Lofoten and Beyond

Three different types of beer from Norway, all writing is in English or at least the slogans are. The can on the far right was totally in English.

Ken and I on the mountain across from Tromso, more mountains behind.

NordKapp coordinates...boy that is way up there!

Reindeer are plentifull and you always have to watch for then along the road. We saw wild and domestic reindeer, you can tell the domestic animals because they have spray painted brands on them.

Ken and I at the end of the European Continent, NordKapp.

A Swedish moose, a long lost relation to...Bullwinkle?

Our bikin' buds from the Bodo Bike Club.

The view of Tromso from the adjacent mountian was great.

Fishermen cabins line the waterfront, many are converted into cabins for rent.

Our first night on Lofoten we stayed at a campsite on the beach, what a spot! Our most expensive site yet, and to top it off after they dinged you for pitching your tent you also had to pay for showers and for the electricity to the little hot plate($1/30 minutes)so you could have a pot of soup for dinner. But with this view, needless to say the campground was busy. Driving through Norway is like driving to Alaska only with three times as many R.V.'s. We love the european R.V.s, they are so cute and everything is top quality.

The Arctic Circle, Sweden.

Racks and racks of fish drying line the side of the roads in the small communities. They put the fish(fish heads dried separately)on the racks to dry in October and they dry until July, then they are packaged for sale mostly to Africa and South America(saving a bit for themselves and for the tourists).

Ken tries his hand at skiing down a patch of snow, the first time in years.

A misty view over the ocean from NordKapp.



We had good intentions and we did get to Bodu from Vannas in one day but we didn't make it across to Lofoten. On the way across Sweden we met a Swedish couple going to Bodu for the weekend to attend a motorcycle rally, they invited us along and we just couldn't refuse. So, we spent the evening having a few drinks and visiting with some new friends and talking about motorbikes and Norway and Sweden. We watched the midnight sun and got to bed late, late enough that we just made the 11:00 ferry to Lofoten. The good news is that our wait payed off and we had very good weather on Lofoten. Yes Heinz, Lofoten is beautiful! Rocky mountians coming straight out of the ocean, white beaches, twisty roads and quaint little villages with many little fishermens cabins hanging over the water for rent. So very nice. We kept driving and enjoying the view, crossing bridges and going through tunnels under the straits and before we knew it we were on our way to Tromso.

Tromso is a city that is built on an island in a fiord, it is connected to the mainland by two bridges and a tunnel. It is a new city and doesn't have the character that many of the European cities do, but it has a cable car going up a mountian located beside the city and from the top you have a very nice view of the Tromso and the surrounding water and mountians. Ken and I toke the 420 meter cable car ride up and then hiked a remaining 300 meters to the top through some remaining snow. At the top we talked to a couple ladies from Tromso and they mentioned that usually by this time a lot more snow is gone from the ground. Everyone around Scandinavia agrees that this year is about 5-10C degrees cooler that normal. The weather has been cool for riding but the sun is at least showing itself to make riding a little more enjoyable. So much so that after much consideration we decided to make a quick run to NordKapp the northmost point of Europe.

The road were dry and the temperatures didn't dip below 10C until we got to the last 20 kms or so. On the way we drove through pine forests, and rolling hills of tundra covered with reindeer. Many of the reindeer here are domestic. The Sami, the original inhabitants of the area have the right to herd, use and sell the reindeer meat. There are many stands along the side of the road selling the fur hides and antlers from the reindeer. The temperature dipped to 5C, the winds started to blow a harder and a little fog started to roll in as we approached the cape. There is a 7 km tunnel under the water that connects NordKapp to the mainland, and as we drove down through it it gave a funny feeling to think about the turbulent ice cold water up above. At the cape the fog lifted long enough for us to have a good view and take a few pictures, after which we went into the building and watched a movie on the Cape. There must have been 20 tour busses arriving as we emerged from the building with tourist ready to watch the midnight sun at 12:00, a very large cruiseship was in port and we wondered if it was one that we had seen earlier in the fiords. Three hours after we arrived we found the weather had gotten noticeably worse and there was no way we could pitch our tent on the Cape. So for our short stay on the Cape we paid a total of $45 in road tolls and over $40 each to walk out to the point and watch the film, was it worth it?...you bet, it was a pretty cool experience. We got on the bike the headed south, after a long day and over 640 km we found a great tent spot, the rain even stopped long enough to setup the tent. But only for a short time! Not long after going to bed the rain started again and not long after the wind also started with a vengeance, by three a.m. the tent was laying flat out, our new REI tent got put to the test. Around seven a.m. we couldn't take it any longer and attempted to take down the tent, we did it but not with chasing a few things across the road. I wish I could have caught the mayham on my camera but at the time it was all hands on deck! But that was it...we had had enough of the crappy weather. We headed south, Finland and warmer weather on our minds. We are thinking of starting a new reality t.v. show calles "Sun Chasers" what do you think?

Now, in reflection of Norway the one word that I would pick to describe the country...Spectacular! We absolutely loved the countryside with its jaw dropping landscape and the people, even in consideration of the prices and the weather, both of us would return again and would erge everyone else to do so as well.