Week 4: Bua, Sweden to Hornindal, Norway

Wow, what a week that was! (Apologies for the lateness of this posting but its been hot here in Norway and sitting writing inside was too much to consider, also WiFi has been intermittent!)

After Bua, we set of to see the vet in Gothenburg, so that Albi can enter Norway. Its no big deal and its the same as re-entering the UK, but you have to wait 24 hours minimum – not 12 (the maximum is 60 hours or 5 days). We’d made an appointment and arrived – first they check his weight and look at his passport, then scan his ID chip and check it matches – when he was a pup it used to move around but now its pretty constant, then he has to have the all important tapeworm tablet. At home this is not a problem, but in the vets where he has to be watched, he won’t take it – so you have to force it down! If he doesn’t have the stamp in his passport – he’s not allowed entry! Finally all ok!

We moved on to another Stellplatz in Henan, Sweden. It was a lovely stopover with great facilities and right next door to the local shopping centre, and despite the rain (more drizzle really) we enjoyed it until we were getting ready to leave.

Both our neighbours, from the previous night had left and people had started to arrive for the next day. Our new neighbours clearly wanted their friends next to them, but instead of asking whether we were leaving they stood at the front of our Motorhome staring in. I was in two minds to go and get another day ticket just because but didn’t!

We went on a slow trip to the Norway border, as we had 24 hours to wait! We also consulted the Norwegian Customs app regarding the amount of alcohol you can import, so we could stock up (not in the UK terms of the 1990’s). We knew we had to go through the red zone at the border!

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Both of us have travelled long enough, and have friends and family in airport travel, security and customs to know how unsettling it can be to get it wrong at customs! We’ve all gone through the green channel knowing we might have miscalculated and suffer the consequences but this time it could be (from what we have heard) life or death (or a long stay in quarantine) for Albi. Not something we were prepared to gamble! So under the alcohol limit, within dates for the dog we turned right into the red zone. Now what? – no idea. We pulled up in front of the Customs building. I went in with our passports and the dog information. At Eurotunnel, you have to take the pet too, but… His passport was checked and off we went! All ok to travel! Both of us have travelled long enough, and have friends and family in airport travel, security and customs to know how unsettling it can be to get it wrong at customs! We’ve all gone through the green channel knowing we might have miscalculated and suffer the consequences but this time it could be (from what we have heard) life or death (or a long stay in quarantine) for Albi. Not something we were prepared to gamble! So under the alcohol limit, within dates for the dog we turned right into the red zone. Now what? – no idea.

Around the bend, another crossing point – the Border checkpoint. Here the Motorhome was weighed and we were questioned and the driver (Ric) breathalysed. Questions included who is the new British PM? What football team do you follow? We passed and were waved through to Norway. We headed for Moss, where a lovely Stellplatz on the harbour beckoned, but being quite late in the day it was full. A few hours later (and a few choice words at the sat nav – now named Ditzy Daisy) we booked online into a campsite in Oslo.

Bogstad Camping is enormous but close to the centre of the city, so well worth a look if you’re planning a visit. It is clean and friendly. A bus stop right outside will get you directly to the city centre. We had a quick look around Oslo on our way to one of our favourite campsites ever – Lystang Camping outside Notodden, in the Telemark region. We stayed two nights here. Bogstad Camping is enormous but close to the centre of the city, so well worth a look if you’re planning a visit. It is clean and friendly. A bus stop right outside will get you directly to the city centre.

Our first day was marred by the fact I lost our phone – it’s our lifeline! I went to the supermarket and managed to leave it at the till, but worse still we drove to the campsite and set up before I realised! The nice couple from next door phoned the phone to check it wasn’t hiding but no, so we rushed back to the supermarket and there it was – I am so grateful and lucky.

The following day, we cycled to Notodden- the temperature was 28°C, it was hot! Norway was at the start of a heatwave (we know these temperatures are not like the UK heatwave).

After Lystang, we started to head north, Bergen was out of the question as they had predicted a high of 33°C – too hot to drag the dog around! So we went up the coast to Edland, having followed the Hardinger Scenic Route. We stopped right on the edge of the lake, it was beautiful. There was also a problem here with the electric supply – so once an engineer always an engineer – Ric managed to sort it! One of the motorhomes had a bad lead -once disconnected all was great 🙂 No call-out fee these days!

From Edland, we still followed the roads north to Taulen, this campsite was next to a lovely river (noisy) but relaxing, although I did have to check a couple of times in the night that it wasn’t raining! On the way we stopped briefly in Odda, and we actually saw Thord, from Ice Road Rescue. He did give us a wave too – probably just used to waving but still it cheered us!

Further north still, we headed and on Sunday after Ditsy Daisy Sat Nav telling us there were road closures (we’re not convinced, as one detour had us pulling out in front of a caravan we’d followed before!), we arrived at a campsite in Horndola. Our trip had taken us through more tunnels than I could remember including the Laerdal Tunnel – the world’s longest road tunnel at over 24 Kilometers long. It is impressive but….

Horndola is in the mountains, it was very hot here as we were quite high up and outside the campsite was a tourist attraction – a stone! This stone is called Giftesteinen and there are a couple of local legends surrounding it. https://www.visitnorway.com/listings/the-marriage-stone-virgin-stone/3573/ the following morning from 08:00(ish) I counted 10 tourist buses!

The campsite is a gem – it has a little cafe and the best shower block we’ve seen for a while!

Next week beckons! We’ll update you with more tales of Ditzy Daisy Sat Nav, the heatwave and moving north to places new!

As always thank you for reading, we’ve got some more touring to do… Sx