From France to Norway and back again (3,600 Kms)

Honfleur to Norway and back again...3,600 Km


An enormous thank-you to Kirstien and Arild for their hospitality in Fredrikstad and for the use of their wonderful house by the sea on Averøya. 

Honfleur (France) to Averoya (Norway)
1,800 KMs

This is the big one and probably the most daunting - we basically set the satnav for Oslo and just followed it......If you think there's a lack of description on the country side, you're right. Basically we used motorways so sight seeing was minimal.  We needed to be back in France early September so wanted to make Norway fairly quickly and spend maximum time there rather than on the road.

Saturday 30^th July - Up early to help with the cleaning and then packed up the Skoda for the big trek north. Went into Honfleur to look at the local Saturday market which was tremendous - the foods was terrific and the saugage man was a real hit.

Honfleur under a rather grey sky

Bought some stuff (sausages) for the journey and took off on the road to Amiens as instructed by the satnav. 


Travelled until about 17:00 and decided to stay at Charleroi (Belgium) for the night. Big mistake, if you have ever been to Charleroi and lived to tell the story you will understand. We booked a hotel (Best Western) from the internet which was definitely on the wrong side of the tracks. After checking in we started to walk through the park looking for somewhere to eat but soon decided that the park was not the place to be even in broad daylight. It was the sort of place that you expected to be held up at gun/knife point at any moment. Tried a couple of bars but there's something very non-welcoming about them, also the range of beers is rather daunting with some over 15% proof so be careful what you order. Eventually we wandered into an another part of town which was better and looked safer and found what looked like a reasonable place to eat.  For some reason WRK decided he wanted paella for dinner which seemed a rather strange choice in a Belgium restaurant  miles from the sea.  Not the greatest paella in the world!

Sunday 31^st July. Left about 10:00 heading out of Belgium as quickly as possible. Before we left booked a hotel in Hamburg which was actually further than we estimated (600kms). Fortunately most of the route  was on autobahns which don't appear to have any speed limits, although the Skoda has one of her own. The weather and road works as we got near to Hamburg were horrendous so took rather longer that expected. 

Kunsthalle Hamburg
und Galerie der Gegenwart

Anyway thanks to the satnav arrived safely at the Hamburg Hafen (harbour) Hotel which turned out to be very comfortable with very snooty reception staff.  Hamburg looks  exactly like you expect a Baltic city to look like. Very solid and understated. Had salad and bratwurst for dinner and went looking for the infamous Hamburg night life. Well Sunday evenings even in Hamburg are a bit quiet  found one place but WRK took one look and refused to go in  so back to the hotel.


After a good nights sleep got up about 09:00 and went shopping for rare stones for Willy's sister. Obviously Hamburg is one of those places where you can buy anything - found the stones, had some breakfast, got some travel food and took off.  Hamburg really is a lovely city and we would like to explore some more but insufficient time on this leg of the trip - after all we are only on holiday for 12 months!

Route via Sweden

Monday 1^st August - We now had to make a decision either to take the ferry from Denmark to Norway or drive up through Sweden.  The drive had the advantage of (a) seeing something of Sweden and (b) we ended up on the left side of the Oslo Fjord which is where Willy's sister lives. The advantage of the ferry was (a)  a break from driving and (b) saved a nights accommodation. We decided to take the ferry and booked on the Hirstal (DK) to Larvik (NO) ferry for the following day.

Route via the Larvik Ferry

We decide to head for Aarhus which is Denmark's second city. The weather was very mixed but as we got closer to Aarhus it changed to brilliant sunshine and very warm. Tried to find a reasonable hotel but the cheapest was about $120 and that was basically a cupboard  - so decided to go camping!!!! Found a nice campsite in the north of the city - pitched the lightweight tent which turns out to be incredibly small but after a few beers and some wine sitting outside the tent managed to get a really good night's sleep. This is my first time under canvas since the boy scouts....

Tuesday 2^nd August - Had tickets booked on the Hirstal -> Larvik ferry leaving at 22:30 and arriving 02:30 (the tickets were cheap). Decided to go to the museuem of modern art.

