Scandinavia Here We Come (1 Viewer)

[BwB]

Sounds like you're having a fab time (and then some!) Keep the updates coming and a few photos too?

 

[bobandjanie]

Well having watched Kevin McCloud on TV the other night in Sweden, you can tell Garry, maybe the fishing rod Alf gave him was not a joke.
Having seen it, I did say maybe.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/kevin-mcclouds-escape-to-the-wild

Enjoy the trip, and get some photos on here, the ones I have seen looks like Garry does the hunting and you do the cooking. Bob and Janie.

 

[Ambilkate]

would love to see some pics but understand the internet situation thanks for the update . happy travelling . love from us three. Hope all is well with you Pam x

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[Merle]

As lack of internet is an apparent problem at present for sundowners I have copied a text I received yesterday for those of you who are following their progress

Change of plan slightly. Found advertised in local paper a Tractor Pull weekend, found out where it was and arrived yesterday. There is free camping and the actual event starts on Thursday through til Saturday. There's a small group of guys who run it and they invited us to stay, even to the point of inviting us to lunch today and a special dinner this evening that they put on for the volunteers. They have made us feel very welcome. Nigel and Garry offered to give them a hand, so they are helping to erect a marquee tomorrow. There are only 15 inhabitants in this village but they are expecting 3-5 thousand over the weekend. They have also invited us back in the winter to go skidooing. So we'll get to Norway when we get there. Property is really cheap in this area, you can get a nice two storey house for £18k albeit in a remote place, our sort of thing, very tempted but feel we have left if too late now. As you can see we are still enjoying ourselves. Have left Nigel drinking beer, someone had to look after Zippy.

It sounds as though they are having a great time

 

[bobandjanie]

They struck lucky there.






Having Nigel on the marquee erecting team, he will teach them a thing or two.

Sounds like they are having a great time, wish we were there.
Bob and Janie.

 

[Judge Mental]

we need photos!

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[Merle]

Sorry, the occasional text is all I can offer

 

[dotsontour]

A very nice couple and good company . I bet they are having a great time .
June&dave

 

[Sundowners]

We have internet and are able to give you an update. Merle kindly let you know what we were up to last week, let’s follow on from there.

We had a great time at the Tractor Pull, such nice folk and they made us feel like we were family, in as much as we are seriously thinking of coming back next year to it again. We felt so sorry for them, they hold it once a year at Flykalen and they put such hard work into making it a success. The weather was fantastic from the Monday we arrived until Friday and on Saturday when it all happened it only pee’d down all day. Out of the 3-5 thousand they were expecting only 500 turned up. We promised that we did not bring the rain from England, they must have believed us cause they want us back next year. Being true Brits though, we sat for 5 hours in the rain watching the competitors. The Tractors were anything from old 3 cylinder vintage diesels to V10 super tractors. It was really a great day even though it was nice to get back in the warm and dry vans. The weather improved about an hour after we got back in the van, enough so that we could get the wood stove out and cook tea. We stayed on an extra day so that Nigel and Garry could help with the dismantling of everything. We left on the Monday for Norway, but had to back track to Stromsund as we were going cross country through a mountainess region and were not sure if we could get fuel and stock up with groceries in Sweden before hitting Norway, as we didn’t know if the costs were greater as they were a couple of years ago.

We didn’t quite get to Norway that night, we found a lovely picnic area about 20 miles away from the border. Beautiful view over a lake and again we cooked outside on the firepit with the wood provided. There was also a toilet where we could dump the cassettes. Weather was beautiful, woke up to glorious sunshine again. Such a lovely drive over the border, no-one in sight to check our passports and we were worrying in case they might confiscate our potatoes and ask about the booze we had on board (Nigel was given two crates of beer from the Tractor Pulling crowd - made especially for the event, but did not get sold).

