Scandanavian Road Trip 2015 Video.

[Big Bloke]

We went on a 20 night trip, September 13th - October 3rd 2015, I've already posted a couple of photos in the View from your Cali thread, of the Northern Lights, Lofoten Islands etc
We did the trip in our Beach, together with 6 friends in two California SE's hired from BMVS.
One of our party has made a cracking video, 36mins long, which may interest anyone thinking of touring Norway.
Here's the link :-

 

[bvddobb]

Must be fun, to be on the road with 3 Cali's!

 

[Big Bloke]

Must be fun, to be on the road with 3 Cali's!

Watch the video, you'll see that we did have lots of fun! lol

 

[bvddobb]

Watch the video, you'll see that we did have lots of fun! lol

We just watched it, yes! Why the bike rack when no bikes? But loads of fun! We go there often in our Cali, love it, recognise all the places you have been, though we tend to be on the dirt roads more. See https://goo.gl/photos/iXXQ965eREzveR9i6.

 

[MattBW]

Awesome trip and video, not sure about the reindeer bits but really enjoyed and inspired by that.

 

[Big Bloke]

Awesome trip and video, not sure about the reindeer bits but really enjoyed and inspired by that.

I agree about the Reindeer bits!
I didn't make the video but I have permission to post it on here, lot's of stuff on it that's really just "us".......but should be enough to interest anybody else thinking of making a similar trip in a Cali.

 

[Big Bloke]

We just watched it, yes! Why the bike rack when no bikes? But loads of fun! We go there often in our Cali, love it, recognise all the places you have been, though we tend to be on the dirt roads more. See https://goo.gl/photos/iXXQ965eREzveR9i6.

The bike rack is on my California Beach, We do use the bike rack, honest!..........However the bikes stayed at home on this trip and the bike rack stays on the van all of the time.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Great video Bud.
Did you spent most of the time sleeping in the van? Were there plenty of camp sites and what were they like? It's a trip I've been thinking of doing for a while. Would be nice if there was a ferry which could take you from the UK half way up the West coast of Norway and have a leisurely drive back through Sweden, Denmark & Germany etc

 

[MattBW]

There was a ferry to Bergen but it hasn't ran for a while now. Hopefully it will return.

 

[Big Bloke]

Great video Bud.
Did you spent most of the time sleeping in the van? Were there plenty of camp sites and what were they like? It's a trip I've been thinking of doing for a while. Would be nice if there was a ferry which could take you from the UK half way up the West coast of Norway and have a leisurely drive back through Sweden, Denmark & Germany etc

Hi, thanks for the compliment about the video, I contributed to it and picked the 1st song but my mate deserves the praise for putting it together!
Anyway in answer to your questions........
My wife and I slept in the van everynight apart from the night we spent in a cabin on the Hurtigruten ship. We had a diesel heater fitted by Dirty Weekender, (think it might of been off your recomendation?), which was put to good use! Our friends all booked into a hotel for the night, when they visited Bergen and Claire left us at that point on a flight back to the UK. We stayed on a campsite that night and sorted all of our admin out, washing & drying clothes etc.
There were plenty of campsites but not as many as other countries that we've visited. All of the campsites varied in terms of quality and facilities but we did find a couple of crackers! Most of the campsites had a campers kitchen to use.
When we first started planning the trip there was supposed to be a ferry up and running by summer, from Harwich to Esjberg, which if it ever gets up and running will make a similar trip much easier. We all thought that southern Norway was more spectacular scenery than the north.........by a country mile! So I'd strongly advise driving upto at least as far as Trondheim. We were glad to get on the Hurtigruten by then, for a rest from driving.
Lofoten Islands are pretty special but back onto main land Norway that far north is less so.
We wild camped a fair few nights, which helped with the costs.
We mostly wild camped in laybys with toilets, which were without fail, clean to a much higher standard than we're used to in the UK.

 

[soulstyledevon]

That's great info and looks like you all had an epic trip.
It's definitely on my to do list, might have to wait a couple of years as my wife and I are having a little one in the new year. Although we plan on getting the new arrival into camping trips at a very early stage in life. Once it's grown a bit, like 4-5months old