At the end of March, we drove north. Being the worst planners ever, that's about all we knew about our trip on the Friday of our departure. I picked up Matyáš and Klára at Skavsta (where they flew low-cost from Poznań, getting there by bus from Prague) and returned to Norrköping to pack my things. I had an exam on Friday and several deadlines the days before so I had absolutely no time to prepare my stuff for the trip (and that was the case for most of us, resulting in having next to nothing planned). At least I was better off not having to do any homework throughout the trip. Anyways, by 2AM we were ready to transfer to Linköping where Klára(2) was expecting us.
I prefer to use first names when blogging as it just feels natural and still retains a certain degree of anonymity. This time it doesn't work that well... too bad.
We convinced Klára(2) to bake perník and make pancakes while waiting for us which made for a wonderful (not only) breakfast (not only) the next day.
Before leaving Prague, Matyáš and Klára went through some sort of cheap food shopping euphoria, based on our complaints how things are expensive in Sweden (and Norway). This is partially true, but it is not that much more expensive to have to fill up every kilogram of the 32kg weight limit you get when you buy hold luggage with Wizzair. Nevertheless, we ended up with an absurd amount of random food imported from the Czech Republic and considerably less space in the car.
I still have some in my cupboard. Now it was time for Tetris practice, a skill we would perfect every day from now on. I keep feeling surprised that things always just fit into the car.
Our first stop was Biltema in Linköping, for two reasons—kaffe och bulle för 5 SEK and we needed a power inverter so that Matyáš could finish (heh) his homework which was due during the trip. I guess it was after 3PM when we actually left Linköping—we headed in the same direction I had driven in October and stopped to sleep somewhere just after entering the Jämtland county on the 311 road with a grateful temperature of around -15°C.
Morning (you're right) sun is very pleasing to wake up into and makes the waking up–making breakfast–packing process quite enjoyable (longer as well I guess, but who's in a hurry, it's not like we're just in 1/3 of the journey north).
Ice tea for breakfast seems pretty decent.
And this is what it looks like when someone's lazy inside the tent and taking pictures (not me this time):
So, further north! I was quite surprised by a signpost just out of Trondheim telling us that Narvik is still more than a 900 kilometres' drive. Guess that's not where we'll arrive today. Driving during the night has its ups (like no traffic) but also downs (like that you can't see the nice scenery outside which you're driving through). Fortunately, we have Google Earth and WiFi for that.
On the way, it came to my mind that we should already be close to the Arctic Circle—it was only about 100 kilometres ahead so we concluded that we should sleep there. But then you come across this, like 5 kilometres south:
Apparently, the E6 crosses the Arctic Circle in the mountains and with the wind, snow and all, traffic is limited to driving in convoy. When you arrive, you just get a general sign in Norwegian with no further clues like "there'll be a convoy in the morning" or "you're stuck here until the snow melts". The only people awake when we arrived were Lithuanians who were just about as clueless as we were. Fortunately, there was a cabin (with heating) in which most of the other travellers were waiting and sleeping, so we joined in. We felt slightly over equipped (both survival-in-the-cold-wise and technology-wise).
At around 5am a guy in an orange reflective overall comes in and mumbles something in Norwegian—guess that means it's time for the convoy. Bad thing being over-equipped—unlike the others, we have to pack our things as fast as we can so that the convoy doesn't leave without us. We finally stop at a lay-by to get some more sleep.
We wake up around noon and carry on north, this time even enjoying the scenery during daytime. After watching a wonderful sunset—already with Lofoten scenery in the background—we arrive in Bognes. Uh, why does the road end here? Why is there just seawater in front of us? Did we take a wrong turn somewhere?
(Illustrative photo, just from earlier on that day.)
When "planning", I vaguely checked my Euroatlas from 1996 which only has the north of Scandinavia in a 1:4500000 ratio and concluded "the E6 will take us all the way north". Yeah, but there's this bit where you actually have to take a ferry. And you even have a choice which one to take. So much for planning, the ferry to Lødingen departs in 15 minutes so we double check that it's the place we really want to go—hey, we don't even have to drive all the way to Narvik, this ferry will takes us where we want directly! Triple check. Wow!
On the ferry we even start properly planning where we'll be hiking during the next two days. (Read: randomly selecting a place on the map which looks like it will be nice. I have one more requirement—a clear view towards the north so we have a better chance of seeing the northern lights.) There's some sort of WiFi on the ferry and we manage to download a few articles like "10 best Lofoten hikes". Unfortunately, all of them refer to the summer. After arriving in Lødingen, we drive to the place where our chosen hiking trail leaves for the mountains to check if our plans coincide with reality—the trail seems walkable, but an outside temperature of nearly -20°C persuades us to drive somewhere back to sea level for the night, where it was much warmer. (Read: -10°C.) My north-facing requirement takes us to Gullesfjord which shows off a truly spectacular moonlit scenery... and also the first aurora.
Not particularly strong, but given the 2/10 activity forecast, very good. Some more planning for tomorrow:
Meanwhile, I set up the second camera for sequential shooting (a school project for the dome in the visualisation centre in Norrköping—a time-lapse video of the aurora—more on that in a separate post later on—like in May when I actually finish it). I placed the tripod on the seabank... but it's the seabank... and where's a sea, there's a tide. After some time my seabank became more of a seabed:
Well, what can you do: there's no wind, no waves, the camera has to be safe. Not that there would be a comfortable way of retrieving it anyway. And there's still a show going on in the skies to capture. At around 5AM, loud cracking noises coming from the sea wake me up—what the hell is that?
Not only did the tide come in, but the water froze—and as the sea level started falling again, the ice started cracking—which made some astonishing natural land-art in the morning.
Whilst having breakfast, fishing boats peacefully roam the fjord:
Because we woke up into the shade (the downside of facing north), we decide to pack quickly and move to a place lit by the morning sun—if the car starts, that is. Low temperatures, a half-empty tank and a non-ideal parking angle let some air into the fuel lines—not that I wouldn't be familiar with this problem, but it seemed to have been fixed so far, at least for the past two years. It just doesn't feel that good when this happens somewhere far beyond the Arctic Circle. The car starts eventually, and to be sure, we head to our favourite gas station in Lødingen to fill up the tank and pack for our mountain hike.
Smoked meat to survive in the mountains:
We manage to be on our trail by 2PM, what an achievement! But that's enough for part one.
By the way, Klára(2)'s version of the story is here (in Czech).