North-Scandinavia Trip 2021

[Kjetil]

In this stage of our journey we reach the extreme North of Norway, our ultimate goal this trip. Re. our inspiration map, we have had to make some tough choices: we simply have no time to do it all! We decide to forget Varanger completely and visit Grense Jakobselv, Slettnes Fyr and the various North Capes, incl. Knivskjelodden.

Friday, August 27

Today we want to reach Grense Jakobselv. For players of 'Risk' a well know spot: a small spot where Norway borders on Russia directly. The road there ends at the end of the world, on the Barentsz Sea.

The route there has some hilarious moments, with lots of military presence and all sorts of prohibitions (see earlier post). The last few miles are on a dirt road, and then, at the end: the Barentsz Sea and a simple building belonging to the local boat club (?? Who? How??). It's a point for silent, philosophical contemplation.

But we have hardly arrived, in this complete stillness and emptiness, and then the following happens:

Two coaches come swerving around the corner to disembark a large group of students/youngsters on tour, who come here to lunch and swim! We flee on a walk towards the close by Oscar II Chapel:

Upon our return they have all left and we have this place to our own again. We put our van a bit higher up the rock, and have lunch ourselves:

On our way back, just outside the military zone, we find ourselves a nice wild camp spot on a small lake, that just begs for a swim and a hair wash (with environmentally OK shampoo!!):

Saturday, August 28

From here we want to drive to Nordkyn, a half island, where Slettnes Fyr (Lighthouse) is. Many deem this the real North Cape: this is on the mainland (just!), where the 'commercial' North Cape is on an island. The purists say that if islands count, the real North Cape should be on Svallbard! On the road, we swerve towards Kirkeness. A dump, don't go there, ever. Waste of time. All we can say is that there was a Hurtigruten vessel moored there: Kirkeness is formally the end point of this line:

We see a few Hurtigruten tourists wander through this completely deserted little town. That it (and many other small places in Finnmark) is such a completely characterless concrete waste, is not their fault, really. In 1944, upon their retreat, the German forces burnt down everything in this province as part of their scorched earth tactic. So, everything here has this 'reconstruction' style: cheap concrete.

Slettnes is too far, we end up in Mehamn. We have another extreme here: the northernmost airport on the mainland. One can fly here from Amsterdam: 19 hours, 5 transfers, € 695 for a single trip, economy…

Sunday, August 29

We reach Slettnes Fyr, the northernmost lighthouse in Norway, on the Barentsz Sea again, and according to many the real North Cape:

We love Nordkyn, the half island the lighthouse is on! It is very rough terrain, the three little hamlets on it (Mehamn, Kjöllefjord and Gamvik) were not reachable by road until 1989, and now in winter still only through a system of column driving across the plateau. The landscape is barren, treeless, and reminds us of Iceland, with its ice rounded mountains.

We end up in Ifjord, where we set up camp and have dinner in the local trading post:

Monday, August 30

Now we're on the road to the 'commercial' North Cape. It's quite a drive, and we won't make it in one day. We aim for Lakselv.
On the road we see signs for a beautiful canyon, Silfar Canyon, where we make a short hike to visit it:

Tuesday, August 31

Last stretch towards the North Cape. Today we aim to go to the 'commercial' North Cape, visit and explore everything there, set up camp close by, and then the next day hike towards Knivskjelodden, a stretch of land that reaches some 1600 m further North than the commercial North Cape but can't be reached by car or coach, only by foot, and therefore never made is as commercial hot spot.

An there, in the background: the ridge of Knivskjelodden!

We set up camp in Skarsvåg, on the same island:

Nice wave om pic #29

 

[kave]

One last thought, can you tow it to Sweden? Probably much more similar prices than Norway. This dealer should be closest to your location:

Norrlands Bil | Personbilar & Lastbilar

Bilar i lager Våra kampanjer Boka service Fordonsbevakning Arbeta hos oss Norrlands Bil är en trygg, lagom-stor koncern med framåtanda. Att arbeta på Norrlands Bil ska kännetecknas av arbetsglädje och goda möjligheter till vidareutbildning, dels inom de olika bilmärkena men även för övriga...

www.norrlandsbil.se

 

[Kjetil]

One last thought, can you tow it to Sweden? Probably much more similar prices than Norway. This dealer should be closest to your location:

Norrlands Bil | Personbilar & Lastbilar

Bilar i lager Våra kampanjer Boka service Fordonsbevakning Arbeta hos oss Norrlands Bil är en trygg, lagom-stor koncern med framåtanda. Att arbeta på Norrlands Bil ska kännetecknas av arbetsglädje och goda möjligheter till vidareutbildning, dels inom de olika bilmärkena men även för övriga...

www.norrlandsbil.se

Arvidsjaur would be closest to the border. It’s also the winter test “capital” for automotive industry.

