Nordkapp to Skibotn

We had breakfast outside at the camp at Nordkapp, beside a small lake in a brisk chilly breeze. On the hillside reindeer grazed. We had scrambled eggs and Norwegian smoked salmon which we ate in our coats, hats and scarves. It was 3°C. We also had hot showers and set off to Skibotn feeling happy and optimistic.

We drove 520 km south. The scenery was spectacularly beautiful as we took the road that wound along the fjords beneath the snow-capped mountains.

We stopped in a shop to buy fridge magnets and postcards. Katka bought a top and Maros bought some stickers of Nordkapp and reindeer to put on the campervan. 

We arrived at the campsite at around 9pm. It was a balmy 9°C and I decided to sleep in the tent (after asking permission this time). We had a delicious tea with soup and meat and pasta. Then Katka and Maros came to see me off to the tent. It got rather chilly in the early morning,  but I had their thermal sleeping bag and the reindeer blanket, thick socks, hat and three mats piled on top of each other to sleep on. The seagulls called all night and I could hear the sound of the river and, of course, it never got dark. 

Highlights of the day were the wintery breakfast up at Nordkapl and the wonderful changing views of the fjords.

Nordkapp (To Finland and beyond pt 2)

As we crossed the border into Norway, we entered an inhospitable, cold bleak land with stunted trees and small homesteads with tractors on the lawn, quadbikes and snow-mobiles and tee-pee structures, piles of tyres and outdoor toilets. They looked like Sami settlements and that they had a tough life. We stopped for a toilet break and discovered a dead reindeer by a lake of black water, the first snowflakes fell and the temperature dropped to 3°C.

But then the landscape changed - rocky cliffs of black stone and fast running streams and pockets of snow up on the hilltops. It was beautiful and dramatic. We drove along the fjord at Alta when the German battleship that attacked the Murmansk convoy had been hidden in 1943.

We drove over snowy tundra with herds of reindeer roaming across it, and passed lakes with dark blue cabins and small boats and eventually we hit the dramatic coast road and saw tankers and fishing boats out in the sea, and crossed beneath the sea in rocky tunnels up to 7km long.

It grew colder and snow blew in as we climbed up the cliffs above the fjord on the  narrow snaking road. Finally we reached the end of the world - Nordkapp, and we suddenly were in a crowded carpark full of coaches, cars and campervans and visitors from all over the world. It was midnight and as still light as day. It was 2°C.

We looked out from the clifftop towards the North Pole and looked at the sea and a trawler with the binoculars. The wind blew and it was bitterly cold. We learnt the name the North Cape had been given by British explorers looking for a northern route to China and that it had been visited by the then King of Siam at the beginning of the 20th century.

Then we took some pictures which I'll post later, and we drove down to a campsite and celebrated with some Russian vodka and dried cod.

To Finland and Beyond (part 1)

We set off after breakfast to Nordkapp. We turned off the main highway and took a smaller road which shortened the distance to the destination and cheered us all up. It was bright and sunny and 10°C and we were in good spirits - only 700 km to go!

We soon found a sign showing us we were officially  entering the arctic circle. We stopped in Payala for petrol and postcards and learnt that we were in the heart of Lappland! Then we turned over a bridge and Schengened into Finland across the river Muonio. The houses were now mainly white, it seemed a bit less neat and tidy and there were now signs telling us that we were entering areas of reindeer husbandry.

We stopped for delicious salmon steaks and I bought some woollen socks. In the shop/restaurant/camp two older ladies  (sisters maybe) came in wearing Sami folk costume. I asked if I could photograph them and after a short period of mutually amusing pantomime, they said told me 'okay' ("you have to tell her 'okay'," the younger prompted the older one). I took the pictures and showed them. They exclaimed to each other over them and the older one was a little offended that her photo wasn't as good as the younger one's. Then we said goodbye in our different languages. About 100m up the road we saw our first reindeer.

The trees were getting smaller and the landscape was becoming more open and marshy. Suddenly we were leaving the EU behind and entering Norway.

At the edge of the Arctic Circle

Today we travelled just 600 km. We are on the edge of the Arctic Circle in a nice camp at Overkalix on the river Kalix. We have left the coast and the Bay of Bothnia behind us and headed up inland towards Finland.

We left our last campsite at about 11am and visited a Swedish Lidl which had a helpful beggar outside who lent us a coin for our trolley. Then we drove for four hours and stopped for a Swedish MacDonald's at Umea as a late lunch and a chance to finally connect to wifi. But we didn't like our food which was not as good as the lunch yesterday and when we set off we all somehow felt dissatisfied with ourselves, and then the coast road had few views of the sea and there seemed to be only the same red farmhouses and endless forest to look at. We started to understand just what a huge country Sweden is - twice as big as the UK with only 10 mil people. If we had gone south from Banska Bystrica we could have reached Sicily in the same distance as going from south Sweden to Nordkapp. (Useful facts provided by Maros).

