Brown bears, sundown slacklining, ‘bum-squeaking’ moments, and far more. This 6-month Nordic overland journey exhibits what you’re lacking should you skip out on these beautiful northern locations.
With Jason on one aspect and low on the opposite, we have been lastly located in White Rhino, our trusty 2015 Hilux 2.5L turbo diesel. After a fond farewell to household in my mum’s driveway, we set our English sights on a Nordic overland journey.
Earlier than making our technique to Norway, we stopped briefly in Denmark — a gateway for Nordic exploration. Right here, we made essentially the most out of experiencing the nation’s world-renowned happiness, quintessential pure grandeur, and much-envied hygge.
We selected to spend this time on the soul-singing northern seashores close to the ferry port at Hirtshals. It was July 2019 — pre-pandemic bliss.
Permitted to drive onto the seashore, we discovered cosy, little enclaves from the fervent wind to make ourselves cozy and content material. We gave into hours of Danish splendor on the tender sandy shores earlier than shifting on to our large journey.
Norway: An Journey Tourism Vacation spot
Norway is not less than double the U.Ok. in size, with simply 8% of its populace. Lush bushes carpeted the steep-sided, fjord-gashing shoreline, studded with large chunks of granite iced in glaciers.
The primary week stretched forward, heat and empty.
The Bolt
“In case your Nerve, deny you, go above your Nerve” — Emily Dickinson
You may’t go to Norway and never roam the hills, a lot much less forgo Kjeragbolten. It’d be like going to Mount Rushmore and saying, “Oh, we didn’t bother ourselves with the massive carved mountainside factor. However we took look within the present store.”
Kjeragbolten — the “Bolt” — is a glacier-deposited boulder wedged neatly into Kjerag’s crevasse in Rogaland County, southwestern Norway.
A reasonably difficult 5.5-mile hike with out climbing gear led us to this climactic finish bestowing towering views of the Lysefjord 3,228 toes under. There was nothing to lose. Besides maybe your footing, Norwegian buddies cautiously suggested.
After the final ice age, international warming triggered the ocean stage to rise, flooding the fjords. Round 50,000 BC, the glacier melted, accompanied by a rebound in rock formations because the ice disappeared.
Within the Bolt’s case, the rising sea stage couldn’t sustain with the rebound’s pace, which sandwiched the 5-cubic-meter rock into its present place, flanked on each side by Kjerag. As pure options go, it was astounding.
We arrived with the clamor and pleasure of the circus coming into city. Up there going through the rock jammed into its seemingly strong place for the primary time, there was solely a lot room in my abdomen. Nausea grew as I scrambled for a bracing vote of confidence from somebody.
Two-Legged Spectacle
I used to be startled out of my fear about going over the sting by a man who did simply that. My hidden gem was once we witnessed this chap with balls as large as church bells slacklining throughout the void. It was about 600 toes lengthy and elevated 3,000 toes over the fjord.
I misplaced depend of the variety of occasions he misplaced his stability, surrendering to free-falling whereas I endured one other ‘squeaky bum’ second. The one factor saving him from loss of life was a harness connecting him to what appeared like a string of dental floss. At nightfall, he glowed with the giddy lightness of solitude.
My abdomen lurched. With out additional ado, I made a decision, proper, I’ll leap onto the rock now earlier than I take depart of my loopy and return to my senses. I’d bided my time for hours in a taut knot of nervous suspense.
Issues may go irreparably unsuitable within the blink of an eye fixed. Not solely was stepping onto the rock made dicey by its spherical form, however the factor was coated in silky clean mud, in addition. Extra slippy than grippy. Regardless of the high-risk technique, my what-the-heck thrill-seeking tendencies kicked in and received over.
To me, experiencing the Bolt was a tough operation anybody may carry out — the equal of a pianist taking part in Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” — besides that one dare not miss a word.
A nape-tingling buzz adopted. I jumped on and off the rock with out fluffing any notes.
