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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Thursday - Heading for the glaciers
It dropped to freezing over night, but that meant that the snow was crisp enough for us to walk on in the morning. I got the ice spikes out - makes a huge difference. We still had to be careful - still the risk of walking over a stream, breaking through the surface and falling 6 ft into near freezing water.
We'd left the blinds to the moon roof open over night - was strange not getting dark at night, although the sun was down, it never went far below the horizon.
Off down the mountain into the warmth:
At the bottom of the fjord I saw this and recognised it - the Kismet - saw the same yacht moored in London a couple of years ago. Owned by the billionaire Shahid Khan. You can rent it if you like - for just under $1,600,000 per week :B
Eventually the road ends at a ferry terminal. These ferries are part of the road network and seem to be a standard rate of around £10 per journey.
They don't have a ticket office but instead a ticket collector comes out and sells you a ticket, or on some ferries collects the fare once you are on board.
My interest being stimulated by being on that 1950s ferry, I thought I would have a walk around to see what it was like in the passenger parts:
After leaving the ferry we found a museum. It had indoor exhibits, but of most interest were a series of buildings from different eras rebuilt on its grounds. Actually you run into these on a smaller scale in many Norwegian villages.
I noticed the construction method used on one of them:
We headed further north through Jostedal to Nigardsbreen, our most northerly point.
When considering Norway travel the North Cape or Nordkapp is often discussed as a destination. However, it is 2200 km from Oslo - i.e. 4400km return trip and the geography of Norway means the mountains and fjords are all on the southern end, with the country sloping down towards the sea as it heads north. Hence without 4 weeks at our disposal, or wanting to miss the Norwegian scenery by spending every waking hour at the wheel, it was clear that we needed to set our sites sensibly. There were things I wanted to see not far north of this point, but doing so would add a couple of days more driving, and that is a couple of days when you aren't actually enjoying the country and outdoor activities. So I compromised and called it quits at this latitude.
We found a camground at Nigardsbreen run by an old lady selling her sister's knitted goods. It was pretty empty and would make a good base for tomorrow.
We went for a walk to the Breheimsenteret - the mountain centre and museum where you can book outdoor activities. The museum burned down a few years ago, so this is its second incarnation.
This is the view from the museum veranda:
Back at the campground we had the chance do some clothes washing and sort out stuff for tomorrow:
We also got my 35 year old propane stove out so we could cook outdoors - makes less of a mess than cooking in the camper if splashing of fat might be involved.
It was getting cool, so we enjoyed the mean inside:
Stay tuned for a day of activity...
It dropped to freezing over night, but that meant that the snow was crisp enough for us to walk on in the morning. I got the ice spikes out - makes a huge difference. We still had to be careful - still the risk of walking over a stream, breaking through the surface and falling 6 ft into near freezing water.
We'd left the blinds to the moon roof open over night - was strange not getting dark at night, although the sun was down, it never went far below the horizon.
Off down the mountain into the warmth:
At the bottom of the fjord I saw this and recognised it - the Kismet - saw the same yacht moored in London a couple of years ago. Owned by the billionaire Shahid Khan. You can rent it if you like - for just under $1,600,000 per week :B
Eventually the road ends at a ferry terminal. These ferries are part of the road network and seem to be a standard rate of around £10 per journey.
They don't have a ticket office but instead a ticket collector comes out and sells you a ticket, or on some ferries collects the fare once you are on board.
My interest being stimulated by being on that 1950s ferry, I thought I would have a walk around to see what it was like in the passenger parts:
After leaving the ferry we found a museum. It had indoor exhibits, but of most interest were a series of buildings from different eras rebuilt on its grounds. Actually you run into these on a smaller scale in many Norwegian villages.
I noticed the construction method used on one of them:
We headed further north through Jostedal to Nigardsbreen, our most northerly point.
When considering Norway travel the North Cape or Nordkapp is often discussed as a destination. However, it is 2200 km from Oslo - i.e. 4400km return trip and the geography of Norway means the mountains and fjords are all on the southern end, with the country sloping down towards the sea as it heads north. Hence without 4 weeks at our disposal, or wanting to miss the Norwegian scenery by spending every waking hour at the wheel, it was clear that we needed to set our sites sensibly. There were things I wanted to see not far north of this point, but doing so would add a couple of days more driving, and that is a couple of days when you aren't actually enjoying the country and outdoor activities. So I compromised and called it quits at this latitude.
We found a camground at Nigardsbreen run by an old lady selling her sister's knitted goods. It was pretty empty and would make a good base for tomorrow.
We went for a walk to the Breheimsenteret - the mountain centre and museum where you can book outdoor activities. The museum burned down a few years ago, so this is its second incarnation.
This is the view from the museum veranda:
Back at the campground we had the chance do some clothes washing and sort out stuff for tomorrow:
We also got my 35 year old propane stove out so we could cook outdoors - makes less of a mess than cooking in the camper if splashing of fat might be involved.
It was getting cool, so we enjoyed the mean inside:
Stay tuned for a day of activity...