One success of the journey was that I finally managed to photograph the now familiar 'watch out for the moose' road sign.

But then we got to our camp and had warm soup and grilled sausages, which we ate outside in a bracing arctic breeze and we felt better. We turned the heating on in the caravan and went to bed to have a read and get warm. Apparently it is about 5°C colder than it normally is in the summer here.

Highlights of the day - reaching the Arctic Circle, seeing a fox in the forest, nice people in the Overkalix camp and the toasty warm kitchen and toilets there (I considered sleeping in the kitchen). I'm glad I have the reindeer blanket.

First half of Sweden

Today we travelled nearly 900 km from Markaryd to Sundsvall.

We woke to a beautiful morning and had a nice breakfast and a bit of exercise. I walked round the lake till I found a white boat with oars waiting for me. If I had taken it and rowed into the centre of the lake, an arm would have appeared with a sword and I would have become the Queen of Thule. Instead I chose another fate and returned to the caravan. Maros and Katka returned on the bikes from shopping in town too.

We set off around 11am and had a great lunch at a petrol station near the ruins of Brahahus overlooking lake Vanern. We passed planes at the roadside near the Saab factory where they made them in Linkoping. Then we drove on through Stockholm in the pouring rain and for the first time hit heavy traffic. It rained for the next couple of hours and we all got disheartened and wondered why we hadn't gone to Egypt instead. Then the blue skies returned and more lakes and at 9.30 I put on my sunglasses to stop the setting sun from getting in my eyes.

After tea we drove on another 170 km to an oil refinery by the sea and beyond it a crowded campsite. We arrived just before midnight. We had a beer or two and some cake and then at 1am saw the sunrise over another factory. We then had to wander into the woods as you needed a card to open the toilets which we didn't have. We can't quite work out why so many people are staying here.

We decided we will go on to Nordkapp. Next stop the Artic circle!

Ferry to Sweden

We woke up in the carpark and stuck our heads out of the sun-roof to look around. The Swedes had left early and it was bright and sunny, then it rained, then it was sunny again - all before breakfast. I got out my thermal sweatshirt and winter hat - we were going north. I discovered we had thermal mugs for our coffee just like proper Arctic explorers.

The people at the Meier campsite charged us the full amount for being in their carpark which was a bit mean. But we had our showers and a good breakfast in the sunshine and we set off in good spirits to catch our ferry.

We dressed warm for the ferry and sat outside drinking champagne and reading our books and watching the ferries coming from Sweden or going to Denmark. It was sunny and the sea was pretty calm but there was a stiff breeze and I was glad of my hat and jacket. We then looked across and saw a bloke in a t-shirt and sandals.

Once off the ferry it rained as we set off for Markaryd and a campsite which was about 150 km away. It was soon sunny again and we spotted a moose sign on the motorway.

The campsite was by a lovely little lake. I wanted to sleep in the tent but after we had put it up we had to take it down again as it was against safety rules and not in the designated tent area and we hadn't paid and we needed a special card in order to pay for the tent. The girl was very pleasant and very sorry but no tent was possible.

Katka prepared a delicious evening meal - vegetable soup followed by turkey and rice for tea. The glamping has started. Then Maros and Katka went out on their bikes and then Katka and I tried to cycle round the lake but lost it in the deep forest so turned back.

Then we ate some liquorice and drank a wee dram and went to bed with light still in the sky even at nearly midnight. I slept under the reindeer blanket.

Hightlights of the day: the ferry journey over the Baltic and visiting the last German shop at the ferry terminal and finding it full of crates and crates of alcohol, the ducks at the campsite.

Setting off

An epic journey of four countries in one day,  1107 km and what felt at times like a journey straight into autumn. We arrived at 00.30 am in the pouring rain at a closed campsite and parked in front of the gates. Luckily the toilets were open though so we could slip through the gates in the dark like ninjas and use them.

We set off on a bright summer's morning from Banska Bystrica and headed north. We crossed into the Czech Republic and drove a short way down a closed motorway before having to turn back and then we made our way to Cesky Tesin and crossed into Poland and on to Germany where we travelled north to the Rugen Isel and the ferry at Sassnitz. In north Germany it began to rain heavily and we saw lightning ahead of us. We wonder what the weather will be like tomorrow when we go on the ferry.

Highlights of the day - seeing herons and storks and deer, having our evening meal, which tasted delicious, in a landscaped German carpark, every time we crossed a border, every time the satnav showed we'd travelled another 100km, lightning over the sea, finding the toilets in the dark.