Tuesday 9th June - A Dream Realised - crossed the Arctic Circle!

I could have kissed her. No, she wasn’t a a Norwegian blonde goddess – hey I can dream – but a rather matronly lady behind the reception desk of Tømmerneset Camping in Innhavet. 

The reason for my amorous urges – well, she'd apologised and said “Sorry, but I though you would like a shower and toilet in your cabin and put you in there!” and I was wetter than I can ever remember being. You know that bit I said about not getting wet if you are moving, well that obviously only applies to English rain – Norwegian rain, like a lot of these foreign types, doesn't play by the rules.  But, I digress, more of that later….

I was going to start my blog today The weather is crap….. but then I thought about it and you know what, the weather IS crap, and has been all day. Apart from a very few breaks it has bucketed it down, turning to sleet at one point.

I set off in the rain and I’ve told you how I feel about that so forgive me any grouses.

There were a couple of German bikers in the cabin next to me and they were standing smoking as I left. Now, I never like pulling away fully loaded in front of other bikers, makes me nervous. That’s when I’ll drop it or stall or something but it has to be done so you take a deep breath and look as though you know what you’re doing – a bit like breathing in when you walk past a  woman sunbathing on the beach – oh we do that you know ladies, why go to the gym twice a week if you can hold your breath for 30 seconds!  

And, I nearly pulled it off, put on my helmet, strode manfully to the bike, gave a macho wave goodbye and set off. Stopped suddenly several yards into my journey as I realised that it wasn’t that foggy, I’d just left my glasses on the patio table when I put my helmet on. So had to go skulking back – bummer!

A few miles after leaving my nice warm dry cabin I came across some road works and because the roads are so narrow and bendy they don’t use traffic lights but have men with little ping pong type bats at each end. This morning the guys doing that duty were totally enclosed in yellow PVC or whatever it is nowadays, with big woolly hats and thick gloves. I waved thanks to one poor chap and I could see from his response that he was wishing he was still back in bed with Agnetha and wondering why that English prat in tights is out in this for fun.

To be fair, I wouldn’t have got all that wet if I had kept moving but the trouble is I stop too much to take photos or read plaques and then those pernicious drops of Norwegian rain do their worst.

My first call was at a place called Mosjøen – have you noticed I’ve found the ø symbol on my computer, who says you’re too old to learn -  as I’d read it had a lovely old town with 19^th  century houses. Well, it did but they perhaps didn’t seem so lovely with water overflowing from their 19^th Century guttering – just look at this scene, shows you what it was like. 

And look at that sculpture – as usual I have no idea what it was for but judging by the way these two gorgeous kids are dressed I don’t think today’s weather was a novelty in Mosjøen, they are sou’westers not sun hats!

The houses don’t really look much in photos but in reality are impressive – all wood.

I called in for petrol and got talking to an old guy – probably my age – who asked where I came from. When I said Yorkshire he said “I have a Holy Hour a day”. Oh dear I thought, why do I find them but instead of telling me I didn’t deserve to have escaped from that  town  with the short name I visited yesterday he said that he watched “Heartbeat” every day without fail – apparently it’s on Norwegian telly every day!

As with Route 66, the path of The Arctic Highway is constantly changing as engineering developments allow more bridges and tunnels and, again as with Route 66, I want to follow the old route as much as possible so forgoing the luxury of a nice warm dry tunnel through the  Korgfjellet mountains I followed the old route over the top. It was an amazing drive although cold and kind of scary although I admit I do look a bit smug.

 At the top was a stark reminder of the grim history of the road much of which was built by the Germans in World War 2 as a supply road when they invaded Norway. The labour was provided by prisoners of war and the monument remembers the 550 Yugoslavian prisoners of war who died building this particular stretch. We may have heard of the Burmese Railway but how many of us have heard of this road. I’m sorry that some of the photos taken today are blurred – blame that rain again.

The route was supposed to provide panoramic views but views, panoramic or otherwise were in short supply today.

But then I dropped down to the valley again and a real treat – I saw my first reindeer!

After that excitement I went on to a place called Mo-I-Rana.I wanted to see a couple of things here.

The first was the old church which had in its grounds the graves of 8 Scots Guards. The German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940 was sudden and widespread and despite Allied intervention, the entire country was under German occupation by early June. Mo I Rana was apparently protected the 1st Battalion, Scots Guards from 4 May 1940 and held until the Germans entered it on 18 May.  