The Pulpit
A 3-hour drive on the Fv450 from Kjeragbolten to Songesand introduced us to a leviathan cubic-shaped mass, sheer on three of its 4 sides with a flat tabletop.
Recognized domestically as Preikestolen, Pulpit Rock noticed 65,000 folks go to in June 2019 alone. Featured on the Vacationer Board’s social media, the mountain plateau turned extra engaging with its debut in Mission: Unattainable – Fallout.
Beginning at Preikestolen Fjellstue, a mountain lodge in Geirangerhe, a reasonably simple 4.5-mile stomp ensued. Primarily based on our analysis, we allowed 4 hours for the round-trip trek, which was about proper.
Free from the confines of the forest, we caught a sudden glimpse of the imposing flat rock. This view quickly revitalized and sharpened the senses.
A powerful 2,130-foot drop stood between us and the fjord under. I saved my eye on the sting like a kestrel watching a vole. The large dive all the way down to the water world reopened a definite feeling of fright in my abdomen. With my face pursed in focus, I edged to the vertical wall with gut-plunging readability.
The Pulpit towered above the fjord, its near-perfect sides jutting out in opposition to the moon-washed sky.
Troll’s Tongue
“Get a load of that!” I barked above the roar of vacationers round me. I attempted to blot them out and zoned in on the thinning blade of rock jutting out over Hardangerfjord.
Trolltunga’s a sight, alright. The trek in was a 143-mile drive from Songesand to Røldal and a 15.3-mile footslog with a 3,630-foot elevation achieve. This was essentially the most spectacular Norwegian vacation spot thus far.
The primary steps of the yomp into the unknown, carrying the world on my again, have been exhilarating. I felt as if I may preserve going for 100 miles. It was the final word existential pleasure so far as beginning out goes.
The truth: progress turned stultifyingly sluggish. I registered my doubtful grasp of the enterprise at hand whereas acknowledging the moxie it’d taken to make it this far. Lower than a mile. I contented myself with smiling vaguely and avoiding eye contact with anybody making it look simple.
A 5 a.m. begin the next morning rewarded Jason and me with entry to an unoccupied vantage level of the fjord, alongside an unearthly stillness.
Simply us and our vertiginous environment, adrenaline-zinging, triumphant. Neither of us dared converse, so nice was our reverence for what we have been experiencing. That, or we didn’t need to danger awakening the sleeping plenty.
A tissue of mist lingered over the slither of rock earlier than the solar slowly burned it away. There permeated in my soul an exhilaration — a settled expectancy to the lengthy haul again and bulldog spirit clothed in peace.
Mushroom Magic
Slowly en path to the highest, 255 miles from Trolltunga on the E16, we pulled into Måløy.
Right here, the ocean had been beating in opposition to Kannesteinen Rock for hundreds of years. This was nature’s most beautiful sculpted masterpiece you’ll doubtless ever see. Totally chic, it’s been formed into the mushroom-like look it bestows at the moment.
Searching on the formation, I couldn’t consider a greater technique to go insane or turn out to be realized.
Large Skies, Large Nation
Driving for 28 hours by way of the Europaväg 45 and E45 introduced residence the huge distances in Norway.
Admittedly, the final 500 miles northbound to Nordkapp have been a combined bag of what felt like burning by way of Krone on diesel. This was tempered not less than once we descended on the nation’s bleak however lovely roads to the North Cape.
Hurrah, some drama within the skies eventually!
Watch out of what you would like for. Norway, it appeared, had one remaining hand to play earlier than she’d allow us to depart.
A heavy drizzle with gusting winds set in. It meant an evening hunkered down within the double cab, battening down the hatches.
A panorama of blind-wrapped fog engulfed our environment, swallowing us complete. Attending to the globe concerned pinning our location and activating the offline GPS to choose our approach over the obscured few hundred yards, so dangerous was the fog.
Nordkapp, Meh
Comical actually, getting virtually misplaced throughout what ought to have been us making a fast beeline to a landmark that’s inconceivable to overlook.
