Glaciers, trolls and ferries

We left Bodø after a restful night’s sleep and headed toward the Helgelandskysten, the longest of Norway’s Tourist Routes. The route followed the coast and required us to take six or seven ferries. We’ve lost count. And, after four weeks above the Arctic Circle, our first ferry ride crossed below it. It felt like another milestone, kind of a sad one.

Typically, the first stop out of Bodø before reaching the tourist route is the Saltstraumen, the world’s largest tidal maelstrom. Every six hours as the tide comes and goes, water squeezes through a narrow channel between two fjords and can reach a speed of up to 20 knots. This creates the “maelstrom” of rushing, swirling water. The Saltstraumen is also known for its good fishing which is made even better during tidal flow when the fish literally jump into the nets.

We wouldn’t know, because of course we arrived between tides and in the pouring rain. Talk about bad timing. We could have hung around a few hours but honestly, meh. We were eager to hit the road. Now that we were back on the mainland we were ready to push south. Steven and I had talked for years about fishing while we were in Norway. Neither one of us has any experience, but we figured a few YouTube videos would be enough to get us started. But when we reached Finland and a sporting goods store where we could have purchased the necessary gear, we both said, “What were we thinking?” and moved on. At a few stops along our Norway journey we laughed at the prospect of us fishing, and no place more than at the Saltstraumen. One of us would have surely fallen in, never to be seen again had we gone near the shore.

So instead of watching the amazing maelstrom we drove on toward Svartisen, Norway’s second largest glacier. We stopped at a grocery store along the way so we could have a picnic at the information center right in front of the glacier. When we got there, it seemed to be a perfect place to overnight, so we did. The view from Bijou was stunning, with a gorgeous teal-colored fjord in front and a beautiful glacier in the distance.

After a couple of cloudy mornings the sun came out and we continued to have great weather along the drive and the ferry rides. With each passing day it was becoming more obvious that we were heading south. The temperatures were warming up and we began to experience true darkness after sunset. And while we continued to be wowed by Norway’s stunning beauty, Norway had begun to wear us out. Steven was in and out of Bijou so often he said a driving day was as good as a gym workout. After a few days like this, he said, “I don’t want to be a photographer anymore.” He was only kidding, of course, but the underlying sentiment was real.

We mostly wild camped along this route until we reached the area of Brønnøysund. We found a small and lovely campground about 10 kilometers out of town and planned to sit for a few days to catch up on chores and rest. Alas, the campground was closing the next day, so we only stayed one night. While we were there I received a message from a blog reader and fellow traveler, Janice. Together with her husband Gary and daughter Amelia, they were also traveling in Norway in a camping car and just happened to be a few kilometers away from us. What are the odds? So we arranged to meet up with them the following morning in Brønnøysund. I am so glad Janice contacted us when she did, because one day later we would have been too far apart to meet.

Of course when you meet up like this there is so much to talk about and so little time. So we enjoyed our coffee and Amelia shared her delicious frozen yogurt treats with us. Best of all, since we were each heading in the direction from where the other had just come, we were able to share our wonderful wilding spots. We took off for a lovely fjord overnight while they parked up at the same glacier we had just left. Amelia, being quite resourceful, went on a berry hunt and found success! Well done, Amelia! You can read about their travels at Blue Fern Adventures and under the same name on Instagram.

The following morning we made our way to the end of the tourist route and headed for Trondheim. We hadn’t really anticipated staying there, but we figured we might check it out for a day or so. There weren’t many places to stay, but we did read in Mike and Carol’s blog that they had overnighted at IKEA, even though it was posted that it wasn’t allowed. Sure enough when we got there, the motorhome parking lot was packed. We parked up and went inside to eat and shop.

As we neared the end of the Helgelandskysten Tourist Route, we began to look at the upcoming weather. We had a drive ahead of us that, if I’m honest, I had been dreading; the Trollstigen, also known as the Troll’s Ladder. I desperately wanted to drive this beast, and the descent, in good weather. We had a few days of rain in the forecast so we decided to spend them in Åndalsnes, the largest town before the Trollstigen. There is a huge camping and motorhome store in town, so we inquired about a brake check. They recommended a place across the street where we managed to get an appointment the following day.

While we were in France in April we had our brakes checked along with getting some other work done at the Fiat garage. We were assured all was well, but Bijou has been squealing a bit so I wanted to make absolutely sure that once we got to the top of that monster route we were going to also be able to get back down. And by get back down I mean in one piece and not on fire and careening out of control. Fifty bucks later we got the thumbs up on Bijou’s brakes and I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

During this time, we had been wilding at a beautiful spot just at the edge of a fjord, but with the gloomy weather and us stuck inside, we were using more power than our solar could generate and we were both feeling a little down. Since I was feeling super happy about the brakes and more confident about our drive on the Trollstigen, I suggested to Steven that we move to a campground and he agreed. It’s amazing what a little electricity and showers can do for one’s mood. As a bonus, we landed in a gorgeous place.

After four days of waiting out the weather, we finally had our sunny day. We packed up and headed to the Trollstigen with its ten percent grades and 11 hairpin turns. As soon as we rounded the bend in the road, we realized that while we had sunny weather on our side of the mountain, the valley was completely fogged in. We ended up making the trip with limited vision out our front window. But really, what makes this such a bear to drive is not the grade or the turns per se, it’s the traffic that you meet on the road. Specifically, big giant tour buses! We haven’t seen tour buses in forever, so we didn’t have to worry about that. There was one spot where a big motorhome was coming down and I had to stop my forward momentum and back down, but I did manage to get us going forward again. Thankfully. Before we knew it, we came out of the clouds into gorgeous sunny weather at the top of the Trolls Ladder.

Looking back down the valley we couldn’t see anything of the road we had just driven, so we decided to wait it out and see if the clouds lifted. It took nearly two hours, but they finally did. And wowza! It was worth the wait!

After a couple of hours we finally decided to leave. We could have spent the night there in the parking lot, which would have been fine once the visitors stopped arriving, but it was mayhem during the day. We moved on to what was truly the scariest part of the drive, the descent into Geiranger. It’s a steep downhill on a skinny road and another 11 switchbacks, but we made just fine with a few stops along the way. After driving it I came to believe the most dangerous part of the drive is the distraction from all the stunning scenery. It is absolutely breathtaking.

Geiranger is a very popular tourist stop, mainly because the Geirangerfjord is one of the crown jewels of Norway. The deep blue water, surrounded by steep mountains, lush and verdant fields and the gorgeous Seven Sisters waterfalls, the scenic fjord is a UNESCO Heritage Site. The waters in the fjord are so deep that cruise ships can anchor right at the edge of the little village where they unload thousands of passengers. Lucky for us, there were no cruise ships during our stay.

Geiranger is a place I first heard about a few years back when the movie “The Wave” came out. It is a Norwegian film about, well, a wave. Said wave is generated by a huge landslide off one of the mountains that lands in the narrow fjord and creates a massive tsunami that hurls toward the village. Now, I love a good disaster movie as much as the next person, but I couldn’t bring myself to watch this one because I knew I would be there someday. I didn’t want to be haunted by the possibility, regardless of the probability. Such a scenario has happened for real in Norway, so it isn’t like it’s a made up situation. Now that we’ve been there and gone, I can watch the film.

The town itself isn’t much, but we stayed for just one night anyway right at the end of the fjord where the wave would hit first. I tried not to think about it. The next day, we had the option of driving out of Geiranger which entailed more climbs and descents, or we could take the ferry ride through the fjord to our next destination. We chose the latter and it was spectacular. I am running out of adjectives to describe Norway, so we’ll just have to load you up with more photos.

So there you have it, another Norwegian Tourist Route. Pretty spectacular, right? For sure we had reached a point where we needed to rest, so we headed to one of the most beloved campsites in all of Norway, maybe even Europe.

And finally, here’s a couple of drawings from Steven!

Steven here: Despite all our busy traveling, I managed to make time to create two more portrait drawings. The first one depicts recently deceased artist Chuck Close from a self portrait he did back in 1968. He actually drew this photo and then I drew it again so it’s a photo that became a drawing that became a drawing 🙂 Anyway, I really love the attitude and energy of the man.

This second drawing is not of a personality this time but what attracted me to the woman was her face and all the stories it told. Despite her hands implying that of a hard life, she gently braids her hair. I really liked that contrast of ideas. If you would like to keep up with my artwork, you can follow my Visual Art page on Facebook here.

NEXT UP: Chillin’ out by the glacier and an adventurous hike!

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