Driving To The Far North Of Norway

Imagine driving through eight country borders without needing to show your passport? Imagine a seamless driving adventure, no visas needed, no queues at border crossings, no questions asked. How can such a road trip possibly work?

This dreamy road trip does exist, made possible since the signing of the Schengen Agreement in 1995. Travellers no longer need to show their passport when border crossing between the countries that are part of the Schengen area. The free movement of people is a right for all EU citizens, one of the biggest success stories of an unified Europe.

To make things even easier, travellers can also use their own country driving license and insurance policy, since a driving license and insurance policy issued in one Member of the European Union is valid in all the others.

Twenty eight countries are members of the European Union (for now including the UK, although looks like not for much longer). Members of the EU can live, work, retire to, and travel freely within any of the twenty eight member countries. Open borders is just one of the many benefits of belonging to such a powerful block of countries.

But this post is not for political purposes and I will certainly not be discussing the pros and cons of Brexit, but the above can’t be ignored by someone who loves to travel like I do. To have such an easy access to the rich cultures, natural beauty and history of a whole continent is quite simply magical, wouldn’t you agree?

Brian and I are on a mission to drive by motorhome from the UK to the Northernmost point you can drive to in mainland Europe: Nordkapp in Norway and experience the midnight sun, high above the Artic Circle. Once we reach Nordkapp we will be exploring other parts of Norway and spend the next 3 months enjoying a Nordic adventure.

The Far North – Here We Go

Leaving the UK at the end of June/19 via the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone we arrived in Coquelles, France about 35 minutes later. The Channel Tunnel has linked the UK with mainland Europe via this incredible feet of engineering. I remember when it was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II and the then French President, François Mitterrand in 1994.

The Channel Tunnel, also known as the “Chunnel” runs for about 31 miles, with 21 miles being under the sea. The longest undersea tunnel in the world. For mental well-being’s sake, I tried hard not to think about being in a deep tunnel under the sea during our crossing.

Entering the train that will whisk us and our motorhome through the Channel Tunnel.

We showed our passports as we left the UK at Folkestone and we have not been requested to show them again since. From Coquelles in France we drove for 285 miles across good roads and we made it to Temse in Belgium, staying at the local Aire overnight (GPS N51.12494 E4.20877).

From Belgium we crossed seamlessly into Holland, missing the border signs altogether, and kept going for another gruelling 423 miles into Germany. This day of driving was possibly the hardest, passing 3 road traffic accidents on the German roads including a turned over lorry. Many road works and traffic jams later we arrived at the Schact-Audorf Aire (GPS N54.30536 E9.71171) near Hamburg by night time. It had taken us 10 hours rather than the predicted 7 hours (including a short stop for lunch).

Our third day took us from Germany into Denmark and across two very beautiful bridges, first the Storebaelt Bridge which links two parts of Denmark, Funen and Zealand, across the Great Belt and then the fabulous  Øresund Bridge, the longest combined road and railway bridge in Europe.

Øresund Bridge,

The Øresund Bridge connects the Danish capital of Copenhagen and the Swedish town of Malmö. The bridge stretches for 8km/5miles into the artificial island of Peberholm in the middle of the strait. The crossing is completed by a 4km/2.5miles tunnel connecting with the Danish island of Amager.

Both bridges are an impressive feat of engineering and for both crossings there are expensive Tolls to pay. But we found it to be totally worthwhile, a great highlight of this part of our driving adventure.

We stayed overnight at a lovely lakeside campsite in Markaryd in Sweden (GPS N56.46486 E13.60142) enjoying the great facilities. Leaving early next morning, heading for Stockholm, where we had planed to stay for two nights and enjoy a nose around the Swedish Capital.

Stockholm

Stockholm is an archipelago of 14 Island, stretching across Lake Mälaren   and the Baltic Sea with about 50 bridges connecting many of the Islands. Our campsite in Bredang (GPS N59.2957 E17.9235) was great and within an easy train ride on the T ban into the Old Town (Gamla Stan).

Nobel Prize Museum at Gamla Stan, Stockholm

The capital of Sweden has a lot to offer, but with limited time it was more of a question of what can be done with just one day of exploring. Our wanderings took us  into the medieval streets of Gamla Stan, the Old Town  where it all started. Stockholm was founded in 1252, and its pedestrian friendly old town is like stepping back in time. There are many interesting buildings, beautiful churches including the main Cathedral,  museums such as the Nobel Prize Museum and the main attraction here, the large Royal Palace. There is a daily change of the guard, but we did not linger long enough to see it.

Views of the Vasa Museum from our boat trip

After some time of being on our feet we decided that looking at the city from the water would give us a different perspective and a bit of a rest, so we took a one hour and half boat trip from the harbour just opposite the Royal Palace towards the many bridges and canals, including navigating through one of the city water locks. It was a guided tour with very interesting commentary via a set of headphones,  giving us tourists many fascinating facts and titbits about the Swedish people and their way of life.