Light & Colour Exhibition 

The Museum had several exhibitions based on colour including an interactive one where you walked through a very fine mist and saw personal rainbows forming.
After the museum had some lunch and spent a couple of hours wandering around the city which was really pleasant.

Everyone rides a bike and pedestrians have priority over every other form of transport so walking is stress free.

La Skoda on a Danish
beach

Then headed off North to Hirstal about 100Km away. The weather still very warm so went to the beach on the way. Unfortunately by the time we got there it had stared to rain. So off to Hirstal town to join the food smugglers and stock up on alcohol and meat before catching the ferry.


There's actually a hierarchy of food smuggling in Scandinavia - the Norwegians (most expensive)  go to Sweden, The Swedes go to Denmark and the Danes go to Germany. Only wish we had stocked up on more vitals, the prices in Norway are eye watering even with the strong (at that time) Aussie dollar.


The ferry ride was rather uneventful both trying to sleep but not very successfully Willy with his noise cancelling earphones had more luck than me. There is something really annoying about people watching a DVD with headphones when all you can hear is their laughter. 

Wednesday 3^rd August - Docked in  Larvik on time and took off up the West side of the Oslo of the Oslo Fjord - Oslo is about 150Km away. We had arranged see Jan and Siegfried (old friends of Willy's) on the way through and arrived about 6:00 had some breakfast and a couple of hours sleep.

Oslo to Averoya 

Eventually left J & S's about 11:00 heading for Willy's ancestral home in Averøya on the West coast of Norway. According to the satnav we should arrive at 20:00 (750 Kms) this was probably a bit optimistic as Norway has very low speed limits and not too many motorways. Anyway, eventually arrive at 20:30 (Skodas are wonderful)  with Kirsten and her partner Arild there to meet us.  One of Willy's twin nephews Edward* was also there. Had bacalau for dinner - very nice and an early night. 

* We found this out later as Willy can't tell them apart and obviously wasn't game to ask if he was Edvard or Ivar.

Thursday 4^th August. Went into Kristiansund through the new 5.7km Atlantic Ocean Tunnel - last time we were here the ferry was still the only way across. It's a tremdous engineering feat that hit lots of problems including some cave-ins. It's not cheap, with a return journey for a car and one driver about AUD40 (GBP25) and then you pay for each additional passenger on top of the car charge!

Averøya - late night mid-summer 

On the way back from Kristiansund Willy collected his mother and brought her over for lunch which consisted of fresh prawns and crabs with one enormous claw. Later went  for a walk later along the great ocean walk and then went fishing for our supper. Arild caught three - nobody else caught any. Apparently this is the first time WRK had not caught at least one fish, strange because on the next 2 fishing trips the same thing happened.

Disused lighthouse just off the coast

Friday 5^{th. -} August   Woke up the most wonderful sunshine and eventually got out of bed at about  09.30. Kirsten was  besides herself with the weather. Went into Kristensund again to try and finalise the broadband arrangements as Willy is not a resident it gets quite tricky, for example he can't get the high speed conection - strange but there it is. The weather was still good so had dinner outside where we were joined by a million gnats.


Unfortunately in my desperation to reduce the gnat population numbers by a few I managed to break my glass with a miss aimed flick of the wrist. Disaster - I had left my spare pair in North Wales. Fortunately it seems that Arild and I have almost the same eye afflictions so borrowed a spare pair of tri-focals and back to normal

Same lighthouse 

Saturday 6^th August -  Weather not so good again - this is the night of the big band re-union, more on this later. Had to go to Kristunsund* yet again, this time to get  my glasses fixed. Fortunately at the third attempt, we found a Dane who fixed them instantly and only charged $6 - what a bargain for Norway!  These trips to Kristiansund were costing $40 in tolls every time we went - nice tunnel but not cheap!

Spot the Bass Player

More on the band - for those of you not in the know Willy was a member of a group (Fortune) when he was younger, actually played bass guitar.  All the band members happened to be in town at the same time including Robert who lives in Spain.


We arrived late to a house full of Norwegians obviously keen to party. I was the designated driver so hadn't had much to drink and left about 22.00 leaving Willy who was obviously on a mission to his own devices. From all accounts a good time was had by all.

