Tuesday 21 June – Bjerkvik to Ulsvag

Have you ever had the feeling that the world is conspiring against you? Ever since we've arrived in Norway nothing has gone right, from poor weather to van problems. Having planned todays route to include a longish ferry crossing last night, around 3.00 am the wind got up and blew a gale. Now high winds mean rough ferry crossings.... You'll see what else we mean as we go on. To be fair the day started brilliantly and we enjoyed some great views as we made our way to Lofoten Island where we'd been told we would experience some of the finest scenery. 

But it wasn't long before Mother Nature took a hand with lowering clouds and mist turning into heavy rain. Then the motor started playing up again but wouldn't clear properly this time; nevertheless we struggled on knowing we were at least headed for a largish town where, if necessary, we could try and get some help.

Next the tyre pressure warning system, unheard since Germany, announced that we were losing pressure in the nearside rear tyre – except it occasionally changed its mind. Stopping to check, whilst at the same time trying to clear the engine fault, everything looked okay but by now it was bleaching down and we were starting to lose confidence. There were lots and lots of motorhomes going both ways, but then we noticed a few that had been going in our direction were coming back. That did it; not being able to see anything and the forecast indicating at least another 2 days before any improvement made the decision quite easy and at the next roundabout we turned round and headed back.

As you would expect Norway has a lot of bridges and tunnels. One of the most notable we used (twice) today was 6.4km long and actually descended under the sea, then passed under another island, then more sea before climbing back up to the surface.

Rather than head all the way back to Narvik, we noticed a short ferry crossing about halfway up so decided to go that way – saved us well over 150km and half a days driving although not exactly cheap. At the port, a boat was waiting and pulled out within 15mins of us boarding for an hours very smooth crossing, giving us a chance for coffee and cake. And as we landed the sun came out!

With the tyre pressure warning getting worse we stopped and did a proper check – of course no problem, just a failing sensor (battery flat we suspect). And we also realised that the motor was running nice and smooth again. So now it being quite late we picked out a couple of overnights and chose a campsite at Ulsvag with a lovely pitch overlooking the fjord and across to the Lofoten Wall – the very high range of steep mountains the island is noted for.

View from the van tonight

The Lofoten Wall

It seems once we decided to turn round, everything started to go right again – or is it just us?