Shortly after the start on Sunday morning we found this great Bukkekjerka viewpoint near Forfjord.
Again and again we drive past such space and aviation research centers in the north of Norway.
On this day, we only got about 60 km, because after a short stretch of driving we came across a truck accident that was carrying pigs.
A fireman informed us that catching the animals and recovering the truck could take 2 to 4 hours. On a road of 5 meters and no possibility of driving around the track, we all had no choice but to wait.
It was Sunday, so I used the time to work on the last blog post for you.
After 5 hours we continued. A pig transporter had tipped over. As we drove past the countless helpers, there were still a few pigs in the grass.
I had to ride in the cab for a while because I couldn’t make it to the front as quickly as it suddenly started.
We have now arrived in the Lofoten Islands and wanted to buy some fresh produce in Svolvær. With 4775 inhabitants, Svolvær is the largest town on the Lofoten Islands. Of course, we didn’t realize that pretty much all tourists want to shop here, so it was impossible for us to find anywhere to park. Neither on site, nor in such a way that only one of us could go shopping, nor outside, so that we would have had to walk a bit. As we really only wanted to buy some vegetables and eggs, we drove on. After all, that’s food you can do without 😂Our next destination was the Viking Museum in Bøstad.
But we have to spend the night first. As we couldn’t find any suitable accommodation, we decided to accept the offer of this café for the equivalent of just under 12 euros. You can also get electricity here for an additional NOK 5. You are welcome to use the toilets during opening hours.
It’s a very cozy café with incredibly friendly staff. A former primary school building.
We couldn’t resist spending a little time in this great atmosphere and tried a fika, the typical specialty, a cinnamon bun. Alex had another coffee and could refill as often as he wanted. I opted for a cup of tea. It all cost €17 together. But it was worth it because it tasted delicious.
Our drinking water supplies were running low, so we asked if they would fill up one of our 5 liter canisters with fresh water.
That was no problem at all and we got it free of charge.
Later, Alex tried his luck again. The main thing is that he enjoys it, regardless of whether he catches anything or not 😄
A few impressions of the Lofoten Islands.
Sheep roam freely everywhere.
We also found these cemeteries outside the villages very interesting.
We take you on a short journey from the northern end of the island of Andøya in the Tromsø region, also known as “the gateway to the Arctic”, to the beginning of the Lofoten archipelago in the Nordland region.
Always accompanied by the mountains and the sea.
On narrow roads, on even narrower roads, through tunnels, through towns and with an escort vehicle through roadworks. Sometimes with sunshine and sometimes with cloudy skies.
In Borg, at the Lofoten Viking Museum, Hjem – Lofotr Vikingmuseum, we took a journey back in time and were able to immerse ourselves in a lively environment.
We learned about the history of Borg, the chief and the center of power.
In the movie theater there was a short film, “The Dream of Borg”. The film is based on interpretations by Olav Tvennumbrunni, the National Collection, and it gives a picture of the atmosphere and life of the Viking Age here in Borg.
We were able to marvel at the longest reconstructed longhouse in the world. The chieftain’s house is 83 meters long and 12 meters wide. Inside, we could feel the smell of tar and fire and listened to the local Viking stories told to us by a friendly young man. We learned about their crafts and experienced how people lived in Viking times.
The original longhouse stood exactly 20 meters from today’s restored longhouse, where you can still see the original piles of the house on the ground and some archaeological objects have been found.
It was inhabited by a wealthy Viking.
The houses of the “commoners” were much smaller.
Die Archäologen gehen davon aus, dass sich in der Gildenhallen das Zentrum des Geschehens auf dem Häuptlingshof befand, in dem Feste und Rituale stattfanden, sich der Häuplingsthron befand, sowie auch das alltägliche Leben der Bewohner der Farm stattfand, in dem die Arbeit erledigt, das Essen zubereitet und gegessen wurde.
Die wertvollsten Funde der Ausgrabungen konzentrierten sich in der Gildehalle.
Ebenso fand man Statuen von den verschiedenen Gottheiten wie z.B. Thor, Odin, Freya.
The bedrooms were also in this area.
This room was used as a barn and stable for livestock in the Viking Age. In its current reconstruction, it contains an exhibition of sculptures and figures depicting Yggdrasil and mythological creatures from Norse mythology.
Here we also found an exhibition of leather shoe making, wood carving and much more.
Marine resources formed the basis for the survival, prosperity and power of the chieftainships in the Viking Age. Cod fishing in the Lofoten Islands in particular has always provided the population with large quantities of fish. This provided a good livelihood.
The Vikings were skillful sailors and skilful boat builders. The longship can be seen as a symbol of the Viking Age and represents the success the Vikings had in the period between 800 and 1050 AD. They sailed far and wide to trade and raid. The Vikings reached and explored lands far from their homeland in the north.
We were allowed to sail on the Viking ship Vargfotr, a Polish copy of the Gokstad ship (890s). The ship was built in 2000 and is 65% the size of the original Gokstad ship.
It was very interesting to see how the ship can be steered using only the sail.
Reconstruction of the forge.
Outside the museum, visitors were shown how leather is made.
