When dreams come true...

15.07.2023 (Day 62)

It would have been an incredible day today if the weather had played along a little better... A whale safari with a museum visit was planned for today. Unfortunately, the whale safari had to be cancelled for safety reasons (too much wind). Nevertheless, we were able to take part in a very interesting museum tour in German. Due to the cancellation, we suddenly had a lot of time but no ferry to get to the island of Senja. In the café, we made plans and heard a female Nidwalden dialect. Heidi recognized Heidi. So Heidi from Schlierbach recognized Heidi from Stans, Marianne's sister. Coincidences happen 😊 And we had a few minutes to exchange ideas. Heidi from Stans and her family took the 1:00 p.m. ferry to Senja, but we didn't have a place anymore. So we decided to move our Oski instead of waiting for 4 hours. We drove south again, our destination today is Astrid's Oasis in Hamnvik. After about 4.5 hours of travel time and 200 kilometers and 2 car ferries, we reached the oasis. Although we had a different idea of an oasis.

16.07.2023

Today we decided to stay here for another night. We wanted to do the planned 4-lake hike. The hike was 13 kilometers long and we hiked for about 3 hours. A beautiful and not so touristy area. After that we enjoyed the oasis, which could use some maintenance.

17.07.2023

Today we made another attempt to get to the island of Senja. This time it worked, just without a ferry. Our destination is the "Norwegian Wild" camp in Vangsvik. The drive was very interesting and varied. The weather was cloudy but not cold. And so we enjoyed our first evening on the island of Senja. By the way, Senja is the second largest island in Norway (out of about 150,000...).

18.07.2023

Hiking is the miller's joy... For Reto, a 13-kilometer hike in Anderdalen National Park was on the sports program today. Heidi, due to foot problems, settled for a short tour. The weather in Norway has been changeable for a few days. Fortunately, not much rain, but often cloudy with high fog.
We treated ourselves to dinner at the campsite restaurant, and Heidi fully enjoyed her "free" evening. The food was very good: Reto tried reindeer soup, Heidi had a salmon pizza.

19.07.2023

The weather didn't promise us a blue sky today. So we moved on and drove along the scenic Route 862 towards Botnhamn. Along the way, we made a detour to the small fishing village of Bovaer and Mefjord. Despite the overcast sky and temperatures of only 12-14 degrees, we took a short tour to a lookout point. The mountain landscape of Senja is still attractive in this weather. For dinner, we had (typically Swiss) macaroni gratin.

20.07.2023

The weather forecast predicted good weather for the Nordkap today... We woke up with almost sunshine and Heidi got a bit overexcited. After breakfast, we drove the last 26 kilometers. On the way, the fog came and went in a matter of seconds. It remained a surprise for us what we would find at Nordkap. After about 30 minutes and 26 kilometers, we reached Nordkap. Unfortunately, in dense fog. We enjoyed ourselves in the tourist center and looted the souvenir shop. We decided to visit a small fishing village (Skarsvag), which was about 15 kilometers away. In the best weather, we took a 1-hour hike and then enjoyed coffee and cake. Since we had time, we made another detour to Nordkap. Unfortunately, the weather didn't improve and we returned to our base camp.

21.07.2023

3rd time's the charm 😊 After the fog yesterday, we called on Petrus. He didn't promise us anything, but he put in a good word for us with the weather gods. We drove to Nordkap again, this time in dense fog. Our hope wasn't very high, but lo and behold, the fog cleared in the last meters before the parking lot. We enjoyed more hours at Nordkap, this time in good weather. And we could hardly believe that the weather gods were so good to us this time. A magical moment for us - when dreams come true. We'll let the photos speak for themselves.
Before noon, we continued to the booked bird safari in Gjesvaer. The 1.5-hour boat trip was an experience for us. We saw puffins, sea eagles, oystercatchers, great black-backed gulls, and seals. We continued our journey with Oski heading south. On a whim, we decided to take the coastal road to Havoysund. Here, too, we saw incredible landscapes and coastlines. Even reindeer wandered along the roadside. We parked Oski somewhere in the middle of nowhere, without reception and radio. It was the perfect day for us.

27.07.2023

After a peaceful night, we visited the fishing village of Havoysund, which didn't impress us. Therefore, we continued directly towards Ifjord (about 250 kilometers to the east) because tomorrow we want to visit the northernmost lighthouse in Norway.

As you may have noticed, we do a lot of hiking on our trip. What is the difference between hiking in Switzerland and hiking in Norway? In Norway, distances are given in kilometers, not in hours or minutes, as in Switzerland. The difficulty levels are indicated by colors: green (easy), blue, red, and black (difficult to very difficult). We have often found that a blue hike is not suitable for everyone, even though it is classified as easy. We often get our hiking ideas from various hiking apps, and so far they have always led us safely to our destination. The paths are not always well signposted. We find that the trail markings in Switzerland are probably unique.