I have been negligent in my reporting duties and for that I apologise. My only excuse is that the driving since leaving Bergen has been fantastic. The scenery here is much the same as the west coast of Scotland, only there is much more of it in Norway.
From Bergen we have driven north despite the cold and the rain (I know, Britain has been basking in sun for the past ten days or so. In the famous words of the late Harry Secombe “Raspberries”). We travelled up through Alesund, Trondheim, Mosjoen and eventually to Narvik. The daily distances weren’t great, around two hundred miles a day, but the time taken to cover those miles was roughly double that of normal driving. This is because every fifty miles, or so, you need to take a ferry, and because although the roads aren’t all that bad, they are single carriageway with almost no overtaking points. Once you are behind a truck you are there for eternity. Additionally, the majority of Norwegian drivers abide by the speed limits which along much of this route is 50mph. The up-side of this however, is that you are able to take in the magnificent scenery. The mountains vary from heavily forested to completely barren rock. The rock formations vary from granite to what looks like a type of slate format, sorry but my geology is not what it should be. In my defence however I did a search on Google and that was no help.
At 10:35 on the 10th July Bridget and I crossed into the Arctic Circle. The location in Norway is well marked with a visitor centre, etc. It is located approximately 50 miles north of Mosjoen. We spent that evening just south of Narvik at Tysfjord. It’s a beautiful peaceful location on the banks of the fjord and it was dry enough for me to go walking into the early evening. For those that have only read about the 24 hours of daylight I can tell you it is quite strange to find at 11:30pm you can venture outside and take a photograph with a standard digital camera without the aid of a flashlight or extending the exposure time. I can’t say it stays like that all night because I keep falling asleep.
From Narvik, we have turned right and driven down the E10 into northern Sweden and are currently ensconced in a hotel in Kiruna. Tomorrow we intend to drive into Finland and to the city of Rovaniemi where Santa Claus lives. I just hope my lovely grand-daughters are behaving themselves!