12 July – we arrive in Travemunde at around 9pm after about 30 hours on a very calm ferry crossing from Helsinki (about 1150 km).
View from our hotel in Travemunde
Travemunde harbour
Yesterday was the 300 mile drive to Helsinki, which started on glorious roads – wit no speed cameras! We had some confusion as Allison was adamant that we should be on road number 89 when in fact we were on the 68. Changing the direction of the map made life a little clearer! Sue and Will did a grand tour of Helsinki Old Town before arriving at the port 15 minutes after check in closed.
My first task at the hotel was to change the points – they had been ok but this was a precaution against a breakdown (and losing time) at the side of a German autobahn. Probably a good thing as the set that came out looked pitted with limited life expectancy.
Now 7.00 am local time on 13 July and our incoming ferry has just turned around in the narrow river to start its return to Helsinki. We hope to be on this evening’s boat to Harwich – and more car repairs to look forward to!
10 July – a drive to Kokkola but a late start as our sleep was disturbed by some noisy night clubbers. Yesterday was characterised by a sequence of lakes and evergreens, with the odd speed camera; today in principle we were on the coastal road alongside the Gulf of Bothnia – but I didn’t see any sea – I saw plenty of speed cameras. They were everywhere – grey boxes with two lenses and you had no idea what they were thinking! The car ran happily enough. Kokkola
Kokkola Orthodox Church
used to be a port, exporting tar. Over the years the land has risen so the sea is now further away and the harbour has had to move several times! One claim to fame is a captured English barque – a rowed boat carried on warships. This was captured
Boathouse with captured barque
in the Crimean war in 1854 when the English attacked Finland (yes Finland is a long way from the Crimea but Finland was then part of Russia).
9 July – so that should have been a straight forward drive of about 5 hours from Karasjok through the border to Rovaniemi in Finland. It was raining when we set off – I am sure we have had more rain than we should have. The roads were empty so it didn’t matter too much that the car was bouncing over the road when it encountered rain in the lorry tracks. The border was deserted and I guess we saw fewer than a dozen cars going our way for the first hour. First stop was Sodankyla to see a
Sodankyla Church
17th Century wooden Church – somehow it escaped the scorched earth policy at the end of WW2. We stopped to refuel and there in the café was the friendly man from Ostend with whom I had put the world to rights whilst waiting for the lorry to be pulled out of the ditch yesterday.
We carried on to Rovaniemi but I could not resist a stop at the Arctic Circle line and the
Don’t get lost at Santa’s village!
Santa village which has been constructed around it – yes you can have 365 days a year Santa – whoopee! This had to be followed by culture at the Arktikum – a museum of the Arctic and the Sami people. Then to the hotel – Allison found she had lost her handbag (cards, passports, phones, money, house keys – nothing of importance!) By the time we had got back to the Arktikum no sign, gone! The hotel receptionist was very helpful and phoned around – yes a bag had been handed in but no details would be given. She drew us a map and we ran off; the building was closed, no-one there. I ran back to the hotel – oops, wrong building, try this instead! A policeman let us in, thankfully everything was there – a big thank you to the honest citizen of Rovaniemi! She had put it on the roof when getting into the car – and left it there when I drove off.
8 July – a fairly short day (150 miles) to Karasjok, close to the Finnish border. We left early and made good progress on empty roads – where have all the RVs and bikes gone? This stopped suddenly when we found a Highways van parked across the road.
Road closed
A lorry ha gone off the road and into a ditch, two tow trucks were on hand to pull him out. After about an hour and a half it was winched up and onto the road. We were in a hurry as our guide book said there were guided tours of the Sami parliament at 1pm and Allison particularly wanted to go.
Samediggi
We got there with 20 minutes to spare – and found out that tours were every hour on the half hour! More culture followed at the local museum followed by a tourist trap at the Sapmi Culture park. The Sami are the indigenous people – historically semi nomadic reindeer herdsmen and now spread across Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.
