The island of Senja is really beautiful, even if we only saw a small part of it. First of all, Finja is important and we will come again. What happened and why we had to get home as quickly as possible ...
Botnham - a wonderful place in a bay
After showering, we drove to a night spot in Botnham and were blown away by the spot. It was located in a bay behind a cemetery directly on the beach and also had a seating area and a toilet. The beach was not rocky but sandy and the water was clear. From a slightly elevated view it looked blue-green, we got a real Caribbean feeling. The weather played along and the sun was shining. We stood there for 2 nights and sat outside a lot.
On the 2nd day the men went to a small neighboring hill and took 2 hours of pictures from up there. We women set up everything for sewing on the square, as we had collected a lot that had to be done. Finja had also enjoyed the sun and had lain on the meadow a lot. It was really nice and relaxing to sit in the sun, sew and chat. When the men came back, Finja ran back and forth between Sebastian and me and then suddenly howled. We didn't see the situation, what exactly happened, but then it just limped. After watching them for a few hours, we decided to go to the the next day AniCura Veterinary Clinic to go to Finnsnes for an examination. The next day was of course a Friday, so we didn't want to wait for the weekend.
After a short night, as the clinic only has short office hours, we drove 1 hour to the mainland. Because of Corona, none of us were allowed to be present at the examination. But since Finja did not want to be examined, it was clear that she had to be sedated so that she could be x-rayed and examined in peace. After 1 hour the vet brought us to the meeting room to explain the diagnosis to us. He told us that Finja had a cruciate ligament tear on her right hind leg, which also had to be operated on. The problem is that with every step she takes, the thigh bone slips over the lower leg bone and she is in pain as a result. He also explained to us that in any case it was better to have her operated on in her home country, as it was a lengthy affair and she could recover better in familiar surroundings.
First of all, I suppressed a few tears. On the one hand, because I felt sorry for Finja and it meant pain for her. On the other hand, because we realized that our journey would end soon. The doctor said it had to be done in the next 4 weeks because otherwise the left hind leg would be too stressed and there would be a risk of another cruciate ligament tear on the other side. He gave us pain pills for 4 weeks. We had to get clear about the situation and talk.
Since it was clear that another 4 weeks in Norway wouldn’t bring us much, since Finja is no longer allowed to strain herself, we decided to make our way home the next day. It wouldn't have been fun if only one of us could always go on tour, because one would stay with Finja. After this decision we met with Pietstraumreise and spent the afternoon and evening with them. We also thought about how many kilometers we want to drive a day, since it is a total of 2700km from Senja to Duisburg. In Norway you can usually not drive faster than 80 km / h, as there is no direct motorway and it is also very curvy. We decided to do 400-500km a day, as that takes about 7-8 driving times including breaks.
Way home - 2700km to Duisburg
The first day we drove almost 300km. We slept a little longer because the evening before had gotten longer. In Ulvsvag we stood by a fjord near the water for the night. It was a super nice place and we hoped that we might see the northern lights again. Unfortunately nothing came of it, but there was a great sunset. In the morning Finja woke us up quite early. She had probably not tolerated her pain medication so well and then had to go out. So we got back on the road early.
We managed a total of 450km. We made a stop at the Artic Circle and ate something. Sebastian then took a few photos there and I went shopping in the center.
We continued to Laksforsen to the waterfall, where Basti took beautiful pictures. We actually wanted to spend the night there. But on the one hand it was too loud and on the other hand the floor space was too uneven. I didn't want to stay there and so we drove a little further to Trofors. We had a nice place right by the river and there was a small waterfall for free. Today Finja can take the pill quite well and just have to wait and see how the night goes. In addition, she also gets the excitement from us of driving long distances every day. If everything goes well, we'll be in Duisburg on Friday or Saturday.
On the further way along the E6 we took a lunch break at a rest area and had a great view of the surrounding area. We then continued on the E6 to behind Oppdal and then found a place to stay a little above the road. The place was exactly in a valley gorge, left and right the mountains went up and the stream flowed along below. In the evening it got really windy, the wind swept neatly through the gorge. Our bus was jolted and we were glad that we could stand with the wind. But we slept super well. As soon as we were in bed, we didn't notice anything of the wind either. In the morning over coffee a couple of sheep visited us and they were running around freely again. Which of course is a dangerous box here, because the E6 is an expressway and the cars really don't go slowly there.
