Ford provided the cars to mark the launch of the Mondeo, which the company hoped would become a world car, sold in multiple markets. The 4x4 in the background is a Ford Maverick. This photo was released by Ford of Britain as part of the company's 2011 centenary celebrations.

Fancy trying to take a Ford Mondeo through Siberia in winter? I thought not.

But trying to do just that was at the heart of documentary maker Richard Creasey’s 1993 Overland Challenge expedition, the goal of which was to travel overland from London to New York, via the not-yet-open Channel Tunnel and then over the ice of the Bering Strait from Siberia into Alaska.

It didn’t quite turn out that way but the team did make it all the way to New York, after struggling through Siberia, beyond the end of any known road, in the middle of winter.

The Mondeos were never going to make it all the way, and even the team’s six-wheel drive Ural army trucks (winterized down to -70°C) experienced some problems.

The final stage across the Bering Strait was to be done in an Arktos – an amazing all-terrain amphibious craft built in Canada. It didn’t quite turn out that way, but you’ll have to read the diary for the full story.

The severity of the conditions they faced cannot be imagined by those of us who live in ‘normal’ places, but the problems can perhaps be hinted at when I say that the picture accompanying this article, which comes from Ford’s archives, depicts a relatively trivial and easy part of the journey in good weather conditions. Travelling in their Ural trucks on Siberian winter roads, they experienced temperatures down to -60°C, massive storms and conditions that make the roads on Ice Road Truckers seem like the A1.

(It’s interesting to note that normal Western Europe/Scandinavian specification vehicles and equipment tends to be tested down to 40°C – below that, you are surprised with all sorts of amazing problems.)

You can read Richard Creasey’s fascinating trip diary and see photos and maps from the expedition on the H2G2 website – click here.

It’s an incredible tale, and makes you realise what a monumentally vast wilderness Siberia really is.

At a different time of year, it might just be possible to think about reaching the eastern coast of Russia in a large 4×4 motorhome (perhaps something like this), but even then you would probably be defeated when you reached the end of the road. To do it in the middle of winter really was something else.

Road tolls are in place on certain roads in Norway, but the system is somewhat different to those used in countries such as France.

In Norway, as far as we could tell, road tolls are used to pay for major road works. The tolls are not permanent and an updated list of toll roads is published periodically on the autoPASS website – autoPASS is the main toll system in use throughout Norway.

Tolls can crop up on quite minor roads – they are not restricted to major roads. However, they are not especially frequent. Toll prices are pretty reasonable for vehicles under 3.5 tonnes and 6m in length.

To give you an idea of toll costs for a sub-6m van, we paid 450NOK (about £50) in tolls for 4,700 miles driven in Norway. My autoPASS report lists 20 tolls, so that works out to an average cost of £2.50 per toll.

For motorhomes over 6m/3.5t, tolls are approximately 2-3x more than they are for sub-6m/3.5t motorhomes.

How To Pay For Road Tolls  In Norway

Visitors to Norway can register for the Visitors’ Payment system on the autoPASS website before travelling, which is what we did.

All you have to do is enter the dates of your visit (allow an extra day or two at each end, just in case) and register a credit card. You then make a deposit payment of 300NOK (about £33 at 2011 prices), which will be refunded if you don’t spend that much in tolls.

Setting up a Visitors’ Payment account allows you to drive through the automatic payment lane without stopping at the vast majority of tolls. No tag or vignette is required – the toll cameras use Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR). Tolls are automatically deducted from your account balance and if that reaches zero, your card will be debited again.

Ninety days after your visit period ends, any remaining balance is credited back to your credit card and you receive, by email, a report listing all of the tolls you paid and the credit card payments you made.

The autoPASS website has both English and German pages and the whole system is excellent and very easy to use. I would highly recommend it as the vast majority of tolls are fully automated with no manual payment option.

If you do choose not to register before you go, the ANPR toll cameras will photograph your registration plate anyway and you will be invoiced for the tolls, via autoPASS’s UK collection agency. There is no avoiding the tolls, although the system is quite slow – most tolls are charged about 3 weeks after you drive through them, but a couple took almost 2 months to be charged to my credit card.

