A Nordic Road Trip – Part 2
This is a continuation from the previous post on our Nordic road trip. If you didn’t read that earlier, you can find it here.
Here’s a recap of our itinerary:
Day #1: Drive to Oulu, Finland ~ 5 hrs ~ Overnight in Oulu
Day #2: Drive to Kiruna, Sweden; passing the border towns Tornio, Finland and Haparanda, Sweden ~ 5 hrs ~ Overnight in Kiruna
Day #3: Drive to Tromsø, Norway ~ 5 hrs ~ Overnight in Tromso
Day #4: Drive to Brensholmen (~1 hr) to take the ferry (~1 hr) to Botnham, Senja, Norway ~ Overnight in Senja
Day #5: Drive to Gryllefjord (less than 20 minutes from Hamn i Senja) to take the ferry (1 hr 40 mins) to Andenes, Lofoten, Norway ~ 3 nights in Lofoten
Day #8: Drive to Mokenes (~ 1hr 20 mins from Ballstad) and take the ferry (~ 3-4 hrs) to Bodo, Norway ~ Overnight in Bodo
Day #9: Drive to Haukipudas (~ 9 hrs 30 mins) ~ Overnight in Haukipudas
Day #10: Drive home (~6 hrs 30 mins)
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in the island of Senja; it’s calm and peaceful, and best part, not crowded at all even though it’s summer. Hamn i Senja, where we stayed the night, is an attraction by itself. It’s the largest resort in the island and right along the Senja National Tourist Route. It fitted our plan perfectly. At the back of the resort is the wide Arctic sea. It’s chilling to watch the view but the cold is worth it.
Hamn i Senja is the biggest resort in the island; not the cheapest but the view is amazing
We had limited dining options as we didn’t want to drive for too long as we’ve already driven for hours earlier so we ended up having dinner at Hamn i Senja itself. Before dinner, we took sauna at the resort and after being bodily warmed up, our stomachs were growling with hunger. Since it’s Sunday, the restaurant offered dinner buffet instead of ala carte. It included fresh salad, pasta bolognese, potatoes and a fish dish. Not exceptional but taste pretty good!
The next day we continued drive on the remaining part of the Senja National Tourist Route, which ends at Gryllefjord and where we could take the boat to Andenes, Lofoten.
Safe and sound boarded the boat that leaves Senja for Lofoten
Facts of Senja National Tourist Route
- Road: Fv. 86 and fv. 862 between Gryllefjord and Botnhamn on the island of Senja in the county of Troms
- Length: 90 kilometres
The boat journey was a longer trip – 1 hour and 40 minutes. When we arrive to Andenes, I only realised it’s over 4 hours drive to Ballstad, where we’re staying. The Lofoten National Tourist Route only starts from Fiskebøl to Å, and Ballstad is a bit out of the way. And since we took the afternoon boat, by the time we arrived to Lofoten’s Andenes, it was almost 16:00 and didn’t leave us much time to spare in between to linger and make pitstops.
Finally at the start of Lofoten National Tourist Route
Facts of Lofoten National Tourist Route
Facts
- Road: E 10 between Fiskebøl and Å in Lofoten in the county of Nordland
- Length: 166 kilometres
There are 11 stops recommended on this route but we only managed to see one of them, which was Torvdalshalsen. It was a windy evening when we arrived and the breeze was a bit too cold for my taste but the view of Vestvågøy island was quite satisfying despite the rain. We passed Eggum on the way but it was getting late and we were tired so we skipped it. Did hope to revisit but didn’t manage to.
Driving through Lofoten islands, I began to understand why this is popular tourist attraction. The scenery is amazing even without stopping at all the viewpoints. On the coastal roads are fishing villages with colourful houses.
As Lofoten is a big area, there are several recommended villages for visit. They include Henningsvær, Nusfjord, Tind, Sørvågen, Moskenes, Reine and Hamnøy. While there are many fishermen cabins available rent, we decided on Solsiden Brygge due to the recommendation on the Visit Norway website. The price was quite reasonable as the cabin was equipped with kitchen and that means we could save on food also. We stayed 3 nights here as we wanted to linger a bit in Lofoten.
The gloomy weather when we finally arrived at Solsiden Brygge in Ballstad, Lofoten
Day after, a bright sunny warm summer day welcomed us
We arrived to Solsiden Brygge about 21:30 and fortunately, the manager has read my message and kept the room for us. True to Scandinavian culture, the cabins are furnished almost IKEA-liked. After a good night’s rest, the next day we woke up and it was a sunny day, and we got a nice view of Solsien Brygge – the night before it was slightly gloomy due to the rain. There are several boats docked at the jetty. The owner of the fishing cabins still goes out with his crew to fish, aside from running the guesthouses.
