2026 Norway Part 2

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Tue 8th Sep
The overnight rain cleared, bus tickets purchased on the easy to use app, and off we went to Trondheim Cathedral, the most northerly mediaeval cathedral in Europe. And stunning it was!

Two organs.

Outside, round the side, the Kings entrance, very elaborate, and extensively renovated.

A close up of one of the wooden doors.

Then, drove a short way north from Trondheim, to a motorhome service point. These are dotted around Norway, free to use, and enable toilet cassette emptying, grey water emptying, and fresh water filling. And, as motorhomes can park anywhere unless expressly forbidden, we can find places with a view.

Whilst typing this post, a considerable improvement in the weather.

Doesn’t look much better in this picture, but certainly does out of the window!
Wed 9th Sep
There is a possibility of seeing the aurora borealis in a couple of days. This was the motivation that decided us to visit Norway, so we decided to belt north. Which is an astonishingly long way. We left our overnight parking just north of Trondheim, and drove all day. We are now about half way to Narvik. The main road for most of the way has a speed limit of 50 mph.
Now parked up at a town called Mo i Rana, which sounds more New Zealand than Norwegian.
No wonder it is cold

Surely this is wrong? Isn’t the centre of the arctic circle is the North Pole?

I
Went for a nice walk

No trees, I assume because we are at an altitude of 2,200 feet. Plenty of trees when we descended to sea level, although they are very small.
The walk view over rocky mossy terrain.

The road has lots of bends, which makes it slow, and distances are huge. Not much traffic however. And lots and lots of very long tunnels.

Stopping for a cuppa, we unexpectedly came up this sign leading to an old homestead.

Sue toiling up the hill to the homestead.
The Homestead

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, locked, but we were able to pear through the windows. Very simple inside.

The view from the other side of the valley.

Our tonights parking, a layby on a little used back road. With a view!
And, surprisingly warm now, 16 degrees outside, as we are just above sea level.

Sue refused the offer of eating tea on the handy bench!
Video

Video from the dockside, our first ferry crossing.
Fri 11th Sep

Woke to a fine day, clear skies, and surprisingly warm.
This morning at our stopover.

Continued on our journey north, driving through the outskirts of Narvik, which looked pretty awful. Architects really ought to be made to look at buildings past, modern architecture compared to earlier buildings is at least as bad as modern “art installations”.
There are several memorials to the 1945 battle of Narvik, each telling a part of the story where the memorial is located. Interesting, but horrific. We stopped at the first memorial, located very scenically on the shore of a fjord, where the German ships landed in thick fog, and the ensuing battle when British ships arrived. Missed the next two memorials, but the last, most northerly one (which conveniently was close to a free use fresh water tap) the Germans encountered Norwegian and Polish resistance, in a blinding snowstorm. The Germans retreated, and never went further north.
Shortly after leaving Narvik, we encountered our first ferry, arriving in time to see it leaving the dock, so we had to wait for its return.
Video taken from the dockside is above. Not really in control of this system, so out of order, some pictures below.

Still weather forecast for northern lights good, so continued towards Tromso, tried to find a parking away from light. Not many in our immediate area. With much difficulty, found a car park attached to a ski centre (centre closed), but there were lights to illuminate the car park. No way of knowing if they will be turned on at night. So we have ended up in a picnic spot layby off the E6, the road that runs the complete length of Norway. Likely to be quietish at night. I hope.
Then the cloud rolled in. Bah! Now writing this approaching midnight, I think clouds are dispersing.
Sat 12th Sep
Last night, around 11.00 o’clock, I went outside to see if there was any sign of the northern lights. There was a very weird cloud formation, two long streaks of white cloud across an otherwise clear sky, and lots of stars visible. Now kicking myself, I now think that was the Aurora, and because it was static and colourless, I didn’t recognise it for what it was.

About an hour later, I went out again, the lines were slightly pulsating, with a tinge of greenish yellow. I hastily woke Sue, and we spent over an hour watching, not a spectacular display compared to videos we have seen, but definitely worth seeing. I tried to take a video, but without success.

One thing I did learn, standing outside in the early hours of the morning under a cloudless sky in autumn a couple of hundred miles inside the arctic circle is damn cold!

Now continued towards Tromso, and parked up in a quiet layby away from light source in the hope of another display. At the moment, too much cloud, doesn’t look at all promising.

Our chosen layby has a path leading up the nearby mountain. Josie ans I went part way, a very steep haul.

I just wish the photos did justice to the steepness, the second one shows steps worn into the near vertical path.

The view of the mountain I didn’t climb! But, I felt I could. Maybe!

Always more treacherous coming down, need a sledge. Or, better still, a helicopter.

Moss covered hillside and pine trees. There are also a lot of Birch trees.

