ROAD TRIP (Day 13) – First impressions of Norway

In the couple of months leading up to our trip, I often had the opportunity to explain our road trip plans to many. “Are you going anywhere for summer?” or “What are your plans for the summer holidays?” seemed to be a popular question from about May onwards. As soon as the weather starts to turn and people can somewhat realistically start preparing for the arrival of summer, thoughts turn to summer holidays. I think most of Europe enjoys their summer holidays and many do take some sort of vacation, albeit in different shapes and forms. The Swedes, in particular, seem to take their summer holidays very seriously. Taking four, five or even six weeks off after the Midsummer holiday is not uncommon, although six is probably less common than four. Many people have a family sommarstuga somewhere in the country, and perhaps after a week or two somewhere warm, will spent a some part of their holidays there. I have been repeatedly told that nothing happens between the end of June and early August.

The most common immediate reaction, if not in fact the only reaction, I have received when relating our plans to drive and camp through Sweden and Norway is that Norway will be great. Then as an afterthought, some add that “yes, of course Sweden is also nice, but Norway…” It is, and it is not surprising. Norway is very well known for its spectacular landscape. Fjords and glacier country is really hard to beat in that department. In comparison Sweden, with its forests and lakes and mountains, seems almost boring. You would have thought though that Swedes would be more proud of their own country. I suspect that it is not that they think Sweden has nothing to offer, but that they find it hard to brag. In general, but also in particular about Sweden´s subtle beauty when stood up against a more obviously beautiful neighbour. Or perhaps it is just a case of the proverbial greener grass. Whatever the case may be, most people seemed to take Norway as being the highlight of our trip.

I must confess, so did MTC*. His main goal was to get to and dive in the waters of Lofoten. While he was not in no great hurry to arrive, and did not mind making any stops I proposed, he was in any way concerned missing out on anything else along the way. I, on the other hand, paid a lot of attention to what we were going to see and do in Sweden, and spent hours poring over my handy road atlas and travel guides, planning out our route.

Crossing the border over Norway though, I too had to admit, that Norway was the real highlight of the trip. I greatly enjoyed the journey through Sweden and would love to revisit (or really visit) some places we have seen and visit the many we missed, but it felt like the trip was really beginning as we entered Norway. Perhaps it is because it is a country which both of us have never been to. That naturally lends a bit more excitement to the whole experience.

By this point, I cannot help but realise that I have written four paragraphs about everything except my impressions of Norway. To avoid further tangents, I will do a “ten things”. So here are my ten first impressions about Norway.

1.      It is really as cold as everyone thinks it is

I suppose that is no big surprise. We are above the Arctic Circle after all. Even with the never-ending days, we have actually not seen much of the sun. I am sitting outside at the campsite in a sweatshirt, a vest over that and my ski jacket (albeit unbuttoned) and a woolly hat. The woolly hat is mostly because my hair is still went from the shower and I don´t want my head to get too cold. Having said that though, the temperature is entirely dependent on whether the sun manages to get through the clouds. And for the half hour that the sun was out, we could even walk around in t-shirts…all the while making sure that we have our sweaters and jackets at the ready in case a cloud crept in again.

2.      It is really as expensive as everyone says

Because we have been camping and cooking most of our food ourselves, we have not actually been spending that much money. This was, of course, the point of camping. We have then had to do the occasional shopping for groceries along the way. Most things are sold for more Norwegian Crowns than they are in Sweden for Swedish Crowns. Factor in the exchange rate, and you’d be paying anything from a third to half as much more here than in Sweden. This is a generalisation, of course. There are things which are about the same price, and even some which are cheaper here. The latter being mainly seafood. A 500g bag of frozen crab for less than 5€. If we were heading straight home from here, I would stock up on frozen prawns (which are bigger here than any I have seen in the supermarkets in Sweden) and crab.

3.      You cannot really camp everywhere

Before this trip, I had heard it being said more often about Norway than in Sweden, about being able to camp almost anywhere. So far, I have the impression that the Swedes are more often to this random camping than the Norwegians. Perhaps the Lofoten area has been saturated with “camping tourists” that the locals have had enough. Signs declaring land private and off-limits to campers are common around here, something I do not think I had ever seen in Sweden. When I asked the guy in Sweden if we were allowed to camp, his response was: “this is Sweden!” somewhat confused that I had even bothered to ask. We were also told that we were technically welcome to camp on some farmer´s land with his cows, so long as we shut the gates and do not let the cows escape or bother them in any way. We were also, of course, told that that would be foolish because we were likely to have a cow disturb us.

4.      Norwegians are friendly and funny when drunk

That is not to say, of course, that they are neither friendly nor funny, when not drunk. It is just that the most contact we have had with Norwegians so far, other than with our also very friendly landlady, involved a certain amount of alcohol. Contrary to what we had previously heard, the Lofotens are not overrun with German campervans. Yes, we have of course seen the odd German registration plate here and there, just as we also see the odd Finn or Swede on the road. There were also a few Dutch and French cars. The Germans did not, in any way, outnumber any of them. The dominant group of travellers around here though, is clearly the Norwegians themselves.

