In search of the Vikings, Edvard Munch and the Midnight Sun.

[tonybvi]

I would be doing the same as you. A big fear so far from home is a breakdown. The only thing I would say is don’t confine yourself to campsites. We have been in Norway for over 6 weeks now and only used 3 campsites when laundry needed doing. There are some fantastic “bobil” sites and wild camping is easy. We have stayed in some really beautiful out of the way places with no campsites anywhere near.
Safe travels home and fingers crossed for the van.

 

[scousebird]

I hope you have a good trip back.

 

[Jane NotRog]

Absolutely your decision. We do this to enjoy ourselves, and if you wouldn’t be enjoying the trip, then what’s the point. As far as I know, Norway’s not going anywhere. I hope you can relax and enjoy the rest of your trip.

 

[Peavy]

Agree with what others have said.
Thanks for updating us, specially being a bit low. That sauna will do good for you. Best of luck.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

Totally agree with this … your trip, your decision .

For what it’s worth, I think it’s a wise decision. You can take as much or as little time as you like but as soon as you get to Holland there’s a straightforward route home.

I look forward to seeing what you think of Trondheim. It looks gorgeous in photos.

Hopefully tomorrow or the day after. Thanks for your thoughts and support.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

Thank you everyone for your kind words. Hopefully this way it will still be a bit of a holiday.

Maybe we will fly to Tromso via Oslo and the hire a car to do the Lofotons. A couple of friend have done that. As Jane NotRog says Norway will still be there in a couple of years.

 

[Riverbankannie]

Thank you everyone for your kind words. Hopefully this way it will still be a bit of a holiday.

Maybe we will fly to Tromso via Oslo and the hire a car to do the Lofotons. A couple of friend have done that. As Jane NotRog says Norway will still be there in a couple of years.

My suggestion would be to return by air but then take the Hurtigruten coastal voyage. That is the really relaxing way to travel up there.
Safe journeying back home.

 

[Barti Ddu]

My suggestion would be to return by air but then take the Hurtigruten coastal voyage. That is the really relaxing way to travel up there.
Safe journeying back home.

I've never fancied going on a cruise, but seeing the Hurtigruten ships at various ports in Norway, I have to say it does look a fun way to travel. They are to some extent still used as postal / cargo ships for some of the remote ports. Also used as a "party boat" by some young Norwegians who just book an overnight hop between ports

We visited the superb Hurtigruten Museum when we were last in Norway. There's a fascinating history as to how they operated during WW2.

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[Wanders from Glos]

My suggestion would be to return by air but then take the Hurtigruten coastal voyage. That is the really relaxing way to travel up there.
Safe journeying back home.

I’m not sure we are cruised people but have to say some very good friends did that recently and really enjoyed it.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

I've never fancied going on a cruise, but seeing the Hurtigruten ships at various ports in Norway, I have to say it does look a fun way to travel. They are to some extent still used as postal / cargo ships for some of the remote ports. Also used as a "party boat" by some young Norwegians who just book an overnight hop between ports

We visited the superb Hurtigruten Museum when we were last in Norway. There's a fascinating history as to how they operated during WW2.

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Looks good

 

[scousebird]

Alan's sister & BiL have done a couple of Hurtigruten trips and really enjoyed them.

 

[Langtoftlad]

I’m not sure we are cruised people but have to say some very good friends did that recently and really enjoyed it.

It's not really a cruise - it's sightseeing by boat

 

[Wanders from Glos]

After a good night’s sleep we realise this morning that one positive whilst stuck at the garage was that we did see the midnight sun. It never got dark and was blue skies at midnight.

 

[Sixty-nine Chevy]

After a good night’s sleep we realise this morning that one positive whilst stuck at the garage was that we did see the midnight sun. It never got dark and was blue skies at midnight.

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Our Scandinavian trip has not been plain sailing either! All great up Norway and across Sweden with a little nibble into Finland, but then as we came south in Sweden my wife slipped on some loose gravel and broke and dislocated her wrist! She got patched up at A&E north of Stockholm and then flew home for further assessment. That left me driving home solo. Her break looks not too bad with another check on Monday. Good luck with your travel home!

 

[Langtoftlad]

I don't think I was as far north as you but this was the midnight sky at Ulvik a couple of weeks ago

 

[Wanders from Glos]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Our Scandinavian trip has not been plain sailing either! All great up Norway and across Sweden with a little nibble into Finland, but then as we came south in Sweden my wife slipped on some loose gravel and broke and dislocated her wrist! She got patched up at A&E north of Stockholm and then flew home for further assessment. That left me driving home solo. Her break looks not too bad with another check on Monday. Good luck with your travel home!

I’m sorry to hear that. But of a drag driving home solo too worrying about her. Mind you frustrating for her at home with only one arm.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

I don't think I was as far north as you but this was the midnight sky at Ulvik a couple of weeks ago
View attachment 1218284

Even here the sun didn’t set until 11.30 on and rose again at 2.30. But it never got dark.

 

[Riverbankannie]

I’m not sure we are cruised people but have to say some very good friends did that recently and really enjoyed it.

We are definitely not cruise people but the Hurtigruten Coastal are completely different.

