16th and headed for Manchester and on to Pembroke the following day.
Boarded the Irish Ferries ship the Isle of Inishmore in Rosslare heading for Pembroke in Wales at around 7:30 a.m... It’s about a four hour trip and the sea was calm so it was a very pleasant crossing.
I was surprised to discover that diesel is about one pound Stirling a litre which worked out at about €1.47 a litre compared to Ireland’s 1Euro a litre approx.
I picked out a campsite at Tuxford about halfway to the Port of South Shields in Newcastle upon Tyne, so on the Saturday morning I headed north. It was my first time working with coordinates on the sat nav and it worked out very well, I arrived at a lovely campsite. The campsite has wireless Internet access, my laptop I discovered is missing some software and I was unable to access the Internet. This was unfortunate as I had intended finding a campsite in Stavanger in Norway when I arrived there. This turned out not to be a problem at any rate as I had enough reading material to locate a campsite from the book supplied by Scandinavian camping company.
I got up on the Sunday morning at around 9 a.m. attempted to boil my small electric kettle with my new inverter which I bought from eBay it is supposedly a one thousand watt with two thousand watt peak, it nearly freaked out when I plugged in my little electric kettle. Made my cup of tea on the gas and had my breakfast.
At around 11 a.m. I headed for Newcastle and reached the docks at South Shields at about 2:40 p.m. miles ahead of time, I had a long day hanging around waiting for the boat, which I boarded at around 11 p.m.. The camper was searched by a very polite customs official whom I had a good chat with about scuba diving in west Cork. His main concern was that I did not have anybody else hidden in the camper.
Having boarded the vessel I headed for my cabin, it was an internal cabin, that is there were no windows/ports the cabin itself was okay it had a bathroom with shower, it was functional. The biggest drawback I found was the heat, which I could not control. However despite this I eventually got to sleep and was in no hurry to get up the following day. Needless to say when I did get up and go for something to eat the food was outrageously expensive, but that was not unexpected.
In Stavanger having disembarked I headed for Stavanger camping to spend the night. It was in a lovely location but the campsite was a bit of a disaster. There were no marked stands everyone was higgledy-piggledy parked on wet grass; I couldn’t get connected to electricity which was no great loss in the circumstances. But I was a bit worried about getting out of there in the morning so parked carefully and had no trouble.
I woke at the ungodly hour of 5:30 a.m. and decided to make an early start. The campsite while not quite in the middle of the city, but was surrounded by city and I decided that driving on the left as a beginner, that the quiet of the early morning might be the best time to make a move after a quick cup of tea I headed out. I was quite nervous at the start but quickly got into the run of things. I headed north and got my first baptism of Norway’s favourite pastime which seems to be “digging tunnels”. There were two tunnels going under a fjord the first is the deepest underwater tunnel in the world it just seemed to go down forever, my ears popped. They were not the longest tunnels I encountered but they certainly were an eye opener. Shortly after the second tunnel I had my first experience of another Norwegian standard transport method which is the car ferry, especially going up the west coast between all the little islands and head lands. A 25 minute crossing cost around €17.
Travelled through beautiful countryside not dissimilar to what you would find in West Cork, Kerry and up the west coast of Ireland.
Stopped at a supermarket and bought the makings of sandwiches. Bought a packet of cooked ham which had the delightful name of “skinke” and some rolls and had a grand lunch.
I had left Ireland with over euro 40 credit on my phone this was reduced to around 10 euro with very little effort in around a week of roaming with Meteor, with over a month in Norway still facing me I decided to try and buy a Norwegian SIM card for my phone. I had heard that Norwegian SIM cards have to be registered so you must have a local address. However this did not turn out to be totally correct, the sim card has to be registered, but you can register it with your passport as a visitor registration. I met two local girls who worked in a Shell filling station they both spoke perfect English and were extremely helpful. They translated the registration form for me and helped me fill it in, they then faxed the form to the relevant authority, and in about 20 minutes I had my new SIM card which cost me around €10. I also had 250 NK credit which is a little over 30 euro which lasted me right up to the week before I returned home four weeks later (heavy use).
This brings up another point everyone in Norway from the youngest to eldest spoke English, when I asked the two girls about this they informed me that they start to learn English from the time they are four to five years of age, this made life very easy for me.
