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Sun Jul 22, 2012 3:29 pm

We´ve had our 5th Arctic Circle Bus Meet, here:

Dutch friends brought orange beer in an orange T3 :D

Sun Jul 22, 2012 3:54 pm

It even seems you had nice weather. Must be photoshop :P

Sun Jul 22, 2012 4:01 pm

Excellent scenery and great vehicles. Looks like lots of fun. Thanks for sharing.

Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:42 pm

I enjoyed the pictures.
That is a beautiful place to explore in a Syncro.

Thanks for sharing.

Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:59 pm

Great photos. Makes me wish I could ship my Westy over there for some touring. Is your meet truly at or above the Arctic Circle?

Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:24 pm

That beer looks really really good. Couldn't find a thirsty emoticon.

Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:45 pm

Those are indeed nice pictures, Norway is a beautiful country!

There's a good chance that I might be traveling for work reasons to Oslo on August (1 week only) - are there any local clubs that have Vanagon related meetings around that time ?

Don't know how much free time will have (and would love to do some seakayaking also) so I'm trying to gather some advance info :-)

Mon Jul 23, 2012 8:16 am

psych-illogical wrote: Great photos. Makes me wish I could ship my Westy over there for some touring. Is your meet truly at or above the Arctic Circle?

Sure you can!

We have had our meet at different locations around the arctic circle. Very few nice spots ON the cricle itself (wich moves around, as you know). Last site was 44 kms south of the circle.

Mon Jul 23, 2012 8:19 am

pnwkayaker wrote: Those are indeed nice pictures, Norway is a beautiful country!

There's a good chance that I might be traveling for work reasons to Oslo on August (1 week only) - are there any local clubs that have Vanagon related meetings around that time ?

Don't know how much free time will have (and would love to do some seakayaking also) so I'm trying to gather some advance info :-)

Yes, we are lucky!

The Norwegian bus scene (mostly watercooled) is active on www.vwbus.no/forum You can post on the english section there and someone will hook you up :D AFAIK (I am 1010 km north of Oslo) there are weekly gatherings in the Oslo area. If you are in Oslo, there is great seakayaking to be had in the Oslo fjord.

Fri Aug 03, 2012 2:12 pm

Our little family of five just spent 11 days travelling northern Norway and Sweden. Here´s a quick travel report with mostly pics and a few comments :D

Before the trip, a few emergency repairs and general maintenance. Oil, filter, new pump for the i/c system, etc.

Three ferries in 6 hours. Between two of them we found these.

On the ouside of a beautiful island this road goes into the sea.

Random summer traffic.

The whole bunch...

The AAZ works well with i/c but we need more push in fourth gear. I´m guessing theres room for adjustment on the pump as we don´t even get any black smoke on full throttle.

Mom and tiny.

First night after 250 km. Lake in Västerbotten, Sweden.

A couple of left-for-deads.

Quick tour of Lycksele town.

Camping in Vännäs, for those who know where it is :D

Onwards!

Sign says: Mosquito free camp site :D

Camp site owners ride.

Nice bug that attracted my boys.

The E4 in northern Sweden might be the most boring road in the world (spoken with Jeremy Clarkson voice).

Another camp, this ones in Skellefteå.

Skellefteå actually has a Lada dealership! Brand new Lada Niva (google it!).

This pristine T4 syncro was very nice with 215/65-16 tires and vindic top.

Autohomes conversion, also Norwegian.

Lunch.

Sweden has lots of these!

Norwegian regged syncro camper of unknown origin.

Lots of these aswell...

This is what its all about.

On one leg we drove late into the night to get to the very remote town of Kiruna. My better half has developed a keen eye for spotting T3 after 6 years by my side. While driving through a sleeeeepy village she pointed at this yellow doka. I stopped and took a few pics, but thought little of it. Yellow syncro doka with high vindic top. Obviously well used and left for dead.

