Inland and the Nutheim guesthouse

Flatdal ~75 miles

Rested with the wander around Langesund which was the perfect sized place to arrive we are headed inland to our Norwegian base for the next few nights, the plan to be central within the Telemark region - cities are no attraction to us on this trip (or any trip for me).

I checked beforehand: Fladal just up the road from Selfjord which has a couple of Petrol garages so starting the day with a full tank is going to be no issue.

Norway orientation

• Light - infact this has been the case since the north of Denmark, sunset is around 10:30/10:40pm and sunrise as early as 04:30 this time of year. Its just never really dark!
• Drivers are really polite/timid - not just the tourists, but the whole feel of driving is nothing like the UK.
• Roads are generally slow, what I'd expect to be a 60mph A road is more 40/50mph tops in Norway with lots of no-overtaking roads that did initially make the going slow. 50mph on the right sort of winding mountain road is no real restriction anyway.
• Unless on a city break you need a car - Norway's tourist offerings are mainly outside - walking/hiking/exploring - and very spaced out.

Masses of relatively empty roads and still great weather for our drive north,

Pictures never really capture the scale of scenery,

The road around Selfjord,

Nutheim Gjestgiveri

We arrived at the hotel around 17:30, still a clear warm day. 

The hotel is located in Flatdal at the top of the Seljord valley on a hairpin absolutely stunning location. Theres nothing here but the hotel - perfect! 

Historically a coaching Inn and before the road moved slightly in the 1980s there was a garage next door. Now they focus on being an arts centre with gallery downstairs. Inside the place has a cosy family run small/hotel guesthouse feeling. Plenty of painted timber as is the way in Norway!

First task, pictures in front of the establishment - and a little to the concern some customers trying to have a quiet coffee as I tried to position the car in exactly the right spot.

Checking in - we lucked out with our room - room #3 is the one to go for at the front of the building with fantastic views down the valley. No sign of the daft UK hotel ranking systems here - so no TV in the room, no kettle - just peace and a comfortable place to relax.

We sat outside with a cold beer, these pictures taken at 18:00 - still 4+ hours of daylight remaining. 

A local art club were meeting and dining at the hotel. We are just visible in the first picture, I am trying to work out what they were painting from the back of the canvas as they took turns to pain't - turned out it was truly freestyle no particular subject. As much the club meeting as producing the artwork. (Hope they don't mind me re-posting their picture here)

 

The food here is excellent (important to keep the crew happy!) - 3 course fixed menu and preceded with, in Norwegian on our first night, the history of the hotel. Norwegian has an interesting sound - its calm, an unhurried rhythm with definite pauses between certain key sounds - very relaxing even though I don't understand a word of it!

We shared a table for the evening meal with a couple from Oslo & Scotland. He had seen RL13 in the carpark so ended up talking cars - he was restoring a Lotus Esprit, very into the outdoors lifestyle, and gave us some excellent local knowledge on places to visit. I found out the banners/streamer flags are flown because a standard Norwegian nation flag can only be flown in daylight hours so would only normally come out for special occasions - however one of those official occasions is your own birthday.

Location check - I think we're actually further north than the Scottish mainland now, furthest north for RL13, and amazing weather considering. Three nights booked here to explore the local area before meandering home.

The target of the road trip accomplished Wales to Norway - car running fine, driver and passenger in good spirits.

Skagerrak crossing and Landfall Langesund

Up early for the ferry across the Skagerrak, Hirtshals is only 20 minutes down the road from our overnight stop. A damp start again but I always feel the pressure when getting close to immovable deadlines and/or relying on a third party - like a ferry sailing.

Ferry across the Skagerrak ~15 mile drive, ~99 mile ferry

When checking in to ferries the scene in Star Wars always comes to mind, Leia first sees the Milenium Falcon when being rescued and has a line something like:
  'You came in that? you're braver than I thought'.
RL13 usually generates a smile even with steely faced passport control!

I do like belt and braces 'you are travelling to Langesund' in my face on the car hanger.

Ferry 3 point turn into the dock.

First order of business - get outside and monitor leaving port and a chance to look around Hirsthals from afar.

Followed by some general wandering on the Helipad deck before settling into a relaxed crossing.

Langesund

A good 3-4 hour crossing. Land ahoy, blue skies and plenty of people on deck taking pictures.

Some WWII fortifications visible off the port side...

...alongside interesting layered/countoured rock formations...

Then the town itself both sides of the inlet

We decided to pause after disembarking, to explore a little, have lunch and avoid following the contents of the ferry down the road for the rest of the afternoon.

By the time we're parked the ferry is still unloading in the distance.

Always interesting to have a mooch around boats...

Small cafe for lunch which doubled as a wool and craft shop. Bonus is inside its more like a front room - sofas, kitchen tables, good and informal.

...and walk it off for half an hour or so on a woodland walk back to the fortifications we saw on the way in at Tangen Fort.

I'm not sure if this would have been a good place to be stationed for the relative peace away from an active front, or worse for being in a rural area surrounded by local resistance?

Nothing here now but broken concrete lined trenches and gun emplacements turned into viewpoints and picnic spots.

Sea legs replaced with land legs we're ready for some more driving.

Update - With hindsight, and sailing out from Kristiansand at the tail end of the road trip, Langesund is a perfect first landing into Norway - small, stereotypical Norwegian town rather than large city. The perfect spot to pause before venturing further in to the country.

