Aurora Borealis

Just a quick one before we head to bed, on a very quick 15minute excursion out of our camp we were in the pitch black and captured this:

Forecast is even better tomorrow night!

Gargia Fjellstule – Northern Norway (End of nowhere)

We have just got up to our Campsite and after getting the key have found it to be much warmer and better in every aspect than our last; however, this is a long way from anything.

We haven’t eaten since breakfast so when we got here we were pretty hungry, so much so that when we asked the receptionist stated that he heard someone had ordered Pizza here once before. Spurred on by this challenge i asked Steve to call a Pizzeria and see if they did.

Now, they had a slow night so they said they would deliver. We have just had a phone call from the driver saying he was round the corner but did not know where it was exactly and that he had passed two bridges. The only two bridges that we knew of were 32KM back, after explaining this the driver he then exclaimed in Norwegian and said he would call us later. The total mileage here is around 50KM and 50KM back therefore 100Km or around 70 miles. The pizzas are expensive but it is indeed worth it.

The policy on their website states if its more than an hour its free, I’ve prepared my Norwegian phrasebook and am ready to argue this point…

Now I’m going through shots we need or have yet to do and planning our day out tomorrow, most likely to include sledging and googles and loads of warm gear.

First Night in Tromso

Currently getting ready to sleep after a hectic first day, it’s 12.6 C in the cabin and -9 outside the cabin. After having a unexpectedly good shower it was time to get ready for bed.

To sleep I have put on a thermal Nike heat shirt on, Nike thermal trousers, one pair of thin socks and one pair of thick ones, one woolly 3.5 tog hat and a neck scarf. It is cold to say the least. As I despise wearing socks to sleep it shows how chilly it is.

Until tomorrow’s breakfast.

A further episode from our trip will be uploaded in due course…

Our Final Hurrah!

We left the Cabins, what now feels like days ago and planted our flag. Our accomplishment is below:

Murjek to Stockholm

We boarded a train last night at 20:20 after it being delayed from 18:13 and arriving at the remote train station at 16:15. The train we are still currently on is as depicted in films an movies. With three beds on top of each other and the smallest amount of room possible. This said it is nice to stretch out and sleep, which I have done since 22:30 yesterday (Now being around 08:00). Firstly i needed the rest and secondly it passes the train journey, which if you actually take into account the sheer distance from top to bottom of Sweden; is comparatively quick.

We left JokkMokk with it being -9 Degrees C, with a feels like temp of -16 Degrees C.

On a side note – The night we ventured into town on our last night in JokkMokk; we went in to an oriental Pizza Place – the only one in town. Upon asking for a glass of tap water the waitress enquired whether i wished to have lemon, I stated that I didn’t and I only wanted tap water as I did not want to pay. The waitress then informed me that whilst water is free the cup is not and I would have to pay for it to be washed, I was outraged and insisted I wanted nothing. When quizzed as to why she is breaking EU law, she stated that in England we do not pay for it as we have a compulsory 2% service charge to which our whole group spoke up in unison at the sheer ignorance of the lady. I’m pretty sure if we walked in again she would ask us to leave. Bloody Brits demanding what’s law.

Our next leg of our epic journey takes us to Stockholm and then to Copenhagen – from which we get a day to explore the city.

It is still cold and snowy, everywhere you seem to go in Sweden the backdrop is trees and snow. Currently it is -6 Degrees C.

KarlsKoga – Akutintag

For the uneducated amongst you, or simply those that do not understand Swedish. Akutintag roughly means “Emergency” which more or less equates to “Accident & Emergency”. Now I have explained that, i bet you want to know why we are here?

Russell has gone in to A&E due to an infection of some sort that has been ailing him for 2-3 days, the only drawback really is that in waiting; it has cost him 3800 Swedish Kronor. Quite an expenditure on our trip when we have spent less than 200 between us on essentials, and considering it would have been free in Denmark.

With the time ticking past, our drive will hopefully only be a little longer.

To Ostersund!

After waking up, eating breakfast of tinned fruit and grabbing a coffee in the Thermos, we were off! Next stop Ostersund! Only 500 miles away.

Only 1 and a half miles out the car started spluttering, apparently not liking running out of fuel. Thor had to reset the carburettor as the fuel to air sync had come out, easily fixed and only 5 minutes down.

Motorways have gotten more picturesque with snow covered landscapes only 30 miles out of Gøteburg.

The temperature still isn’t that cold, our thermometer mounted in the car has only measured a minimum temp of -0.7 degrees C so far. It should get a lot colder quite quickly now.

Our next planned stop is when we need to re-fuel, so around 2 hours.

Gøteburg!

After having our supper of pasta, hotdogs and tomato soup, we had a can of fruit each and a vodka or two before we settled in.

A short post just to say we have got here but I leave you with the below:

Steven enjoys Swedish accommodation

Current temperature is +3 degrees C (01:31)

Swedish road and The Mavericks.

After getting off the ferry in Sweden, driving through the border patrol and getting on the way again the roads have yet again turned into monotonous landscape.

We found out after the ferry that we had actually smuggled Steve and the beer into Sweden. Only 4 passengers had been accounted for on our ticket and therefore didn’t pay the required fee. A World first!

Sweden is darker and emptier than Denmark with less traffic. One interesting fact to point out – I never though I would be driving through Sweden listening to The Mavericks, it truly is a unique experience.

The rest of the crew except myself and Thor are asleep – after all, it is difficult staying in a bar all day in the middle of Copenhagen drinking to pass the time. Poor sods.

Currently we are 55 miles from our destination in Gothenburg and that distance is getting smaller all of the time. We have just passed Frillesås.

Unfortunately nothing interesting has happened today – simply the next stage on our 1700 mile journey.

The picture below shows the coast of Sweden from the ferry.

Currently it is +3.6 degrees C, with a feels like factor of -3.0 degrees C (20:08)