Our next destination for the day was Rade behind Oslo, just before the Swedish border. We didn't drive the E6 completely, but turned off beforehand and had a wonderful drive through the mountainous landscape. I was the driver and enjoyed driving the winding track. We got along at the E3 and slowly wanted to take a lunch break. A few meters further there was a rest area where a huge silver moose was standing in a square by the road. There we took a break and of course we took photos with the moose and our polar bear. That looked really great. The elk statue is currently the largest sculpture in the world at 10.1 meters! 🙂
Then it went on to Oslo and Rade. The mountains are slowly becoming less, sometimes the landscape looked like in Bavaria or like in the Harz Mountains, then mountains came again and now there is only flat land here behind Oslo. When we drove through Oslo, there was another real motorway here, we saw an incredible number of electric cars. Everything Tesla, Ford, VW ... you have come a long way here with electric cars.
We have never seen so many at once. After we had few or no tunnels on the way home so far, there were several in a row. Our longest tunnel we drove here in Norway was 8.6 km long. However, we know that there are also tunnels of up to 20 km where there is a roundabout in the middle of the tunnel. We'll probably see them next year when we go to Norway again, because they're more towards the coast.
When we arrive in Rade, there is a slight increase in temperature for us. We have spent in the upper half of Norway at temperatures of 10-13 ° during the day and here it is now 17 ° during the day. The sun is shining and we have a beautiful evening sky. We spend the night at the caravan dealer and all services are free. You can even take a shower for free. Of course, they speculate that you will come into the store and buy something, and of course we did. We were looking forward to the shower, the last one was a few days ago. Tomorrow we want to drive through Sweden to Denmark, only as a transit route, and then home from Denmark. The bridges over the sea are our goal, because we don't want to leave Finja alone in the car for more than 2 hours during a ferry ride, because she might then jump off her seat. With her injured leg that would of course be counterproductive.
The drive the next day was really exhausting because it was super, super windy to stormy and you really had to hold the car against it. And then at some point it started to rain. When we left Norway we were really very sad. It was so beautiful here and we haven't seen so much. If all goes well, we'll be back next year. Sweden initially offered the same landscape as the south of Norway. The border crossing was once again really unspectacular, there was no one in the customs house and you could drive through without being checked.
Sweden initially had a few fjords, then the landscape looked more like Bavaria. The houses were now more often made of stone and less of wood. Nevertheless, it was nice to look at the landscape while driving through. If the C disease allows, we will also visit Sweden next year. Certainly a highlight in terms of landscape.
When we arrived in Malmö, we drove to the Øresund Bridge. Since we booked and paid for the ticket in advance, we could drive through in one. The border between Denmark and Sweden is in the middle of the bridge and of course there are no border buildings or people to control you and not even when you come to the island of Denmark. The day was long, the driving very exhausting and so we earned a super great night spot.
In Boeslunde we stood on a beach and even had a great view of Denmark's 2nd bridge. The sun was shining, but it was very windy here too. Standing with the wind, our polar bear didn't rock that badly either. And in the evening we also had a wonderful sunset. We slept well that night, despite the wind.
After the coffee it went on. Since Basti wanted to take photos of the bridge, I drove too. It was still very windy and therefore exhausting to keep the car on track. Denmark has also shown its beautiful side and is also on our travel plan. Here we experienced our first traffic jam after 4 months, which was quickly over because of the construction site.
The German border was reached quickly and, oh wonder, there were no controls here either. There was just a van on the side where you could have a test. There was controls on the Danish side. After a driver change, we arrived at the Elbe tunnels. Oh horror, what a traffic jam. Our nerves were on edge when we finally got through it. Unbelievable, as soon as you are in Germany, there is traffic chaos again. And construction sites that have been around for years. We then took a break from eating near Bremen, finally fast food again.
We then spent our night in Bramsche at a thermal bath. The next day we slept in because we only had a 2 hour drive to Duisburg. Then refueled, as cheap as the last 4 months, and back on the highway. After almost 2 hours we were at home and happy to have the route of violence behind us. After 7 days and 2700 km we did it. Now it's Finja's turn and if everything goes well, we'll soon be back on the road.
You can find more pictures in the Photo gallery Norway.
