My Norwegian road trip - New update with the final part

[NorBullitt]

When I bought my Caravelle this winter,
it was with summer vacation in mind. But I didnt exactly now where to go.
There was a few places up in the mountains I wanted to see.
I kept adding more and more places to my list and slowly formed a plan;

When I had my Syncro a few years ago I wanted to drive all the way up to North Cape,
but never got around to it. So I decided the time was come to finaly do that.
And since I was driving to the northern point of Norway I might as well start from the south tip rather than Oslo where I live, as it wasnt that much longer.
And starting from the south I could also go up the west coast
which includes alot of fjords, ferrys and tunels.

The final plan included driving through 19 of Norways 20 fylker, which is the equivalent to countys.
And also some parts of Finland and Sweden. I eventually had to skip Finland, but here is the route I ended up driving:

This was a long trip with twisty coastal roads, motorways and mountain passes. Even though my car is a low mileage one, I still had to make sure it was reliable.

My father helped me alot with this part. He is a mechanic,
and spent many years at a VW dealership.
What we did was the following:

* Did a full service, including cambelts and tensioner

* Replaced the head gasket and also the cylinder head at the same time,
as I had found a brand new one at a reasonable price.

* Replaced a suspension bushing, as the squeeking was driving me mad

* Got new tires, as driving on bad roads in a potential rain storm
with old tires was not very tempting.

* My dad checked alot of other things, and finally gave me the green light

I also got a subscription to a decent recovery service, in case something did go wrong.

The car itself also got some modifications to make it more suitable for an extended trip.
Originally it was a Reimo conversion with more of a weekender interior. Which meant it had some cabinets, a full width bed and not much else.
So I added a small poptop, fridge and sink with fresh/grey water tanks.
This made a huge difference in terms of comfort...

Now over to the trip itself. Upload of pictures takes forever,
so I will split it up in parts.

Part one:

The first day I departed from home and drove southbound.
This part of the country I have seen many times,
so I drove rather rapidly through it without taking pictures.
Stopped and visited a friend at her summer place and had a great lunch,
before continuing south. Eventually ended up at Lindesnes,
which is a lighthouse that marks the south tip of Norway. It was quite late so I found a spot amongst the RV's in the parking lot and went straight to bed..

That lighthouse is actually a roundabout where the road out to Lindesnes begins.
No points for spotting the dog in the drivers seat


The next morning I got up. Took the dog for a walk around the area
and made a few pictures of Lindesnes before starting the drive up the west coast.

The Lindesnes lighthouse

The sign to North Cape. Now that distance is if you take the shortest possible route. I ended up driving around twice that.


After leaving Lindesnes I started driving up the west coast. There is ofcourse a main road, but I choose one nicknamed The North Sea road instead.
Its the old main road. Twisting up and down between the sea, hills and small mountains its a very scenic drive.
The first stop of the day was Jøssingfjorden. Its old houses built underneath a huge ledge in the mountains.
I believe they where a few hundred years old, and inhabited until the start of the last century.
But what was more interesting for me was the road up from this little valley.
It was basicly chiseled out of an almost vertical cliff wall.
Now this road was awesome in itself. There was a tunel at the midpoint with about 150 meter drop straight down at the exit of it.
But this was aparently a newer tunel. Part of the old one was still left and went on a ledge on the outside of the newer one with several open sides.
That must have been one seriously scary drive.

The new tunel. Look at the road below to get an idea of the height.

On the left you can see the start of the old tunel

Continuing on that day I drove for a while, then stopped to stretch my legs and take the dog for a walk.
While doing so I found a beautiful beach.
Norway is not exactly known for its sandy beaches,
so I was quite surprised to find one that looked almost mediterranian.
After this nice rest I drove abit further, then made camp at a marina near Stavanger.

The dog is exploring the beautiful beach

The beach must have been atleast 5 km long

Ending the day at a marina

The next day started with the first of many ferry rides this vacation.
After that I drove to Bergen where my GPS got very confused and froze all the time before driving out to a campsite on Sotra, and Island outside Bergen.
The camping spot I got was one of the best one the entire trip.
It had an almost panoramic view towards the sea.

On the first ferry

The camping spot, next to a german RV

Fantastic view from the camping spot


The next day I went to the Bergen Akvarium.
I love visiting Zoo's and Akvarium's. Took a bunch of pictures,
but as this is not a Fish forum, I wont bother you with alot of those.
They did however have a tunel under the shark tank,
and after a few attempts I managed to snap a pic of the sharks from below, which I think was kinda cool.

Now Bergen is a nice city, but there was one thing that put a damper on the enjoyment. We have toll-roads in most parts of Norway,
but the density in this area was extreme. There seemed to be a toll booth around every turn. So I was glad to finally leave the place and drive up in the mountains.