Our intention was to head to Steinkjer to fill up with LPG (cheap in Norway we were led to believe). Had quite a downpour on the way but made it to the filling station before it closed, thankfully. We filled the tanks and bottles and it worked out at 55p/litre - happy with that. While we were there we saw someone filling there car from a diesel pump. We ask the guy in the office if it was available to everyone and he said yes. It worked out 4p per litre cheaper, so we filled the fuel tanks as well, at 96p per litre. It had passed 4 p.m., so we were thinking of where to stay for the night, had a quick look at the map and decided to head out of town in the direction of Namsos. We found a small road off to the left on the coast and headed for that. We had to cross a mountain range (not huge mountains) before we got to the coast, it wasn’t far along this road but very slow going, found it difficult to find a suitable place to camp for the night as the road followed the edges of lakes, rivers and steep drops, not very many flat surfaces. Eventually, about twelve miles from our destination we found a pull-in where there was a tourist information board showing a map of the area. Enough room for us and a couple of other vehicles to pull in if needed. So that is where we stayed for that night. The next morning, we followed the narrow road until we reached Jossund. Thankfully we stayed where we did the night before as there was nowhere for us to stay. We bought a loaf of bread at the small shop and decided to keep heading along the narrow winding road, through a very small tunnel and we came out of it to a lovely fishing village wrapped around a beautiful bay. The weather was a bit drizzly, we pulled up outside what looked like a campsite. On investigation we found that it was only 150 NK per night, that works out at £11.78 per night including electric, water, dump, wifi, and to use the washing machine (11 kg) and dryer it is £2.36 per load, each machine.

Decided to stay a couple of nights as it was cheap for us FLT’s (Free Loading Travellers - just in case you wondered). Found a great spot so that we both got good views across the bay overlooking the goings on of fisherman as they went about their daily business. We found that you could also hire a fishing boat and take it out yourselves, all for the price of 600 KR per 24 hours. They have cabins for rent too plus a nice little café, which we intend to visit before we leave, supposed to be good prices, yet to find out. The weather turned out nice and we were able to sit outside enjoying the sunshine. Nigel and Garry got their fishing rods out and first time out within ½ hour, two small cod were caught, plus one stone fish. We felt so comfortable here we decided to hang around for a few more days. We got to speak to the guy who ran the café and mentioned that the guys would love to go sea fishing but were a bit uneasy taking out a boat on their own. He said no problem, he would take them out after he finished work in two or three hours. They left at 8.30 that evening and got back in at midnight, having caught so much fish, mostly Pollock and a couple of small cod. We got to bed that night at 2 a.m. after having to gut the fish first, some we filleted but we decided to leave the rest for the next day. They couldn’t praise the café guy enough. He was attentive and was adamant they were going to catch fish that night. He is from Latvia and a professional fisherman, so knew his stuff, he is working in the café for the summer season.

The next day we filleted the remainder and ended up with nearly 6 kg of fillets, some of them were off cuts which we will use for fish pies or cakes. Thankfully we were able to get them all in our freezers.

This sea fishing was another highlight of our trip. They paid the guy €30 each. They were more than happy with that and he was too.

One morning we saw one of the fishermen bringing in a 35kg Halibut, had to take a photo didn’t we.

We met a lovely Norwegian couple who gave us some handy tips and one of them was a wild camping spot a little south from here. We were enjoying it so much here that we were tempted to stay for a few more days, our stop would have then totalled about 8 or 9 days, but the wild camping spot is calling, so we are off tomorrow/Tuesday to seek it out.

Washing and drying has all been done, been making bread today and will get some milk from the local shop so that we are stocked up before arriving at our next camping place.

Sorry for the long winded post, but when we have internet we have to make the most of it. Haven’t worked out yet how to put pictures on, if we have time tonight, may have a go.

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[Sundowners]

Can post photos - yippee - and there's more

 

[Ambilkate]

Wow thanks for the update Pamela & Nigel great pics xxx keep them coming love from us three xxx

 

[Sundowners]

No internet tomorrow - have decided to move on so here are some more pics taken up til today.

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[Sundowners]

The last few for now

 

[Granjan]

Loving your blog and pictures please keep it coming. Fantastic scenery, really fancied a bit of that Halibut .... but suppose it was a bit on the large side.

 

[alfandM]

Can post photos - yippee - and there's more

Like the picture of te V8,Have Fun

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[Sundowners]

Not bad, out in the middle of whoop whoop and we have a signal on our 3 Mifi. Since our last post, we have stayed at a couple of lovely free wild camping spots, the sort you could only dream of. Because we are parked next to fjords we can fish for free here in Norway, anything sea water is free fishing. We only planned to stay in Norway for a week, but have overstayed and not disappointed about it, the exchange rate makes a difference too. We haven't had to fight the mosquitos off either. Whether that's because we are on the coast or the time of year, plus it's a bit breezy, that seems to help.The weather has been great, allowed the guys to do some fishing and cook outside a couple of times. Because we are so close to the water, if it rains they just come inside for a cuppa until it passes. We have had some really heavy rainstorms, thankfully they were in the night except one yesterday.

