90 days Norway & 8 country’s tour. (1 Viewer)

[nigelivy]

Thanks Nigel, I didn’t think about the fridge. That is probably the answer. It is only for a few minutes so no real problem. It’s a pain to check though because with the tech tower the door has to be open for so long to check the energy source.

I forgot to mention, some fridges have a delay in switching from 12v back to gas. I believe this is for safety when filling up with fuel, so it's not lighting the pilot light immediately after turning the engine off. This is likely what it is.

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

I forgot to mention, some fridges have a delay in switching from 12v back to gas. I believe this is for safety when filling up with fuel, so it's not lighting the pilot light immediately after turning the engine off. This is likely what it is.

Hi Nigel,
I think that’s the answer. Normally the fridge would be drawing from the engine battery for that period which I wouldn't see but now I have the bypass relay as soon as D+ switches the relay off it changes to the leisure battery so I of course see the fridge usage on the shunt for the fuelling safety period. Which of course is better to use from the leisure battery.
So perfectly normal, thank you.

 

[L' Hobo]

I was amused by 'Artic truck', as you are nowhere near the artic yet.

[I know you meant articulated].

To be pedantic, with 2 trailors, I suppose it should be described as a Road Train!

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

Day-10. After having a rest for the weekend we filled up with fuel just in case there was little available further north. It cost £1.49 a litre so about the same as the UK at least when we left. Driving was a bit slower with 80 & 90 km/h speed limits on the roads. The surrounding mountains and fields beside us had much more snow on them now;

Feeling like a coffee we saw a signpost for Silfar Canyon so stopped for a little walk which was nice, not up to the previous rapids but an enjoyable diversion:

We decided to push on towards Nordkap because tomorrow’s weather looked good but the following day would be very cloudy. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day with the outside temperature reaching 16C. On our walk earlier we were stripping off our coats & hats on our return to the van. At a picnic spot we found a sign saying “Please help yourself to our beautiful spring water” and even supplied a hose to fill our tank. What a nice country and what a difference!
We entered a tunnel which quickly became quite a steep hill underground we didn’t see the sign before we entered but it seemed about 5km or more with a very steep climb out. We have Autoroute running on a small laptop on the dashboard and we could see that we had gone under the sea to the Nordkapp island. Then another tunnel which did say 4.4km shortly after.
About 20km from Nordkapp we climbed quite a bit and found ourselves in the clouds which steadily got thicker until we reached Nordkapp with about 10mt visibility! So much so that we didn’t even see the Visitors Centre which was about 20mt from the road. It was strange, there was only one Motorhome there so we parked next to it. Slowly through the thick mist we made out a row of rocks behind us and then the vague shapes of some Motorhomes. I decided that I needed to investigate so togged up and went for a walk. Yes, we had completely missed the car park entrance. There were about 100 Motorhomes parked there and we were in completely the wrong place! Very carefully, now I knew the lay of the land we moved to behind the rocks and settled down for noisy night being rocked to sleep by the wind. Hoping that the clouds would clear by tomorrow.

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

I forgot to post a picture of Nordkapp, this is the view from our windscreen as we arrived:

He photo actually sees more in the mist than was apparent when driving. Probably because of concentrating so hard to be sure not to bump into something.
I have pinched this picture from Our tours blog thanks to them please check it out, loads of great info. It shows that we are now further north than most people on earth, even Alaska & Iceland!

With the rain falling sideways, for safety we will wait it out hopefully for the cloud to lift a bit. But nearly 3,000 miles to sit in a gravel car park surrounded by fog n rain.

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[OldAgeTravellers]

The mist cleared to about 50mt so we decided to brave it. The dash reading showed 4degC but the wind chill took it to about -40 it felt like anyway. We togged up though and it was fine until I had to take my glove off to take some pictures.

Then we went into the gift shop to warm up a bit and Judy found a new friend!

 

[cyberyacht]

It was just like that when I visited (not moho). There was a snowdrift on the end of the visitor centre balcony about 8ft high. If that's what it's like in mid-summer.....

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

Day-12. We set the satnav towards Tromso but took the shorter route with smaller roads which also required two ferries which we hadn’t encountered yet. The first was from Olderdalen to Lyngseidet, we arrived just after the ferry had left so we had about an hour wait and when it came would our pre-registration with Ferry Pass work? They scanned our number plate with a phone-like device and beckoned us on, Yes it worked. Checking the website later we were charged £10.73 half price for our size and weight, so it was certainly worth signing up for the Ferry Pass.

https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/foru...er-860162788/supfiles1451604E/P1110015[3].jpg

Day-13. The next morning we were a bit late so missed the ferry and had a two-hour wait and the pass worked OK again. The Svendsby to Beivikeidet ferry was bigger but cheaper at £7.61.
We arrived at a parking place in Tromso we found on Park4Night right next to the Arctic Cathedral, It allowed 4 hours of parking free which was amazing. But it appears that you should display your arrival time with one of those blue clock things, often needed in French villages which luckily we had if we can find it! Yes, down at the bottom of Judy’s stash box beside her seat. So worth getting a cheap one from a £1 shop if you travel.

We had seen this modern Cathedral lit up in the distance when we were on the Hurtigruten Ship in November a few years back. It looked beautiful then and it was close up, but very much smaller than it appeared then and instead of concrete as it looked it was made of corrugated metal as used on most of the house roofs. There were long queues of people to go in from coach after coach at £6 each, so we didn’t bother, but walked halfway over the stunning bridge to the city which is on an island.

The bridge was extremely narrow without curbs, just a steel crash barrier at the side. The coaches & buses were having to drive just about 50mm from the barrier to pass each other so we decided it was just too risky to chance damage to the motorhome and we like scenery rather than cities anyway so gave it a miss.

