Beyond the Arctic Circle

11^th June

There are not many wifi connections where we have been since the last short post from MacDonalds in Trondheim, and now, so far as our sat-nav is concerned, it is still the nearest one at some 351km away. It seems that you can get away from McDs if you come to the north of Norway! Though where else to find a handy free wifi? (well, sometimes for the price of a coffee!). When we find the answer we will post this blog update!

I am writing this at 10.30pm while parked at a beautiful rest-stop after our second day on the Rv17 scenic route. The sun is shining (of course) as it did for the first time last night(as opposed to 'dusk' going immediately to 'dawn' as it had for several nights previously. We are about 20 miles south of the Arctic Circle, and we can hear the cuckoo singing as we sit here; earlier we sat outside in the sunshine drinking a G&T. OK, we did have our jumpers on, but with the low humidity and no wind it is very surprisingly pleasant, and feels much warmer than 12 deg at home in 80% humidity. We are parked beside a beautiful fjord, with mountains on the other side and the sun still sparking on the water. Our location is shared by Swiss, Dutch, Finnish and Swedish motorhomers, with plenty of room to park out of each other's way.

The Rv 17 Helgeland Skysten National Scenic Route is the old 'slow road' passing from island to headland to island …. using ferries, the occasional bridge and more than a few tunnels. We have spent about 1½ hrs today on two different ferries, and about the same amount of time waiting for them to arrive. This must be the ultimate 'scenic route' (“unless, of course, you know different”, as a well-know TV personality used to say!) , and definitely not for those in a hurry! It must be busy at this time of year, as the first ferry had to leave about half-a-dozen vehicles behind, then called in at two small islands on the way, taking on foot passengers but leaving behind 5 or six cars/vans/tractors, who would have a good then have a good long wait for the next ferry 2½ hrs later! We hope these Norwegian people would empathise with the Irish approach to time [“we don't understand the concept of 'manyana' – we have nothing that urgent in Ireland”]

Norway has too much beauty to begin to describe, every turn in the road brings a new vista of stunning scenery, some is just even more stunning, but that is set against a very high baseline.

All continues to be well with us and Sally 2. We will continue to slowly wend our way up to Bodo, then catch the long ferry to the Lofoten Islands.

Here are a few photos:

From the Flam Railway

In Europe's longest road tunnel

Lunch stop

One of hundreds of waterfalls

The snow road