17 September 2002 - Will they make it.... Part 1
1078 miles to Bergen, and a full tank of petrol. Its not dark (yet), and Dan's wearing Sunglasses...

An alarm call at 8am Sunday morning got us into breakfast at a sensible time. Well it got us into breakfast anyway. Whilst Dan discovered that pancakes with cod liver oil is not only a popular breakfast dish but is also very easy to mistake for pancakes with maple syrup, the plan was hatched. We were aiming for Trondheim for the night - basically half way between Tromso and Bergen - and reckoned the second day would be easier going, so we could cut along the coast and follow the ferries and the fjords of the south west.

Al had woken to discover that O2, in their infinite wisdom, had cut off his mobile without so much as a text message or a phone call. We will brush over this for the time being, suffice to say it made things a little trickier and made one Fingers Froom remarkably angry.

11am and with 2950 miles on the clock so far we were on the road again, heading south from Tromso to Narvik, the next town on the Arctic Highway. The weather was less than fantastic as Dan went straight back to sleep, leaving Al to overtake un-assisted (right hand drive is not the best place to be sitting on roads like this) for the first stage.

The Norwegian driving standards had not improved, as we averaged 36mph for the first couple of hours. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "These guys are obviously just idiots who drive everywhere too fast. The mountain roads are obviously too dangerous to go any more than 30 miles an hour on." Although occasionally there is a very, very, very small grain of truth in that, we are on the whole (and contrary to popular belief) safe and responsible drivers. Just a bit fast occasionally. A lot of the Arctic Highway is actually very good in the northern sector - the long, straight, wide roads (and some entertaining twisty bits, of course) are actually very pleasant to drive, especially through scenery such as this, however it can become very frustrating at 30 mph. The lack of mirrors and a tendency to drive in the middle of the road only add to the problem.

Eventually, after 5 hours on the road, we made it to the fjord crossing at Stromhjaven - an hour before the next ferry. The irony was not lost on us as almost every car we had managed to pass in the last 2 hours caught up with us as we sat in the rain outside the cafe on the jetty (closed, obviously).

After 7 hours on the road we reached Narvik, still firmly within the Arctic Circle. It was closed.
After 9 hours we crossed the Arctic Circle. There was snow blowing over the tops of the glaciers above us and the wind whistled through the peaks as the last of the light faded from the sky (that sounds quite dramatic doesn't it?!) and we stopped to pick up some rocks (there was no money left for souvenirs by now).
After 10 hours we reached Mo I Rana. It was closed.

Trondheim wasn't looking too likely.
At all likely, actually.

Almost 12 hours after we had left Tromso we pulled into Mosjoen, too tired to go much further. Needless to say it was less than open. A few laps of the empty streets and we found the Fru Haugen hotel, a luxurious, historical hotel in the centre of the old town. That's how the brochure described it anyway. Left to our own words the lino-floored, plastic coated room, with its two, 18 inch wide beds, was more along the lines of 'The Shining', however a bed for the night was all that was needed even if it did cost more than the nicest hotels we had recently stayed in. We had managed just under 450 miles in 12 hours.

Bugger.

More soon...

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