Roadtrip 2012/1 - Part 1
It started as all my trips do, I suddenly remembered to throw some clothes into a bag, randomly packed some other stuff that looked useful at that point and got it all in the car, which already seemed full to the brim with just my luggage and the tent in the boot.
After crossing the last points off my list, bringing some tools to a friend and filling the tank to the brim I was on the road at half past 10 in the evening.
Check in at the ferry terminal in Fredrikshavn would be at 9 o' clock the following morning and that should have left me plenty of time, but the radio was already telling me there would be a jam an hour north because of an accident.
Long before the announced accident there was heavy traffic, the nasty kind of jam where it constantly varies between a flow of 80 kph to a full stop and so on. First I guessed it was caused by the sheer amount of trucks making their way through the particularly hilly bit of Autobahn, but after traffic slowed down another time a Mercedes M-Class suddenly appeared stopped in the fast lane, the driver standing a few meters infront of it in the oncoming traffic.
The jam continued and shortly after I passed the announced accident, a truck drove onto the central divider on a bridge and remained stuck there, and shortly after that took the way north at an important intersection where many other cars continued eastwards and so I had the Autobahn pretty much for myself for the rest of the journey.
The Mazda was driving well at that point. I had just bought it in March and only drove it a few kms before pulling it apart in the garage to check for rust and other problems. Reassembly was only about two weeks before the trip but I had full confidence in it.
Continuing towards north I stopped for fuel south of Hamburg and whilst dawn was coming I entered Danmark. Another fuel- and coffeestop was due somewhere halfway between the border and Fredrikshavn. I know Danmark (which indeed is much bigger than it looks on any map) is beautiful, but looking a it from the motorway on a rainy morning it all looked the same and I started to feel tired.
I reached the ferry terminal after a snip over 1000 kms and one hour ahead of schedule at 8 o'clock. The waiting lanes were empty and the ship still unloading. I had about an hour to kill and sleeping in the car didn't really work, but in expectance of 8 and a half hours in comfy seats on the ferry I stayed awake and checked the maps.
The ferry was the once stylish MS Silvia Regina and now hopelessly dated Stena Saga. There weren't any comfy seats, you could either go to a restaurant, stay at a caf? or use the spa. If you just wanted to lie down there was only a corny not-in-use disco. It wasn't too bad, but I didn't get more then 3 hours of sleep.
The upside was I had internet access and so was able to sort a few things out I didn't have the time for at home. Otherwise entertainment was sparse, a nice trampish man talked to me in what I suppose was Norwegian. After making it clear that I didn't understand a word he deduced with a smile that I must be a tourist, only to continue talking to me in his language after a short while.
There was a great open deck on top and after we reached land again the sun came out and the scenery of Oslo Fjord was spectacular. Hills, water and fortified islands, large ships passing through narrow gaps and finally Oslo itself at the end.
Arriving in Oslo, pic by Jan
The primary mission of the trip was to pick a friend of mine, Jan, up from where he studied for a semester, Tallinn in Estonia. The whole idea got a little bit out of hand and after I decided that taking the ferry from Germany to Tallinn was a bit boring we somehow ended up with Jan coming to Oslo by plane to meet me and then going the long way round the Gulf of Bothnia.
Oslo Opera House, pic by Jan
Since he had to adapt to the Ryan-Air schedule and I couln't leave work earlier, Jan had already been in Oslo for a night and after I cleared customs (the guy was friendly, but basically though I was nuts talking a car in
this state on a trip of
this scale) he waited for me at the harbour and we made a quick 2,5 hour tour around Oslo city in beautiful weather. I would have stayed another day but our schedule was tight from the beginning as I didn't have much holidays. We jumped in the car and intended to just drive until we were tired or found a good place to camp. After leaving the shore we almost instantly steered uphill into the mountains and encountered the first Moose about an hour in.
At first the hills were low and pleasant, green forrests and lakes and a deep red and yellow dusk ahead of us. Then gradually the trees ended and we climbed higher and higher. We spotted some snow on distant hills and 15 minutes later we were already surrounded by snowy mountains. The scenery became quite surreal, the light was eerie and the road turned into an alpine like mountain pass. It was completely forsaken but then suddenly we spotted another MX-5 NA with two people sleeping inside at a rest area.
On top of the pass there was a small group of houses around an even smaller pond on the one side, on the other there was a giant and partially frozen lake a few hundred meters below us and further up the road just a giant snow field with dark boulders in it and equally dark cliffs as the backdrop.
Later at home I rewatched Top Gear's beautifully shot Snowbine Harvester piece only to discover it was the same road we took there by chance.
pic by Jan
It was already an hour after midnight, but since there still was a bit of light and we weren't prepared to sleep in the snow we continued on the road and down the northern side of the pass. The scenery was overwhelming, soft foothills clad in copper gras and occasionaly lakes spreading early morining mist. But the air coming down from the mountains was glacial and so we decided not to set up camp but to press on.
The pass was a natural reserve, after we left it the area became populated again and there wasn't any open space for camping to be found. After an unsuccessfull detour at around 5 in the morning, on which we at least spotted another five mooses, we continued to the next natural reserve and took the first somewhat agreeable rest area to set up camp.
We were quite tired but didn't sleep that well as it was very cold and only got reasonably warm when the sun was well up in the sky. Driving on we later discovered the next mountain pass and giant snow field were just a few miles up the road.
After we got used to all the white stuff covering the grounds besides the road we reached the highest point of the pass were a plough had carved it's way through snow so high that there was still 2 metres left on each side in early June.
15 minutes further we we drove through spring and into summer again down in the harbour at Geiranger Fjord. It's hard to grasp that the water is not a lake high up in the mountains but the sea and the little town at the foot of the snowy pass road is as high as Venice.
The Knuten of the old road near Geiranger, pic by Jan
Soon after the road took us up to a platform overlooking the fjord and we had the famous surreal scene of a cruise ship between the steep cliffs and waterfalls with the snow caps in the background.
The rest of the day was spent driving to ?lesund, a pleasant little city near the open sea, and then on towards east again to find a place for the night. As it had proven a bit difficult the day before we left the more populated area and finally found a great spot directly at the waterfront next to an old road that was replaced by a tunnel a few years ago. It was like a balcony overlooking the Fjord with two large stones conveniently placed for preparing dinner.
Meat was really expensive compared to Germany but fish was very reasonable. And since we fancied it anyways we cooked salmon steaks with potatoes and salad in a beautiful all-night sunset.
pic by Jan
...end of part one...