I continued to Voss. Voss is a mekka for extreme sports, particulary rafting. Since Im not into that,
I didnt spend much time there, but drove further into the mountain range. Stopped and looked at a part Jostedalsbreen, which the biggest glacier area in the country.
Had never seen a glacier before, so that was very cool.

Beautiful cascading waterfall just outside Voss

Jostedalsbreen glacier


After that I drove up the mountain pass. It was time for
some food and rest, so I looked for a suitable place to stop,
and found the perfect one.
Out in a river with glacier water I spotted a small island.
The river was quite deep and wild at one side, but there was only a shallow stream on the side closer to the road.
I could see tire tracks leading up on the island. So I forged a few inches of water to drive up on the island and parked there.
That was one of those absolutly fantastic moments. Having dinner in the middle of nowhere surrounded by glacier water...

Starting up the mountain pass. The camera lens distorts this perspective abit.
It was an almost vertical wall forming a semi circle around the road.

At the end of the pass,
parked on an older section of the road no longer in use

Dinner in the middle of a river

After dinner I drove to [img]Strynefjell[/img] beofre going to sleep.
Next morning I woke up ready to start driving [img]Gamle Strynefjellsveg[/img] (Old Strynefjells road).
This was one of the very first things I decided I would like to see when planning the vacation.
Its an old mountain pass built by hand around 100 years ago.
Winding its way for 18 km's over Strynefjell mountain.
Theres a new road around the mountain now, but this road is kept as one of Norways national tourist routes.
And it did not disapoint. Stunning scenery. Its a gravel road with cobblestones as guardrails,
and driving it early in the morning with noone else around almost felt like beeing in a different era.

My camp spot from the night before

First part of the road

A lake at the highest point of the pass

After this nice road, I continued towards Geiranger
On one of the mountain passes I stumbled upon a place I had never
heard of before; Dalsnibbla.
It was a small narrow gravel road with no guardrail starting at the 1050 meters I was already at,
climbing up a 450 meter peak with a viewpoint at the top with an almost vertical drop 500 meters down again.
It was well worth the detour, and actually driving up and down that
access road was just as thrilling as seeing the view from the top.

Finaly at the top of Dalsnibbla.
I think it was the only time during the trip the engine fan kicked in to keep the temperature

The road 500 meters below leading to the Geiranger fjord

Geiranger was my next stop. The fjord is one of the more spectacular ones, and Geiranger itself is visited by alot of foreign cruiseships during the summer.

To get you an idea of the size of this fjord,
the little black dot you see in the middle of the water is actually a decent sized ferry carrying about 50 cars!

Next up was Trollstigen (The troll ladder).
This is probably the most famous piece of road in Norway.
Its basicly the start of a mountain pass rising a few hundred meters
with 11 hairpin turns. Theres also a nice stone bridge infront of a waterfall in the middle.

Some of the hairping turns. Its hard to catch it all in one shot

The waterfall

The same waterfall from further down the road

The last thing I did this day, was to drive Atlanterhavsvegen
Its a 8 km piece of road stretching between reefs and rocks out in the atlantic ocean. It was however abit of a let down.
The road was more sheltered from the ocean than I thought, which also affected the view.
The weather this day was however dead calm which is a rare thing on this road.
I think this is one of those places where you need some ruff weather to get the most out of it.
If you have seen one of those car commercials
where a car is driven around some stormy roads close to the sea,
alot of those are actually filmed on this stretch.

The Atlantic road

The next day I started driving towards Trondheim,
but suddenly realized I wasnt that far away from an island called Hitra.
I spent a vacation there as a little kid, and decided to drive there and see if I could find the place again.
It figured it was around 27 years ago (man I feel old now ),
so there was no guarantee the campsite still existed.

This huge wooden "fixer-upper" of a boat was in dry dock at the entrance to the island.
I thought it was kind of a cool picture

The island has 2 campsites now. The first one was near the tunel over to the mainland. I remembered we drove for a while on the island, so I headed for the second one.
And lo and behold, after arriving there I immediatly recognized it.
The place hadnt changed abit.
I rented a camp spot and had a great day there just strolling around the area thinking about that great vacation so many years ago.

The area around this island is renouned for its ocean fishing.
And germans in particular loves ocean fishing.
So this campsite was almost like beeing in Germany.
I think I spotted one danish and one french RV. The rest was all german...

The house in the background is the one I stayed in as a kid

The view just outisde the campsite


The weather was bad the next day, so I didnt do much exciting stuff.
Just drove most of the day. The only stop I made was at Stiklestad,
which was the site of a viking battle about 1000 years ago.
They do host a teathrical reenactment of the battle, but I was a few weeks too early for that.
Theres a museum as well. But I didnt visit it, just took a walk around the area, and made some crappy shots with my cell-phone.