There are no war grave cemeteries in Norway and all soldiers killed, including these, were buried in civilian cemeteries. The youngest was 19! 

Alongside the graves is communal tomb of unknown Russian prisoners of war- who presumably died whilst being forced to work on the road.   

The second thing I wanted to see was a statue by Antony Gormley entitled “Man of the Sea” which apparently stand in the water and “gazes determinedly down the fjord”. But by now I was well and truly wet and I couldn’t be bothered. Talk about milking an idea – I’d rather go back to Salford and see scores of ‘em.

So I set off north towards the Arctic Circle – oh I know I’ve been going there ever since I left the UK but now it was now in smelling distance. Wasn’t where I thought though and at one point I thought perhaps I’d crossed it without noticing, the road just seemed to go on and on without any sign of it. And I was getting wetter and wetter so when I came across an original café from 1939, when this bit of road was opened and a signed said Midday Buffet – in Norwegian – even though it was 3 o’clock the temptation to stop was too great. 

So glad I did, had an hour in the dry getting on the outside of meatballs, potatoes, fish, chips, mushy peas – yes honest and - pudding and all the coffee I could drink. Had to apologise for leaving the floor sopping wet though.  The lady behind the counter must have got fed up of answering the question because when I asked how far the Arctic Circle was she produced a mileage chart she’d written out on a card from under the counter – 18 kilometres!

The Arctic Circle Centre

Found it – and my little froggy friend – no a real one, the Frenchman with the overloaded bike – caught up with him again at the Centre so we could take the obligatory pictures of each other. I’d heard the centre was commercialised but it wasn’t that bad. Of course they sold souvenirs, why wouldn’t they and perhaps two reindeers are coming home to two little girls I know.

The circle was marked by elaborate sculptures and more basic stone markers BUT I’VE CROSSED IT so another dream realised!  

Froggy on the Arctic Circle

Again there were monuments to the Yugoslav and Soviet Prisoners of War who died on this road.    

So chuffed to bits I rode on to my destination for the night and that’s where I came in – took the cabin allocated in error with very good grace, parked the bike under cover and spent at least 10 minutes under a hot shower. 

Life is good again…….

Monday 8th June - The Road to Hell....

I've been waiting to say that.

Had a great night's sleep in my little cabin - tidied it up a bit so can show you inside now ...

                                                                                                             not bad eh.

I appreciate that it sounds pretty mundane starting every blog off with a weather report but it does make such a difference to how I feel about setting off.  Once off however it really makes not a ha’porth of difference.

This morning it was raining again and very cold, 6°C  – don’t know what that is in your money Gary but believe me it was cold.   It caused me to play the thermal roulette game – I’ve got a warm set and a wind proof set but do I want to peak too soon?  I’ve still a long way to go and what if it gets colder!!!

I compromised and reverted to a pair of thick ladies tights – I won’t, for a change, state the obvious.  They are in a rather fetching dark blue and match the colour my lips go in such temperature. I do carry a disclaimer should any of my macho biker contacts catch a glimpse of them – though a) I can’t think of a situation where they might (* though see below) and b) most of them have probably got a pair on too – which states I wear them for medical reasons.  Anyway, it was a good call as the weather cycled today between.6° with icy rain and 17 with warm sun.

Sitting here writing this in my second little cabin – see later – I have fond memories of my last long trip when, after stopping to take a layer or two off in the baking sun I rolled into Paradise, Montana.  Believe you me it was a much fonder memory when, in that biting icy rain today I descended into Hell. 

I’m sure it is a nice place – Hell apparently means Good Fortune in Norwegian - but I wouldn’t make any predictions that involve it freezing over if I were you.  Arriving at the railway station is enough to make you wish you’d led a better life!

I rode up past Trondheim and alongside the Fjaettenfjord, a narrow inlet of the Trondheim ford just 12 miles north of Hell where the German Battleship the Tirpitz hid away from the Allies in the Second World War. There was a failed attempt by volunteers from the British and Norwegian Navy to sink it with Chariots - a kind of submersible torpedo which two sailors rode on – we can only imagine how terrifying that must have been to take part in.

Then rode up alongside the Namsen River, one of the longest in Norway and which is apparently great for salmon. There are hydro-electric dams on it so they have the salmon leaps around them. I stopped to look at one but it was closed and to be honest I don’t know when the salmon would use it anyway.

