Friday 24 June – Mo I Rana to Harran

Rain during the night but dry and bright at getting up time. Unfortunately Terry was poorly again so a visit to a doctor was priority. Thus after breakfast and servicing we asked the receptionist who suggested we visit an Apotek (pharmacy) first who could then direct us to someone who would not require an appointment. Everybody extremely helpful but by the time we found the medical centre it was closed for lunch – 11.30 to 12.00! Ah well, hang around a bit then details and a sample were taken with instructions to come back at 13.30, so found somewhere safe to park for a couple of hours and had lunch.

Returned and saw the doctor who diagnosed the problem and organised a prescription. In Norway you are supposed to pay for a visit to a doctor but the payment machine wouldn't accept any of the 5 cards Terry was carrying – but it did say if payment was not made today an invoice would be sent. Well we'll just add that to the toll charges we're going to get too. Round to an Apotek and job done.

It was now 2.30 pm and the day had turned out to be sunny and very warm so it was time to make some progress south. The E6 was busy, not helped by more roadworks and then a 5 mile tunnel being closed requiring a 10 mile diversion over a pass. Obviously such work needs to be carried out in the summer months and all credit that Norway is spending a lot of money upgrading its roads.

Our route took us south along a valley between two mountain ranges, down the centre of the country (which at one point was only a few kilometres from Sweden) and mostly away from the coast. Nevertheless the scenery was still superb, made better by bright sunshine which of course lasts well into the evening so it was no problem to keep going and try to make up a little lost time.

However come 6.00 pm we'd about had enough and were looking to stop, but all the picnic areas were either full or had signs prohibiting overnight parking. Eventually we were more or less forced to use another campsite, once again paying through the nose for facilities we did not need, although Camping Harren is very nice with a lovely riverside location – watch out for the mozzies though!

We've begun to feel that things are slowly turning around and perhaps the world isn't against us after all. With Terry already feeling better and no further problems with Bertie we have started to think again about our intentions, although weather is going to be the big decider.