Yesterday, we saw soon deer at the side of the road, we are pretty sure they were reindeer.
Sun 13th Sep

Light rain all night, overcast, drizzle this morning.
Drove the relatively short distance to Tromso, which is on an island. Connected by a long bridge. Which was closed for roadworks. Left us in a mess on a side street until we could find somewhere to park. Found that, further along, there is a tunnel, so set off, found the tunnel, and crossed onto the island, where we were almost immediately confronted by another tunnel. Part way through the tunnel, a roundabout (now, that is unusual), SatNav said turn right. Right turn blocked off. So, had to go straight on, driving through narrow streets, until that road was closed for roadworks. We were trying to get to the Norwegian Polar Museum, and its display relating to Sami customs and artefacts. Managed to found a way round the blocked road, arrived at the museum, parked up, and found, with difficulty, that parking is free at weekends. Fearfully expensive during the week, about £5.00 per hour.
Went into the museum, found the Sami section is closed for renovation.
Aborted that, surprised to find a supermarket open, so went in as we wanted a few bits and pieces. Very weird, the main body of the supermarket was closed, a small side bit was open, very small, mainly selling drinks, crisps, not what we were looking for.
So set off again, this time to an LPG garage. Found the garage, filled up with LPG, and thus emboldened by this success, decided to try the “Steam Museum”, which had a Sami section. Found it, parked up, and went into the museum, up two flights of stairs. An automatic ticket machine, which let me request two adult tickets, but insisted on including a youth ticket. Again expensive, the unwanted youth ticket about £12.00, our ticket about £18.00 each.
No one around, looked over the entrance barrier, didn’t look worth the money, so back to the vehicle.
The car park ticket machine required me to enter “Reference Number”. Entered the vehicle registration number, wrong. No idea what is right. No indication of cost, or whether it is free at weekends.
Decided to give up for the day, and found a place to park up for the night, overlooking a football pitch, and towards Tromso, and the mountains to the north.
Mon 14th Sep
A dismal night, very strong wind and rain. More rain this morning. We were planning walking round Tromso old town, but it didn’t look that interesting. Not interesting enough to get soaked.
We set out to drive to one of the islands, via an organic shop we found. The road closure ( the one in the tunnel) caused so many problems. We could not convince SatNav to find another way round. Eventually parked up and walked to the shop. Which had metamorphosed into a restaurant. So, to a supermarket. And that damned road again. Goodness, so many times round in circles. And although the rain had stopped, thick heavy cloud cover. So we decided to give up on Tromso. Easier said than done. Convincing SatNav that the bridge was closed, and the road from the bridge to the tunnel was also closed………
Very pleased to finally get off the island, and drove south towards Narvik. Some way south of Tromso, a layby with a motorhome service point. We need to empty the toilet cassette, which is normally done into a toilet basin, or a bespoke variation.
I opened the door on a hut marked for motorhome servicing, and was confronted with this.

Never seen anything like it before. I managed to get it to open the metal shutter towards the bottom right. Put the toilet cassette into the space. Nothing happened. Eventually gave up, and emptied it into the toilet in the adjoining cubicle.
Now parked up a few miles further on, at a very large complex in the middle of nowhere. A snack bar, a coffee shop, a burger bar, a gym, a hotel, a supermarket, two garages (why two?), and lots of other buildings.
Norway is unreasonably expensive.

That 263 is £20.89. I have also seen pizza restaurants, about the same price.
Tue 15th Sep
Turned off before Narvik, now on one of the islands to the west, near a town called Halstad. Nice place, excellent walk admiring spectacular scenery. Pleased to have left Tromso behind.
A mostly sunny day has deteriorated into gentle drizzle.
Taken before the drizzle
Wed 16th Sep

Another day of grotty weather, so went to a museum just outside Halstad, on a peninsula, which proved to have had a very long history. The museum was relatively interesting, with artifacts from the stone age up to recently.

There was an outside section, attempting to recreate mediaeval dwellings.

The blacksmith’s workshop.

Inside, the forge.

A house, well turfed.

Inside.
Thu 17th Sep

(Not sure why in italics)

Spent the night on an isolated parking area up a dead end road. The grotty weather we have been having got steadily worse. Woke this morning to find the clouds had given up with the sky, and were sitting resolutely on the ground, dribbling continuously.

The weather forecast was for the same or worse for the forthcoming week. We had planned on going slowly along the Lofoten scenic drive to the village of A. That is actually spelt Å.

Decided the weather is so dire, decided to give up, which is a real pity, as this is talked about as one of Norway’s best sites, in a country of constant stunning views. Looking at clouds obscuring mountains isn’t fun.

So, we have left Norway, and are parked up just short of Kiruna.

The drive was interesting, usual windy roads typical of Norway, around valleys and over crests. As soon as we crossed into Sweden, much flatter, straighter roads and gentler hills. We are currently at just over 1,200 feet, and probably have been since crossing the border.