A few days later, however, I took a look at the pictures. Hmmm, big bumpers up front, tristar wheel arches, sliding windows with black frames in the rear door and white paint showing under the peeling yellow paint. Damn, this was a tristar syncro... 7 hours drive from where I live....

Grocery shopping in Kiruna. Kiruna has the highest doka density in the WORLD. Seriously.

Going west, 100 km from Norway.

Co-driver :D

This is a fantastic place in the swedish mountains called Abisko. This area will be visited again!

Norway = clouds

Bjørnefjell, Norway.

Lunch stop. Ofot fjord, Norway. The fjord you see was the scene of some of the most dramatic battles in Norway in WW2.

Nice T5.

Meeting realtives at campsite in Ballangen.

A bit of culture. This is the Knut Hamsun centre. Have you read him?

Nice evening in Hamarøy. Pics taken at midnight.

Norwegian E6.

Last stop before home.

We had a great trip! Ca 2000 km, 1 litre of diesel pr 10 km and ca 0.9 litre of oil was used.

Fri Aug 03, 2012 2:29 pm

Hej taiga,
Looks like you had a excellent trip! Northern parts of the E4 surely is boring, not that the southern parts is much better!
I think I'll have to head up north again for the arctic bus meet next year, should be finished with the 'new' Syncro by then as well.

Now, go save that Tristar! :)

Fri Aug 03, 2012 2:46 pm

Sebastian S wrote: Hej taiga,
Looks like you had a excellent trip! Northern parts of the E4 surely is boring, not that the southern parts is much better!
I think I'll have to head up north again for the arctic bus meet next year, should be finished with the 'new' Syncro by then as well.

Now, go save that Tristar! :)

Hej Sebbe!

You are very welcome to ACBM! We are going for a bigger (not too big :D) event next year.

Tristar trip is being planned as we speak!

mvwh Tage

Fri Aug 03, 2012 3:30 pm

Great pics. Really great to see images from the (a) land of the midnight sun :-) I figured we were doing great with sunset at 10:30 pm..ha.

Sat Aug 04, 2012 1:08 am

Fantastic trip report. I feel the urge to go on a norwegian road trip again :)

Sat Aug 04, 2012 2:52 am

It's a shame those meetings are not announced.
A couple of french vanagon owners are on the way to Norway right now.
I'm sure they would be very happy to meet norVWegians.
Speaking for myself, I would be and I always inquire for meetings when I go to other countries.

If some of you are coming to France, I can list the next meetings for you.
If you read french, http://www.t3zone.com/viewforum.php?f=5
There is also an english corner, but not devoted to meetings.

Sat Aug 04, 2012 2:55 am

Great pictures!!! I got to spend two weeks in Oslo and two weeks in Alesund your pictures make me want to visit Norway again.

Sat Aug 04, 2012 6:59 am

alain riaud wrote: It's a shame those meetings are not announced.
A couple of french vanagon owners are on the way to Norway right now.
I'm sure they would be very happy to meet norVWegians.
Speaking for myself, I would be and I always inquire for meetings when I go to other countries.

They are announced, but mostly on this forum:

http://www.vwbus.no/forum/

Theres an english section too, which is a good place to make inquires...

Sat Aug 04, 2012 9:59 am

NorBullitt wrote: alain riaud wrote: It's a shame those meetings are not announced.
A couple of french vanagon owners are on the way to Norway right now.
I'm sure they would be very happy to meet norVWegians.
Speaking for myself, I would be and I always inquire for meetings when I go to other countries.

They are announced, but mostly on this forum:

http://www.vwbus.no/forum/

Theres an english section too, which is a good place to make inquires...

Thanks, forwarded.

Sat Aug 04, 2012 10:13 am

Taigagreen,

great pics, thanks for posting.

alistair

Sat Aug 04, 2012 10:48 am

Excellent travelogue and pictures.

Must save all those 'dead' vw's, especially the dokas !!! :wink: