Norwegian Odyssey Day 14, Wednesday 8 January: Hamburg to Folkestone

Our plan for today involved Christian and I getting up vaguely early, Christian dropping me in the city, and going on to meet Tom in his lab. I was going to craft my own Beatles tour of Hamburg, focusing on a few areas, and Christian was going to pick me up when he was done, and we were going to continue our journey sometime around lunch.

 

We were then going to have an overnight stop in Antwerp (to make up for the way north), and arrive home in the late afternoon of Thursday.

In reality, Christian was not feeling great, and was really keen to get on the road, so we let Tom know, packed up everything, including the mixing desk, and got on the road at about 9.30.

The traffic was reasonable, and we had helpfully chosen a hotel near to the motorway. We made a stop for Macca's breakfast at 10am, and a charging stop at Lohne at 11.45. It was pretty early for lunch, but we got some hot dogs from the service station.

Then two hours' more driving, and another charging stop in Moers at our favourite Toucan Van der Valk hotel. This time it was a long charge, so we had a walk along the stream and back up the road (clinging to the nature strip as there wasn't a path).

Back on the road for two hours, and another charging stop in Lokeren (Belgium). Not a very long charge, but we made sure we went back to our Lidl to do some more browsing.

 

It was dark now, but we set off again for the final two hours' driving to Calais, arriving at around 7.30. We had a quick charge, and got something to eat in the Flexiplus lounge, and made our leisurely way to the train.

That got us back to Folkestone at about 8.15, and we checked in to our Holiday Inn Express (where the toucan was still waiting for us) and finished eating our food supplies.

Taking on the short trip back home the next morning was much more relaxing than if we'd stayed in Antwerp. Though we got to see less of the world. Meh. Next time.

We collected the cat from Heather's, and he raised all kinds of hell on the journey home (though didn't empty his bowel this time). Won't be repeating that one too many times. Though he did look very cute.

I enjoyed this trip, though there were a few too many stressful aspects of it. It would be really nice to see more of Norway, particularly further north - Tromso is the goal. Hopefully that would result in more reliable conditions, and also offer opportunities for dog sledding, and possibly even the northern lights.

One day.

Norwegian Odyssey Day 13, Tuesday 7 January: Gothenburg to Hamburg

We were awake early as we had lots of miles to cover.

 

The breakfast on the boat was pretty decent - though there was only us and staff at that hour.

We were packed up, unplugged, and on the road before 8am, in an attempt to beat the traffic. It wasn't very bad, but we also didn't have much of it to content with.

Our first driving leg was just over an hour and a half, through unremarkable motorways. We stopped at a supercharger at the Melby Centre, which had some fairly exciting shopping. We picked up some gifts, some kitchen bag fasteners and some tasty treats for the road. What we didn't know at the time was that it was quite close to the coast.

Then another two-hour driving stretch, which took us past Helsingborg, which we'd looked across to from Helsingor a few years before, and over the Øresund bridge into Denmark. We had pre-paid our crossing, but for some reason they couldn't find our booking. I provided our booking reference, but they seemed not to find that either. It was a bit confusing what we were supposed to do, but since we'd paid, when the woman waved us away from the window, we drove off and started our crossing.

The bridge was less exciting than I'd imagined - flat and misty. Once or twice we could see land below. The pylons were impossibly huge, with the wires yawning and reaching towards you. The rail line next to the bridge disappeared into a tunnel soon after the bridge met land again.

We drove past the southern suburbs of Copenhagen, which I felt like I recognised from our journey to the airport. We stopped for a charge soon after in a huge covered supercharger at a Circle K in Koge. We chose Burger King for lunch.

After this, there was another stretch of driving for two and a quarter hours, which took us over the Great Belt East (Storebæltsbroen) bridge. This was a bit longer than the Øresund, and had much more interesting pylons. It's actually two spans joined by a piece of land in the middle.

This took us to the Danish island that holds Odense. We then headed to its north-west tip to cross another bridge (the New Little Belt bridge - Lillebæltsbroen), which took us back to the part of Denmark we'd travelled north on.

A short drive then took us to our next supercharger in services at Rødekro. It was a long stop, but only had a Shell.

