In August an old schoolmate and me took a bit of a mission.....to drive my old Panda to the Arctic and back! I think it started as a bit of a drunken bet at uni, and so the ferry from Newcastle to Bergen was booked for the 3rd of August. To make it a proper challenge, we only booked it one way, planning to drive back through Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and France.
Not a lot of preps were done, apart from oil and filters, and the clutch cable which (luckily) broke a week before leaving. The first mission was to get to the ferry from South Devon, a trip of 400 miles on its own... we did get a stop in Manchester though, it takes a while to get there at 60 mph...
Coffee bar!
Ferry queue
We caught the ferry on Friday afternoon, arriving in Bergen on the Saturday afternoon, 27 hours in all. It turned out that there was absolutely nowhere with space to stay in Bergen, so we hit the road straight away, stopping for the night in Voss, about 50 miles away.
Hitting the road!
Voss
Then spent a few days driving around the fjords of Western Norway, which are stunning. Even though it poured with rain for the first 2 days!
Panda in the mountains
In a tunnel.....
Laerdal tunnel, the world's longest
fjord ferry
on the ferry!
I got to drive some of the high passes as well, up to 1500 m, which the Panda got over faultlessly, if a bit slowly as I didn't want to cook it... Even found a bit of snow at the side of the road, which I promptly drove on, and got stuck.... only a bit of pushing needed
In the snow.....
The Trollstigen is the best known pass, snaking down a near-sheer mountainside in what seemed like dozens of switchbacks, each with a pretty lairy drop of the side... the brakes were stinking a bit at the bottom of that!
Heading down Trollstigen
Trollstigen
After that it was the 1200 mile trip north, on the Arctic Highway, roads just as windy as ever, though gradually fewer hills, which I think the car was glad of.
Crossing the Arctic Circle!
Obligatory moose sticker!
Eventually reaching Tromso, almost at the top of Norway, it was time for a break for a few days. Its a really cool town, tons of things to do and really good bars and stuff, despite beer being £6 a pint! Being August, it didn't get dark either... its a bit strange walking back at 2 am with the sun coming up!
Tromso
Car and cabin
Tromso was as far north as we had time for, we could possibly have gone right up to Nordkapp (the north cape), but it is supposed to be nothing particularly special, and would take another 4 days. So we turned to Finland, heading down through Lapland to the Baltic coast and Sweden. Not a lot to see in Finland, bought a reindeer hide from the side of the road, then narrowly avoided hitting another, bloody suicidal animals...
Oresund bridge
Sweden is massive. It took a good three days, and 1500 miles to get through it, most of the north is one enormous forest, so not much to see, and it rained a fair bit too. Eventually we got to the Oresund bridge, crossing from Sweden to Denmark, which is awesome. A quick blast (even once hit 80 mph!!!) down the autobahn in Germany saw us reach the Netherlands where we stopped with a mate of mine, before the boring trudge back to Dover and back down to Devon. And the Panda never missed a beat! Which is just as well, seeing as I had no breakdown cover
All in all, it was a damn good trip, I'd reccommend Norway to anyone, and its not as expensive as everyone makes out... maybe next time try the same in January??? Preferably with a bit less driving!
In all:
17 days (12 driving)
4461 miles
45 mpg average, not bad for a 4x4!
cheers, Mike
Not a lot of preps were done, apart from oil and filters, and the clutch cable which (luckily) broke a week before leaving. The first mission was to get to the ferry from South Devon, a trip of 400 miles on its own... we did get a stop in Manchester though, it takes a while to get there at 60 mph...
Coffee bar!
Ferry queue
We caught the ferry on Friday afternoon, arriving in Bergen on the Saturday afternoon, 27 hours in all. It turned out that there was absolutely nowhere with space to stay in Bergen, so we hit the road straight away, stopping for the night in Voss, about 50 miles away.
Hitting the road!
Voss
Then spent a few days driving around the fjords of Western Norway, which are stunning. Even though it poured with rain for the first 2 days!
Panda in the mountains
In a tunnel.....
Laerdal tunnel, the world's longest
fjord ferry
on the ferry!
I got to drive some of the high passes as well, up to 1500 m, which the Panda got over faultlessly, if a bit slowly as I didn't want to cook it... Even found a bit of snow at the side of the road, which I promptly drove on, and got stuck.... only a bit of pushing needed
In the snow.....
The Trollstigen is the best known pass, snaking down a near-sheer mountainside in what seemed like dozens of switchbacks, each with a pretty lairy drop of the side... the brakes were stinking a bit at the bottom of that!
Heading down Trollstigen
Trollstigen
After that it was the 1200 mile trip north, on the Arctic Highway, roads just as windy as ever, though gradually fewer hills, which I think the car was glad of.
Crossing the Arctic Circle!
Obligatory moose sticker!
Eventually reaching Tromso, almost at the top of Norway, it was time for a break for a few days. Its a really cool town, tons of things to do and really good bars and stuff, despite beer being £6 a pint! Being August, it didn't get dark either... its a bit strange walking back at 2 am with the sun coming up!
Tromso
Car and cabin
Tromso was as far north as we had time for, we could possibly have gone right up to Nordkapp (the north cape), but it is supposed to be nothing particularly special, and would take another 4 days. So we turned to Finland, heading down through Lapland to the Baltic coast and Sweden. Not a lot to see in Finland, bought a reindeer hide from the side of the road, then narrowly avoided hitting another, bloody suicidal animals...
Oresund bridge
Sweden is massive. It took a good three days, and 1500 miles to get through it, most of the north is one enormous forest, so not much to see, and it rained a fair bit too. Eventually we got to the Oresund bridge, crossing from Sweden to Denmark, which is awesome. A quick blast (even once hit 80 mph!!!) down the autobahn in Germany saw us reach the Netherlands where we stopped with a mate of mine, before the boring trudge back to Dover and back down to Devon. And the Panda never missed a beat! Which is just as well, seeing as I had no breakdown cover
All in all, it was a damn good trip, I'd reccommend Norway to anyone, and its not as expensive as everyone makes out... maybe next time try the same in January???
Preferably with a bit less driving! In all:
17 days (12 driving)
4461 miles
45 mpg average, not bad for a 4x4!
cheers, Mike
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