The road to Norway

The M.O.

The target point is Norway, but no race, the beauty of the Zero is infinitely large view all the time.

The outbound trip with a longer UK leg from our start point in Wales to Harwich. 

Then 3 days across Netherlands, Germany and Denmark before the ferry across the Skagerrak on Friday.

The planning limits each day to around 300 miles absolute tops and mostly more like 270 so I can enjoy A and B roads rather than motorways. Toll roads turned off on the satnav, I want to see the places on the way as well as get to the destination.

Languages - I only have a little French which won't be any use on this trip.
My general approach is a clear 'Hello' which hints where I'm from then plenty of alternate smiles, thank yous or sorrys (in English), pointing and thumbs up.

The car usually puts most people we meet in a good mood for starters and the above simple protocol combined with friendly locals gets us by.

Tools of choice

• Google maps for finding waypoints
• Booking.com for the majority of guesthouse and hotel booking
• Tripit.com for managing the overall itinerary
• Google maps, with offline maps saved for all route navigation

Tripit is really excellent at double checking each day has an overnight stop by just emailing the booking receipt email. It generates a schedule which I can keep an electronic copy and print out for simple low tech reference en-route - the last thing I want is to be beholden to a mobile phone battery being charged etc to find the next place to sleep.

Google maps navigation was a test, I also had an old copy of copilot on the mobile phone however since they removed useful car profiles (selecting road types etc) I'm phasing it out.

I also carried a paper map but we would have struggled to find all the overnight stops if we had to resort to working from a large country scale map.

Monday - Monmouth to Harwich ~221 miles

Monmouth to Harwich, the ferry is early in the morning so a leisurely drive across the UK favoured rather than an overnight dash and then spend a few days catching up on sleep.

Weather is reasonable all day - wander on the beach at Harwich - interesting light house, light ships and the port cranes visible in the distance. Hotel selected for discrete parking, excellent pint in the local pub and evening meal in the Indian.

Tuesday - Ferry to the Netherlands ~89 miles drive, ~126 mile ferry

Relatively early start to check in for the ferry around 07:30, onboard by 08:00 and due in to The Hook of Holland around 17:25.

A nice lazy crossing, sea like a millpond: Take in a movie, eat, sleep and prepare for the ~80 mile run to the hotel in the Netherlands. As we get close to Holland perhaps 20-30 ships sitting offshore, large container ships most appear to be at anchor presumably waiting for their next cargo.

Arrival around 17:25 (local time) in the Netherlands

Half a tank of fuel later, but seemed like an age along interesting, but very slow roundabout laden roads and some interesting ones past canals - the first night is a hostel type establishment on the coast near Patten. 

Breakfast an informal coffee, croissants and fruit on the beach under blue skies.

Today we start the trip proper across the European mainland.

Wednesday - Netherlands & Germany ~275 miles

Mostly motoring through the Netherlands, via the causeway along the top of the inland Zuiderzee. Theres not a great deal to actually see - the west side hidden by a sloping sea wall to the east water!

A chance to pause right in the middle.

Lunchtime we aim for Groningen and the park to the west of the city. A little calm to escape the road and watch the walkers, runners, dog walkers.

The route takes us across the Elbe via the ferry. A long wait though - cars tailed back for miles and approx 3 hours before we finally cross. I always like to include a ferry where I can for interest - but mental note made to go the long way around via Hamburg on the way home.

Nearly there... next boat will be us..

The tide is low by the time we cross, four ferries in operation each waiting their turn for the deep water channel.

Just across the water our B&B, the owners are very friendly and offer their garage for the Zero. Saves me a step of covering up - also,

what an awesome garage/barn...

Bit of a challenge to find an open restaurant so we settle for a liquid meal in the local pub + accumulated stores of snacks and sweets. Wewelsfleth an interesting place - cranes and boat building on the edge of town.

Quick run into Gluckstadt after breakfast to find a cashpoint - need some local currency to pay the B&B. A little more time and we could have probably spent a morning here - typical European town square, interesting buildings/church etc.

Thursday - Germany & Denmark ~305 miles

One country, one day 300 miles - this leg is all about being setup for the ferry on Friday.

We start along the satnav prescribed fast motorway, but making good time divert west towards Viborg later in the morning, smaller more interesting roads for the rest of the day.

Denmark was wet, by mid morning I was getting soaked too! Water jetted from the front wheels onto the rear wheel arches off my forearm and slowly soaking down my right leg. Its not so much being wet - its more the cold of fresh rainwater all the time.

Lunch at an excellent cafe near Ulbjerg gives me a chance to start the soak up/wring out process of drying the car. My outboard leg totally soaked!

RL13 doesn't mind the rain, but there must be a better way to stop the rear arches flicking water up into the cabin...

Schnitzel & chips for me, fish and chips for Anne. Both in good spirits ready for the run north. 

Silly selfies always good for a laugh and almost as fun as old fashioned camera timer based ones.

The landscape is predictably flat but reasonably fast - a switch from open country to forests mid way, a much more open and empty country than I expected.

B&B for the night within about 20 minutes of the ferry terminal at Hirtshals.

A chance to dry out.

The place is in the middle of nowhere, what looked like a huge hare bounding past in the evening!

It must have been the size of a small/medium sized dog.

Google maps showing we are apparently about level with the northern reaches of Scotland!

Early up for the boat on Friday to Norway and the furthest north RL13 has been.