And then it was only two hours and 10 to Hamburg. We got a bit caught by roadworks on the motorway exit, and the drive through the city wasn't terribly fun, but we made it to the Holiday Inn, which was chosen for its proximity to our escape route.

We arrived at about 6.30, and while I stayed in the car, Christian negotiated the collection of the mixing desk he'd arranged to have delivered there. We took the car down into the basement car park, and took ourselves, our luggage, and the desk to our rooms. Christian took it out of its box and admired it, but then we had to go and meet Tom for dinner.

We ordered a taxi to meet him at a major train station, and then walked through some of the city to the beerhouse he'd chosen (Brauhaus Johann Albrecht). It was very nice - I had assorted sausages and sauerkraut, and a half litre of weissbier.

 

From there, he took us through the riverside warehouse district to see the Elbphilharmonie, which was quite a walk away. The building overlooks the main river, and is incredibly high, with a huge and popular viewing platform at the top. As we arrived, the opera/show was ending, but we took the escalators all the way to the top, against the crowd.

The view was pretty amazing, of primarily the sea freight and the river network, and of the city too. But Christian was tired, and I was feeling rough in the stomach again, so we called it a night.

We made a plan for the next day, and said goodbye to Tom. Christian and I got a taxi back to the hotel.

Norwegian Odyssey Day 12, Monday 6 January: Savalen to Tynset to Oslo to Gothenburg

Quick breakfast. Christian brought the car up to the cabin early, and we packed the last of the things, got Jen and Charlie settled in the car, packed in Meelis, and said farewell to Andy (and the sleeping Ali).

And then we started the journey. It was still mostly dark as we drove down to the main road (dropping our rubbish on the way), and then turned left to go into Tynset. Jen had arranged to sit in the hotel next to the station with Charlie until Andy joined her later - we settled them in, and then Christian, Meelis and I continued on the road south. By now it was 8.45.

It was only 50 mins to Alvdal - our first charge. We were there for 45 mins. And then another two hours (with a quick toilet/chocolate stop for Christian) to Elverum, where we got an impossibly huge tray of hot chips for lunch. It was a quick half-hour, so we got back on the road almost immediately.

It was another 45 minutes and then we were at the airport and saying goodbye to Meelis.

 

Another hour and 20 (of our first time alone for what felt like forever) and we were at the Tomter supercharger. It was a large, square layout, basically in the middle of nowhere, served by a fairly nice services. We bought Ali some Bilar sweets, which she'd requested from Tynset.

 

We made another stop at around 5pm for a toilet, and to potentially have an early dinner. The restaurant we stopped at seemed pretty closed, so we just used the facilities and continued on our way.

 

After another hour and 45, we stopped one more time outside Gothenburg to charge quickly, at  Kungalv, which was just after a very pretty village done up beautifully in lights, and then we went into the city. It was fairly quick to find the car park with the chargers and to plug in.

 

We got our luggage out, and did the quick walk over the overpass to the boat we'd arranged to stay in. It was huge! And quite exciting with all the lights on the harbour.

We checked in, and had a quick walk around the boat, and then found our room. It was only really the angles that told you that you were on a boat - it wasn't moving at all that I could tell.

 

We had a little time to sit and unwind before going out for dinner. It turns out that this was a mistake, as there wasn't much around that was open at that point. Thankfully, we found a lovely sushi place just around the corner (Takame), and settled into the cosy surroundings for a really lovely meal.

 

We only just finished eating before the restaurant closed. We took ourselves on a little walk afterwards - first up into a hilly, cobbled old town area, and then back down to the main road and up to the river and a lovely square with a tree set up. We took some photos, and then went into the shopping centre attached to the car park we were using. It was all closed, but all quite shiny.

We took one more detour before getting back to the boat - around the harbour, and back along the wharf, making friends with a pig on the way.

Back on the boat, we settled in for the night.

And sleep.

Norwegian Odyssey Day 11, Sunday 5 January: Logistics

We got up not very early and had breakfast (probably porridge). Riverside cabin packed up and left. Charlie's bunny turned up under the sofa and required posting. Ginny kept us updated with her norther Norway travels.

Meelis went horse riding, and Ali went walking - they met up for photography purposes.

 

We spent most of the day packing up the cabin, sorting and cleaning.