So having been fed with skinke sandwiches and with my new phone number I again headed north towards a town called Odda which I had decided would be my first stop on the road.
The second half of my first day in Norway set the scene for rest of the holiday I will never forget the journey to 0dda it was without doubt breathtakingly beautiful as snow-capped mountains, magnificent waterfalls and a fjord with the water so blue it was hard to believe, all unfolded before my eyes. I wrote earlier about how impressive the first two tunnels were but can now tell you they were puny compared to the tunnels I travelled through on the second-half of the day.
I reached 0dda at around three thirty and found the campsite Odda Camping without any bother thanks to the sat nav. It was a lovely site at the head of a fjord named Sarfjorden surrounded by mountains, right beside the sea. I discovered that my electric cable had the wrong connections for Norway which use the two pin system rather than the more usual three pin system. However the campsite owner most obliging lent to me a short lead with a two pin plug at one end and the three pin plug at the other end which allowed me to connect to the electricity outlet, he also before I left the following morning sold me the lead for around eight euro, this sorted my problem for the rest of the holiday.
Cooked up dinner spuds, pork chops and a turnip that my son Brian had put in the camper for a laugh. Got to bed early as I was knackered after my first day which I was delighted with.
The problem with going to bed early is one has the tendency of waking very early also, so after a cup of tea and a slice or two of bread I started on the road at 7:40 a.m.. The road wound along beside the fjord for about 40 miles it was absolutely beautiful. However the road was quite narrow and I met quite a few articulated lorries and tourist buses coming against me at speed I found this a little nerve wracking and the cause of a few skidmarks which were not necessarily on the road surface. Having reached the end of the road beside the fjord I hung a right at Vansbygd and headed towards Bjorkestolen which was my next choice of a campsite to spend the night, my journey for the day amounted to around 160 miles. Anyway I’m getting ahead of myself having turned right at Vansbygd the road started climbing up into the mountains. This was a total contrast to the earlier scenery it now started to become rugged and rough, raging torrents of rivers with massive volumes of water, waterfalls by the score and snow in all directions. There were 10 to 15 foot drifts of snow on both sides of the road; both sides of the road were also marked with 15 to 16 foot long bamboo sticks these were used to mark the sides of the road for the snowploughs. These mountains are not extraordinarily high I am talking about between 3000 and 4000 feet high at the most.
The campsite at Bjorkestolen was again very pretty beside a river, it was well packed with what seemed to be permanent accommodation there weren’t too many of the mobile homes or caravans occupied.
8 a.m. Thursday 14th and I am out of bed having good intentions, decided to make a hot breakfast so put on the porridge unfortunately used too much water and drank the porridge like tea, so much for that good intention. Made it to the road for 8:50 a.m. and headed towards Dokka, for the first time since I left my home on the 4th of June, the morning was dull and overcast. I was again climbing mountains and as I got through Hovda I ran into a full blown blizzard the snow was coming down thick and heavy, this went on for over half an hour. The morning in general was wet and miserable and I seemed to spend forever going up one side of a mountain and down the other in very poor visibility and at very low speed. When I reached Lillehammer the site of the 1994 winter Olympics the weather cleared and I had a lovely run north beside a river called Lagen. Not spectacular scenery but very pleasant later in the evening the wind got up and I got a bit of a shaking in the van.
I called in to a little country garage to get a fill of diesel and the woman behind the counter must not have liked the look of me as she told me that my Visa card was no good so I had to pay her with cash, this was a worry at the time because if she was correct and there was a problem with my credit card it might have been a very short holiday. However I soon discovered my credit card was okay and the entire episode was a result of her dirty suspicious little mind and I a picture of innocence.
The day finished exactly the opposite to how it started with the sunshine back, it was a beautiful summer’s evening. The campsite called Saeta was beside at beautiful broad river the same River Lagen which was now filled out the whole setting was very picturesque.
Woke at around 7 a.m. on Friday the 15th to a most beautiful day. Decided to spend the day with a few jobs that needed to be done. Tidied and cleaned for a start, my main ambition today was to get a loose fan belt tightened. With this in mind I spoke with the site owner and asked him where I could go to find a mechanic to tighten the fan belt and stop it screeching. Now the Norwegian for car is bil so the garage he sent me to was called Oya Bil when I got there, there were two mechanics out sick so they could not do the job and they sent me to another garage called, wait for it “Killi Bil”. Unfortunately they were unable to help me either.
