Trip report : Norway in the truck camper
Well, we had done a lot of stuff in our own country in our truck camper the past couple of years, and a lot of foreign travel in rented campers, so time to get our little camper on a ferry and oversea...
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Wednesday - Aurland
Because we parked partly in the shade, and it was hot again yesterday, we ran out of electricity for the fridge early morning, so had to turn it off again :M
Cooler this morning though.
From the valley we headed up over the next mountain. More vacation cabins were scattered over the mountain top. I think cross-country skiing is big here in winter. A small cabin served as a drop off point for mail:
Many properties in the mountains have turfed roofs, presumably for insulation:
We also came across our first stavkirk or stave church - named after its construction technique:
The truck camper is great in these locations for pulling off the road onto the steep road margins. At one point we were parked at around 30 degree side slope.
We were getting withdrawal symptoms from all this driving and no walking. I didn't have any detailed paper maps, but before the trip I had downloaded detailed mapping onto my Garmin handheld GPS, and these showed all the hiking trails. So we parked up by a lake and headed up the mountain, stopping near the top for a picnic:
Near where we stopped I found an old mountain hut:
Half way down, looking back on the valley we had walked up from:
Back at the lake we saw this little combination:
For the first time we reach one of the fjords. These wind their way inland deep into Norway:
We descended to the fjord and did some shopping. I also found a small fuel station and decided to top the truck's diesel tank up since it was half full. The fuel station seemed unattended (as usual for Scandinavia). Actually there was one guy who walked into the office but ignored me as I struggled to work out the pump.
There appeared to be 2 pumps - one for gasoline, one for diesel, with a separate console in the middle. I worked out you insert your credit card, select English and enter your card's PIN, then select the number of the pump you are paying for.
The diesel pump did have a strange description on it. Something or other diesel it said, but I couldn't work out what the something or other was. Still, diesel is diesel, so I filled up.
Only afterwards did I notice a sign warning, in English, that this was diesel for boats and farm equipment and therefore untaxed and illegal for use on road vehicles. This type of diesel usually has a die in it. I just had to hope I didn't get stopped and have my fuel tank dipped, although I would have to be very unlucky since I have never been stopped in the past. Oh well, that probably evens the score with the Norwegian government since I had accidentally paid twice for one toll. Frustratingly this was an expensive fuel station and the tax free diesel was not much cheaper than regular diesel at any other filling station :S
We are still heading north, and the logical route taken by all the locals is through the mountain in a 24 km tunnel. But that would be very boring, and I was hoping to find a boondocking site on the top of the mountain.
So we headed out of the village on a narrow road - pretty much the same width as the camper, which wound up a set of steep switchbacks up the side of the mountain. We passed a few vehicles, but luckily there are quite a few places where you can let traffic pass. I was also thankful for the transmission adaption that allows me to run low ratio in rear-wheel-drive, so I can do gentle hill starts without burning out the clutch.
At the top of the switchbacks was a parking area with a viewing platform jutting out over the fjord:
A coach had pulled into the car park and we were debating which direction it would head out once the tourists climbed back on board. I was surprised when it went down the mountain via the road we had just taken up. I would seriously not want to meet a coach coming in the other direction. It was bad enough meeting vans. Later, after we had passed multiple coaches we realised they must all agree to drive the road in the same direction to avoid meeting head on - there would be no way two coaches could pass on that road.
As we reached the plateau the road climbed into the snow. After a few kilometers we found a pull in which was snow-free and car free, and looked like it would make a good, if cold, boondocking spot:
We went for a walk, but the snow was soft after a full summer's day in the sun, so for safety we stuck to the road. You definitely don't want to fall through into a snow covered mountain stream.
I needed to level the truck, but didn't want to put out levelling blocks which would make it obvious we were camping. I wasn't too sure if this was a national park with camping restrictions. So I used some rocks to roughly level the truck:
It was a cold night and I decided to leave the heating off to save battery power - but we were find under the duvet together. It doesn't get properly dark over night during summer at this latitude.