7 July – a rest day after a midnight stint at North Cape, where the weather was good, mist on the water below
North Cape Midnight Sun
us and a clear sky above. What you see in the photo is mist, not sea. The drive back to the hotel included patches of fog and dazzling bright sunlight straight ahead – what a contrast! The rest day was spent on the island, visiting remote villages, constantly surprising ourselves at the number and variety of people we meet both tourists and “staff” -Canadians on a tour boat, a girl from the Philippines, one from the Isle of Wight, from Glasgow, a Norwegian married to one from Edinburgh, motorbikers we bump into from hotel to hotel
Reindeer
6 July – it was almost dry as we left Alta but then turned to wet with low cloud so some very slow driving on nearly empty roads. As we went further north over the hills, the sun emerged and burnt away the cloud – great! We stopped at a silversmith in the middle of nowhere – and were given some reindeer horns for the dogs to chew.
Repvag – a hidden cove
Repvag – street lights on this track?
Elan at Nordkapp visitor centre
The road to Nordkapp
.
Kameyvaer
After checking in we went to North Cape and booked for an evening meal and hopefully a view of a “full” midnight sun – where the sun is visible and not just its rays. So six years after the Elan went as far south as possible – to Ushuaia in Argentina we ended up as far north as possible. We stopped for afternoon tea at a German run hotel in the tiny village of Kameyvaer – picturesque with deep blue waters
5 July – a long day with rain, wet and chilly! Speed cameras, cloud, road-works and very little sight-seeing. We left Narvic after looking at the steering, deciding it was not good but equally there was nothing to be done about it here. Arrived in Alta and decided it was much the same. Tomorrow we should get to the destination – North Cape.
4 July a day of mixed fortunes! We awoke early and went to visit the “museum village” of A (it has a circle over the A but not on my keyboard). The bakery was open so we had a freshly warm bun before taking photos and getting back to breakfast. I had found oil on my trousers and feet last night – now traced to the speedo cable (speedo died two days ago) – it now turns out that the outer cable had slipped over time where I had installed one of our trip meters. Pushing that back together means that the speedo now works – whoopee – haven’t checked my feet for oil yet! Then on to Narvic. Stopping for a photo-op,
a smell of fish
there was a smell in the air – no not the car but fish being dried – photo. Our planned stop was the Viking museum, where we spent a couple of hours and were fortunate to arrive at the time for a sail on
Viking Ship
a Viking ship. This is a 2/3 replica of one they found – and it goes! The sail
Viking Ship – sail
is all in front of the mast so if they want to change tack, instead of the sail and boom flying across the cabin, they release one bottom corner of the sail, pull in the other side – job done!
We left at around 2.30 with a little over 4 hours driving ahead of us – times dependent on how quickly you could overtake the queues of RV’s – get a close convoy and you’re lost! Almost immediately the engine coughed and spluttered – you hope its something simple but experience and your inner self tells you its – points. Glide to a stop in a convenient bus stop, triangle out, boiler suit on; there is a quick way to do this if you have all the right tools and lighting and you’re in the workshop. But when you’re at the side of the road, the only way is distributor out and hope you can get it back in the same place and keep the ignition timing – and it worked! Engine purred at the first ask and we flew! Now the problem at these speeds was the car’s desire to bounce around the road on the bumpy surface. At the hotel car park – problem diagnosed – there is play in the steering rack, can’t fix it here; have to drive more cautiously – oh shame!
. 3 July – we started as has become customary in the rain. We have 150 miles to the ferry – but there’s only one a day so we can’t be late. We’re told it will take 5 hours which seems a very long time but not sure we can risk too much sightseeing just in case it does take that long. First visit, the Arctic raceway, a motor racing circuit just below the Arctic Circle; we arrived about 9am but its a bike day and no-one is awake, plenty of RV’s in the car park. Then off to the Arctic Circle Visitor Centre,
Arctic Circle Centre
a building which the guide book describes as plonked by the roadside. The landscape here is much bleaker than before with barren rocks and less vegetation – its a deserted plateau. There is less traffic and we make good progress. The ferry for the Lofoton Islands leaves from Boda
Road to Boda
and we find ourselves behind Sue and Will’s XK, having last seen them at breakfast. Its a 4 hour crossing and a short drive to our cabin at Reine, with a view
View from the cabin
over the little harbour and the barren hills looming behind, some in cloud and others not. This last picture
The land of midnight sun
was taken at five minutes to midnight, there’s a chill in the breeze and the sun’s rays can be seen between the hills above the boats centre right of the picture
2 July – today was going to be a long day with 300 miles to do and speed limits of c 80kph (50 mph) – and Norwegian speeding penalties are severe (so we have been told). Leaving the hotel car park, the speedo needle fluctuated wildly between 20 and 60 and settled on 0 for the rest of the day. No speedo, no odometer and the fuel gauge reads either full or empty. Fortunately the trip meter does work and tells us distance and speed. The day started warm and dry – the inevitable rain came later! We headed north on the E6 with a change of landscape to a more wooded feel.