Sunday 7^th - August Got the call from WRK about 11:00 to go and pick him up from Robert's.  Then came home ready for a family get togther - Willy's Mother, his sister from Kristunsund, Inger, her husband Erik, their daughter (Hedda) and her boyfriend (Magne) and child young Julian (5). Kirsten cooked a hugh barbecue - Kirsten always caters for four time the number of people so there's never a shortage of food.

Gulltanna (Golden Tooth) looking
towards Kirstien's house

Monday 8^th -  August Weather OK but not the greatest but decided that we had to start doing some walking so took the car to "Golden Tooth” and walked up the mountain. Took about three hours for the round trip.  Have done this walk on a previous trip, the difference this time was that we didn't get lost. 
On the peak there's a book which you sign and and say which climb number you are on. There are people who have done this climb 40 times in one year - that's dedication for you. Apparently one of Willy's relatives did the climb, signed the book and then inadvertently put the book is their back pack. The book had to be sent back anonymously, the Norwegians take their walking very seriously and if you've done this climb 40 times you certainly don't want someone stealing the evidence!

Jan Ove, Ann-Elin,
Edward & Maria and crabs 

Jan Ove (brother), Ann-Elin (sister -in-law) and Maria (niece)  got back from a boat trip to some of the most remote Norwegian Islands.

Tuesday 9th -  August - Went in to Kristunsund to meet up with Robert, Oddvar and an old girlfriend of Willy. I went wandering around the shops looking for the Asian grocery store. Planning on having something hot and spicy.

Wednesday 10^th  August - Kirsten and Arrild leave to go back to Fredriksstand. Wet and miserable so Kirsten dosen't seem too upset about leaving. however soon fines up and turns out to be a really nice day. Do the washing - somethings never change and then went to Bremsnes looking for for additional stuff for Dinner.

We start planning the trip back to France and again decide to take the ferry back to Denmark rather than the drive through Sweden, so booked  the return ferry from Larvik to Hirstal on Tuesday 30th August. That  will then give us three days+ to get back to Le Havre from Oslo in time to collect Bob and Diane from the Portsmouth ferry.

WRK went out in the boat looking for blue shells (mussels) but didn't manage to find any, he did come home with a bucket full of whelks - the same as the bulouts he was eating in France. I went to bed WRK cooked the whelks, made mayonnaise and attacked Kirstens's cask of red wine.

Thurday  - 11^th August - Got up early - lovely day bright blue sky sat outside out of the wind whilst Willy did some housework(?)  then went out in the boat looking for mussels with some success - but when cooked were full of sand so the uncooked one goes back in the sea and we have  homemade hamburgers for dinner. 

Maria 

Friday 12^th August - Went for as walk along the beach on the way to Molde with Maria. Nice sand beach - walked up to the light house  poked around a  burial mound dating back to approximately 3,300 BC.  Nice walk.


Went into Molde looking for a barber, found one but unfortunately had closed 5 minutes before so abandoning that idea and had an ice cream instead. Molde is a very nice town has a Jazz festival every year and a stop of point for cruise ships. Most marvellous vista of mountians in the distance with many many different peaks visible.

Aboard the good ship 'Albertine'
on the way to Kirstunsund

Saturday 13^th August - Jan Ove and some friends were taking their boat to Kristiansund so went along for the trip. It happened to be the finals of the World Landskiing Campionships so the place was full of very healthy athletic types, Appears that the Italians are good at this particular sport.


The boat trip up took about 2 hours under motor,  came back under sail which was really nice with the hip flask being passed around to fight of the not too serious cool breeze.

From the boat

Whilst in Kristiansund we went for haircuts. It is probably the worst haircut and then had to pay $40 for the privilege.  Willy and his niece (Maria) and nephew (Edward) went to a party somewhere on the island - I had an early night. 

Meek-knocken 

Sunday - 14^th August - met up with Gunnar, a friend from Kristiansund - and went walking on  Meek-knocken another local mountain. This was a really nice walk not too steep and sort of meanders along a small creek for some of the way. Gunnar also seems to be a bit of an expert on local plants so sampled quite a few wild berries. Still here to tell the tale so he wasn't bullshitting.