At this stage I returned to the camping site got out my deck chair and turned my belly to the sun.
I was slowly winding my way towards Trondheim where I was to collect my son Alan. Ryanair have flights between Dublin and Oslo for 40 euro return and I was able to get him a one-way ticket from Oslo to Trondheim for €53. He was arriving on the 18th and Saeta campsite was around 200 km from Trondheim so it was within easy striking distance and I had three days to get there.
Now a weird thing happened on the following day Saturday the 16th. Woke up at around 7:30 a.m. poked around the camper had something to eat had a wash didn’t have to shave as I had decided to become hairy. At about 8:30 a.m. I opened the blinds to behold the German gentleman who had his caravan next door and his big Volvo car with a mechanic buried under the bonnet from Killi Bil garage. I asked the mechanic when he had finished with the German to tighten my fan belt which he did for the equivalent of about €10 which he didn’t want to take, fair dues to him.
I went on the road at around 10 a.m. heading for Domas which was a lovely journey not spectacular the road wound along a beautiful valley the river Lagen at its centre and snow covered hills down both sides. I pushed on to Andalsnes at the head of Romsdalsfjorden and stopped at a Statoil station to get diesel, as I suspected the Visa card was perfectly okay it even got a hotdog smothered in potato salad (so much for my diet) for me. I decided on lunch at around 12:30 p.m. so found a little layby beside a small waterfall in an idyllic spot.
Anyway I continued on the road which was very picturesque till I came to a lake called Eikisdalsvatnet which is a small lake by their standards but it was without doubt one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, I found a good spot beside a small stream with a waterfall coming off the mountain. I decided when eating to try “wild camping”. Legally in Norway you are entitled to camp anywhere you wish, the restrictions being that you are outside 150 m of a dwelling house and it’s not agricultural land, once these criteria are filled nobody can say boo to you, this is not the full list of criteria but the main points. The lake was surrounded by snow-capped mountains that fell shear into the water, the place was totally awesome. I also had my first experience in this spot of the midnight sun, I woke up at around 2 a.m. and it was as bright as when I went to bed at 12:30 a.m..
In the morning I had to give the van a blast of the heater for a while as it was quite chilly at around 7 a.m., not but it was another glorious sunny morning. I left this beautiful spot at around 9:30 a.m. and headed for Molde then on to Kristiansund and Trondheim. I found a large layby near Kristiansund and stopped for a cup of tea I then dozed off until about 5:30 p.m.. I was now within 60 km of Trondheim and I found a lovely spot beside the sea it looked like an old cleared building site of four or five acres. There were four other camper vans there before me so I had company for the night.
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. Crossed the artic circle on a ferry the circle is marked on the shore with a sculpture
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 a 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 a 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
30 June to the 8th July
We left Oz and headed towards Oslo the first town we came to was called Roros it is a world Heritage site, the centre of the town has century old houses on little narrow streets that are architecturally significant. We travelled through Lillehammer which was the 1994 Winter Olympic host town, at this stage it struck me as being a small and nondescript kind of place. We finished up in Dokka where we’re booked in to a campsite to get a fill of water and our toilet emptied, David tried the showers and they were useless. We went for a Chinese meal in Dokka and it was a fine feed for around €10ahead.
Saturday the 30th saw us leaving Dokka at around 12 midday, having got stuck in the wet grass, we did a fair good job of ploughing up the sites lawn, we got out of there as quick as we could. Meandered down towards Oslo beside a lovely lake, we had intended staying in a campsite outside Oslo but couldn’t find it so finished up in a campsite in Oslo called Ekeberg which was bloody expensive at around 295 kroner (€33) a night. However it was a beautiful site on a hill overlooking Oslo with every amenity imaginable.
Our first stop in Oslo on the Sunday was the museums which are all reasonably close together in a particular part of the city. I was interested in the old Viking ships of which there were three dating back to the eighth and ninth centuries they were very impressive. From there we went to the Kon Tiki Museum where we saw Tor Heyerdahls two craft the Kon Tiki and the Ra which he used on his expeditions, finally Amundsens Museum which housed the ship that he used to travel to the South Pole. Returned to the city centre where I found parking, Alan and David went for a walk around the city while I made a cup of tea and dossed. Returned to Ekeberg for the night.