After some really hair raising roads - very steep hills, we arrived at this place we are staying at which we found on the campercontacts app. Details of the last one were given to us by a Norwegian couple. The one we heading for tomorrow is also from Campercontacts. The next one is also free, but has water and WC, plus is a fishing spot. The freezers are jammed packed with fish and they still want to catch more. The guys had steamed cod a couple of days ago, home made fish cakes last night and cod in batter tonight. Garry has been a star and caught quite a few cod at the last night spot and the first day we arrived here he caught a really good sized one and some smaller ones, plus a nice coloured Wresse - see pictures. Only about an hour ago Nigel caught a pollock -weighed in at 1.96 kilos. I got it on film them both hauling it in and during that process, Garry got hooked by his own hooks, so funny, not sure if I can download the film but will try.

We have been watching the Hurtigruten ferry come in each day at around 4.30p.m. This is a ferry that visits a lot of places from Bergen up to Kirkenes and is a way for travellers to see the coastline of Norway. It is not a cruise ship as such but it gives you a cheap way of travelling, stopping off for enough time to drop of post and parcels at each port. We read yesterday that if you are over 67 years old you get a 50% discount plus there spouses if younger.

Beautiful sunny day today, getting ready to cook outside. Again not sure if we can get internet at our next spot, but will take some pictures to give you an idea what a trip up here would be like.

We only have a few more days here in Norway as we are heading for another tractor pull which is back in Ostersund, Sweden on the 8th Aug. Must fill up with LPG before we go, don't need a lot but will fill up in Norway as it is cheaper and more readily available here. Might be a bit chillier at night on our way as we are taking a small road across a mountain pass to get there.

 

[Sundowners]

Last two nights spent at a great spot, again beside a lake, fresh water on tap, and would you believe FREE hot showers. After a tip from a nice young Norwegian we are off to try our hands at a bit of salmon fishing, getting a bit bored with cod and pollock. Then its off to the mountains on our way to the tractor pull. Bye for now.

 

[andyman]

Looks like you are having a great time.

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[funflair]

WOW you are having fun.

Great reports.

Martin

 

[bobandjanie]

Wow sitting here thinking..... Must get a few tips off Garry.
Catch a few fish, and get all my meals cooked for me.
Well its on the must do list, just got to drag ourselves away from the winter break sooner.
Sounds fantastic carry on having fun.
Bob and Janie

 

[Bailey58]

Great blog, it makes the trip more doable for the less adventurous among us.

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[laird of Dunstan]

I've been enjoying every word ,great blog , I love pollock steamed in milk ,my mum would cook it for me when I was a wee lad

 

[stevec]

Hi Sundowners, I've been looking at your photos. I notice you appear to have been in Saetervik on 22nd July. Did you visit the cafe/shop there? Did you speak to a lady (Anita) who spoke good English behind the counter? She is someone I met when I was stationed on the lighthouse there during the summer of 1976. We lost touch after I left and I recently re-established contact with her. She sent me an email yesterday saying she had met two lots of English motorhomers. I wondered if it was your troop? There was no road to the village when I was there. Everything was in and out by boat. I'd love to get back there again. Maybe have to touch base with you to see what the pros and cons are. We're only over the border in Norfolk!

 

[Sundowners]

A bit overcast and spitting with rain at times, so a good time to send you another update.

Following on from last post - went off to find the salmon. Saw where we were supposed to catch them but we couldn’t park our motor homes near enough, so decided to give it a miss, but on the way, we found a fantastic spot for wild camping, one we would not have found had we not been thinking of fishing for salmon, so it was meant to be. However, the timing was not right to camp, but it is definitely noted for the future. We took another route back to town and called in at the local supermarket to stock up on supplies.

As we are FLT’s we are always looking out for bargains and the guys truly found some in the supermarket. Came back with some beautiful looking fresh chicken breasts, they had been reduced by 50% but could only buy a couple of packs as no room in the freezer, they worked out at £4.20 per kilo. We have found the meat here in Norway and Sweden to be of a high quality, you don’t get all the white froth when cooking here, so we can only assume they don’t pump it full of water.