Update 02/12/2011: It seems that the autoPASS system is not quite as efficient as I thought. I recently received a penalty notice through the post from Euro Parking Collection (EPC plc), the UK company that collects tolls, fines and so on in the UK on behalf of autoPASS (amongst others). The penalty was for non-payment of a toll – road, date and time were provided. The fine was about 15 times the cost of the toll. As far as I can tell, the problem is that the local toll company in that area was so slow to bill autoPASS that my Visitors’ Payment agreement had expired before they had managed to collect the toll.

Given that autoPASS allows 90 days after the end of your Visitors’ Payment agreement for final collection of tolls, this is impressively slow. I have followed the (simple) appeal procedure provided by EPC and await further developments. I am hoping that the fine will be cancelled and I will just have to pay the toll (£2.17). I will update this page as and when I find out more.

Update 02/02/2012: Having followed the appeals process as detailed above, today I received a letter from EPC telling me that the fine was being cancelled but that they reserved the right to reopen the case if it turned out that I had misled them or that they had received incorrect information. Fair enough.

It looks like I won’t have to pay the toll, either – presumably because the cost to the Norwegian toll company of collecting the toll from me would be far greater than the toll itself.

For more information or to create a Visitors’ Payment account, visit www.autopass.no.

Norwegian ferries are usually compact ro-ro affairs. Almost all have toilets, larger ones have a saloon and cafe

Ferries In Norway

Norway’s rugged and watery scenery means that fjords and impassable mountains often block the way. Tunnels and ferries are the Norwegian solution to this problem and many roads are interrupted by ferries. Even the main north-south highway, the E6, has a ferry at one point.

To the British mind, these ferries may seem like expensive extravagances, but look carefully at the map and you will find that generally, there is no sensible alternative. Ferries are an accepted part of the road network and local drivers appear to use them as such.

(Tunnels are even more common than ferries but are mostly toll free, so I won’t discuss them other than to say that they are usually good, but older ones can be quite dark.)

Ferry services are usually fairly frequent and run for most/all of every day. Shorter crossings run several times an hour and all the ferries we went on were modern ro-ro type vessels. If you are very unlucky, you may end up waiting an hour or so, especially in summer when the sheer volume of tourist traffic makes them very busy.

Prices for motorhomes under 6m are the same as for cars and you pay per passenger, too (excluding the driver). I believe that prices for vehicles over 6m rise considerably, but the sub-6m rates we paid were fairly reasonable. For example, in June 2011, a 15 minute crossing typically cost around 100Nkr, including one passenger.

To give you an idea of how widespread and essential these ferries are, we went on 18 vehicle ferries while in Norway.

Hannah, the team’s 19 year old London black cab is currently somewhere in Iran, en-route to Pakistan, and eventually, to Sydney. The whole trip will take in 39 countries and 50,000km:

To find out more, visit itsonthemeter.com or join them on Facebook.

We hoped we might be able to spend a lazy afternoon and overnight at Lindesnes Fyr and were not disappointed. Unlike the UK, where even if you paid, you could not overnight in the car park at John O’Groats, the car park for the lighthouse was large, flat and free and no there were no restrictions on overnight parking. Admission to the lighthouse and related attractions did require a ticket – 50Nkr each at the time of our visit (June 2011).

Lindesnes Fyr (lighthouse)

Lindesnes is a major navigational point for maritime traffic heading from the North Sea to the Baltic. The Lindesnes Fyr was the first lighthouse in Norway and was first lit in 1656, when 30 candles were lit on top of a three storey tower. This proved inadequate, even when the candles were replaced by an open coal fire. As a result, permission to maintain the light was withdrawn by the King until 1725, when the light was reinstated.

Since then, it has gradually evolved through three buildings and several technologies – today’s lighthouse is an automated 1000W halogen lamp in a 16m cast iron tower, a material the Norwegians favour for lighthouses as it has proved surprisingly durable – the current lighthouse was built in 1915.

South of here, it's North Sea all the way to Germany

The site is a great place to relax and unwind if you are at the end of a Norway trip – as we were – en route to Kristiansand for our ferry back to Denmark and thence home. It’s also worth visiting in its own right – the rocky scenery is reminscent of a mountain plateau, even though it is only 50m or so above sea level.