On the Monday we headed towards Torp airport at our ease, we went on a round about sort of way through Drammen, Konsberg, Notodden, Quarve and Skien. We found a handy place to park at the railway carpark at Porsgrunn.
Went for a Chinese which wasn’t great I had lamb which was rubbery Alan came out the best he had chicken satay David had squid which was also rubbery. We got a fill of diesel in Shell station which also had a system for emptying the toilet and we got a fill of fresh water.
Tuesday the third, the lads last day, torrential rain all day, went to the airport where we parked up made tea and read until it was time for them to leave at 6:30 p.m.. At 7 p.m. my other son Brian and a friend Alison arrived and we went to the railway carpark at Porsgrunn again where we bedded down for the night. At 12 midnight we got a rude awakening, there was a most spectacular display of fireworks over the town, I still do not know what it was for.
We left the car park at around 8 a.m. and headed north it was raining and a miserable day. As we got into the mountains we had some beautiful views of the mountains shrouded in clouds as we got higher the snow became heavy on the ground on both sides of the road in places and there were 10 to 15 foot high drifts. We finished up in a place called Rodal, in a beautiful campsite surrounded by mountains, there were literally dozens of waterfalls coming down the mountains due to the heavy rain.
On Thursday we continued north towards 0dda. Brian was hoping to see the glacier Folgetonni which is the third largest in Europe. The road to 0dda was again spectacular. We stopped in Odda and parked down near the quay, the two lads went for a walk around the shops I had a snooze. It was a very pretty town with some very colourful buildings. Headed for the glacier and finished up in a tunnel that went under the glacier an 11 km tunnel that seemed to go on and on and on. So we finished up on the other side just near enough to get a few distant photos of the glacier.
Stopped in another beautiful little village called Rosendal and had a few ice creams and a cup of tea. Continued to Yesse and found a campsite on a hill overlooking a fjord called Handangerfjord with the little village of Yesse in the distance at the head of the fjord it was really beautiful.
Voringfossen the waterfall was our next stop, so we left our lovely campsite at 10 a.m. and headed in that direction, about 90 km away. The sat nav must have been set for the shortest route because it took us over a narrow little mountain track about the width of the van, definitely skid mark time again. It was a bit scary but we got through it and the views were spectacular, however progress was painfully slow and at 12:30 p.m. we had just about half of the 90 km covered. We had to cross Eidjford for the second leg of the journey so we got a ferry at Bruravik to Brimnes. Travelled through Eidfjord and on to Handanger Nature Centre there was a clothes shop that sold native woollens which are very colourful, we bought a few bits and pieces, but that is not the end of that story more later. It wasn’t far from there to the waterfall but was uphill all the way, we climbed to about 2000 feet up a spectacular mountain road. The waterfall is the highest in Europe with a straight drop of over 600 feet is really spectacular. After the viewing we made some tea and had a few sandwiches before continuing on the road. We only travelled a short distance when we saw what we thought was as stone dam, a little further on we came across a small road that seemed to lead in the direction of the dam we followed this road and came to a car park overlooking the dam. It was a most spectacular and beautiful spot. You could look back down the valley for miles and miles, behind the dam you had the reservoir and beyond that the mountains covered in snow and the mass of a glacier between the mountain peaks, the place was really something special.
Left at around 10 a.m. the following morning that was Saturday the seventh and headed for Hamer it was a beautiful journey across the top of Norway with plenty of snow on the ground. Had a good feed of hamburgers and chips in Dokka and got a fill of diesel as well. Reached Hamer and stopped at a campsite called Hedfortoppen which was full to the gunwales it was so full there were stewards out in yellow jackets directing traffic, we discovered it was some kind of a religious festival/meeting. Our Irish number plates got some peculiar looks, Irish Catholics they were not, so we got out of there as fast as we could. We went into Hamer which is just south of Lillehammer and found the carpark to the ice skating stadium for the 1994 Winter Olympics, there were half a dozen campers and caravans there already it was a grand spot beside a river.
Had a look around the Olympic Hall on the Sunday morning before we left, thought it was surprising that it was all closed up, I thought there should have been some few locals out practising or training etc. We headed for Oslo and arrived there around 12:30 p.m. Brian and Allison headed off to have a look around the city they were not interested in museums, but had a good look around the shops.