I started our laundry while Blue Eyes made friends with some kids playing in the area.He brought them for a drive on his car and in return for his favour, the children’s grandmother came and offered us coffee and cakes! They live in one of the cabins, as one of the kids’ parents work here while another runs the cafe at Solsiden. In fact, the cafe owners are expanding their home in the building right next to our cabin.
There was a huge mountain fronting Ballstad and we noticed people going up. We asked the innkeeper for directions and packed lightly our bags with water, hot tea and snacks. We weren’t sure of the trail so we had a bit of challenge at the bottom of the mountain, trying to find our way. But soon we were on our way and it’s quite a climb up. The innkeeper had earlier said it would take about 40 minutes to reach the top but we definitely took more time. The mountain was rocky for most parts from the bottom but as it gets higher, there are more plants on the ground.
A walk worth the journey with such a view before us on the Ballstad mountain
Upon reaching the top, where ferns are growing everywhere, we found there are still several rocky peaks that we could climb further. Blue Eyes picked one and we set on our way. Finally, we reached the peak and could settle down and have our tea and snacks. The satisfaction of having overcome a challenge! And the view that stands before us is so perfect that we couldn’t ask for a better day, a better mountain to be.
As we prepare to walk back down, we saw a Norwegian couple picking some orange yellow berries. We were curious to know what berries they were so we asked them. They are gooseberries (my first, never seen one before this!) and the couple said they’re really tasty and expensive to buy from the shop due to its limited supply. Conversation continued between us for a while and after finding out that we’re staying at Solsiden, they recommended us to try the cafe and order bacalao.
Found wild gooseberries growing on the Ballstad mountain; was told that they’re one of the more expensive berries
We parted our ways and Blue Eyes and I started our own hunt for gooseberries. They have a sourish taste but quite nice to eat. Going downhill was much faster than going up, partly because we could see the trail quite clearly. We went to the shop and stock up on food for our stay here and went home, tired but happy. After an early dinner, went to the cafe to check it out. I ordered a red velvet cake plus latte while Blue Eyes had a chocolate drink. The cake was the best velvet cake I’ve tasted so far. And I loved the huge cup of latte. Great meals in my trips are the best highlights, and this is one of them 🙂
The next day, we decided to complete the drive along the Lofoten National Tourist Route. Although we will drive through this the following day on our way to the pier for our boat to Bodo, we decided to do it a day earlier so we can spend more time lingering at some places of interest. I also wanted to see Reine, as it was once voted the most beautiful place in Norway.
Unfortunately the weather wasn’t for us as it started to be grey and dark, as we drove further away from sunny Ballstad. By the time we arrived to Reine, it was drizzling. We parked the car and went to the nearby cafe to have coffee/tea and cakes. The cafe was quite pretty with English style furnitures in pastel colours but the drinks and food weren’t as memorable as the night before.
Reine is not a huge fishing village. Fishing cabins are mostly in red while others are colourful homes. We took a stroll around the village and watched the boats speed off to the fjords. There were also a group of divers preparing for their dives. Must be cold to dive in this waters under this kind of weather.
We arrived to Å and it was raining quite heavily by then. After making a stop to buy postcards, we headed back to Ballstad. After a nice warm shower, we headed to the cafe for bacalau. It was a huge pot of stockfish (made from cod) with vegetables in a spicy broth. Really yummy! It’s also my first time having dried cod fish. (Bacalau I found out later is a Spanish word for dried salt cod) I was too stuffed to order coffee and dessert but I went to see what’s on the pastries table anyway.
The next day, we packed and got ready to drive to the pier at Moskenes for our boat ride to Bodø in the afternoon. This is the longest ferry ride that we have in this whole trip – more than 3 hours. It was raining in Bodø when we arrived. We checked into our hotel in the city centre and went to look for food – found Burger King in the nearby mall.
One of the sights in Bodø is to visit the Saltstraumen, the world’s strongest maelstrom. Blue Eyes had been here before when he was a kid and he remembered seeing the maelstrom. The natural whirlpool happens every 6 hours when the tides from opposite directions flow through the narrow sound. Read more here. We arrived slightly past 20:00 but it wasn’t too late to see this natural phenomenon. We stood on the bridge watching the maelstrom below and later walked next to the river to have a closer view.
This basically capped the end of our trip as the next day, we drove for almost 9 hours back to Finland. We stopped in Haukipudas and stayed the night before driving the following day back to Hämeenlinna. A long but satisfying 10-day drive to Norway.
In case you’re interested to plan a similar trip and want to know the budget, here’s a brief breakdown of our basic cost for 2 pax and 10Ds/9Ns:
F&B: 480 Eur
Petrol & parking: 560.27 Eur
Ferry trips: 198 Eur
Accomm: average 100 eur / night / 2 persons
