Norway Day 8: A change of atmosphere

There was a welcome change today; a change of road.

For about 4 days I’ve travelled North on the E6 and then back south again. Hundreds of miles of the same fabulous scenery since entering Norway to the Arctic Circle (of course), and then back down.

After skirting past Trondheim (putting my Auto Toll count now at 21), I changed onto the E39 to head in a more westerly direction towards the Norwegian Sea.

With the change of direction came a change of weather and a change of road type. Now used to the wide open roads and space afforded to me so far in the mountainous region, it was a refreshing change to be on a somewhat challenging at times twisty turny type road.

The odd hairpin bend heading up and down valleys meant either a sudden firm push of the brakes or alternatively a first or second gear crawling climb.

There were more forests and lush green lands around, this could be to do with there suddenly being a lot of hanging mists and clouds in this area. When the road did open out, I was met with large masses of water, contained between steep rock walls.

This is the beginning of my Fjord experience.

I had been past Trondheimsfjorden (where Trondheim is situated funnily), and while it’s large and picturesque, it feels like a lake as you drive around it, not unlike the Lochs in Scotland or Lakes around Cumbria. The difference here now is that the land and Fjords are more intertwined, so there are bridges that are leapfrogging the land more often to get you to your destination. There is also now the use of ferries to cross some areas, it seems that so common is their use, the road signage barely acknowledges that you’re about to board a ferry.

Today was my first Fjord crossing by Ferry, so easy is it, that you simply queue on the road, as if waiting for traffic lights to change. The ferry turns up and disembark the current passengers, you drive in at the crew’s instruction. Then as the ferry moves off, the crew come around for the fare. All very slick except they come to my passenger door. This means I have to reach right across and wind the passenger window down to pay. There must be an easier way as I have the same messing around to do at Manual tolls here also. The biggest pain is driving off without winding the window up and realising there’s no where on the road to for ages to stop and wind it up!

I’ve made it to the ‘Atlantic Highway’ today but I’m going to talk more about that in the next post.

I’m about 2 days ahead of schedule! I wasn’t planning to be here until the 25th, but with the easy roads so far I’ve just kept trundling along.

The Area I’m in is Averøya and I find it quite appealing. So as I’m so far ahead, I’ve decided to take a day off the tour tomorrow and explore a bit.

Norway Day 1: Not Norway!

I’m finally on my way to Norway after ‘only’ 18 months of planning.

The past week has been very eventful; my brakes have failed, my head gasket failed, my wheel bearings failed…. But all in my head!! I call this ‘Rover Paranoia’.

I have started to hear new rattles, groans, grinding noises and, felt odd vibrations coming from various different areas of the Landy, none of which were there before!

So determined was I that something was amiss, I was driving with the window down and radio volume low so I could hear every little thing that could potentially bring the journey to a premature halt.

That was until on one journey, I forgot to listen.

I realised as I pulled up at home, that the car was fine! Not falling to bits, no noisier than it had been for the past several months, just normal. I gave myself a psychological kick and resolved that ‘what will be, will be’ and if something breaks, it can be fixed. I do have breakdown cover after all.

So I’m writing this on the Ferry from Dover to Dunkirk, about halfway through the 2hr crossing and am pleased with having a faultless start. The traffic to Dover was fine albeit a little busy in places, I was able to get an earlier ferry due to arriving at Dover in good time, and the DFDS / Dover port embarkation process was simple and quick. The weather is fabulous, the sea is smooth, and the Cod and chips with mushy peas from the restaurant really satisfying! A Great start!

It has occurred to me however, that whilst this is a trip to visit Norway, it’s not all Norway. I have a whole bunch of other countries to get through first. At any other given opportunity, there would be excitement about visiting any one of them, however they are merely waypoints that I am required to pass through so I can get to the end goal.

I’ll enjoy each country as I go though them but I’ll apologise now to France, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, I’m afraid you’re incidental this time around!

Tomorrow; Bremen…