 

Christian and I brought the car up to the cabin to pack the first load of gear, then took it back to the hotel car park in case of poor conditions. The walk back up to the cabin in the dark was lovely - it was clear and cold and intensely quiet. Such a beautiful place - just a shame that the conditions had been less than perfect throughout our stay.

We had leftovers for dinner and everyone worked out our finances with Splitwise. It was complicated.

 

The cabin had exactly the same clock as we had years ago at Coal Point. What were the chances.

Bed early, ready for an early start on the road home.

Norwegian Odyssey Day 10, Saturday 4 January: Pootling, hotel, santa convention, and extreme Andy adventure

Today was a bitty day. Everyone did their own thing. Christian and I did. . . very little. It was extremely cold, and windy.

Important things first - the fire was lit by 8am, and Ali was already up and out by then to go horse riding, which made her genuinely happy.

 

Christian and I walked Alex and her luggage to Savalen, and he drove her to Tynset to get the train around midday.

Meelis was planning a 30km ski day, but failed to get Andy (or anyone else) to join him, and the conditions meant he only managed 15km. He managed to get lost, and we lost contact with him. Much concerned whatsapping ensued. He turned up in the end.

 

David was planning to go downhill skiing, but the lifts were closed due to poor weather. He had to content himself with walking up the hill and running back down it at full speed.

Meanwhile, I tried to ski around the village, but kept getting chased by the groomer, and didn't achieve anything very useful. I decided to join Jen at the hotel, via a brief flash of sunshine.

At the hotel there was a Santa convention. Nik made friends with some of them, and the group watched them doing physical 'winter games' challenges out in the snow. Very bizarre.

Christian met us at the hotel, and Andy generously agreed to take Christian and me on a skiing adventure - across the lake, as it had been piste-bashed.

We went through the village, and set off across the lake. There were some slightly worrying wet holes in the snow, but it held our weight. I fell once on ice. We headed uphill and to the right, and did a long loop mostly parallel to the lake shore. I found it quite challenging, as there was quite a bit of uphill and downhill, but Andy was very encouraging. We got to a point off the pisted path where we were just wading through thigh-high snow. It was odd, but I adjusted eventually - it was mostly walking rather than skiing.

We basically went round the very bottom of the lake, and then back up the cabin-side shore. Despite the challenge, I'm really glad I did it, as it was the only proper skiing safari we'd done during the whole holiday.

Andy continued on to the lower cabin so he, Jen and Charlie could move in with us, leaving Christian and I to make our way back up through the village in the light snowfall, and back to the upper cabin.

I think we had a sauna at this point. The troops all came up to our cabin for dinner in the interests of keeping the lower cabin clear for imminent departure.

Andy made tasty bolognaise with soy protein. I didn't know that such a thing existed, but I vowed to use it when we got home. I followed the instructions that Andy gave me, but that resulted in too much liquid, which he had to pour off. Oops.

 

Ginny made shortbread in a frying pan as our oven still wasn't working. It was recognisable as shortbread, but made a horrific sticky mess of the pan, especially as many drinks had been consumed by then. Much clean up was needed.

Then bed.

Norwegian Odyssey Day 9, Friday 3 January: Røros

Today we decided to visit Røros (a nearby world heritage site) as a group. Logistics were an issue, as there were so many of us, but we solved that by splitting into two groups - one would get the train, and the other would drive in the Tesla.

It was snowing gently. We left Jen, Andy and Charlie in peace, and departed the hillside cabin just before 10am.

We stopped at lakeside cabin to pick up David and drop off Ali. Christian treated everyone to a Tesla dance (groan). The journey was an hour and a half, and passed uneventfully. David chose tunes.

We dropped everyone off, and went to park near a charger. I attempted to use the facilities in the station, but failed. We unintentionally met the other group in the station car park, as they'd just arrived. Meelis went off with his skis to find snow.

The rest of us met in a cafe (Trygstad bakery and confectionery) for coffee and cake. We got an outdoor (under cover) table and wrapped up with blankets. It was very cosy. The cafe was busy and we waited quite some time for our treats. They had a weird gnome, which entertained us for some time. They also had a bathroom. Hooray!

Once full of coffee and cake, we walked up the hill of the main street in what felt like fairyland, looking at shops. It was snowing gently, and everything was pristine and beautiful. We stopped to look at a church at the top of a hill, and saw a horse-drawn cart go past.