The Stiklestad memorial monument.
Its actually the oldest memorial in Norway

This concludes the first week of my vacation.
I'll post some more when I get done sorting and uploading
the pictures

Stay tuned for part two......
_________________
1967 Bug (euro)

[indytriple]

Amazing pictures. Thanks for sharing.
_________________
"See The Glass As Already Broken."

87 Vanagon Westy Auto Bostig

www.bluegrassbicyclecompany.com

[vannygun]

Wonderful post ! I look forward to the next one!
_________________
definition-Vanagon, "a ideal breeding ground for gremlins"
2000 jeep Cherokee sport (DD)
1990 vanagon gl 2.2 subaru(sold)
2006 jeep commander

[GWTWTLW]

Most excellent! Thx for sharing.
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89 Syncro Westy - GW 2.5, now with a double knob job
@gwtwtlw

[Spinal Tap]

Wow! Quite a road trip so far! Can't wait for Part 2! Thanks for sharing!
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'85 Westy
'74 MG-B

[ThorAlex]

Cool post, nice of you do tease the Americans a bit too One day I'm going to do a trip around Norway like that. I've already been to Nordkapp and driven from Vadsø to Oslo when I was a kid but that's a long time ago (well, only 10 years but still). Any good reason why you did not stop by prekestolen?
_________________
1990 syncro 1.6TD "Smily"

Ex-vans:
1990 Caravelle coach 1.6TD
1986 Transporter Double cab syncro 2.1 112hp

"I'm wrong so often... It's great!" - Adam Savage

[DehlerPEB]

What a trip, what for wonderful pictures.

And the best: It's still here in Europe, so perhaps next year ....

thanks for sharing!

peb

[Ritter]

Wow! Absolutely beautiful. Thanks for sharing and inspiring.
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1978 westy 2L FI (needs a little bit less work)

[Texxxxx]

Oh...my....goodness! What a wonderful post! Thank you for showing and describing so much of your beautiful country!!!!!!
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'85 GL w/2.1L "The Tardis"
It's A Vanagon Day

[danweisshaar]

Self, dog, vanagon, open road -- great ingredients for a good time.

Thanks for sharing the gorgeous pics. Inspires us to do the same!

[DAIZEE]

Wonderful, beautiful and educational. You set high standards for documenting a trip!!!!
_________________
'09 2.5L Jetta 5 cylinder, 5 spd, super turbo, see thread in H2O Cooled Jetta, etc...
83.5 Vanagon L Riviera Model with 98 1.9L TD AAZ 4 speed Daily Driver 3 out of 4 seasons (sold)
84 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg Westy WBX 4 speed (sold)

[NorBullitt]

Thanks everyone. I took hundreds of pictures most days.
Im a novice with SLR cameras, but some of them even turned out ok
Will try to post the nicer ones and also keep it atleast slightly car related..

[stumpy]

Nice pics----- Can't wait till they complete a road across the "POND"

[mikey9]

Although it is only just over 100 miles from Shetland (Part of the United Kingdom - Scotland)

- we can't get from Scotland to Norway with our Van without going South through England to the South East Coast (600 miles in the wrong direction)
- crossing to Denmark
- driving across Denmark
- Ferry to Sweden
- driving through Sweden (several Hundred miles back North again and into Norway.

It's a long way from the US - but it is even a long way from the UK if you want to take your vehicle.....

Have previously been a couple of times to Norway and want to take the family and the van back over there - your post has NOT helped the situation

Great Pics by the way

[msinabottle]

Thank you very much for the beautiful pictures and travelogue! Viele Tak!

Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[1621]

Awesome trip report, and amazing photos! Norway is like one big photo op - stunning views from almost anywhere. I spent several weeks training in Elverum a decade ago and fell in love with the area. It looks like you may have passed through it. I didn't have much opportunity to explore beyond the city at the time (a bit in Oslo, Hamar, and Lillehamar), but I will make it back someday. Thank you for this fantastic write up, and please include some photos of Elverum if you have any.

Erik
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'85 Westy

[NorBullitt]

[Huxmobile]

Great photos and trip report! Just had some friends move to Norway and now I REALLY want to visit.

Maybe TheSamba could have a Vanagon/EV Trip Report thread???.......since that's what we're supposed to be doing in these things.

cheers
DJ
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87 Westy 2.1L, manual (sold)

[ddonnell]

[DAIZEE]

I like your little pop top. Gives you head room where you need it. Mine is like that but the length of the van and it makes wonderful storage room when camped. Nice van too
_________________
'09 2.5L Jetta 5 cylinder, 5 spd, super turbo, see thread in H2O Cooled Jetta, etc...
83.5 Vanagon L Riviera Model with 98 1.9L TD AAZ 4 speed Daily Driver 3 out of 4 seasons (sold)
84 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg Westy WBX 4 speed (sold)