 

[scousebird]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Our Scandinavian trip has not been plain sailing either! All great up Norway and across Sweden with a little nibble into Finland, but then as we came south in Sweden my wife slipped on some loose gravel and broke and dislocated her wrist! She got patched up at A&E north of Stockholm and then flew home for further assessment. That left me driving home solo. Her break looks not too bad with another check on Monday. Good luck with your travel home!

I hope her arm is soon mended and yiu have an uneventful trip home.

 

[Sixty-nine Chevy]

I hope her arm is soon mended and yiu have an uneventful trip home.

Thanks. I’m back home now. Return was uneventful apart from very congested Hamburg ring road and then an autobahn closure due to an accident. I then got caught up in another closure on the M6 south of Birmingham!

 

[Wanders from Glos]

We are definitely not cruise people but the Hurtigruten Coastal are completely different.

I think it may be an interesting option to do. To come by motorhome you need to allocate a fair few weeks by comparison.

 

[Peavy]

It never got dark and was blue skies at midnight

Sounds horrible just kidding.
On our particular running away from the sun, we are in the German Baltic right now, it's fresher but we sleep with a mask to avoid the light a bit ridiculous, yes...
we bought them a few years ago for a trip to Iceland
Good news on your good night sleep, sure everything will look better from now on.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

Sounds horrible just kidding.
On our particular running away from the sun, we are in the German Baltic right now, it's fresher but we sleep with a mask to avoid the light a bit ridiculous, yes...
we bought them a few years ago for a trip to Iceland
Good news on your good night sleep, sure everything will look better from now on.

Thanks, it doesn’t help sleep although we slept well last night. The motorhome is quite dark, but we like to sleep with a window or two open which means some light comes in.

 

[jumartoo]

Oh gosh, I hope my posting of our breakdown wasn't bad luck after all. Sorry if so.

 

[Jane NotRog]

Sounds horrible just kidding.
On our particular running away from the sun, we are in the German Baltic right now, it's fresher but we sleep with a mask to avoid the light a bit ridiculous, yes...
we bought them a few years ago for a trip to Iceland
Good news on your good night sleep, sure everything will look better from now on.

Why are you not blogging? I really enjoy your trip reports. But have fun anyway, we enjoyed our short time there.

 

[Peavy]

Why are you not blogging? I really enjoy your trip reports. But have fun anyway, we enjoyed our short time there.

Thanks. It's been a bit complicated for us with some family matters and lots of work lately, we were not sure we could escape with the van this time, but we made it. We just didn't feel like doing a thread this time.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

Oh gosh, I hope my posting of our breakdown wasn't bad luck after all. Sorry if so.

Yep, your fault.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

Why are you not blogging? I really enjoy your trip reports. But have fun anyway, we enjoyed our short time there.

Me too... but fair enough. we will probably go to France or Spain in September and just relax. I expect we won't blog then either.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

A picture heavy blog today I’m afraid.

The repair to the fuel pipe has survived another day and we are now about 10km outside Trondheim with the usual pretty fjord view. The alternatives for staying in Trondheim are very limited at the moment so we chose a camp site, which is okay if a little chaotic. But it has a short walk through some fields to a bus route into Trondheim. As expected in Norway the bus system is efficient, clean and not expensive. Under £4 into the city centre.

Finally, a city in Norway we really like. Trondheim used to be the capital of Norway and so has more historic sites and a greater cosmopolitan flavour. It also has a buzz about it we always like and is one of the reasons we enjoy Spanish towns so much.

Trondheim is also beautiful. We followed a walking route suggested by the tourist office, beginning at the cathedral.

Every cathedral anywhere in Europe always seems to be the oldest, longest, highest, smallest, fattest, tattiest or whatever else they can come up with. Trondheim is the Gothic cathedral that is the furthest north. A church has stood here since 1035 after King Olav was killed whilst converting Norway to Christianity. He did get martyred for his efforts though. As seems to always be the case in Norway, it kept burning down and so in 1865 the church decided to launch a renovation project in the style of the Gothic European cathedrals.

We are not fans of the Victorian era Gothicisation that took place in the UK, but what makes this one interesting is that it was only finished in 2001 and there were no records of what the West Wing (in the photograph) had originally looked like. So they made it up. The statues are great and quite blood thirsty in some cases.

We couldn’t go inside because there was a wedding on but we did take a picture of the previous one.

Nearby is the medieval Archbishop’s Palace.

Next we walked to the nearby “Old Bridge”. Not that old really given the Roman bridges in Southern Europe. This one was built in the C19th.

But the views of the old warehouses along Bryggen really were splendid and allowed for the taking of iconic photographs of Trondheim.

A stroll up a steep hill behind the warehouses brings you to the medieval fortress, housed in a star shape pattern of walls.

We strolled through the lively cobbled streets of Bakklandet and back across another bridge to the Royal Stiftsgarden residence built out of wood in the 1700s.

Eventually we found ourselves back in the huge main square which even had restaurants that were open. Recognising people eat early here we went jumped in. We went for tapas, with a beer and glass of wine. The drinks costing nearly as much as the meal.

You may have gathered we are enjoying Norway but have slightly felt it is all very beautiful but lacks much else. Well Trondheim goes someway to tempering that view. It’s a great place.

 

[jumartoo]

I know exactly what you mean about Norway. It's beautiful but it's too much of the same beauty.