Monday 15^th August  -Miserable day didn't go out all day, Maria came to say good bye as she was returning to Oslo after her summer break. For dinner we had “Uer” which is  lightly salted fish, with potatoes and carrots in a white sauce (reminded me of school dinners). Watched inglorious bastards - entertaining movie very Tarrantino...

Tuesday 16^thAugust - weather still a bit grey - walked over to see Jan Ove at the construction site, then went shopping for dinner - fish dumplings with swede and potatoes. Eaten with chillies and soya sauce not too bad otherwise rather bland. Later went fishing - caught nothing then went looking for whelks - got lots.

From the crabbing trip

At dusk went crabbing, this is done in shallow water using a garden rake. When you spot a crab on the sea bed, you poke it with the rake, the crab then responds by grabbing the rake and you haul it into a bucket. rather like taking candy from a baby, the hardest part is spotting the crab in the first place.  Sigbjorn was also out crabbing, he'd had much more luck than us (not really luck it's experience) and he gave us some more. We then met up with Jan Ove who was  out mackerel fishing so we also got some mackerel as well.. William spent the evening cleaning fish and boiling crabs - oh what bliss for a Norwegian boy.

Wednesday - 17^thAugust - Weather not too bad - WRK late getting up due to the heavy domestic duties night before. He then went and saw his mother and brought her back for coffee.

The lost sleeping bag incident - For some days Willy had been talking about going camping at the beach where we went walking with Maria. Must admit I wasn't too keen the weather was only so so and if you have a great house with wonderful views of the sea why go for the same views from a draughty tent?  Anyway after dinner and some wine the topic of camping came up. It was decided (not be me) that we should put the camping gear in the boat and go to one of the nearby Islands (Ohroya) for a night under canvas.

Base Camp on - Oroya

We made it to the island but then it was a bit of a hike to where WRK wanted to spend the night and unfortunately on the way ( I was trailing behind our illustrious leader in darkness) I managed to lose my sleeping bag.  I remember it dropping off but by the time we pitched the tent I had forgotten all about it and it wasn't until it was time to climb into the sleeping bags that it all came flooding back.  Herr Commandant  then spent the next few hours stomping around the island looking for the missing bag - not altogether happy..... Fortunately it wasn't cold so in the end we managed with the one sleeping bag. 

Anti-Gnat gear

Surprisingly and in spite of  Mr. Grumpy, I slept really well (the wine) and woke up at about six to a very calm morning , stuck my head out of the tent - I have never seen so  many mosquitoes and small flying insects in my life. They were everywhere in your hair in your eyes, down your back up your trousers. Eventually managed to put enough Off on to keep them about 2 cms away but it was not a great experience. Went out looking for the sleeping bag and found it in a puddle about 100 metres from the tent.


We then went for a walk around the lake and a bit of sun bathing and swimming. I have never experienced water so cold - it was so cold my legs physically hurt - out I came WRK decided to play it butch and went in up to his neck but fearing cardiac arrest come out quite quickly. Back to the house for a shower and a quick nap - Going to Kristiansund for dinner...

Arrived about 19:00 had a very nice meal prawns, lamb, cheese and fruit. Stayed the night after drinking some local Crete grappa.

Friday 19^thAugust - Left Kristiansund at about 10:30 did some food and wine shopping and home. An old friend of Willy's, Emmy came over for dinner. Had a very nice dinner bacalau and lots of Norwegian chatting - Emmy refuses to speak English  so it's all Norweigan. Anyway gives me time to start my blog. I'm off to bed about midnight.

Saturday 20^thAugust - slow start to the day. Jan Ove and Anna-Elin are coming for dinner .Plan (a) - Mussels fails as we have plenty of them but all full of sand and the supermarkets don't have any. Plan (b)  is pork but that seems to be off - 4 days past use by date Plan (c)  is Asian salmon parcels which worked OK.

