RV Roadtrip – Norway Part 3

Our route.

Leaving Finland and crossing into Norway we were on pretty isolated roads. The actual border crossing was a tiny little affair and had we not had Sebastian there would have been no need to stop. They were doing construction and it was a bit challenging to actually park so that Shani could go in and take care of the formalities.

Our first stop on this venture into Norway was the town of Alta which had a couple of interesting things for us to see. We went to The World Heritage Rock Art Centre – Alta Museum​ first. Shani had read that there were some cool hikes we could do and there was ancient rock art on the trails we could see. There wasn’t any parking for our rig as all of the camping car spots were full. So, we went to find the famous Cathedral Of The Northern Lights (Nordlyskatedralen). Unfortunately for us, there was a wedding going on and we could not go inside. 

We drove back to the Alta Museum and this time were in luck. After a quick lunch in the camping car we headed to the museum to try and find the trails. As  it turned out, you have to pay to walk the trails which is included in the museum entry fee. We had also read that you could camp overnight there, but there were no overnight parking signs everywhere.  Neither of us was excited about paying $15 each for a little hike and some rock art, Shani was much more conflicted about this than I was. In the end neither of us coughed up the dough for the trails and we decided to move on.

Our new destination for the night was camping at Repparfjord Camping with the idea that the next day we would go the rest of the way up to Nordkapp. As we got very near the camping we were stopped at a police roadblock.  Unsure about what was going on way up in the middle of nowhere, we turned off the rig and got out to investigate. We were told that the road was closed and would be for several more hours. We were not excited about this news.

It turned out that we had inadvertently stumbled upon the Arctic Race of Norway, a professional bicycle race that takes place in the northern most parts of Norway. As we didn’t have any real choice in the matter we found a nice spot and waited for the peloton to arrive. It wasn’t too long before news started circulating that the riders were on the way and soon the motorbikes and lead cars went zipping past. Soon enough the lead riders went by and then the rest of the pack and the support cars. And then it was all over. Race officials and local police were actually really good about getting traffic moving and since our destination was just a couple of kilometers down the road (in the  direction the bikes had just gone) they got an all clear and led us part way to the camping.

Our next destination and RV life goal was to get to Nordkapp. It is as far north in Europe that you can drive. The road ends at an awesome visitors center and massive parking lot. We had great weather for our first few hours and then an incredible fog rolled in, almost like being in a white out!  When Shani walked out from the museum, she couldn’t even see our vehicle!  It was pretty neat to think that we had been through Western Europe and down to the south of Portugal, Spain and Gibraltar, over to the Black Sea and through Eastern Europe and then through the center and now at the absolute top. We couldn’t drive any further North! Our giant loop of Europe was almost complete.

Nordkapp was quite chilly, especially once the fog had enveloped us. Along our journey we had heard mixed things but we were certainly glad we made the effort to get there. The rest of our Norway time would be spent in the Lofoten islands area, still in the very far north and the next morning we bid adios to Nordkapp and turned the rig south.

For us, the rest of the Lofotens (with the exception of the Viking Museum) were all about the scenery. It is an absolutely gorgeous part of the world. Our first campsite was a tiny camperstop called Sørstraumen Camping, a modest affair but an absolutely stunning location.  

As we headed down the finger of the Lofotens towards the end and a town called Å, we ended up at another unique spot to park the van. This was actually a kind of zoo called Polar Park Arctic Wildlife Centre and they have spaces for RV’s including electricity and bathrooms. The facilities were quite nice and we were the only people there. It was a pretty neat place to stay.

Continuing south, we spent a couple of days at Lodingen Marina and then a couple more at Sjostrand Rorbuer where Sebastian was very excited by the drying fish! We spent time wandering around in each place exploring what little there was to see aside from the amazing scenery.

We did some ‘wild camping’ at Uttakleiv Grendelag beach though it wasn’t free. There were some rudimentary toilet facilities that Shani almost locked herself in which gave her a bit of a fright. However, the location just couldn’t be beat.

Eventually we made it to Å and the end of the road. We found a spot to park and took a stroll out to the end of the island chain. Satisfied with our tour of Å we turned north again and headed to the Lofotr Viking Museum.

The world’s biggest Viking Age longhouse has been found and excavated at Borg in the Lofoten Islands. A rich and powerful dynasty of chieftains ruled here during the Viking Age. A full-scale reconstruction of the longhouse and the authentic surrounding environment have been built up to explore,

For over 1000 years the wealthy chieftain’s seat at Borg lay hidden and forgotten. When a farmer began to plough his fields in 1981, beautiful fragments of glass and rare ceramics were revealed in the furrows behind the tractor. This was the beginning of an archaeological sensation. Not only was the world’s biggest longhouse uncovered and excavated, the unique finds also bore witness to the fact that a mighty chieftain had lived here, a chieftain who enjoyed extensive contact with other seats of power in Europe. (above two paragraphs from the Viking Museum website www.lofotr.no/en/)

We found the museum to be really well done, with video and audio and a short movie as well as display cases full of treasures. The grounds have out buildings and a few boats and there are plenty of staff dressed for the part. Sebastian was not allowed in the museum or long house but strolling the grounds and vising the boat would have been fine but we left him guarding the van.

After our visit to the Viking Museum, we found a place to top up our LPG and eventually settled in back at the Lodingen Marina, a peaceful spot that we really enjoyed.

And that was that. Our quest for Nordkapp complete, the Lofotens toured (though we certainly could have seen more!) and it was starting to get cold, time to head back south.

Stay tuned as we power through Sweden again, finally see a moose and pop over to Copenhagen for a day trip.