Final installment of the ‘series’, almost half a year after the trip. This time picking up after my visit to Lofoten and heading home.

All of this in a few days: from the ferry landing at Bodø on the evening of the 17th, arriving home the evening of the 20th, about 2700km probably. Mainland Norway is limited to.. 80kmph and has a lot of trucks which you need to pass on the bendy roads.
The bad planning really kicked in here.

But the landscape was good.

I passed by a national park which I’d love to have visited. Looked great on paper and no, I can’t currently remember its name. The camper park/visitor center/petrol station nearby made me want to leave the car and get walking, but I just didn’t have the time. Blast!

 

So there’s an arctic circle visitor center. Who knew? I was surprised. I also didn’t know to bring stickes or train my rock-stacking skills.

The night before I would reach Oslo I found myself in a Norway which was increasingly getting darker and raining. I gave myself about 6 hours on the side of the “highway” to sleep and get going again. Inside the car seemed – for the second time on the trip – the warmer and easier choice. If you ever need to sleep in a V60: get the back seat down and sleep in the length of the car, not on the back seat itself. It’s the better choice.

After.. many days without a shower and pretty much just sitting in a car seat and driving, I *found* an office with showers and internet access. Very convenient. A few hours later I got on the ferry towards Denmark.

Passed Hell, now this? Hmmm…

A photo posted by Jef Verschueren (@arrigi) on Jun 19, 2015 at 2:22am PDT

There’s no decent photo of my sleeping place in Denmark, but I can share the story.

I’ve been to Arhus a few times before and once, in a search for events over the weekend, talked to a local who agreed to show me some places. I kept her number and when I knew I might end up in Northern Denmark, sent a message. I literally asked for the couch (this is important), she said I was welcome to use it. She wasn’t home though, but I could get in and sleep anyway. So I took my sleeping bag and slept there.

Morning come, her flatmate walks in and I wake up. She heard about me and asks why I’m on the couch (which is shorter than I am). Apparently the empty bed (next to the couch) was entirely free for me to use. If only I’d known.

We had a nice talk, I got my stuff and had breakfast at GLAD. Nom. Final travel day had commenced.

I’ve also got a friend, Tamara, with a double nationality. She lived in Düsseldorf at the time and moved back to Canada relatively short after. This was our last meeting before she left.

From Düsseldorf, home wasn’t far. The trip could only have been better if I had given myself more time. There always has to be something left to uncover though. Next time. 🙂