and we are off...

Befriending the locals

Didn’t have the best night’s sleep last night - but think both of us were a little nervous about driving the motor home tomorrow.  We were still wide awake at 11.30 and so looked outside to see how dark it was - it was dark, but there was light in the sky, apparently it won’t get properly dark at midnight up here until the end of August.

We were all awake in good time (8am) so got up and enjoyed yet another wonderful Norweigan breakfast - not quite the spread we got at the Scandic but still very good and very enjoyable - the customers of this hotel weren’t quite as funky and cool as the ones at the Scandic - we were surrounded by foreigners not Norweigans which we were at the Scandic.  The view from the hotel was good - almost as if we were back in Ullapool - a narrow fjord with big looming mountains all around and whisps of cloud clinging to the mountains.  All very lovely. 

We were in the hotel lobby for 10 and soon after a guy came for us from the motor home company.  We then had to watch a 30 minute video on how to work the motor home - all quite involved with gas system, water system, lots of switches etc not sure I fully understood everything, but hoping it will all make sense when we come to work it all.  We were at the motor home place for a good hour or so, and then Matt gingerly drove out and into the Tromsø traffic.  Now the Tromsø traffic really isn’t that bad, but if you have just picked up a mini truck and are being made to drive on the wrong side of the road with a steering column etc on the wrong side any little traffic is stressful.  Put it this way, I was glad it was him and not me!  First stop was the supermarket - the Eurospar which was recommended by the guys at the motor home place.  We thought we would unpack, sort the home out etc there before heading off - no luck - you could only park in the supermarket for 45 mins - which when you can’t read much of the local language, really isn’t enough time to do a shop let alone unpack and sort a motor home!

Tromsø waterfront

We got 3 days worth of food…over £100 - and that’s buying frugally, going for bargains and discounts.  No item of food in this country is cheap.  Think the cheapest thing I found was a bag of popcorn for £1, but apart from that, everything was expensive (although much cheaper than eating out of course).  We chucked our shopping in the wardrobe and then left the supermarket and tried to find our way out of Tromsø.  We did it OK - but it wasn’t easy - there is a sat nav in the motor home, but it is pretty basic.  Just as well we bought some maps with us - I got it out, with my reading specs (very glad I packed those last minute) and started navigating the good ole traditional way.  There aren’t that many roads up here which makes it easier.  

Storfjorden

We thought it a good idea to pull over at the first parking area so we could sort the home out - however, we didn’t come across a parking area for ages, and in fact only found a parking spot quite by accident when the sat nav tried to take us the wrong way.  It didn’t matter, we were stopped, so we unpacked all the food into the fridge and cupboards and then made up the beds.  There is one double bed over the cab and bunk beds at the back.  Tom wanted the big bed over the cabin, and in the end we agreed, mainly because if either of us needs the toilet in the middle of the night - one of us would have to climb over the other to be able to get down.  In a bunk bed, we can at least get to the loo without physically waking up the other.  The noise, of course might do it anyway, but at least we can try.  

Our home for a fortnight

We then went on our way, eventually as we got further and further from Tromsø we came across parking areas.  We noticed places of interest on the map and although these weren’t signposted we soon realised these were where the car parks were.  

We stopped at a couple - but unfortunately it was lashing with rain, meaning we couldn’t really see much - although what we could see in the murky haze was gorgeous.  The area has a much bigger population than we were expecting, there is a village every 10km or so, petrol stations are regular and we went pass quite a few supermarkets - the population density is way bigger than the NW Highlands we were in a couple of weeks ago (although we are travelling along the main road of the area which I guess is also the most populated part of the area).  After a couple of stops, Matt handed control over to me.  It was scary, but I managed.  The worst thing is changing gear as my left hand wants to do it and of course it is on my right hand side - and you have to yank it hard to change the gears which I’m not used too.  Anyway, I managed to drive without any major problems so that was good.

Vuoksajohka waterfall

Matt took over again and we carried on (oh if you are wondering, the plan is to get to Nordkapp - the furthest North you can get on mainland Europe).  Around 5pm we decided to start finding a place to stop for the night,, Norway is like Scotland in that you can park up pretty much anywhere.  We got to Birtavarre which was at the point of a fjord, the sun was trying to come out and there was a magnificent waterfall thundering down.  Why not?  We found a parking place - looked great…there was a sign saying no parking overnight!  Typical!  We carried on and decided to head into the village rather than stay on the main road, we found another parking place - no parking from 23 - 7.  Wow, we were told we could park up anywhere!  We saw another area, it said no trucks.  We read all the notices, it only said no trucks, we parked up and were happy.  We decided that as it wasn’t raining to see if we could walk up to the waterfall - but we couldn’t find the track - we managed to get closer to it though.  I read on the signs said we could climb Finland’s highest mountain from here (think it was a good 20km trip though)  or there was a bridge over a waterfall we could walk to - but that would mean taking the motor home up a gravel track for 8km - not something we are willing to do.  We came back, I made tea whilst Tom wrote his diary and Matt sorted out various electronic devises.

Afterwards after 30 mins to work out how to heat the water, the boys did the washing up and then Tom went to bed (it was after 9pm) - he was very excited!