Stay tuned as we head to the glaciers...
Because we parked partly in the shade, and it was hot again yesterday, we ran out of electricity for the fridge early morning, so had to turn it off again :M
Cooler this morning though.
From the valley we headed up over the next mountain. More vacation cabins were scattered over the mountain top. I think cross-country skiing is big here in winter. A small cabin served as a drop off point for mail:
Many properties in the mountains have turfed roofs, presumably for insulation:
We also came across our first stavkirk or stave church - named after its construction technique:
The truck camper is great in these locations for pulling off the road onto the steep road margins. At one point we were parked at around 30 degree side slope.
We were getting withdrawal symptoms from all this driving and no walking. I didn't have any detailed paper maps, but before the trip I had downloaded detailed mapping onto my Garmin handheld GPS, and these showed all the hiking trails. So we parked up by a lake and headed up the mountain, stopping near the top for a picnic:
Near where we stopped I found an old mountain hut:
Half way down, looking back on the valley we had walked up from:
Back at the lake we saw this little combination:
For the first time we reach one of the fjords. These wind their way inland deep into Norway:
We descended to the fjord and did some shopping. I also found a small fuel station and decided to top the truck's diesel tank up since it was half full. The fuel station seemed unattended (as usual for Scandinavia). Actually there was one guy who walked into the office but ignored me as I struggled to work out the pump.
There appeared to be 2 pumps - one for gasoline, one for diesel, with a separate console in the middle. I worked out you insert your credit card, select English and enter your card's PIN, then select the number of the pump you are paying for.
The diesel pump did have a strange description on it. Something or other diesel it said, but I couldn't work out what the something or other was. Still, diesel is diesel, so I filled up.
Only afterwards did I notice a sign warning, in English, that this was diesel for boats and farm equipment and therefore untaxed and illegal for use on road vehicles. This type of diesel usually has a die in it. I just had to hope I didn't get stopped and have my fuel tank dipped, although I would have to be very unlucky since I have never been stopped in the past. Oh well, that probably evens the score with the Norwegian government since I had accidentally paid twice for one toll. Frustratingly this was an expensive fuel station and the tax free diesel was not much cheaper than regular diesel at any other filling station :S
We are still heading north, and the logical route taken by all the locals is through the mountain in a 24 km tunnel. But that would be very boring, and I was hoping to find a boondocking site on the top of the mountain.
So we headed out of the village on a narrow road - pretty much the same width as the camper, which wound up a set of steep switchbacks up the side of the mountain. We passed a few vehicles, but luckily there are quite a few places where you can let traffic pass. I was also thankful for the transmission adaption that allows me to run low ratio in rear-wheel-drive, so I can do gentle hill starts without burning out the clutch.
At the top of the switchbacks was a parking area with a viewing platform jutting out over the fjord:
A coach had pulled into the car park and we were debating which direction it would head out once the tourists climbed back on board. I was surprised when it went down the mountain via the road we had just taken up. I would seriously not want to meet a coach coming in the other direction. It was bad enough meeting vans. Later, after we had passed multiple coaches we realised they must all agree to drive the road in the same direction to avoid meeting head on - there would be no way two coaches could pass on that road.
As we reached the plateau the road climbed into the snow. After a few kilometers we found a pull in which was snow-free and car free, and looked like it would make a good, if cold, boondocking spot:
We went for a walk, but the snow was soft after a full summer's day in the sun, so for safety we stuck to the road. You definitely don't want to fall through into a snow covered mountain stream.
I needed to level the truck, but didn't want to put out levelling blocks which would make it obvious we were camping. I wasn't too sure if this was a national park with camping restrictions. So I used some rocks to roughly level the truck:
It was a cold night and I decided to leave the heating off to save battery power - but we were find under the duvet together. It doesn't get properly dark over night during summer at this latitude.
Stay tuned as we head to the glaciers...