That night we parked in a layby with stunning views and stayed up to see the “Midnight Sun” If you click on the picture to enlarge it you can see that my watch is showing Midnight, but it could just as easily be Midday.

Day-14. We drove to Gryllefjord on the island of Senja. There was stunning scenery on the journey. Just before the village we came to the end of the que for the ferry to Andenes which is at the top of the Lofoten Islands. We had already decided that we would drive to see more scenery because the ferry cost £100 even after our discount and when we saw it loading we would probably have to wait about six hours to get on it with the number of cars and motorhomes waiting. But it was Saturday so probably busier than during the week. After a slow walk around the village reading about its history from a thriving fishing port to what seemed like a weekend cottage village we drove about fifteen minutes back down the road to an aire we had seen where we could stay the night. It stood at the entrance to a Troll Park which was unfortunately closed as it had just been taken over by a local camp site. But this one was standing guard over us for the night.

Day-15. There were great facilities here so we emptied our waste and filled up with water. Steve spotted an English motorhome which are very rare here, owned by Dave & Carole and went to say hello, we started chatting then they invited us in for a cuppa and we had so much in common that we were chatting for five hours. Really nice people who amazingly lived just a few miles away from us. So we were very late getting away. But as it never gets dark we set off to drive around the coast road of Senja island. It was a stunning road, mainly single-track roads with passing places it also had long single-track tunnels with the occasional passing place, one over 3km long. Quite challenging in a large vehicle and changing from brilliant sun to dark tunnels. We had forgotten it was Saturday and there were very many Norwegian families on the road and most stopping places we came across were full so we kept going until we found a picnic place right next to a fjord with stunning views just before Sorreisa.
Day-16. It was Sunday today so we decided that there would be many locals on the roads so a good time to catch up with this blog and have a quiet day with lovely scenery.

 

[NorthernSoul]

We just missed you! We were in Tromso on 11 and 12 June. We were travelling South to North and have seen very few motorhomes from the UK. We're now back in southern Sweden (decided not to visit Nordkapp) after 5 days of driving and we haven't seen one UK motorhome in the last five days.

We used the ferry from Andenes to Senja and just made it on, otherwise we would have had to wait until the next day. Senja to Andenes looked very busy, but I think they have put on another sailing from last weekend.

Enjoy the rest of your trip. I would definitely recommend taking the route 17 scenic route from Bodo down to near Namsos, even though it requires six ferry crossings. In fact, with good weather, the ferry crossings themselves were some of the highlights of that section for me. Fantastic scenery from a different viewpoint.

 

[frwjd]

We've just started our 9th week in Norway, a few days in Finland and Sweden too.
What a very beautiful place to visit!

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[NorthernSoul]

Here's what you missed in the Arctic Cathedral!

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

Here's what you missed in the Arctic Cathedral! View attachment 911024View attachment 911023

Thanks for the pics. With the number of people piling in, 4 coach loads while we were taking photos outside, we didn’t think it worth it. It was “interesting” to me from outside and the design was beautiful from a distance. But I am more interested in older constructions. Lookin forward to seeing some of the wooden churches. Haven’t spotted any yet.

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

We just missed you! We were in Tromso on 11 and 12 June. We were travelling South to North and have seen very few motorhomes from the UK. We're now back in southern Sweden (decided not to visit Nordkapp) after 5 days of driving and we haven't seen one UK motorhome in the last five days.

We used the ferry from Andenes to Senja and just made it on, otherwise we would have had to wait until the next day. Senja to Andenes looked very busy, but I think they have put on another sailing from last weekend.

Enjoy the rest of your trip. I would definitely recommend taking the route 17 scenic route from Bodo down to near Namsos, even though it requires six ferry crossings. In fact, with good weather, the ferry crossings themselves were some of the highlights of that section for me. Fantastic scenery from a different viewpoint.

We have just driven round from Senja, should reach Andenes tomorrow. Lovely drive and about the same cost in fuel as the ferry. But much longer of course. Will make a note of route-17 from Bodo, thanks. We have Vesteralen & Lofoten to do first. Any suggestions?

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

We've just started our 9th week in Norway, a few days in Finland and Sweden too.
What a very beautiful place to visit!

Yes, we are loving it, currently parked for the night on an island in the middle of a fiord. Reached by a 1km single track bridge and causeway. Just 13km from Refsnes ferry.

 

[NorthernSoul]

We have just driven round from Senja, should reach Andenes tomorrow. Lovely drive and about the same cost in fuel as the ferry. But much longer of course. Will make a note of route-17 from Bodo, thanks. We have Vesteralen & Lofoten to do first. Any suggestions?

On Andoya and on our way to Andenes we took the coast road on the western side rather than the 82 on the East. The road was fine for us and the coastal scenery was superb. Passes by the Norwegian spaceport.

When we were on Vesteralen 10 days ago it was a lot quieter than Lofoten. We could have spent more time on there, but only had a limited number of days. Lofoten was getting busy two weeks ago - watch out for more people travelling this coming weekend as it is the midsummer holiday weekend for some. Vesteralen may be a better bet at the weekend for that reason.

On Lofoten we stayed at a campsite here: https://park4night.com/en/place/421496 Next to a beautiful white sandy beach with blue/green water, if the sun shines. It says space for 150 units (doable, but it would be a bit cramped), but only 25 were on the site when we were there. From the site you can do the hike up Ryten (if that is your thing) https://www.earthtrekkers.com/hike-ryten-kvalvika-beach-lofoten-islands/

There are so many interesting villages and sights on Lofoten. The challenge will be finding parking spots, I think. Have a great time!

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[cyberyacht]

There's this one just outside Bergen