It had a salmon smoker and sales outlet attached to it which seems a bit underhand looking at it from a salmon’s point of view – offering a safe passage past a dam and then bopping it on the head and into the smoker! This chap was outside though and with much of the stuff I’ve seen I have no idea of his relevance to salmon.     

   

I think he’s the Norwegian equivalent of Mr McGregor cos he wasn’t too impressed I was in his garden.

I am finding it a long haul I admit. On paper, and comparing it to UK rides, 250 miles a day doesn’t seem too onerous, but here the main road, the E6, which goes up all the way is very twisty and mainly 70kph which is 47mph, can you believe it. I do stop a lot for photos and stuff as well so the 250miles today took me thick end of 8 hours.

The views again were magnificent – won’t show you too many, I guess it’s one of those “you had to be there” things.

Mind you it wasn’t all hard work. Froggie – who has at last decided it is warm enough to come out of my tank bag – and I took advantages of a sunny spell to enjoy a Co-op Salad bowl al fresco! And there was a snickers bar for pudding.

When I unpacked in the cabin last night I thought I how the heck had I managed to get that lot on the bike – I’m usually so tidy at home!.  But then I met a French guy who was also going north and I realised I was practically a minimalist beside him. He may even have had his wife with him under that lot.    

Arrived at the campsite a bit earlier today – last night it was 8 o’clock , today half past 5. Great location between the divide of a river at a place called Trofors.

 Again I am really pleasantly surprised at how good these places are and for the price – its £25 tonight.

I’ve just made coffee and got the coffee and pasta on!

The showers though are unisex. Nothing wrong with that I know but I must remember I’ve got my tights on …..

Sunday 7th June - The trip gets real.....

I always start my drafts  “Its been a day of contrasts…” but then scrub that as it is a bit of a cliché isn’t it, but …today has been just that.

I worked out last night that I’ve done 1450 miles and not bad with the calculations as I’d planned on it being around 1350 to here – I know, obsessive whatever – Delden Mk1 has a lot to answer for.  Anyway it’s half of the 2600 to North Cape in total so when as I woke up this morning to lovely sunshine again I took time to check the oil and tyres. Would have been better though to have just set off because when I was eventually getting my gear on to start the heavens opened. I don’t mind riding in the rain, moving along you don’t really get wet but I hate setting off in the rain on a wet bike. Plus I had to get out of Oslo and the only way really was along the motorway so I was a real grump for a while – hard to imagine I know.

That soon changed as once out of the city both the weather and the roads changed for the better.

My ability with a camera can’t do justice to the panoramas but I hope they give you a taste of how lush the countryside was and what great weather I had once the rain stopped. Hold that thought though…...

Wanted to call in at Lillehammer, the venue of the 1994 Winter Olympics. Once near the town the Olympic village wasn’t hard to find as the Ski Jumps stuck out from miles away.  I rode up to them and even from the bottom they seemed scary,  gawd only knows how frightening they must seem from the top. There are some crazy people”. 

  

I always assumed that Norwegians were good at skiing because of all the snow, but up to this point I hadn’t seen any. Doesn’t deter them though, remember the chap I told you I’d seen “skiing” down a cycle lane, well he was positively sedentary compared to this young lady…

I wanted to look around the Olympic Museum but it was in the process of being moved so only saw the empty shell, a sad bob sleigh and these sculptures

 – no, I don’t know either!

 

                                       Preferred these lovely people.......

Though wouldn't want to meet the guy who left this ....

After Lillehammer I took a shortcut up through the Rondane National Park  rather than follow the main road along the valley bottoms. That was exciting for a while as I began to catch glimpses of snow but as I got higher, the temperature plummented – and boy did it plummet, this water fall was still frozen - and the land became more barren I admit to slight twinges of anxiety about what was to come further north. The air was so clear though and you could see for miles so again I was a happy biker.

 

Then, just as quickly as this morning the rain started only this time it was icy cold and no fun at all. Was glad then when I got to the camp site, bike tucked up for the night and fire on. It's called Gullvag Camping and is on the E6 just north of  Opdal and 45 miles south of Trondheim......

AND, it is really comfortable – a very pleasant surprise. It’s a great system. There are 2 bunks, so 4 beds but you only pay for the number you use so this is costing me the grand total of £34. 

Goodnight ...............