The ABBA Museum

Situated within an easy walking distance from the Old Town on the Djurgården island, the museum is like no other we have visited before.  Full of interactive activities, it walks you through the musical career of one of the worlds most famous pop bands.

Life size wax figures of ABBA

The four ABBA members, comprised of Benny, Björn, Anna-Frid (Frida) and Agnetha, dominated the music global charts of the seventies and the eighties. Following their historic Eurovision Song Contest win in 1974 the amazing foursome were catapulted into the world of fame.

Interestingly for me, being a huge ABBA fan, this Eurovision Song Contest took place in the UK city of Brighton, where my daughter attended University and where she now lives. She in fact had her graduation ceremony in the very hall where the band received their winning trophy.

It was fascinating to learn about their childhood, early music career and how they ended up becoming one of the most famous pop bands of all times, greatly influencing the world of music.

As you enter the museum you first get to experience being in a set of the Mamma Mia film, afterwards there is a fast paced film with lots of clips about their shows and life on the road.

There are many interactive activities, including sing an ABBA song track in the studio (Brian and I sang “Dancing Queen”…badly), dance with the band on stage and you can even record your own music video. We of course lap it up and had lots of fun doing all the activities. The museum is a must for ABBA fans, or in fact anyone who enjoys pop music will love this place.

There are many great museums to see in Stockholm, but unfortunately the road North was calling and so we left the next day bound for the far North of Sweden.

The quiet roads meant that I could have a go at driving the motorhome. It felt like driving a big bus, but I was glad to have finally done it and without hitting anything. There are many speed cameras along these roads. The speed limit signs with a camera gave us a clue about their location.

Make sure to pay attention to this sign

Lots of speed cameras along this road

We stayed overnight at a roadside free parking with toilets (GPS 63.8708 E20.45047), there are many of these along the main road making it for an easy next day get away.

Rovaniemi and Santa Claus Village

Everyone knows that Santa Claus lives in Rovaniemi, Finland Lapland…right? Being so close to Santa’s house it would be rude not to stop and see the good old man.

Yes “Santa” I have been a very good girl

Santa’s Village is a big theme park, cute place but very touristic. To see Santa Claus and have a chat with him is free. He is comfortably sitting inside his house waiting for you to sit next to him, meanwhile a photo evidence of your visit is taken and that is were you pay a substantial amount of money…if you want that picture, it is yours for a price.

The whole setting is very Christmassy…of course, very pretty even now during the summer season. In the winter, with snow all around it must be magical. Kids no doubt will love it, but mum and dad will pay big bucks for this privilege. In the winter there are huskie rides, snowmobile rides and a good chance to see the amazing Aurora Borealis (a bucket list item that we are yet to tick). It is free to park at the Santa Claus Village main car park and motorhomes can even stay overnight.

The Artic Circle

This area is also known for being above the Artic Circle. An imaginary line that circles the Planet Earth at the two polar regions. The region North of this circle is called the Artic.

No passport control as we enter Finland

Being above the Artic Circle means that now in the Scandinavian Peninsula’s summer, it is light for 24 hours. The midnight sun was something we wanted to experience for ourselves and it did not disappoint. It is a bizarre experience, one does not feel like going to bed for fear of missing out on something. Luckily we have blackout blinds in our motorhome or it would have been difficult to sleep. In the winter, the opposite will occur meaning that it will be dark for 24 hours…maybe we will try that next time? Or maybe not…two months of complete darkness would be hard.

Lake views in Finland and 24 hours of sunshine

The Artic Circle passes through the Artic Ocean, the Scandinavian Peninsula, North Asia, Northern America and Greenland. There are eight countries that have some of their land mass sitting above the Artic Circle including Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, the United States (Alaska), parts of Canada, Denmark (Greenland) and Iceland (the off shore Island of Grimsey).

Arriving in the Far North of Norway

There was a small kiosk at the border, but no one in sight and so we crossed the border without interruption into Norway, with our stash of beer and wine intact (we did not bring much, but alcohol is very expensive in Norway, so our supply will last for a while).

The road scenery has now changed from the miles and miles of green forest. It has been replaced by a more barren landscape consisting of small bushes, mossy grass, no trees, rolling hills and a very rocky terrain. On day nine, we finally arrive at the most North-Easterly town of Norway and the Nordic Countries, Vardø located at 31°E.  After a journey of two thousand four hundred and sixty four miles across eight countries, in nine days (including two nights in Stockholm), driving an average of over 300 miles per day.

This tunnel connects the mainland with the Vardøya Island in the Barents Sea.

From here onwards the pace of our travels will be a lot slower, we will be making our way through the length and breath of Norway for the next 2 to 3 months. We have a rough idea of our itinerary and the things we want to see and do, but our plans are flexible and no doubt there will be many changes and diversions as we travel along and that is the beauty of motorhome travelling…firm planning and booking ahead is not necessary.