 

[bvddobb]

Is that a raincover you have over the top?

Yes, a pop top cover. To keep out rain, snow, or cold, and to keep in warmth. Also prevents the pop top mechanism to freeze from drift snow on winter holidays.

 

[bvddobb]

Thanks @kave and @Kjetil for your suggestion! That will also take too long for us now, we’re afraid. Need to be back at work next Monday.
Insurance pays for our flight back and repatriation of the van, so that is our choice now and all is settled.
We will visit roaring Trondheim tomorrow!

 

[WelshGas]

Well, we cheered too early… The N75 fault is gone, so far so good, but the permanent limp mode is still there. Check, check, double check: no other fault codes, no warning lights, nothing. The only thing is that the system says the DPF is loaded beyond the threshold value and the standard operation then is to replace it. There are other methods (e.g. cleaning, a method not available here, spoofing the system, which the official dealer won’t do), but not available right now.

A replacement part is not currently available in Norway, has to come from Germany, takes at least 5 working days and is terribly expensive here, the dealer warns us. He reckons it will be much cheaper in NL.

We have a discussion with our dutch dealer on the line and we decide to try adding a regenerative agent to the fuel and driviy around for 2 hours at very high revs, to see of we can auto-regenerate the DPF this.
No avail.

So, now we have arranged with our insurance that the van will be repatriated, we cancelled the Bergen ferry and have claimed that back, and Friday they fly us back from Trondheim to Amsterdam.

End of trip.

Sorry to hear that. I’m sure everything will be sorted.

I read somewhere that VW state a DPF lifespan of about 120,000 miles or 190,000 km, but variable dependant on driving style and journey length.

 

[bvddobb]

I read somewhere that VW state a DPF lifespan of about 120,000 miles or 190,000 km, but variable dependant on driving style and journey length.

Well, at 230,000 km we have well exceeded that…

 

[Amarillo]

End of trip.

I guess the one saving grace is that it all went wrong towards the end of your Nordic jaunt.

 

[pcevanrulo]

I read somewhere that VW state a DPF lifespan of about 120,000 miles or 190,000 km, but variable dependant on driving style and journey length.

To much variables. I've had 320k km on my 1.9tdi and it was still in OK condition. I had to change the DPF because of a broken turbo and oil that leaked into the DPF. We weren't able to clean it Ultrasonic, so I replaced it with a second hand. I bought it at 'onderdelenlijn.nl' for 250eu and the owner is still running it over a 100k km meanwhile.

 

[WelshGas]

To much variables. I've had 320k km on my 1.9tdi and it was still in OK condition. I had to change the DPF because of a broken turbo and oil that leaked into the DPF. We weren't able to clean it Ultrasonic, so I replaced it with a second hand. I bought it at 'onderdelenlijn.nl' for 250eu and the owner is still running it over a 100k km meanwhile.

There are always exceptions. VW probably base their estimate on commercial vans.

 

[bvddobb]

Last stretch: 'race to the South'

Because we wanted to spend as much time as possible in the North, we planned only a few days to drive from Marga's brother in Øksfjord to Bergen. It's 1961 km, a 28 hour drive, according to Google Maps. We plan to do that in 4 days of 7 hours driving each, with a rest day in the middle to visit another family member, in Namsskogan. We will arrive Wednesday evening, Sept 8, in Bergen, to take the ferry from there to Hirtshals in Denmark, which sails Thursday afternoon.

Things will take a different turn, as we know now...

Saturday, September 4

We leave Øksfjord early. The weather is still very wet and cold. Last nigh brought the first snow to the mountains around us:

In this area we also come across the odd reindeer. They are not in a hurry to cross:

Once on the E6 to the South we make better speed, although most stretches have speed limits in the range of 70 or 80 km/h. We get spells of better weather, now and then, and then we see the first snow again on mountains that were bare until yesterday:

We also have the first Norwegian ferry on this stretch, from Skarberget to Bogness. The good weather spells have stopped...

Shortly after we call it a day. It's raining cats and dogs again, so we decide to take a hotel. It will save some time in our race, setting up and breaking down camp, but most of all: tomorrow is Marga's birthday, and now we can have a nice birthday breakfast! Almost a tradition, by now: these last few years Marga's birthday has been coinciding with our our larger trips.

