Km: 382
Lattitude: 66
We had the best night in our camp spot overlooking the fjord. We expected other campervans to join us, but nobody did. We were all alone. But that didn’t last long.
Today, we got back on the tourist trail. A local we met a few days ago mentioned that Route 17 offers a scenic drive up to the Lofoten Islands, so we decided to take it since it’s less traveled than the main highways. It seems others had the same idea, though it’s not too crowded yet. I think most campervans just tend to gather around the ferry crossings.
A highlight of the day was seeing a family of reindeer. It’s my first time seeing one in real-life so that was super exciting. Dancer, Prancer and their baby Rudolph (named after the legend). Reindeer are different from normal deer as they all have antlers, even the baby ones. It was very cool!
Today’s drive was along winding coastal roads with multiple ferry crossings, weaving our way from island to island. With each ferry ride, the scenery changed. From green fields and villages, to forests to rocky outcrops. The weather was all over the place. One minute we’d have rain, followed by brilliant sunshine.
All the supermarkets were closed as it’s Ascension Day. How come we don’t get a holiday for that? So we stopped at a service station for another bacon-wrapped sausage. The bread on this one was a bit stale, but it was still delicious. I must stop eating them!
Today we just drove, and drove. Most days we’ve been covering 100 to 200 kilometre, but today we clocked about 382. There wasn’t anywhere we felt like stopping, so we kept moving, with the ferry crossings giving us a chance to stretch and take a break.
At 9pm, we found a quiet camping spot at the start of a hiking trail. So what did we do? We went for a night hike! Ok, the sun doesn’t set until midnight, but it was still night time. Right? We only walked for about an hour, but it was nice to burn off all that pent up energy from sitting in the car all day. And we had a wonderful view over the seven sisters mountains.
We are now at latitude 66 which means we’ll be crossing into the Arctic soon. Exciting!
I am having trouble plotting a route from here as there are a lot of long tunnels coming up that seem to be unavoidable. Oh well.