Our route out of Norway was to be by a mountain pass as I think I mention previously. There was a small road showing on a map we had that took us over the border from Norway into Sweden, but the Satnav said otherwise. However, we are ones not be beaten so off we went. We got half way up the mountain and on the way found a sign for a huge waterfall, so thought we would take a look. There seemed to be a small café and a charge to have a look, but there was no-one around, it was about 5 p.m. so we decided to hang around and stay the night and see what went on in the morning. We had a nice meal cooked outside, but it started to get a bit windy and felt like rain. Had the awning out so didn’t get wet, it wasn’t cold, so we continued sitting out, but after we got to bed, the wind really got up and we had a big downpour, so lovely to hear when tucked up in bed, thankfully we had decided to pack the awning away and could sleep easy.

Woke fairly early only to find no-one around, shame really as it was also a salmon run, and there was an area of the fall that you could see through glass giving a good view of the salmon swimming. We could only think that the fall was not good enough or the salmon weren’t running. It was a very long walk to the falls, up and down some very steep hills and those of you that know me, it was not possible for me to get there, the hills were too steep even for my buggy. So we decided to head off up the mountain. It wasn’t long before we hit the dirt road, it was in good condition and seemed to have been graded fairly recently. We passed another beautiful waterfall, not high but lovely all the same (see photo). Even though we only had to do 18 miles to get to Vera our satnav was telling us we would arrive 2.5 hours later, we were all thinking, omg, what sort of road are we heading for. We drove for about 5 miles on the dirt road and then it started to get very narrow, very bumpy and very steep with hairpin bends, a lot of potholes, it was very difficult trying to keep the speed up to get up the hills, but at the same time being careful not to hit the potholes hard or oncoming traffic when we saw any2. For some reason we were almost at our destination an hour earlier than the satnav had said (you should never trust them or maybe we drove too fast). We are quite impressed with our 2.8 Iveco engine, it did us proud, especially after having a 5.9 Cummins for so many years. Just before Vera we came across a lovely picnic spot, it is so far out in the wilds, can’t imagine who would use it. But we decided to dump the cassettes in the toilet (long drop, no flush of course, one reason we do not use chemicals). It was a bit early for lunch, so we decided to see if we could get through to Sweden and headed on. We drove through Vera and we came to a dead end at a farm, turned round and decided to take a right turn up a small road thinking this might be it, we were not going to beaten if we could help it, that‘s the adventurous spirit in us, but no, it was not to be, ended up at another farm and a dead end (am posting a picture of the old farm house there, so much character). So be it, we had to drive all the way back down the mountain but not until after we spent lunchtime back at the lovely picnic spot. On the way we met a local, fishing in one of the lakes and we ended up having a lovely chat with him and his family about the bears and wildlife that is supposed to be up there, unfortunately, we were yet to see any. We asked about the track to Sweden and he said it did exist but was accessible only by Quad or Snowmobile in the winter. Heyho!

After getting down from the mountain, we took a scenic route across the border into Sweden. Again saw lots of water falls, rapids and beautiful views across the snowcapped mountains. We’d found a camping spot on Campercontact about 30 miles north of Ostersund and fairly close to where the Tullus tractor Pull was being held. We drove in, only to find that it had been blocked off with concrete blocks. We could see from there a small harbour with boats and a motor home parked nearby, so decided to have a look. On our way, we were told by a local that there was a stellplatz in the village and how to get to it. We found a couple of places where we could park, one was amongst the trees and beside the lake and the other by the harbour. We decided amongst the trees was best for Zippy. There was also a long drop toilet and a tap nearby. It wasn’t until later in the evening, after a visit from a local that there was a charge of 100SEK per night or 130 with electric.(13.60 SEK/£). Being FLT’s we would rather have had a free night, which is very easy to do in Sweden, but as we were parked up we thought it wasn’t a bad idea to support the locals who had provided these parking places.

