Our journey to Norway through Europe was pretty normal for us. Lots of windy backroads and when out of the towns, amazing views. Taking ‘Dev’ our Land Rover Discovery 4, our route took us from the Eurotunnel in Calais and up through Belgium, Netherlands, Germany to Denmark. We did think about heading from Germany by ferry to Sweden but we also had friends we travelled with in 2015 based in Northern Denmark. Our friends won and we headed into Denmark via the border crossing at Padborg, heading north to Logstor. From Logstor we ventured to Hirtshals to jump on the ferry to Kristiansand, Norway.

Arriving in Kristiansand late in the evening we really didn’t have much opportunity to get a first view of Norway. However, the next morning we had our first daylight view. Wow….

Trying not to be distracted by the view we pushed ourselves to get on the road and find what else awaited us is this striking Country. Our plan was to try and reach NordKapp, some 2000km away. We had just over 3 weeks to travel from the UK & back again so we knew ahead of time it was going to be tough, with some long driving days in the pipeline. What we hadn’t accounted for was the surroundings we would find ourselves in (plenty of distractions), the time it can take to drive up one side of a mountain and back down the other side and the weather. You would think that being from the UK, we would be used to rain…. Well, when it rains in Norway, it rains & rains. We were told whilst in Bergen that a new record had just been set for June 2017 – it had rained 26 days in a row in June, breaking a record set in 1952. Good to know we experienced a record being broken, although a couple more dry days would have been nice.

Part of our reason to travel to Norway was to fundraise & raise awareness for Sarcoma UK (a UK Charity dedicated to Sarcoma) and to complete some hikes to Trolltunga & Preikestolen (AKA Pulpit Rock). If you want to read about how these went, head over to our [Norway Blog].

Waiting for ferries was another activity we found ourselves doing on a regular basis but it gave us both an opportunity to have a break from driving and just soak up more of Norway. Most days we found ourselves at a point where the road ended at a ferry terminal. In many cases, it was quicker to get the ferry across than drive round a fjord. The cost of these ferries varied but generally it covered the car & driver then you had to pay for each additional passenger. The more touristy the route, the slightly higher the cost – the ferry from Geiranger was always going to cost more than one through a much smaller fjord used by locals.

Visiting Norway in June also meant we were able to experience the Summer Solstice and the Midnight Sun. As we approached the longest day we kind of lost track of time, literally. We would quite often spend the first part of each day packing up and deciding where to go next. Problem was we would just keep going as the sun was still up. We had no idea that it was already 8 or 9pm and we hadn’t even thought about where to camp or dinner. It showed us how conditioned our bodies are to daylight and how the sun can actually trigger our behaviours. Its also strange going to sleep in full daylight.

Travelling in June also meant that all the Mountain Roads were now open having been cleared of snow. The last roads are normally cleared in May, leaving a couple of metres of snow either side to drive through; there is something wonderful about wearing shorts, t-shirt and flip flops in snow and then losing said flip flops in the snow!  

Each new day was so different from the past day. Yes, we spent a lot of time in the mountains but around most corners was an amazing waterfall or view of a fjord below. If one wasn’t visible from the road, a short walk would take us to one. The small towns we ventured into were welcoming. The locals who stopped to chat to us whilst we were sitting by the lakes telling us about the fishing they do and others who were quite happy to tell us they too escape the Norwegian winters and head somewhere warmer.

There is so much we can say about Norway but if you want to find out more about our time there, read our blog or take a look at some of our photo’s or videos.

If you have never thought about visiting Norway, but are looking for a trip that covers stunning scenery, hiking, mountains & waterfalls, empty roads, snow in June, fantastic photography opportunities and some good culture thrown in for good measure we whole heartedly can’t recommend Norway enough.

We ended up spending quite a bit of time in the West of Norway and not getting as far North as we hoped. That doesn’t matter as it just gives us more reasons to go back.

Happy Travels

Team Slightly Lost xx