Bart in Melbourne

Sunday 21^st August - Realise I need my Australian SIM to do phone banking. Can't find it anywhere. Phone UK but not seen there. Order a new one to get to delivered to Diane hopefully before she leaves for UK on Friday. Also spoke to Susan and  Isobel our neighbours from Sydney. Bart is with them as his 'foster' parents have moved to Melbourne and Bart is about to be flown down to join them. Willy is not too happy about this relocation but there's not a lot we can do. Poor Bart he will hate flying, the car for short journeys was a nightmare, an hour on a plane will really freak him out.

Of to Willy's other sister (Inger)  for dinner at 4, as usual I am the nominated driver manage to arrive late but had a great dinner of bacalau cooked with root vegetables followed by home made ice cream cake. After dinner we left and visited some old friends of Willy,  Siw and Geir who also live in Kristiansund, great house with fabulous views over Kristiansund, stayed until about 12 and then home driving carefully to avoid the moose that roam everywhere which makes driving at night a bit of a challenge especially as the roads aren't fenced. 

Typical Norwegian
 Boat House

Monday 22^nd August - Decision made we are leaving for Oslo on Wednesday so lots of chores to get done before we leave. We take  the dingy to Willy's brother boathouse and winch the engine out for the winter months. That was safely accomplished and apart from getting very wet no major accidents. Got a tow back from Willy's brother and then dragged dingy safely on high ground to avoid the worst of the winter storms. 

Willy came back from seeing his mother rather sad - apparently she was refusing to get out of bed and even though she knew him just rolled over and went to sleep. I know I shouldn't say this but I know that feeling myself.....

Went to Ann-Elin for dinner - Edward was there with what sounds like bronchitis - Ann-Elin  also has the same thing. Promised Edward a mention if we caught it - here's a mention anyway so far no signs (when writing this blog) but could this be the same bug I managed to get in December ??

Tuesday 23^rd August - Cleaning day before we leave WRK off to Kristiansund to buy a pair of trousers - decided to take the bus as it save the $40 toll fees nothing like leaving things to the last minute!

Wed 24^th August - Up early to get ready for trip. Beautiful day for the journey probably the best yet with bright sunshine and quite warm.

Waiting for the Solsnen Ferry
Look at the back drop!

The only problem with the trip is that there's no variation, it's always the same route. Anyway get going about at 10:00, so we should arrive late evening - should be be about a 10 hour drive as we have to go to Fredrikstad which is 90 kilometres South East of Oslo on the East side of the Oslo Fjord. Kirstien moved here since we were last in  Norway so it's the first time for both of us to see the new house.

Arrived in Fredrikstad about 20:00 that's a 10 hours journey with stops to change drivers and purchase petrol (a mind numbing event - don't think about the price...)

By the river in Fredrikstad

Lots of cold cuts for dinner washed down with Aquavit and Swedish Beer.

Thursday 25^th August - Get the guided tour of Fredrikstad which is the best preserved fortress town in Scandinavia and the birthplace of Roald Amundsen.  It was founded in 1567 by King Fredrick II and is situated on the river Glomma which obviously is a very important aspect of the town. The weather is not very good so decide to come back tomorrow to explore the Old City.

The ld Town
Fredrick ll 

Back home - delicious meat soup for dinner. WRK manages to stuff up his Iphone due to an upgrade (jail break) performed in Sydney and I get Android 3.1 onto the tablet - a great improvement which surpasses anything that the Ipad has to offer......

The cake Incident -  have promised not to mention the cake incident but there was a minor issue with a cake made with an Oreo base - my lips are sealed.

Friday 26^{th A}  - Late start went back into Fredrikstad walked through the town and caught the ferry across the river to the Old Town which is a very pretty walled town built as a fortress mainly against the marauding Swedes. Had lunch in the old town and then caught the town ferry back to the centre of Fredrikstad did a bit more shopping for dinner - we were cooking - Mussels.

Saturday 26^th August - A very late start went into to Fredrikstad to get some wine for dinner (from the state monopoly) and then duck for dinner.