The reason we came back to Sweden was to attend the Tractor Pulling which was only a couple of kilometres down the road, but before heading there we went onto Ostersund to stock up with groceries at the local Lidl and also to fill up with diesel (paid 12.29 SEK per litre, happy with that). It was Thursday pm when we arrived at Tullus and we parked up in the field allocated for campers. Not a good place for a Fun meet, it was up hill and down dale to say the least. Took a bit of time to get it right on the ramps, gave up in the end and left it slightly on the pi**. It wasn’t until Friday that other campers started turning up and filling up the field. This event was a lot more laid back than our first one and it seemed that they wouldn’t be ready in time for the run on Saturday. But they were and they seemed to be more concerned with the tractor pull side than the event itself, where Flykalen was more of a fund raising event, using the tractor pull as an excuse, well that was how we saw it. We enjoyed them both immensely and we were also made to feel very welcome at both.

Had a good three nights there especially as the weather was a lot better. Whilst there we found out that the other tractor pull in Norway was not on the 18th August as we first thought and it didn’t tie in with our loose plans, but was in fact on the next weekend, so where did we decide to go, yes, back to Norway. We’re not mental, just got the bug for tractor pulling, not only that we have met some lovely folk and will be meeting some of them again in Norway.

We had 193 kilometres to go to our destination which was at Nossum near Levanger. We were told that if we wanted to we could camp at the venue of the tractor pull which is actually at a racecourse for trots. You would never believe it, we went through Hell that day to get there, no nothing happened, we just visited a village called Hell. Somewhere that Nigel went to back in the 60’s, before he joined the Norwegian merchant navy as he and his mate had run out of money when hitchhiking so joining the navy was the only option other than to be repatriated back to the UK. So he always tells people that him and his mate have been through Hell and highwater together.

We arrived at the racecourse but no-one was around, we found what we thought was a good spot and made ourselves at home for the night. We thought we might get a bit of fishing in before the weekend and we were told of a spot that might be good, so in the morning we headed back south again a few kilometres before heading for the fjord. We had a lovely drive all along the coast of the fjord and visited Tautra an island with some history to it. Do you think we could find somewhere nice to camp, not on your nelly. We went down some quite tight dirt tracks only to end up at someones house. We found a lovely spot by a harbour, but we felt uneasy about staying there as there wasn’t much room and we didn’t want to take up too much space, so what did we do, yes head back to the racecourse where we knew that we could park up OK. The sun was shining, it had been a lovely hot day. We had just finished dinner and washing up outside, when a truck turned up to drop something off. The driver got out and came over and we thought (as we do, being British) that we were going to be told to move. But no, he is one of the competitors at the weekend, one we had not met before. His mate who was accompanying him in the truck also came over and we found out that they are a team with one other in the tractor pulling. After chatting for about an hour, there were offers of letting us fish in their uncles lake, free of charge, a ride on THE tractor, a visit to the workshop where their tractor is and also a visit to their property to see a wild female elk and it’s calves.. Also the third in the partnership turned up and the racecourse happens to belong to his father-in-law. That said, we now have water on tap, dump point and also free electric. It’s a bit embarrassing really, we feel as though we are being treated as royalty, they can’t seem to do enough for us.
The weather has been a bit off, with a thunderstorm yesterday and drizzly all day today, but it is supposed to clear up and be a blazing weekend, 26 degrees Friday and Saturday. Bring it on. Well, the guys have just been picked up and are off to see the suped-up (spelling) John Deer. We gave the three a bottle of the tractor pulling beer the other night and the guy (do you know, I don’t even know his name yet),has just returned the favour with some of his own beer brewed by himself, it‘s called Smoking Deer Pulling Beer. Not sure what time they will be back, so thought I would finish off this post and add some photos for you all to see. We have been asked for more pictures than before, so might put a few more posts on with pictures attached. See what I can find in amongst them for you.

Our loose plans were to head back into Sweden and continue on the Wilderness route after filling up with gas and fuel, but I think they might have changed and we will be spending a little more time in Norway, but you never can tell, our plans change daily, so watch this space.

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[Sundowners]

And some more ........

 

[Sundowners]

Even more ..........

Sorry, posted before I added pictures -see next post

 

[Sundowners]

Here they are

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[Sundowners]

And the last few........taken this evening - this is the tractor we will be barracking for on Saturday, the elk was at his property.

 

[funflair]

WOW that was a big read, great write up and photos.

Pleased that the Flair is looking after you but it needs a wash next time it rains.

Martin

 

[BwB]

What Martin said.

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