We were by an ocean! Or: Drive over the Atlantic Road

Today was the day! A long-held dream of Günni is about to come true: a drive over the Atlantic Road. I too have looked forward to this stretch of road after every YouTube video, blog post by fellow travelers, and every time I watched James Bond.

So we set off from our campsite near Trondheim and enjoy a few moments taking in the view of the fjord. Then it's time to pack up and hit the road.

Again today, the journey is the destination, as the route leads us along fjords or through dark green coniferous forests. This is essentially my Norway: water and forest, fog and clouds 🥰 The weather is still mostly rainy and cloudy, so I can continue to enjoy the mist swirling around the mountains.

We also have a ferry ride today, and we're so lucky: they serve Pølse on the ship. The staff member who welcomed us in German was especially nice, and we had a lovely chat. She is a former resident of Cologne, who immigrated 20 years ago. It was a particularly pleasant and warm crossing, and in good spirits, we look forward to the rest of the journey.

For a change, we also counted tunnels today: over a distance of about 230 km, we passed through 9 tunnels. That's still manageable; I had thought there would be more. The last tunnel before the Atlantic Road is the Atlantic Tunnel. Just shy of 6 km long, it goes beneath the ocean. For some reason, my brain finds this fact completely unrealistic 😄 I just find it fascinating that such a thing is possible.

So we are almost there, and I am trying to capture good pictures. Unfortunately, it’s not so easy to find the right moment to take a photo while driving at full speed. So I remind Günni that we definitely need to stop soon, or it will be impossible to get any souvenir pictures.

And then off we go, and we are both very excited about the view, the bridges, the ocean, and the waves. There is a beautifully constructed footpath that you can walk from a parking lot, offering a perfect view of the ocean. When we first set off, the world looks just fine, but not even 10 minutes later, we are both quite wet. Like two drenched poodles, we hurry back to the camper to warm up again. We wait for the rain to pass so that I can get a few nice pictures afterward. And Günni, who definitely has his doubts about bridges, drove the entire route with absolute calm and composure. We gave him a round of applause for that 😁

Would it have been nicer with sunshine? Did we expect it to be different? I don’t really know. I think the wind and rain make the water dance in a particularly beautiful way, and so we enjoy the variation that we experienced.

Afterwards, we drive to our new site, and upon arrival, we spontaneously decide to stay for two nights instead of just one. It’s so beautiful here, right by the lake, with the mountains behind us—once again, such a lovely spot on earth. Let’s see where we can hike tomorrow and what we can discover. We’ll keep you updated 😉