A couple of days later, after a fantastic drive though a wasteland of barren rocks, scattered houses, reindeer, towering mountains, fjords, some snow, strong winds and a great many motorcyclists braving the elements, we reached Nordkapp. After days of sun shine and wearing shorts, it was cold and low cloud. Nordkapp has a large car park, entry is 500 NK (about £50). This included everything we didn’t want, a museum, videos etc. We just wanted to park, have a cup of tea and retreat to the lowlands. We did a U turn and parked at the side of the road and started walking to the car park, only to be shouted at by the little man in the kiosk saying we would get a 1000 NK fine if we stayed there. My wife was all for tipping his kiosk over.
We drove south towards Finland. Saw the midnight sun. It had been daylight at night since Trondheim. We took aircraft sleeping masks with us but never used them. Camped on a small, very casual site with a beach. Used the owners lounge to watch Norwegian TV and talk to a Polish worker.
Headed south through Finland. If you like long empty roads, trees and lakes, few people and fewer sites of interest, northern Finland is for you. Met a man running a souvenir shop who told us about the local fauna, ie wolves from Russia and bears, “who you cannot see for 99% of the time, but 99% of the time, they can see you”. Perhaps the south of the country is more interesting.
Camped at another casual site, next a mosquito invested lake. Had use of kayaks, a Canadian canoe and rowing boat. We tried them all, as did a German couple and some German lads. I think the site owner bred sled dogs as there were hug cages with prowling, howling animals within.
Continued south and entered Sweden. Equally uninspiring, trees, trees and more trees. Good roads though. The Swedish Arctic Circle was warm and trashy, a bit like Santa meets, Lapland, meets Disney.
Stayed in a great campsite though (Ansian resort)with excellent cooking and washing facilities (better than many houses I have lived in). They sold beer but only if it was less that 5%. No wine. Just me whining.
On route, visited the biggest waterfall in Sweden. Just happened to see a signpost. Left Sweden and its trees and its big waterfall and re-entered Norway. Drove south. Splendid scenery in Norway, lovely house, rotten winters.
Various campsites, by the sea, including one near Trondheim. I visited Tirpitz memorial there – a memorial to RAF aircrews who ended the life of the Tirpitz.
Next stop Bergen, a very big city (well it seemed that way after the barren north). Campsite was cramped and the facilities were poor. It seems there were lots of itinerant workers there.
Drove up the Trollstigen – stunning and well worth the effort of finding it. Camped just south of the pass. Met a British guy who lives in New Zealand. He had shipped his bike (Ducati Multistrada) to Sydney, driven round the top of Australia to Perth, shipped it to Singapore, driven up through Singapore, malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Shipped it to India, hated it, shipped to Dubai or somewhere like that up to Russia, Eastern Europe etc. He was off to the Uk, to pick the wife and head down to Spain.
Continued south to Preikestolen, that famous 2000ft sheer drop cliff. Recommended time to hike there and back is four hours, but well worth it. It was hot, it was like Mt Everest in that the world and his brother was there. I felt quite queasy near the edge while some dangled their legs over. Preikestolen car park another rip-off at 250 NK (about £25). We camped nearby in a very muddy but friendly site.
Continued to south to Kristiansand. Stayed in the Raddison Blu hotel for two nights so we could explore a tow, bearing in mind most campsites are quite remote. Lovely place Kristiansand. There was huge bonfire celebrating midsummer’s day. Music, party atmosphere, great food in local restaurants, awful food in the Radisson.
Due to get a morning ferry from Kristiansand to Hirstshals in Denmark.
A flat battery greeted me, but with a jump starter thingy, (info courtesy of someone on this forum), I got the van started in seconds.
All booked and paid for via Ferries Direct. Big mistake. We arrive at check-in only to be faced with a woman with a large wooden, gallows-type, measuring pole with a cross bar. “you are too high”. Ferries Direct had listed us as 1.89m. The max for low vehicles is 1.95m. I argued, to no avail and was sent to wait on standby. I found another measuring pole. I was about 2mm too high. Oh and I had to pay an additional 51 euros to get on, if there was room. The next ferry was fully booked and the next one, the next day was full too.
I thought about driving across Norway to Olso, then down through Sweden and across the Oresund bridge to Denmark. No need we got on the ferry. A German on the ferry suggested that we should have let some air out of the tyres!
After reaching Denmark we went to the ‘meeting of two seas’, the Skagerrak and the Kattergat (the Baltic and the North Sea). That meant a long trek along a very soft sandy beach. Another place ticked off.
Camped at a nice camp near Randers, Danish woman, spoke English like an English woman, then back to Bremen, after spending about an hour driving around and around Hamburg. Not going there again. Massive road works around Hambourg.
Drove into Holland, stayed at a nice site near Amsterdam. Took a metro into the city, end of the line station a few minutes’ walk from the campsite. Bought some food, took some photos and left. A great place if you are 22 and with a lot of friends. I still like it but, my wife hated it, too much smoking, very dirty streets and crazy bell-ringing cyclists.
Left Amsterdam and drove to Peronne, on the Somme. A place we visit often. It was 34.5 C and crotch pot, cooking hot! They accepted ACSI card, 18 euros a night with electricity.
Came home four days early as I had done what I had set out to do, faster than planned, but sometimes the journey takes over and momentum becomes key – I love it.
We took too much tinned and dried food, a lot of which we brought back. My wife is an excellent cook and we ate freshly cooked food daily, which we bought in local stores and supermarkets (always interesting to visit anyway). Breakfast was toast or cereal, fruit, tea/coffee. Lunch was on the go, a sandwich and dinner was as previously mentioned. Always used hook up to boil a kettle for a flask during the day.
We used on-site cooking facilities as much as we could. The spare camping stove and small gas bottles were untouched. It’s legal to wild camp in Norway and Sweden but for the price, average about £25 per night we like flushing toilets and hot showers, well the wife does.
Lots of ferries along the west coast, about £10 per trip, just turn up and drive on. Lovely.
We saw lots of reindeer, they are like sheep over there, wandering along the roads, we saw one moose, apparently they sleep during the day and come out at dusk. We saw one of the insomniac mooses in Norway.
We covered 6022 miles in 24 days, including four days where we covered about 50.
The only time we showed our passports was leaving and entering the UK.
I would return to Norway as it is stunningly beautiful, not so sure about Finland or Sweden, I’m all tree’d out. But I do fancy Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria etc.
Please excuse the somewhat rushed report but I didn’t keep a diary, so some of the destinations may be out of sync, although I kept a note of sites and prices.
There are many more well travelled Cali owners on this forum and what I have just written may be old hat. Ce’st lave vie.
Any questions, feel free to ask. Phew!
PS. I got back yesterday (June 30th). I tried the van this morning – flat battery!
vwcaliforniaclub.com
, ferries 10, passes 8+, Fjords lost count and interest! But wouldn't have missed it for the world. If contemplating this trip can give advice, IMPORTANT you will average 35-40 miles in total each hour if you are lucky, this country is 1500miles long!
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