Norway

Norway - Lofoten Islands

Norway is beautiful but WiFi is difficult. Usually when we pay for a campground I would use the WiFi, but in Norway the campground WiFi hasn't been working. Therefore I am behind on my blog. In Eastern Europe, where I thought there would be all kinds of problems, WiFi was excellent and I could use the hot spot on my phone. Not in Norway. I don't understand why Norway has such poor WiFi. It has been very frustrating. I am not sure when I will be caught up. Right now the blog is about 3 weeks behind.

We arrived in the Lofoten Islands area on July 22nd and stayed for 5 days. Our weather was a mix of rain, fog, and warm sunny days. The Lofoten's are still well above the Arctic Circle so we had 24 hours of daylight. You constantly lose track of time when the sun never sets. The islands are extremely scenic, but have narrow roads with lots of wide camper vans everywhere. There are lots of bridges, tunnels and roads right on the waters edge (cliff edge with the water far blow). Yikes!!!

Vesteralen Islands, just north of Lofoten Islands

 Bridge from the mainland to Hinnoya

Views along the road on Hinnoya. The wild flowers were blooming everywhere. With 24 hours of sunlight everything grows in abundance.

Bridge from Hinnoya to Langoya. All the bridges are built like this. They are high enough that fishing boats, sail boats, and small ships can pass under them. Most are very steep and have wonderful views from the top, but no place to stop as they are only 2 lanes at best.

Melbu harbor on Hadseloya Island. We took the ferry from Melbu to Austvagoy Island in the Lofotens.

Lofoten Islands

View of a fjord on the road to Svolvaer.

Svolvaer on Austvagoy Island

Svolvaer has many small islands as part of the village. They are all connected by high bridges.

Cottages for rent in Svolvaer.

The village of Kabelvag on Austvagoy Island.

More views of Kabelvag. 

Fish drying racks. These racks are everywhere. At the right time of the year they would be covered in fish. Thank goodness we missed that. Where we did see fish on the racks, there was a strong fish smell in the air. Notice the fog pouring in around the mountains in the background. We saw this almost every afternoon. Sometimes it would stay in the distance and other times we would be in thick fog.

Henningsvaer is a fishing village/tourist town on a group of small islands connected by one lane road and brides to the island of Austvagoy. The road out to and the village itself are beautiful, but very popular with the tourists.

Henningsvaer

Lofotr Viking Museum - This is a recontruction of the chieftain's house.

 

 Inside the chieftain's house.

Viking boats.

Our campground in Ballstad, Vestvagoy Island. We parked on the rock pier. Great harbor view.

View along the highway to A.

More views along the highway to A. You can see how the highway hugs the coastline.

One of the many scenic fishing villages you pass through.

View of small boats on a lake as you enter into A. The village is at the end of the road in the Lofotens.

 Views of the village of A.

Norway

Norway - Senja Island

We are loving the wild and rugged Norway coastline. Senja Island is beautiful. It has small fishing villages, steep mountains, lots of tunnels through the mountains, and miles of winding roads hugging the coastline. The views are amazing.

 Our camping spot on the way to Senja Island. It was free with a perfect view and no one else around.

N69.82042 E021.128621

 Road side views traveling south to Senja Island.

 This was a scary tunnel. The car in front of us would not drive into it, they had Norway plates on their car. It was only wide enough for one vehicle, very steep sloping down and long. We decided to go for it when another car came by and drove on in. 

We exited the tunnel in the town of Fjordgard. Our camp spot for the night, a trail head overlooking the town and the fjord. The next morning we hiked up the trail to a small lake.

 View of Fjordgard from the town park. We have seen these painted tires everywhere. I guess this is how they recycle old tires. 

 Views along the roads of Senja Island.

 Looking across the water to Medfjordvaer.

 Views of the mountains. They are very dramatic.

 

Looking down on a fjord.

An inland lake and the mountain above it.

 The tide was coming in and the current under the bridge was strong. It was weird, it looked like a river that was flowing backwards. 

 We stopped to visit with some trolls. They are everywhere in Norway.

 This house was amazing. The garden grew around and over the house.

 This resort was in the most scenic location.

  Another fabulous free camp spot right on the water. We watched fish jumping out of the water in feeding frenzies all night long.

 Road side views of the on the way to Gryllefjord.

 The harbor in Gryllefjord. 

You see a lot of these red fishing cottages in Norway.

Norway

 Norway – Above the Arctic Circle

We have been above the Arctic Circle for about a week. The sun never sets, 24 hours of daylight, it is confusing. It’s hard to think about going to bed, you just want to keep going. When we crossed into Norway, we headed directly for the coast. We spent the night at a trail head going out to Trollholmsund. An absolutely beautiful spot. We did the short hike and then fixed dinner. The next day it was clear and sunny so we drove to Nordkapp, the northern most point in Europe that you can drive to. We decided not to pay the parking fee. There was a long line at the entrance booth and fog was moving in fast. What was the point in paying a large fee to park in the fog with hundreds of other people and see nothing. We turned around and parked at a trail head a little way back down the road. We hiked to the top of a nearby hill instead. We were much happier with our choice, great views and no people.

Our camping spot for our first night in Norway.

The trail out to Trollholmsund.

View of the shore on the Trollholmsund trail.

Trollholmsund – Rock formations that are trolls turned into stone according to an ancient Lappish legend.

 Views of the coast line from the road.

Reindeer enjoying a sunny day at the beach.

Nordkapp is on the island of Mageroya. To get on the island you drive through a tunnel under the sea.

The tunnel is long and steep.

Honningsvag, the northern most city in Norway.

The busy port of Honningvag.

Cruise ships also visit Honningsvag and send busloads of passengers to Nordkapp.

Love these flower pots.

Reindeer wandering through the town of Skarsvag.

 Another road side view. The water is very clear and beautiful shades of blue.

View on the road to Nordkapp.

Nordkapp parking lot. A sea of campervans.

View toward Nordkapp from our hilltop hike.

View of the road to Nordkapp. Our van is in the parking lot you see on the right in the photo.

The hilltop had a great 360 degree view, until the fog rolled in.

We have been following two blogs very closely. They both are traveling in the same areas we are traveling and have lots of wonderful information. We love reading them daily. Driving south from Nordkapp we were very lucky to end up in the same city as them. We followed the GPS coordinates posted on the blog and we were able to meet them. How lucky is that!

Jason and Julie from Our Tour. They have been traveling the same route as us since we began this trip.

Joanne, Craig, Mac n Tosh from Our Bumble. They have been traveling north through Norway, so now we are following the info on their blog.