lunch stop
We stopped again for afternoon tea in Mosjoen where there was a festival
Fuel at 1933 prices not included
and found that one of their art exhibits was a refurbished 1933 Shell petrol station. We’ve not yet met the other half of the tour but we did see a couple who we had also seen in Trondheim so maybe its them – but where’s the car? Time will tell; we have a long ferry journey tomorrow to the Lofoton Islands so all should become clear……
1 July – a rest day in Trondheim.
Trondheim Cathedral
We started with Trondheim Cathedral – and a leaflet caught my eye – advertising a production of How Like an Angel – a show premiered by the Norfolk & Norwich Festival in 2013. Next to the “Festung” overlooking
Trondheim from the Festung
the town, by way of the bicycle lift – its not photogenic! It consists of a metal path up the hill with a footrest poking out of a groove – put one foot on the rest, lean on your bike – and up you go! Then to the old town and later to the WW2 U Boat pens, now storage facilities, a bowling alley and other businesses – but such a solid construction that demolition was almost impossible. The car is snug in its underground car park, clocking up £25 per day parking charges. I decided the squeak was caused by movement in the rear suspension bushes (brand new!) – and that nothing will fall off just yet……
30 June – we left at 8am and headed for the Atlantic Road a series of bridges hopping over islands for 8 kms between Molde and Kristiansund,
Atlantic Road aerial view – in the sun
winner of numerous awards for its design. sadly it was raining!
Atlantic Road bridge
This bridge is perhaps the most photographed feature.
Then on to Kvernes to see another Stave Church – we got to the outside but they had a series of tour busses from the cruise liners booked in for guided tours so our visit was very brief – we continued to Kristiansund. The Codfish museum was much quieter and surprisingly interesting! Then on to our overnight stop in Trondheim where we have a rest day, waiting for the tour’s second car to arrive from Oslo.
29 June – a short day but with two steep hills to contend with. First the Ornevegen
Ornegegen
“Eagle Road” out of Geiranger. This was straightforward, a popular road with packed view points. We met up with two English motorbikes who planned to do in one day what our route has given us 2 to do – but maybe they were travelling faster! We detoured to Tafjord
Tafjord Quayside
– a small village at the end of the fjord, whose claims to fame are a power station and a “tsunami” 100 years ago caused by a slab of rock falling into the fjord and creating a 60 metre high tidal wave which washed away most of the old village. Then over the plateau to the Trollstigen
The Trollstigen
“Trolls ladder” which has steep hairpins as the road drops alongside a waterfall. Lunch was on the banks of the Romdalsfjord
Romdalsfjord
– a much flatter and open Fjord contrasting with the sheer sides of Geiranger en route to another Stave Church at Rodven
Interior Rodven Church
. Now in Molde, an industrial town and the end of the Fjord section of the journey – and the German tour group have rolled into town; they now head south whilst we head for island-hopping Atlantic Road and the north, via Trondheim where we expect to be joined by the second car in our tour.
28 June – a rest day but that is not what Allison thinks about her knees. The German tour group was leaving as we checked fluid levels, tightened the handbrake and set the electric fans to permanent “on” in preparation for the two climbs tomorrow.
Reserved Car Park
Geiranger is a tourist area and has been for 150 years, it has loads of walking routes – just Allison reckons we walked too much! From high above the Fjord we watched a cruise liner arrive to join the Musica which was already moored up ( the Musica weighs 92,000 tonnes and carries 3220 passengers!)
