Exceptional willingness to help

(Photos of the diary entry can be found at the end of the text).

Click here for the podcasts!






Link to the current itinerary


(For more posts click on one of the flags in the map)

We wake up in the middle of the night. Massive gusts of wind sweep across the plateau on which we are standing and shake the Terra Love considerably. “I hope she doesn’t fall over”, “Ha, ha, ha”, I laugh quietly. “It takes more wind to overturn 6.2 tons,” I reassure Tanja. “What wind force do you think is blowing around out there?” “I have no idea. I’ll quickly check the weather app,” I say, log in and see that there are warnings of gale-force winds of over 90 km/h in the region. “Perhaps we should have parked the Terra in the hollow next to us after all?” says Tanja, now a little more worried again. “Sinks tend to fill up when it rains. We’re better off standing here. Don’t worry about it. I’m quite sure that these squalls won’t do us any harm. Let’s lie down again,” I reply. “Well, maybe the swaying will rock me back to sleep,” says Tanja, pulling up the comforter.

The next morning, the spook is over. We leave the plateau on Lake Burtjønne and follow the E6 highway northwards. At the mouth of the Nedelva River, we reach the city of Trondheim, founded in 997 as Nidaros. “I wonder if we’ll find a garage,” I say as we drive into the city center. “It’s the third largest municipality in the country. We’re sure to find a garage here,” Tanja says confidently. “I’m sorry. We’re fully booked and can’t help you in a hurry. But why don’t you try over there? The company is very competent and also repairs Ivecos,” the friendly man at the service desk sends me on my way. As we drive up to the recommended workshop, a couple of mechatronics engineers are already standing outside watching me park the Terra. “Hello, how can I help you?” one of the men greets me in a very friendly manner. “A warning signal has appeared on the on-board computer of our expedition vehicle. It says I should go to a garage. I don’t think it’s anything serious, but I wanted one of your mechatronics engineers to take a look. Is that possible?” “Sure we can,” he says, opening one of the large gates and inviting me to drive into the workshop. “My name is Øystein,” he introduces himself. “It’s kind of strange. Our workshop seems to really attract you Germans.” “Why?” I ask. “Well, because several expedition vehicles from Germany have already been here. Last year, for example, there was a huge off-road truck here. It was on its way to an expedition in the Russian Arctic Circle.” “The Russian Arctic Circle?” I ask with a start, as we had also joined an off-road expedition in this region last year. “His name was Peter. He was with a pretty woman. They had a motorcycle in the back,” he explains. “Peter? I don’t believe it. I know him. He was on the tour with us,” I reply, amazed at the coincidence that Peter and Tini went to the same garage. “It’s a small world sometimes,” says Øystein. “Absolutely,” I reply. “The Iveco Daily 4×4 is a fantastic vehicle. What was it like on the tour?” he asks with enthusiasm in his voice. “It was a great trip, very exhausting, exciting, not without danger and yet fascinating,” I reply, thinking back to the extraordinary excursion.” “Why dangerous?” Øystein wants to know, holding Terra up to a diagnostic device. “Well, the terrain was extremely rocky in places, we had to drive through deep rivers, the track was often overgrown with trees and bushes, wild brown bears were spotted not far from the vehicles, we crossed long sandy tracks, to name just a few of the challenges.” “Wow, that sounds like real fun. Did you have a recovery vehicle with you?” “Yes. It was constantly in use and some of the vehicles had to be winched out of the sand or mud.” “I’m sure one or two things got broken, didn’t they?” “Oh yes, some of the expedition members suffered major damage to their vehicles. Torn out shock absorbers, a slashed diesel tank, a slashed living cabin, a torn off awning, water damage, electrical and technical problems and much more,” I reply. “Expensive, but as an outdoor and off-road fan, I would still have loved to have been there. I love driving off-road for a living. Look, that Volvo L3314 over there is mine. It’s a 1968 model. It was used by the army and as an ambulance. I’ve been fixing it up for a few months now. I’m glad that my boss gives me the opportunity to leave it in the workshop. I work on it whenever I have time off and soon every night. It’s time-consuming, but I really enjoy it,” he chats, pulling out the diagnostic device again. “And what about the engine?” I ask a little excitedly. “Nothing. Just had to reset something in the program,” I hear with relief. “Where are you actually going?” Øystein wants to know, continuing the conversation. “Our destination is the North Cape and the sighting of auroras.” “Isn’t it a bit too early for auroras?” “I don’t know, they say you can see them as early as September. We’ll see. We still have until the beginning of November. I hope luck stays with us,” I reply, thinking about the fantastic experiences and encounters we’ve had so far. “What do you get for your work?” I ask. “What do I get?” Øystein asks in surprise. “Well, what do I owe you?” “Nothing. I was very happy to help you. It was a great pleasure to chat with you. We off-road riders have to help each other,” he replies with a laugh. “A thousand thanks,” I say, amazed at so much helpfulness. “Nothing to thank you for,” Øystein repeats, whereupon we exchange our Instagram addresses to stay in touch.

We leave the workshop and go to a shopping center. While Tanja gets groceries for the next few days, I buy a bed for Ajaci in a DIY store, which we want to put between us on his passenger seat. Although he has calmed down a bit since the experience with the flying fire extinguisher, he still squeals his ears off quite a lot. In the meantime, we don’t know whether it’s out of enthusiasm or still out of fear that something might fall out of the cupboard. “Maybe he’s uncomfortable?” Tanja had suspected a few days ago.

We leave the city of 205,000 inhabitants in the direction of Lofoten, a region in the province of Nordland and part of an archipelago off the coast of northern Norway consisting of around 80 islands. We were there last year, but as we were on our way to the off-road expedition in the Russian Arctic Circle, we only had a superficial view of the region. This time we have more time, want to see more and who knows, maybe we’ll be lucky enough to marvel at the Northern Lights for the first time in our lives…