We stayed 2 nights at the beach and even went for a paddle in the Norwegian Sea! It was 22oC but the water was freezing. We stayed up that night and watched the sun set at 11:30pm. It still didn’t go dark as a couple of hours later it was sunrise again.
The next day we carried on driving south along the Lofoten tourist route until we found the village with the shortest name!! Apparently it’s pronounced Aw. The village is only small but it was still worth an hour looking round.
There were several places along the route that the Norwegian tourist board suggests you don’t miss. One of the stops intrigued me and I persuaded Andy to find it. We went off the main road and ended up at an old German Radar Station complete with cafe and campsite.
It wasn’t easy to find. We had to walk 2km down a gravel path in 28oC just to look at it. Not sure Andy was overwhelmed by the experience as his comment on Facebook said “Good job I love her xxx” lol.
The head is only small and immobile but depending which way you look at it, it’s either the right way up, or upside down! Now that’s clever 👍
That evening, travelling north again through the stunning Lofotens, we found a camping spot at the side of the road opposite a race track. Andy misses watching his stock cars so I had my fingers crossed there’d be something going on. It turned out to be a couple of cars having a thrash round and that was it. I made up for it next morning though and got the clippers out and cut his hair lol.
Thank you Jackie & Pete for the inverter it’s been invaluable. Thank you too Matt for sorting it out for us xxx
We carried on driving north. When we were parked at the beach, we got talking to an Austrian couple who told us of the Whale Watching in Andenes. I think Andy really wanted to do it but because I hate the motion of the ocean, I took some persuading. We parked along the harbour that night and decided to leave it up to fate. If they had space the next day we’d go. Andenes is a strange town, it’s the only place we’ve been able to imagine covered in snow. It looked like one of the old whaling towns you see on TV and I’m sure, that’s what it used to be.
The next morning we went to the Whale Safari reception and they had space for us on the 3pm boat. Damn!! I must admit though, it was amazing. You get a guided tour around the museum first which was really cool. Learnt so much about Whales. Then before you know it, you’re on the 40 minute boat ride to the Bleik Canyon. We were entertained all the way watching Puffins flying and diving into the water and the Fulmars (related to the Albatross), flying right next to us. We saw 6 sperm Whale and had close encounters with 3 of them. The sea wasn’t too wobbly thank goodness and I’m so glad we did it.
The following day, we caught the ferry from Andenes in the Lofotens to Senja on the mainland. It was a bit more wobbly than the whale watching boat but I was so glad we went that way. We saw even more groups of puffins and a huge pod of dolphins!! How lucky are we!! I’d left my camera in Harriet so couldn’t get photos.
Next stop, Tromsø. Not another flippin Cathedral!! I’m sure that was what Andy was thinking when I mentioned a trip to the Arctic Cathedral. We couldn’t come this far north and not visit it could we lol.
It's a standing joke between us. Neither of us are religious but I'm always impressed by the sheer brilliance of the workmanship that goes into these buildings. It was the most unusual we’ve ever seen. The Norwegians definitely know how to build things that complement their natural surroundings. Even the chandeliers and organ pipes looked like icicles.
After lunch we walked over the bridge into Tromsø itself. The guide book described it as the Paris of the north. Whoever the author of that particular statement was, had obviously never been to Paris!! We looked round the Polar museum, which was really interesting. We found out about animal trapping in the Arctic winters (thank god they don’t do it now) and the Arctic expeditions to the North Pole. They’re very proud of the explorer Roald Amundsen who left Tromsø on his final expedition exactly 90 years to the day that we set off from home on our big adventure. Coincidence or what!!
For us Brits, unless you’re made of money, eating out in Norway is really expensive. We’ve done OK with food though and even had a pizza night! We used wraps as pizza bases and I must admit, they were lovely.
So the last couple of days we’ve been truckin & lookin from Tromsø to Alta on the main E6 (Northern Lights Route). We’re 216km from Nordkapp but we’re camped at Alta River Campsite until Monday morning after making a school boy error. We thought we had researched everything even down to the last place we could get LPG for the gas low system Hymer very kindly installed for us. They don’t sell it in Finland and so we need full gas tanks before heading out of Norway. What we didn’t realise was the last LPG place (in Alta) doesn’t open on Saturdays and Sundays lol. So we’ve made the best of it and done all the washing, stripped the beds and uploaded all the photos that were missing from the blog. The campsite is brilliant, for £21.00 per night you get all the usual campsite stuff as well as access to a fully kitted out kitchen including gas cooker plus an indoor and outdoor sauna!! Never seen an outdoor sauna before. Think it must be for campers to use when it’s cold and wet?? How cool is that. Luckily we don’t need it. Andy’s still got his shorts on as the weather is still nice and warm. I’m definitely the nesh one as I’m wearing jeans 😁
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