Sunday, September 5
Today is Marga's birthday! And we start the second day of our Race to the South. We pass the Arctic Circle again:

That night we reach Namsskogan, where we set up camp in Karen's garden. Karen is another family member who migrated to Norway years ago.

After two days of driving all day, we have a rest day. The weather forecast predicts dry weather until later in the afternoon, so we decide to make a hike up one of the mountains around us.

All around us autumn breaks loose:

Close to the top we find a beautiful, completely deserted little grill cabin on a small lake. You really can only get their on foot. A nice spot for a coffee break, and then back down again, before the rain starts again. Later we learn that the cabin belongs to people in Karen's village.

 

[bvddobb]

Tuesday, September 7

Doomsday! While we race further South on the E6, our van jumps into limp mode, right when we are overtaking a White Giant. Scary!

Enough said about it hereabove.

The end of the day we leave the van at the dealer's and take a hotel across the road.

Wednesday, September 8

Day of dwindling hopes. We manage to move our ferry out to Friday. If the dealer manages to repair the van this morning, we can still continue much as planned, with just one day lost.
The showroom where we wait is full of electric cars. In Norway, the sale of new diesel or petrol cars is prohibited.

But later that morning all hopes are smitten. Even after replacing the broken part, the limp mode is permanent. There is no obvious reason apparent (no indicator light, no faults in te log), the system just shows that the DPF is filled beyond its threshold value, and that probably causes the permanent limp mode. Regenerating the DPF is no option here, replacing it neither: the part is simply not available in Norway (due to its electrification of the car industry?), would have to come from Germany, and that will take longer than we have.

So, we have a lot to arrange with our insurance to manage the repatriation of our car and ourselves, booking flights home, etc. from our hotel room.

Thursday, September 9

We prepare the handover of our van to the dealer. That means emptying the water tanks, empty the porta potti, empty the fridge, throw away all perishable food, think what we want to take home on the plane and what we can leave behind, etc.

That afternoon we take the bus to Trondheim, to play tourist there and to buy a suitcase for the stuff we want to take on the plane. At first it still rains, but later we get a bit of sun even, on the bus back to our hotel.

Friday, September 10

End of story. This afternoon is our flight to Amsterdam. We will be home a bit earlier than originally expected...

 

[BigJohn]

Many thanks for your report @bvddobb ,I've really enjoyed reading about your trip and would like to do something similar when VW finally decide to build us a van!

Really sorry to hear about the ending. From the mileage you quoted, it sounds like you've had many great adventures and no doubt will have many more once you get back on the road.

John

 

[bvddobb]

Really sorry to hear about the ending. From the mileage you quoted, it sounds like you've had many great adventures and no doubt will have many more once you get back on the road.

Thanks, John! We have had many great adventures with the van indeed, you can find several of our trip reports here on the forum!

 

[bvddobb]

Scandinavian midges

We had prepared ourselves for possible confrontations with midges, which can be as much of a pain in Finnmark as in Scotland.

The standard mosquito netting in the Cali's tent windows doesn't stop them. So, we bought a couple of meters of midge netting (which has such small holes that midges can't get through them) and cut ourselves some secondary windows for our tent and doors, with the idea we could simply stick them on, using duct tape, when needed.

Long story short: we never saw a midge, the whole trip! . Hardly any other stinging insect either, for that matter!

 

[Kjetil]

Thanks @kave and @Kjetil for your suggestion! That will also take too long for us now, we’re afraid. Need to be back at work next Monday.
Insurance pays for our flight back and repatriation of the van, so that is our choice now and all is settled.
We will visit roaring Trondheim tomorrow!

I hope you made it back and found a work shop. Myself is in Norway on Stad. Cali life can be really beautiful.

 

[Feggers]

We hope to leave for a North-Scandinavia trip later this week. We had wanted to do this trip last year, but, long story short, Covid closed up Finland and Norway a few days before we wanted to leave. That year we did an Auvergne and Westalps trip instead.

So, a second try this year! As we often do, we prepared for ourselves an interactive inspiration map on Google Maps, where we have been gathering info and tips about routes, places to stay and see, etc.:

View attachment 82799

We hope to sail from Travemünde in Germany to Helsinki in Finland later this week, then do a big counter-clockwise arc to Bergen in Norway, from where we want to sail back to Hirtshals in Denmark.

We wil try and maintain a trip report here, when we are underway.

That looks fabulous… could you share your Google map ? I’m planning a similar trip for photography…going round in the same direction starting from Switzerland…

 

[bvddobb]

That looks fabulous… could you share your Google map ?

It's under the link in the post...

 

[Feggers]

It's under the link in the post...

Thanks yeah...