9th July to 16th July
Later we headed for Torp airport, we found a mediocre campsite about 20 miles from the airport beside a raging torrent of a river.
Monday the ninth Brian’s last day, the rain was bucketing down we stayed in the campsite until around 1 p.m.. As we had intended to travel to Sweden after dropping Brian at the airport we first went to the ferry terminal to check on times and prices. We then made our way to the airport and dropped Brian at around 4:45 p.m. after which we returned to the car ferry at Sandefjord and got the ferry to Stromstad in Sweden. We arrived in Sweden rather late it was 11 p.m. but we were lucky enough to find a carpark with plenty other campers and caravans and parked up for the night.
The following morning Tuesday the 10th we left Stromstad at 9 a.m. for lake Venem. We had intended spending two or three days in Sweden driving around the lake, however we were in Sweden the scenery returned to tree-lined roads with a few fields here and there. It was 357 miles around the lake and we did it in one-day, the lake is supposed to be beautiful but in those miles we saw it for about five minutes and we couldn’t get near it. We returned to Stromstad and went to a pub restaurant and had a lovely meal. We returned to the same car park and left for Norway the following morning on the 10 o’clock sailing.
We decided to see some of the south coast of Norway so we headed for Larvik and on to Kristansand a few miles before Kristansand we found an unusual campsite called Moglestue in the haggard of a farmyard run by an old woman who was quaint to say the least. We were told to stay away from the field on the left as they would be digging the spuds the following day. We found a grand spot under an old oaktree, we were able to connect to the electricity surprisingly enough and the amenities weren’t bad either.
The following morning we discussed what we would do next, remember what I said about the clothes shop at Eidfjord, it seems the clothes at this shop where half the price compared to the shops in Oslo so I was informed, so we(?) decided to head back in that direction for the remaining few days, it also took us through the best of the scenery again.
We left the farmyard and headed north there looked to be an interesting road running beside two lakes. It was a beautiful drive with fabulous scenery all the way from rolling fields to spectacular ravines with the quaint little villages at the base of towering mountains. We finished up that night in such a village the descent into the village was another skid mark situation, for 20 minutes, it included 20/30 hairpin bends down the side of a mountain, with the rich smell of hot brake linings. The campsite we stayed at was called Buoy in the town of Dalan. On the valley floor surrounded by mountains with a fine broad River it was majestic campsite large spacious and well laid out, it had all the amenities and they were first-class.
Left the campsite at about 10:30 a.m. and headed for the Trollwollen shop at Eidjford which was about 150 miles away through Rodal and Odda, one of the most beautiful drives in Norway, spectacular scenery around every bend in the road. Alison enjoyed the shopping I had a great chat with the shop owner he spoke perfect English and was a mine of information.
We went back to the car park at the dam and stayed another night.
Left the dam car park for the final time and headed back towards the ferry crossing we has used when Brian was around at Brimnes to Bruravik. Headed in the direction of Bergen on the coast. The scenery as well as the weather was beautiful, we found a carpark high up on a hillside overlooking a fjord named Bjornafjorden at around 5 p.m. the place is called Fusa and we settled down for the night. The wind got up with rain and we had a stormy night.
The Sunday morning was still rough, weather wise so we sat where we were until 1 p.m. we headed south in the rain and came to Grindfjorden which is about 40 km north of Stavanger. We found a beautiful campsite beside the fjord one of the very few we found with a hard surface. It was a beautiful spot beside the fjord with the mountains on the other side.
Finally the last day has arrived, headed for the docks at Stavanger at around 11 a.m. in miserable weather. We arrived there much much too early and had to hang around for a number of hours, eating drinking tea, reading, time passed. Alison headed up town for a walk around and to see a few shops.
Boarding time arrived and got settled on board. Went for a meal and had a large steak which was outrageously priced. Slept no problem and woke early went for breakfast around 8 a.m. it was a buffet affair where you could eat as much as you wanted, which I did and made up for overpriced steak the night before. It is a full day’s voyage that seemed unending however it should be said the sea was kind both coming and going, it was flat calm on both occasions which considering the reputation of the north sea was a blessing.
Finally disembarked in Newcastle at around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday the 16th and headed for Manchester and on to Pembroke the following day.
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