The North Cape appeared so shut, but we have been clawing by way of the thick fog in who is aware of which path. Laughter rolled leisurely out of my mouth like the good banks of mist that spilled opaquely over the panorama.
Nevertheless it wasn’t precisely the momentous milestone I assumed it’d be when the globe emerged. Jason stood there brewing like a coffeepot. I recall him exhibiting no disappointment once we left.
Excessive winds prevailed, and driving rain lashed down. Cobwebs greater than the thoughts have been blown. A low-voltage second like: “Oh good, let’s go and get the bloody kettle on!”
Finland: Name of the Wild
Like Norway, Finland’s mixture of pristine wilderness, plentiful wildlife, and explosive burst of greenery made a beguiling fusion.
Equally, there was one thing in regards to the Finnish summer season air, contemporary and invigorating. The forests have been so expansive I pinched myself that it wasn’t the Yukon.
Dense woodlands sprinkled with picturesque lakes encompassed an astonishing community of nationwide parkland. There, we noticed the incredible beasts deep within the thicket of the bushes.
European Brown Bears
On the sting of the Finnish-Russian border, Karhu-Kuusamo Oy comprised a bear-watching husband-and-wife outfit out of Kuusamo within the far north of Finland.
A forest in Kuntilampi is residence to a protected dwelling place for bears. I had no concept these superior creatures might be present in Europe. Wolverines, too!
After a nervous detachment with 240 euros and a 4-hour diversion from our route again to the ferry, we put aside a day. We saved all the pieces crossed to come across a sleuth of bears.
That’s, after coming to a household’s rescue whose rental automobile obtained caught in a muddy ditch. For the continuing assist we collected on a earlier bike journey, the debt of paying it ahead was getting settled.
Late to the Teddy Bears’ Picnic
Our winch-saving intervention put us 10 minutes not on time for the bear viewing. Consequently delayed, the bear-whispering husband zipped round on his four-wheeler, throwing sizeable fish items everywhere in the forested viewing space.
Like bears to a honey pot, a few lone males rocked up moments later. We’d received the jackpot. Growling, although, the bears appeared disgruntled. Later, the couple revealed that they take umbrage when their lunch is late — our fault!
Subsequent up, an ever-cautious mom crested the hilly path with 4 cubs sidling alongside. Extra older males adopted and a few bolder juveniles as nicely.
Mesmerized, we feasted on watching the bears bathe, observe their tree-climbing abilities, and chow down their fish fillet.
With unfaltering ease, an enormous male stood up on his highly effective hind legs to turn out to be the dimensions of a home. He’d noticed a salmon piece speared on a department. Its shoulder blades glided like pistons underneath its fur whereas the bear’s unblinking eyes have been locked on its entrée.
Barely believing our luck, we noticed 16 large browns altogether. They have been like flies round overripe mangoes.
When nature turns into limitless, pleasure is my fixed companion. It rounded off the proceedings of our Nordic journey with the flourish of a remaining curtain.
Nordic Overland Adventures: It’s By no means Goodbye, Solely See You Later
Not wishing to waste a drop of this wild and treasured summer season, we wrung out each undiluted pleasure at our fingertips. All the way down to the depths of my stomach, my first impressions didn’t match any of my preconceptions. All I do know is that it was the simplest factor on the earth to be a human doing within the Nordics, not only a human being.
Throughout our fast passing by way of Denmark, it wasn’t a typical view of the nation the place we overnighted. It did, nevertheless, appear without end gusty because the wind blew sea-salted and robust on the northern seashores. Effectively price a rendezvous with the setting solar, too.
Then, as we navigated by way of Norwegian territory, sizzling climate was thrown unexpectedly into the combo — parts of which lie nicely above the Arctic Circle. Tunnels and fjords in abundance, sure. Mountains veiled in thick fog uncovered jagged peaks, and when that cleared, gigantic glaciers cascaded down into emerald meltwater.
The incredible beasts roaming the forests in Finland put the frosting on the wilderness cake. These have been the candy recollections of pleasure-drenched occasions earlier than the deep-rooted darkness of winter hit.
