Norway day 16: Ex Norway!

So, with a slightly heavy heart, (as I’m glad to be starting the homeward stretch of this journey) I bid farewell to Norway. It is a spectacular country and if it is to really be experienced it needs to be by road, traveling to, and staying in a different place each day.

My final view of Norway…..

I fully understand why there are so many Motorhomes on the roads there, it has to be the best way to see the country.

In recent years however, due to the increase in Motorhome usage, especially foreign visitors, there has been a ban on camping on the open road. There are a great many rest stops however that seem to be widely used by Motorhomes, and I would say so long as you’re considerate and leave no rubbish around, this seems fine.

Fortunately one of the benefits of travelling in the Landy is the ability to pretty much park up on any space I found. I ensured that I wasn’t damaging the flora and fauna, and took all of my rubbish away with me.

I would also imagine, that as the summer fully gets underway in Norway, the roads will become crammed full of Motorhomes and therefore finding places to stay will become really difficult, let alone trying to get around the mountain roads with convoys of them oncoming At you. To get two past each other at times is one hell of a squeeze and I wouldn’t fancy trying it.

I would say that this must be the best time of year to visit Norway; yes there is a risk that some routes may not yet be open after the winter, but, to have the mixture of snow, powerful waterfalls and rivers, and the lush green all in the same period of time is fantastic.

I’m confident that whilst I’ve spent time in some of the most fabulous of places, I also haven’t damaged any of the environments that I occupied (well except for the engine fumes). I think it’s important to remember that whilst I have the ability of the 4×4, there is the responsibility to use it wisely and not churn up and destroy the good ground you occupy.

Others should be given the opportunity to be amazed by their surroundings, just as much as I have.

Upon disembarking the ferry at Hirtshals, I started to think about what to do with some of this additional time I found myself with. After having a quick browse on the internet, my first port of call would be Skagen, the most northerly point in Denmark.

And fabulous it is too! Miles of sandy beach, and again being a nice warm day it was ideal for a walk along. So ideal in fact that I lost track of time!

After now having lunch, I think I’ll stay here for the night as the car park allows camping.

I may go for another stroll later.

Norway Day 3: Still Not Norway !!

Today felt like progress was made!

I moved from Germany into Denmark today and was surprised to see that the quantity and quality of roadside parking places continued, not just a German frame of mind it seems. Maybe just UK has the lack of a frame of mind?

A lot of Motorway / Autobahn miles trundled by this time which, whilst a bit laborious, was so much easier driving than yesterday. Time passed easily, all through Germany and most of Denmark the sun was shining, right up until I got to the first landmarks of the journey, then, it rained, and it hasn’t stopped raining yet!

This is why today felt like progress, I’ve been looking forward to crossing two huge bridges which connect Denmark and Sweden; Great Belt Bridge and, Øresund Bridge

A bit disappointing when you have the thought that you’ll be crossing them and be able to see for miles!

The links above should take you to the wiki pages about them, they are both great feats of engineering, one even has an artificial island made halfway to enable the span to stretch far enough.

The Øresund Bridge is the gateway into Sweden where after paying the £40 toll (yes you did read that correctly, the first bridge was a modest £23) I was greeted by the first Border Control since getting on the ferry in Dover.

The guard pulled me over, I think clearly planning to give me a rigorous questioning of my intentions for entering Sweden, he looked the car up and down, and then it began;

Guard: where are you going?

Me: Norway

Guard: For Business or Holiday?

Me: Holiday, I’m taking three weeks and going to the Arctic Circle.

Guard: have you been before?

Me: No.

In the 3 second pause that followed, he must have deduced that I was neither a terrorist, a criminal, nor Immigrant as, with a perfunctory “ok”, he turned and wandered off.

I put my un-inspected passport back away.

As I drove away, thinking to my self ‘it never quite seems like this on the tv when folks are crossing borders at gunpoint and guards with mirrors are checking the underside of cars’, I decided to fill up with fuel.

Now, filling with fuel had become a bit of a problem for my British psyche to deal with. I had found by experimentation that the unattended fuel garages along the way, do not accept my bank cards for some reason. That means I’d need to talk to someone in the garage if only to tell them what pump I was paying for. And there was my issue!

I don’t know the languages.

I have a Norwegian travel Book with phrases in it, but as for the other countries, not a clue!

There’s the half of me, that says ‘well, they all speak English anyway’ and the half that says ‘I don’t want to be the stereotypic English tourist on holiday shouting to make themselves understood, I really should make the effort’. I failed at making the effort, each time.

Then at the said fuel filling station in Sweden, the person in the queue in front of me clearly said ‘number 6 please!’ I thought ‘ooh another English person’, looked at their car, and saw it had Danish plates. In that instant, the most obvious thought hit me; even the neighbouring countries that are no more than a few miles apart, don’t speak each other’s languages, so they use the language common to all, English! Duh!

With my British psyche, well and truly put back on the pedestal where it belongs, my problem had gone. Normality restored!

Tomorrow I should reach Norway, however tonight I’m in a picturesque stop over, a few hundred yards from the motorway, it’s grey, it’s raining, and it’s bliss!