13.02.13
Last night in Sortland, practice stowing of the four German winter tyres went quite well and does not hinder my sleeping arrangements. Sat in the dark and watched the "Lights" again. Went on sporadically for a good couple of hours. Nothing especially spectacular and strangely enough were almost completely white which I haven't seen before. Either way not worth getting all the paraphernalia out and freezing the proverbial off.
14.02.13
The run down from Sortland to Moskenes was a completely new experience being winter. The last time was in the other direction and three months later than now. Went that way on the first Norway trip in 2008. Must say with all the snow it was almost like a fairy tale. That's if you forget the road conditions and to get stuck would be, well, not desperate but extremely unfortunate.
The activities of the cod fisheries are picking up and the racks are starting to fill up. Also if you get parked next to a big transporter on a ferry it's fairly rank experience.
The ride was enhanced by the fact that the cloud cover was minimal and exiting the ferry at Fiskebøl the sun was just rising. This illuminated the mountains almost all the way down to Moskenes in a glorious bright, but at the same time gentle light. If that makes sense?
As I had left Sortland before seven in the morning I was in Moskenes just before midday which left me with a longish wait as the ferry to Bodø did not leave until 20:30. The crossing was uneventful and disembarked just on midnight. Fauske is only a sixty kilometer drive inland from Bodø and a good jumping off point for the trip over the arctic circle tomorrow. Obviously no one on the camp site when I arrived so I helped myself to electricity. Knee deep in snow on the site.
15.02.13
06:30 Start from Fauske.
This note is continued in the Marina near Rob & Ingrid about 18:45 or so.N18º23’12” E9º59’5” Caught the sunrise 07:52, (almost exactly) on arctic circle at 66º33’12”N 15º19’14”E, only -11.5 C, took time out for a couple of images then onward, one of which is posted at the end of this entry. Boy had the weather been doing things since I drove up. Ice roads almost without pause pause all the way to and most of the time it snowed all the way to Steinkjer. From there run to Trondheim almost civilised.
16.02.13
Slept thru from 20:00 to 07:30 this morning. Quite nippy in the van this morning. Thought for a minute Ali had packed my sleeping bag for me.
Spending the day with the Klein's and this turned out to be a one. They fed me like there was no tomorrow and I probably rabbited on far too much.
Slept over at the Marina again and warmer than last night as Robert showed we were I could plug into the Mains.
17.02 .13
Early start getting the 07:00 ferry. Let's see what the day brings, have planned to camp just south of Oslo.
At 22:30 found myself at the petrol station opposite the one camped at on way up 88 km from Rødby in Denmark. This is exactly 1208 km camp site Rørvik near Trondheim since this morning. Bit groggy but really quite fine. Try early start tomorrow and hope the Campmobil boys are at work.
Reason for drastic change was heard my bro was in the horsespiddle so tried to gee everything up a bit. Heard about an hour ago that he is back home.
18.02.13
Checked that the Campmobil boys were at work and managed the 08:15 ferry to Puttgarden. I had judged it so that I would come off the ferry with just enough reserve fuel to get me the ten kilometers to the first petrol station on German soil. At about the fifth of these Murphy came out of his box again for his last fling of the trip and the clutch went to meet its maker.
Ah well the ADAC came up trumps and rescued me. I was home in the evening in Düsseldorf with a rental car that the ADAC organised. Van will come down to Düsseldorf within the next five to seven working days a part of a collecting transport service and get fixed!
That's it, first trip of the year, plenty went on and all in all I enjoyed every bit of it.
Last night in Sortland, practice stowing of the four German winter tyres went quite well and does not hinder my sleeping arrangements. Sat in the dark and watched the "Lights" again. Went on sporadically for a good couple of hours. Nothing especially spectacular and strangely enough were almost completely white which I haven't seen before. Either way not worth getting all the paraphernalia out and freezing the proverbial off.
14.02.13
The run down from Sortland to Moskenes was a completely new experience being winter. The last time was in the other direction and three months later than now. Went that way on the first Norway trip in 2008. Must say with all the snow it was almost like a fairy tale. That's if you forget the road conditions and to get stuck would be, well, not desperate but extremely unfortunate.
The activities of the cod fisheries are picking up and the racks are starting to fill up. Also if you get parked next to a big transporter on a ferry it's fairly rank experience.
The ride was enhanced by the fact that the cloud cover was minimal and exiting the ferry at Fiskebøl the sun was just rising. This illuminated the mountains almost all the way down to Moskenes in a glorious bright, but at the same time gentle light. If that makes sense?
As I had left Sortland before seven in the morning I was in Moskenes just before midday which left me with a longish wait as the ferry to Bodø did not leave until 20:30. The crossing was uneventful and disembarked just on midnight. Fauske is only a sixty kilometer drive inland from Bodø and a good jumping off point for the trip over the arctic circle tomorrow. Obviously no one on the camp site when I arrived so I helped myself to electricity. Knee deep in snow on the site.
15.02.13
06:30 Start from Fauske.
This note is continued in the Marina near Rob & Ingrid about 18:45 or so.N18º23’12” E9º59’5” Caught the sunrise 07:52, (almost exactly) on arctic circle at 66º33’12”N 15º19’14”E, only -11.5 C, took time out for a couple of images then onward, one of which is posted at the end of this entry. Boy had the weather been doing things since I drove up. Ice roads almost without pause pause all the way to and most of the time it snowed all the way to Steinkjer. From there run to Trondheim almost civilised.
16.02.13
Slept thru from 20:00 to 07:30 this morning. Quite nippy in the van this morning. Thought for a minute Ali had packed my sleeping bag for me.
Spending the day with the Klein's and this turned out to be a one. They fed me like there was no tomorrow and I probably rabbited on far too much.
Slept over at the Marina again and warmer than last night as Robert showed we were I could plug into the Mains.
17.02 .13
Early start getting the 07:00 ferry. Let's see what the day brings, have planned to camp just south of Oslo.
At 22:30 found myself at the petrol station opposite the one camped at on way up 88 km from Rødby in Denmark. This is exactly 1208 km camp site Rørvik near Trondheim since this morning. Bit groggy but really quite fine. Try early start tomorrow and hope the Campmobil boys are at work.
Reason for drastic change was heard my bro was in the horsespiddle so tried to gee everything up a bit. Heard about an hour ago that he is back home.
18.02.13
Checked that the Campmobil boys were at work and managed the 08:15 ferry to Puttgarden. I had judged it so that I would come off the ferry with just enough reserve fuel to get me the ten kilometers to the first petrol station on German soil. At about the fifth of these Murphy came out of his box again for his last fling of the trip and the clutch went to meet its maker.
Ah well the ADAC came up trumps and rescued me. I was home in the evening in Düsseldorf with a rental car that the ADAC organised. Van will come down to Düsseldorf within the next five to seven working days a part of a collecting transport service and get fixed!
That's it, first trip of the year, plenty went on and all in all I enjoyed every bit of it.
Arctic Circle. 15.02.2013, 07:52, altitude 669.2m at 66º33’12”N 15º19’14”E Temperature -11.5ºC