Sunday 27^th August - Went out to lunch with Kirstien and Arild. The restraunt is opposite and island  where the Norwegian Princess lives - yes I know you are thought she lived in Australia but there is obviously more than one. Had fish soup which was really nice then went out to meet Yngvar in the evening. Home by 11:00

Fredrikstad to Larvik (220 Kms)

Monday 28^th August -  Today we start the trek back to France. Spending tonight with Jan and Siegfried who live on the other side of the Oslo Fjord on the way to Larvik where we will catch the ferry. Leave about 10:00 with a stop in Oslo and meet with Maria (Willy's niece) to deliver some stuff from Averoy. Get to Jan's about 15:00. Eric (yet another Willy Ex) and Jay are there for Dinner.

Tuesday 30^th August - up early 04.45 on the road by 06.00 get to the ferry. Just had 30 minutes to spare and off to Denmark. Somehow managed to get some sleep during the 4 hour crossing. Drove straight through Denmark to Kiel (Germany) famous for ship yards etc, but couldn't get any accomodation so went on to Hamburg. Stayed in the NH hotel which was crap for the money. Had dinner and a reasonably early night. We actually managed to find a rather nice local restaurant which did good Italian food at a reasonable price. 

Picaso - Man with Guitar

Wednesday 31^st August - decided to stay in Hamburg for the day and booked into the Holiday Inn  Express which turns out to be really good and excellent value for money also happens to be almost on the Reeperbahn, Hamburg's Street of shame. Is definitely a bit dodgy but interesting. Not the place to be alone and late at night.

Spent some time shopping and also did the Kunsthalle Hamburg Gallery highlights being Picaso's Man and Guitar. There is also a couple of Edward Munch's pictures - probably got a copy of the scream somewhere but didn't actually see it!

Had a remarkably good Indian meal for dinner washed down with large jugs of German beer. Then went and did a bit of exploring around the bars - interesting and different  to say the least.

Thursday 1st September - Good breakfast at the hotel and then off on the road again with Mr Grumpy driving guided by the satnav. Hope the satnav gets it right or we are all in trouble. This had to be one of the worst possible journeys, it goes through the really industrial (i.e. polluted)  areas of Western Europe. It's the German/France/Belgium border - basically the Rhur.

Valenciennes - Hotel de ville
Peut-etre?

The traffic is horrendous, quite hilly with traffic like you wouldn't believe. We made a couple of stops during the day for petrol and driver changes and I am sure I ended up with the worst of it. Anyway we made it in one piece and ended up in Valencienns. Sounds romantic but it ain't - sort of an industrial town in France that has seen better days.

Anyway desperate for a drink after the day's drive we go to a local bar for a relaxing aperitif, the bar turns out to be a betting shop! Undaunted we select the first restaurant we find which has a €22 prix fixee menu which turns out to be surprisingly good. The owner/waiter speaks very little English but enough to ask if we knew Kylie Minogue.  Then back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.

Rouen Cathedral

Friday 2^nd September - only another 400Kms to Honfleur so decided to go for a look around the city. Had breakfast sitting in the square opposite the Hotel de Ville, after that went hunting for some travel food which as ever is a baguette and fromage - the food in France is truly wonderful.

We are due to meet Diane and Bob off the Portsmouth ferry tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon and can't get into the cottage until then so we decide that rather than go straight back to Honfleur we would spend the night in Rouen which is about 100Km from Honfleur.

Rouen Cathedral

The city had previously been visited by vikings in 841 (Rollo), was where Joan of Arc met her end and was 50% destroyed during WWll. There is the most magnificent cathedral which was damaged but has been even wonderfully restored. As luck would have it, it was a weekend so we managed to get a fairly good deal on a hotel right in the Vieux Marche.

This is a traffic free zone of houses mainly built in the 15 and 16 centuries around fabulous squares.  Went out for dinner one of the wonderful squares near the Vieux Marche and on to a couple of bars for a nightcap.

ooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooo

Well that's the end of the big Trek North and back. The car was magnificent not a single problem throughout the 4,000 Km drive which included every type of road imaginable. William also performed well but the trip wasn't without it's moments. Don't expect to sit next to someone in a small car not have the odd word or two! but we have survived and lived to tell the tale or at least lived to write the Blog.

Tomorrow we will complete the Drive back to Honfleur in time to meet the 15.00 ferry from Portsmouth and start on the Bob and Diane adventure!