Allison watching MCS Musica
27 June – the Flam railway. This 20 km section of railway rises nearly 900 metres and lasts about an hour. It twists and turns through some 20 tunnels to link Flam on the Aurlandsfjord with the main Bergen to Oslo line.
Flam railway landscape
The rest of the day was concerned with tunnels, Stave Churches and overheating (nearly). Major tunnels are a feature of the area, one has a roundabout and another, 24 km long, has three rest areas,
Laerdal Tunnel
slightly surreal with a ghostly blue lighting above and yellow lighting at ground level.
Stave Churches are wooden Churches from c. 1150, there were thousands but now only 29 remain.
Kaupanger Stave Church
After the Churches it was the 1434metre high Sognefjellet mountain pass (said to be the highest in Northern Europe). At the top they were cross country skiing but getting up there proved to be hot work for the Lotus and we had to stop when the temperature gauge got to 100C. Not sure those electric fans are cutting in properly! This was followed by the fastest section of road driving we have yet encountered in Norway – parts of the route have a speed limit of 90 kph but I could not possibly recall what speed the speedo showed! Arriving at our hotel in Geiranger the car park was reserved – for a German Classic car tour! We joined them, adding a touch of Lotus class – how is it that a German tour group can muster 40+ cars but our UK group was only 2 and the second has yet to arrive?
View from Geiranger hotel room
26 June it was still raining when we disembarked at Stavanger. About 30 km later and we queued for another ferry on the island-hopping coast road to Bergen. This was Fjordland, where the roads hug the shore line and waterfalls cascade down the steep slopes on both sides.
Fjordland
We stopped at Langfoss waterfall (conveniently located opposite a lay-by on the main road) and we handed some Norwegian flags by a very excited kiosk owner – the Royal Yacht with King and Queen aboard was due to pass by at any moment.
Royal Yacht
We could be honorary Norwegians and wave enthusiastically! Our next stop was not so simple. There was a noise and feel of a puncture but no flat tyres; one wheel had come loose and was wobbling on the hub. This was annoying as it damages the locating holes on the rim and may be another write-off – and they aren’t made any more. Another waterfall at Tvindefoss was said to be one of Norway’s most popular sites (it is believed to enhance sexual potency). The continuous rain put a damper on that and it was nearly deserted! We carried on to our overnight stop at Flam – home of the Flam Railway.
25 June and a leisurely drive to Hirtsals in Northern Denmark with a visit to Aalborg thrown in – hmm it didn’t quite work out like that! Getting out of Hamburg went ok but it was raining and it rained all morning until we got to Denmark. The two lane motorway north was full of cars and water and roadworks – and we crawled. We had to stop at one stage in an emergency pull-in when the wiper rubber tried to fly off the blade – that was fixed by that invaluable invention – a cable tie. We crawled into Denmark as the Security Services glanced at but didn’t check every vehicle. Aalborg was a might have been and we reached the ferry terminal about half an hour before check in.
24 June – now in Hamburg after some unwanted excitement en route. The car went to the rolling road on Tuesday morning to sort out a lack of performance and low speed power. I went to collect it on Wednesday afternoon – and drove for about a mile before it died – completely, dead. A tow truck took me back to the engine tuner. Points. No surprise, the car has always eaten points and this was solved by the Boyer Bransden ignition pack – but that was for positive earth. After the Amazon, I installed an alternator, which is negative earth and after checking all the wiring I hoped not to need this protection – wrong, obviously! How long will these points last now?
Thursday and last minute checks – radiator level low – where has the water gone? I started the engine, stopped it and saw a dribble round the thermostat housing. A new gasket was not the answer but a new gasket plus some sealer did the trick. Then off to Harwich – and the temperature gauge just carried on getting higher – the fans were ok but not switching on; I tweaked the temperature control and they woke up.
Friday and the “scenic route” to Hamburg via Hoorn with its historic port and old buildings then to the dam separating the Isselmeer from the North Sea, sadly it was overcast and apart from hordes of motorbikes there was little to see. 
We continued to Germany and motorway jams – but at least the radiator temperature held steady – useful having two fans! Reaching the hotel in Hamburg we found the reason for the motorbikes – a Harley event in Hamburg,