We were also allowed to prove ourselves at axe throwing and archery.
After Alex’s 3 axes hit their target, the “wicker” had high expectations of me.
Fortunately, I didn’t make a fool of myself and he was very pleased with my result, 2 out of 3 axes hit the target 🙂
To our own surprise, we weren’t exactly beginners at archery either.
Before we leave Lofoten, here are a few more impressions.
We take you the last kilometers on the Lofoten.
If you travel a lot by ferry in Norway, which is indeed often the case, then it makes sense to register with AutoPASS for ferje. It is a discount system for ferry crossings in Norway.
Payment is made automatically by license plate scan and you get up to 50% discount if you have a corresponding account. You then pay a credit into this account, from which the costs incurred are automatically deducted. In our case it was just under €900. If you still have a remaining balance at the end, it will be paid out again, which is almost always the case (we are curious to see).
If the credit is not sufficient, you have to pay in another one.
We registered with Autopass shortly before we entered Norway and transferred the amount specified by Autopass. The amount varies depending on what kind of vehicle you have. A 7.5 ton truck, like our WENNE, naturally pays more than a 3.5 ton motorhome or a car.
It took 4 working days for the amount of the foreign bank transfer to arrive in our account.
On Wednesday we took a break from driving, firstly because it was raining and secondly because we didn’t have far to go to the ferry port from where we wanted to take the ferry from Lofoten to Bodø on the Norwegian mainland. And because the credit for the discounted debit had not yet arrived in our account, we didn’t feel like going anywhere else in this weather.
On Wednesday evening, the money had finally arrived in our account and Alex had the idea of taking the ferry at 11:45 pm.
Not quite so enthusiastic, I finally agreed.
Booking in advance to secure a place on the ferry is always more expensive than simply queuing without a reservation. But that also means that if the ferry is full, it is full and you have to wait for the next one.
However, online reservations are only available for a certain number of people so that there are always places available for spontaneous crossings.
We had a stroke of luck. The ferry at 11:45 p.m. didn’t take us, but half an hour later the next one left for Bodø, which we were also able to get on. Otherwise we would have had to wait until 7:00 am.
We finally set off 15 minutes late.
Arrival in Bodö.
When you see these pictures, think about how late it is.
I would also like to mention how happy Alex is every day when he sees that our photovoltaic system is charging 24/7. Our batteries are almost always fully charged.
We drove off the ferry again at just under 4:20 am.
Like everyone else, we looked for a place to spend the night as quickly as possible, and on the way we came across this moose cow.
We fell into bed shortly after 5 and had a good night’s sleep.
The Saltstraumen is the strongest tidal stream in the world. It is located approx. 30 km south-east of the town of Bodø.
Almost 400 million cubic meters of water flow back and forth between the Saltfjord at sea and the Skjerstadfjord inland through a 2.5-kilometre-long and approximately 150-metre-wide sound as the tides change. The current reaches speeds of up to 40 km/h, creating huge whirlpools at its edge. They can be up to ten meters in diameter and more than four meters deep. Only when the tide turns is there a brief period of calm, i.e. when the Skjerstadfjord is at its highest and lowest point.
Unfortunately, the video didn’t work out. It really is a very spectacular sight.
Our next sleeping spot was incredibly beautiful with a wonderful view of the sea.
I saw a sea eagle, which was once again not captured well by my photo. These animals are incredibly large with a wingspan of 2.65 meters. It’s always fun to watch them sitting on rocks on the coast or in the air.
At 370 km², Svartisen is the second largest glacier in Norway and is located just above the Arctic Circle in the Saltfjellet-Svartisen National Park in the province of Nordland. It has a total of 60 glacier arms
Over the last 50 years, the glacier has receded considerably and no longer reaches the lake. In 1910 the glacier front was only 50 m away from the lake, in 1945 it was already 1000 m away.
We were later able to see the other side of the glacier on a ferry trip from Jektvik to Kilboghamn.
On the ferry trip from Jektvik to Kilboghamn, we also crossed the Arctic Circle again and are now back south of the Arctic Circle, outside the Arctic region. Now we are curious to see when the first darker nights await us again.
We were so impressed by the small ferry ports of the individual island groups that we almost forgot to get off on the last trip today. We didn’t even notice that there were no other people on deck 😉
The landscape has now completely changed again and reminds us a little of our home and the Allgäu.
Today we took 4 ferries in total, which took us south along the coastal road across the sea. They took between 15 minutes and 1 hour.
We narrowly missed the next ferry, which set off on its last journey at around 11:15 pm.
At any other ferry port, it would have been possible to simply spend the night on the line in order to catch the first ferry the next morning. At this last ferry, the Norwegians have a very clever solution. There is a campsite directly on site for the equivalent of around €33 per night. The campsites in Norway cannot be compared with those in Germany or southern Europe. For us, they are simple pitches for motorhomes with showers, which often cost extra.
There was a site not far from the ferry port where two campers were already parked. A van and a car with a roof tent. So we drove back and squeezed in between the two. It worked out well and we enjoyed the last rays of the sunset at 11:45 pm.