At the campsite in Ballstad, there is a sitting area with a table and benches, enclosed on three sides. It provides much needed shelter from the wind and cold. That was, for the duration of our stay, our preferred spot for food preparation and consumption, and also just to sit around and enjoy the evening with a drink or two. One evening we ended up sharing that space with two other Norwegian couples. Between the four of them, they had (and we know this for a fact, because they sat there and counted) twenty grandchildren. One couple were quite friendly from the beginning, but were not so well versed in English. So it took them a while, and some alcohol, to really start talking. The other couple, we suspect were a bit put off by our German registration plates. They eventually joined us after we had been chatting and laughing (loudly) with the first couple for a while. Despite wanting to go to bed, it was an enjoyable evening. They were, as I said, friendly and funny.

5.      Older campers

On the subject of Norwegians on the road, I have been surprised by the fact that many of those who are camping, as in with a tent, are somewhat older. From our parents generation, in fact. The four we met at the campsite were also out and about with a tent. I found that quite surprising. I wonder if it is also the costs which inspires them to camp, or if they just like the great outdoors. As I mentioned earlier, it is not exactly warm around here.

6.      The Swedish connection

The Norwegians seem to really like Sweden and the Swedes. To be fair, I form this impression from the four Norwegians plus our friendly landlady I have met so far. They seem to react very positively when we say that we live in Sweden. They say it is a lovely country and the people are very friendly, much friendlier than Norwegians. Friendliness is not usually the first thing people say about Swedes. They are friendly, certainly, but that is only apparent if you manage to get past their initial reservation. In any case, the Norwegians also reacted very positively upon hearing that I speak Swedish. At some point, I was having, or trying to have, a conversation in Swedish and Norwegian. They spoke in Norwegian of course, while I in Swedish. One of them even declared Swedish to be the finest language in the world. Hmm… 

7.      Language

I am reminded of how I almost landed myself in a Norwegian class because the Swedish classes were full. I was told then that the languages were so similar that if I were to learn Norwegian, I could make myself understood in Sweden. While I am glad that I did not take that course, I have to say that the languages are very similar. I could understand a lot of what the Norwegians say, even when they are speaking to each other or on the phone. I did not understand everything, of course, but there is a lot you can guess from the context anyways. So we actually managed to have a short, half decent conversation.

We were also given a travel booklet at some Tourist Information office which was in Norwegian and we have managed to navigate with that without any problems.

8.      Friendly and helpful

I just realised that I kind of lied about the contact we have had with Norwegians so far. There was one other occasion. As previously mentioned, MTC wanted to have a dive in the waters of Lofoten. Having not made any plans whatsoever towards that goal, other than to pack the car full of diving equipment, and having not found out anything about diving possibilities, other than stories his dive buddies have told him about diving in the area (which is more along the lines of “it’s absolutely great” and less “go to this dive centre in that place…”, he decides to ask at a local sports shop in the little village of Lødingen. He explains his diving desire to some guy in the shop whose response was: “I know someone who can help you. Hold on.” He reaches into his pocket, pulls out his phone and proceeds to call up his friend, Mats. Turns out, Mats is an avid diver. Mats, without prompting, volunteers to take MTC out for a dive, if we could wait until 4pm when he finishes work. And that was it, all arranged in less than 2 minutes worth of conversation. Next thing we know, MTC was off for a dive. No fuss, no charge.

9.      Small and windy; over, under and through

I don’t think motorways exist in Norway, at least not in the far north (more on the far north later).  So far, all the road we have seen are small and windy. Having to drive several kilometres behind a slow campervan before reaching a stretch of road where it is safe to overtake is not unusual. When I say ‘safe to overtake’, I mean that we can see far ahead enough down to road to determine that there are no oncoming cars, not that there are actually many oncoming cars.

The other thing that one cannot help noticing is that there are innumerable bridges and tunnels. We have already driven over or occasionally under more fjords, and through more mountains in one week than we have in Sweden in a year and a half. 

10.  The far North

We have now been further north than either of us have ever been. In the beginning of the trip, as we made our way north through Sweden, we were already amazed that there was civilisation so far north. This is even more so in Norway. We drive through small villages seemingly in the middle of nowhere and wonder how people make their living, and how they live so far north. But the fact is, we are actually not that far north in Norway itself. Of course, we are far north, but there are still hundreds of kilometres to go till the North Cape, northern most point in Norway. Hundreds of kilometres of civilisation, including Tromsø, which is, by all accounts, a relatively big town for its latitude.

*my travel companion- It just saves me having to type out the whole thing each and every time.

The trip so far:

Day 1(Sun) –Visited with Anya and Daniel at Daniel´s parents´ place at Sandsjöfors. Stayed in the summer cabin at Uppsjön

Day 2 (Mon) – Campsite in Stockholm

Day 3 (Tue) – Campsite in Stockholm

Day 4 (Wed) – Sala Silvergruva, Övre Hedesundsfjärden (the site of one million mosquitoes)

Day 5 (Thu) – Close to Hällan (the imaginary horse)

Day 6 (Fri) – Campsite close to Docksta

Day 7 (Sat) – Via Ferrata, dinner at Bjuröklubb, camped somewhere along the E45 between Storforsen and Jokkmokk (broken tent incident)

Day 8 (Sun) – Crossed the Artic Circle, Jokkmokk, Gällivaare and Kiruna. Stuga at Alttajärvi, about 20km south of Kiruna

Day 9 (Mon) – Kiruna, golf at Björkliden, crossed the border into Norway, camped on the edge of the fjord a few kilometres outside Narvik.

Day 10 (Tue) – Lødingen (free dive and missed whales)

Day 11 (Wed) – Ballstad (Lofoten)

Day 12 (Thu) – Å, Ballstad (Lofoten)

Day 13 (Fri) – Ballstad (Lofoten)