Coming back downhill, Christian and I lost the others, and decided to go up the enormous snow-covered slag heap that dwarfed the town. It was a little treacherous in places, but we managed not to fall off the edge, or down any holes. The view was wonderful.

There didn't seem to be a great deal to do in Roros, so we went into the mining museum (Rørosmuseet Smelthytta), and met the others there. There was rather more detail than I was able to take in, but I learned enough to get the jist of it: mining was fantastically profitable, and had put Roros on the map, but it destroyed the nearby environment, and emerging technology had made it redundant.

Everyone met up for a late lunch in a pub on the main street - Skanckebua Bar and Restaurant. Christian had a veggie burger, and I think I had something local. There was reindeer on the menu, but I don't think it was that.

It was time to leave, so we walked back to the car in the gathering dark, noticing the beautiful nacreous clouds again. We had Rebecca with us in the car this time - once again the trip was uneventful, though we did see what we think was a ski jump lit up in the dark.

We all had dinner at riverside cabin - Andy made deconstructed lasagne, which was extremely good. While he was cooking, David baked a cake, which I don't think had all the requisite ingredients in it, and so didn't rise successfully. It was still good.

On our way out of lakeside cabin, we took the barrier card out of Ginny's car, and headed back to hillside, leaving the car beside the lake again.

Bed.

Norwegian Odyssey Day 8, Thursday 2 January: Hotel visit, walk with Christian and top dinner

Today was another ski plan with the others, though David and Nikolaj slept late and Rebecca, Ginny and Anna weren't feeling very adventurous so decided to do a short loop rather than a long one. Alex fell in the icy conditions and pulled out of the ski touring early.

Christian and I packed a lunch, and set off to look at conditions. Can't remember if we skiied at all, but we met up with Jen and Andy, but swiftly relocated to the hotel for coffees.

After that, we decided that a walk was best given the abundance of ice, and set off across the lake, and on a loop around the north side of the lake. It was a good length walk, and with our new spikes, it was perfectly manageable.

We sat on rocks beside the path to eat our lunch, and cooled down scarily quickly. The views on the way back were beautiful.

Meanwhile, Andy and Jen had relocated to hillside cabin, and everyone but us had had lunch in hillside cabin and left a big mess. We got back, and I promptly jumped into the sauna with Alex, Meelis, David and Rebecca. Ginny and Anna joined soon after. We put stones in the element cage, and the temperature was very warm. Christian cleaned up the lunch.

When it got hot enough, some of us ran outside in the snow (Ginny and Anna actually rolled in it, I think, while I just plastered myself with it) and ran back into the sauna. It actually was enjoyable, and I can say I've done it.

We all had dinner in the top cabin - Andy made some amazing pesto tofu and soy protein bolognaise with pasta, and Alex and I assisted. It was delicious.

It was a good day, but the lack of good snow and warm conditions was frustrating.

Norwegian Odyssey Day 7, Wednesday 1 January: Short ski and lunch in Tynset

Today, Meelis was planning a 15km cross-country route, and Jen and Andy were trying Charlie in the trailer that we'd brought all the way from home.

Rebecca left with some bonus food from our cabin.

Christian and I decided to do our own thing. We walked to the car to get our skis, seeing a sweet little squirrel on the way. We tried to meet up with the other skiiers, but the timing was wrong.

So we did a little pootle along the lake and up into the village, but decided the conditions weren't great and aborted back to the car.

Instead, we did a drive to Tynset, mostly to get shopping (though the shops were closed). We charged the car, got a few staples from the petrol station, and got lunch in Ruth's Diner, which was very nice.

Meanwhile, the others had all managed to meet up and did a very long (and fun looking) ski in the bright sunshine. Ali was doing yoga in the sauna.

On the way back to Savalen, the nacreous clouds were astonishing.

We called in to the other cabin on the way, but didn't stay long. Meelis and Alex said they'd be right behind us, but ended up staying there for a risotto dinner.

Which meant there was only Ali and us at the top cabin, so we had Thai curry with loads of veg and much of the leftover rice.

After dinner, Ginny drove to the barrier with some food, Alex and Meelis, and we met them there with toilet paper and some other food. Hostages were successfully transferred.

Wound down, making some plans for the next day, and went to bed.