Norway – Summary – Part 4

Date:


06.12.2020 until 12.12.200


Day: 126 – 132



Country:


Norway / Denmark / Germany


Location:


Schwaig near Nuremberg


Kilometers:


2228 km


Total kilometers to home


11986 km


Soil condition:


Asphalt


Ferry from Kristiansand to Denmark


1


Bridge crossings from Lillehammer to Kristiansand


225


Tunnel crossings from Lillehammer to Kristiansand


69

(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 further contributions click on one of the flags in the map

The Norway trip catapulted us from left to right, from the present to the past, from natural wonders and forces of nature to the threat to our mother earth and its inhabitants. Even though we had been in the country for many weeks by now, there were new surprises every day, surprises that we never expected. One of the most extraordinary encounters was with the old sea dog Fynn, who suddenly appeared and told us the gruesome, historically true story of how a sperm whale rammed the whaler Essex until it sank and its crew experienced a terrible odyssey. When we went to see Fynn the next day to say goodbye to him, he had disappeared. No one knew him, no one had ever seen him. Who knows, maybe chance will arrange for him to read these lines one day? If that’s the case, we’d like to thank you for the crazy story, dear Fynn.

We made the acquaintance of Swiss expats Nathalie and Stefan, who invited us to their home and recommended a brilliant itinerary on the island of Andøya. We spent nights around campfires, drove on 600 million year old rocks on remote gravel and dirt roads and experienced an incredibly impressive sky full of northern lights and stars near the town of Sortland.

In the province of Troms og Finnmark, which is bordered to the west by the European North Sea, to the north by the Barents Sea and to the east by Sweden, Finland and Russia, a gust of wind damaged our camera, we fled from a polar low, experienced the spectacle of light and shadow and the diversity between fell and fjord. We made the acquaintance of reindeer and crossed the northernmost road in the world to the region where trees are completely replaced by subarctic alpine vegetation. We drove an impressive 212 meters under the sea from the mainland to the island of Magerøya, where the North Cape is located. There, the narrow mountain road was literally swallowed up as if by magic. Thick fog seemed to have engulfed the entire country. And then, 2 ½ months after we set off, one of Norway’s most spectacular destinations suddenly appeared. Overjoyed, we reached the far north of Europe by road 514 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. As we assumed that the weather would soon change, we unpacked our e-bikes that same afternoon to cycle to the large globe, the landmark of the North Cape. At the symbolic end of the European mainland, we set up our camera on a tripod to capture our leaps of joy, then cycled along the steep cliff that borders the Arctic Ocean and offers a view into infinity. “What an indescribable moment”, a thought flashes through my mind as I realize that I have been walking on a high plateau where hunter-gatherers had already settled 9,000 years before our era. That night, the sky was once again starry. The full moon sparkled, the Milky Way glittered and colorful auroras covered the globe and the firmament. Drunk with joy, I enjoyed the natural spectacle and felt as if I had found a gold nugget.

Our euphoria was curbed the next morning. An employee of the North Cape Hall did not tolerate us for more than a day. We left this extraordinary place in drizzle and fog and headed south again. Large herds of reindeer, never seen before in our lives, appeared on the lichen-covered high plateaus. We made travel plans and thought about what else we wanted to see on the return journey. The island of Senja was high on the agenda. The first snow covered the roads and raised concerns as to whether we would make it over all the passes without snow chains. On Senja, we skidded on ice and snow with our Terra Love, but made it to the coast, where the Gulf Stream ensured warmer temperatures and the roads were ice-free. We passed a beautiful place where sky and sea meet, where the waters of the fjord spread out below us like a polished mirror and the inlet is framed by mountains to the left and right. We felt like we had found paradise, especially when we discovered our long-awaited dream spot at Steinfjord. From this point on, an unforgettable solitary life began for us, in which Mother Nature seemed to welcome us into her womb. We explored the surrounding area on our e-bikes in the freezing cold. On the beach at night, we cycled under the cosmic aurora borealis and believed that the green-blue light was being hurled out of a crevice in the western mountain range into the sky dotted with twinkling stars. Soon we were marveling at the ever-changing natural spectacle every night, until a hurricane taught us to be afraid. Our Terra Love was hit by vicious 120 km/h gusts. The hurricane, which lasted for days, screamed and roared, causing our expedition vehicle to groan and moan, but it withstood the forces of nature and we got out of it without any damage. The locals living there were worried about us. During the walks with Ajaci, Tanja made a few acquaintances. The older ladies Fynia and Elan brought us hot, homemade waffles and the emergency doctors Ronny and Jimmy enquired about our well-being. After more than three weeks, it was time to leave the Steinfjord and head south. By now, darkness had fallen and daylight had been reduced to a few hours. This gave us a good taste of what it feels like when the sun doesn’t rise above the horizon for a long time…