This is now our seventh and final week of the tour, we finish on Saturday 11th July following a Farewell Dinner on the previous evening.
Tuesday 7th July
The weather overnight has been wet and there is still a considerable low cloud cover. We decided to take a walk around Laerdal this morning and this afternoon, plan our return journey to Calais. The alternative was to drive to Flam for what are claimed to better snow walls than yesterday, but the route to Flam involved a 24km (15 mile) tunnel.
Laerdal is another of those pretty towns that you wouldn’t notice unless you made a deliberate stop there. It’s history is that it was an important trading town with a large harbour before the days of Steam powered ships. It sits at the end of the longest Fjord in Norway, some 200 km inland from the ocean. The centre of the old town and harbour are now preserved buildings, some dating from the 18th century.
Wednesday 8th July
Today we have a long journey; about 240 miles, to our final site and final night in Norway. The site is at Gvarv, a small town in the agricultural heart of Norway.
The journey takes us up hill and down dale along some twisty roads and it is quite slow going. We eventually arrived at the site at about 5:30pm to find that due to the very wet weather, many of the pitches had standing water on them. We checked the pitches and decided that although they were obviously very wet, they were not too soft. We decided to pull onto a pitch and place our trusty bread baskets under the front wheels to help us get some grip for the following day. The plan worked and we were able to move off without difficulty.
Thursday 9th July
This is our final journey of the tour and will take us back to Denmark for the finish of the adventure.
As we didn’t have to leave until after lunch, we took a lazy morning with just a walk up to the local farm shop for some supplies. After lunch, the plan was to drive to Larvik, a distance of about 55 miles, for the 5:30pm ferry to Hirstals in Denmark. We arrived at the ferry terminal with nearly two hours to spare, as usual. Once loaded onto the ferry, most of the group made our way to the Buffet Restaurant for dinner. We were certainly not disappointed, for 300 NoK we were able to choose from the biggest spread that we have ever seen with wine or beer and coffee included. We had our own private dining room, which was ours for the trip. At first the crossing was very smooth and quiet, but as we approached Denmark the sea picked up and we were being rolled quite violently.
Our journey from Hirstals to the site at Aalborg was about 45 miles of good quality motorway, the first motorway that we had seen for weeks. We arrived on site at about 10:30pm and by 11:00pm all 22 units had arrived and were pitched. We were then treated to our first dark night since leaving Stockholm in early June.
Friday 10th July
Today is our final day, we have a free day and a farewell dinner tonight. In order to wear off last night’s buffet we took a walk into the city centre, (about 2 miles each way). Aalborg is a large city by Scandinavian standards and had a large shopping centre. There are lots of old buildings to feast your eyes on and a very pretty church with the most intricate wooden carvings.
The farewell dinner was at a restaurant on an island in the fjord. To get to it required a ferry, which could only take a maximum of 29 passengers at any time so it had to be two trips.
The food was good with good quantities, but restricted choice. But, this night was not about the food, it was all about the end of the tour. Remembering the events of the past seven weeks and the highlights and lowlights, the laughter and the tears. Especially, it was also about thanking our tour leaders Codi and Jacqui. We had held a collection to buy them a farewell present and, along with the presentation speeches, the evening turned into utter hilarity.
Final farewells were said before we left the restaurant as some intended to get away early in the morning. I don’t recall any tears, but there were definitely very fond memories and friendships made. Roger also went to the effort of setting up a Facebook group.
Saturday 11th July
Unfortunately it is time to leave, the farewells were said last night but there were still repeats this morning. We now have 6 days to travel the 800 miles back to Calais for our return to the UK. Mick and Mavis are coming with us in order to keep us under control.
This tour has been the culmination of a dream that Val and I have had for most of our married lives. Codi, our tour leader was concerned when we stated on the first day that this was for us a “dream come true” they may not be able to deliver. We really did not know what to expect from the tour, I am frightened of meeting new people and especially groups. Our aim was to get to the Arctic Circle and back safely, we had no idea of what to expect beyond that. During this tour we have seen sights and visited places that were far beyond our expectations, coupled with that we have met some wonderful people; amazingly all of whom seem to have gelled to form our own North Cape 2015 family.
Memories are wonderful and we have memories of our life’s dream. We visited countries that most have not. We have crossed the Arctic Circle, we have met Father Christmas, we have been to North Cape, we have barbequed at North Cape ! We saw dolphins, salmon, sea otters, sea eagles. We spent weeks with no sunset, we saw icebergs on lakes and snow walls over 10 metres high.
Has our dream come true? Yes, over and over again. We thank everyone that we met from the bottom of our hearts.