Lindesnes is, however, very popular with motorhomes – don’t expect a peaceful, private place to park! Here’s a shot of the parking area in early evening – and it continued to fill up until late in the evening:

Manafossen waterfall

This is an easy path for a Norwegian family!

It was a pleasant diversion, after which we rejoined route 45 and continued towards Lysebotn. Our original plan was to drive around (down the 27 hairpin, 1000m drop to Lysebotn) before taking the ferry back to Lauvik. Two ferries serve this route, a regular, year-round service which is small and fast but requires pre-booking, and a summer-only tourist ferry which is large and slow. Both are costly, especially the tourist ferry, which we estimated would cost £60-£70 for us. We decided to abandon this plan and instead head back up the road from Lysebotn and then take route 468 south towards Egersund, our next destination.

The views across the mountain plateau as you drive to Lysebotn are excellent

The drive to Lysebotn is very scenic, but by far the best bit is the drive across the mountain plateau before you start the descent to Lysebotn. The much-touted 27 hairpin bends do not offer as good a view as you might expect, and the Lysefjord remains almost invisible the whole time. Lysebotn itself is popular place for base jumpers to congregate before they jump off nearby bases, but other than the ferry port and the offices of a hydroelectric power installation, there’s nothing there.

Leaving Lysebotn, we retraced our route as far as Svartevatn, on route 45, where we took route 468 south to Tonstad, followed by the 42 south west towards Egersund. Instead of arriving in Egersund, we headed down to Eigerøya, a small island south of Egersund that’s connected to the mainland by a causeway. Here, we walked out to the lighthouse, admired the magma rock formations (www.magmageopark.com) and spent the night.

The lighthouse on Eigeroya island

Egersund proved a pleasant enough town, with ample free parking, and after a wander and a bit of shopping at our favourite Norwegian supermarket (Kiwi Mini Pris), we moved on slowly towards the even more pleasant town of Flekkefjord, where we spent the night by the marina. En route from Egersund to Flekkefjord are a couple of Norwegian photo opportunities that appear on many postcards and tourist brochures.

The first, signposted Sogndalsstrand from the main road (44) is a very picturesque fishing village that’s chock full of timber houses and very well preserved. It is an exact analogue of Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire but much more picturesque. Free tourist parking is provided on the outskirts of the village, from where you can walk in. Sogndalsstrand is much more worthwhile than the much-touted Henningsvær further north. The main photo opportunity is of a row of traditional timber houses sticking out over the fjord on stilts. To see this shot as the tourist board pictures it, cross the bridge you will find about halfway down the main street, then look to your right.

Sogndalsstrand - the shot that graces a thousand tourist brochures!

Next up on the photo opportunity list was Helleren. Helleren is actually a generic term for houses which were built under overhanging cliffs to take advantage of the shelter they offer from the weather. This example (again, signposted from the main road) is of two fairly well preserved 18th century timber houses that nestle under the cliff at the foot of the Jossingfjord.

The nearby titanium mining facility (I think that’s what it is) somewhat spoils the view nearby and creates an odd smell, but despite this, these houses are worth a visit if you are passing. Take the standard tourist brochure photo from the parking area and then follow the footpath across to take a close look at the houses – they are open all year round and can be freely explored. Each has a visitors’ book.

Judging from the photo exhibit inside one house, they were lived in until at least 1916 – and the remains of extremely old electric wiring suggests it could have been slightly later.

Helleren - they didn't have proper roofs because the cliffs sheltered them from the weather

Inside one of the Helleren - life must have been pretty basic

Ascending from Flam to Myral

We took the train both ways, although you can choose to walk all or part of the way up/down. The scenery from the train is good and it stops around halfway up for a photo opportunity by an impressive waterfall. To get the best views, sit on opposite sides on the way up and way down and get a seat with a window that opens (for taking photos).

Cunard's Queen Mary 2 leaving Flam - we were to see her again in Bergen. The western fjords are very popular with cruise ships and package tourists.

Flåm is also a cruise ship port and we had our first (of two) sightings of Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 whilst there. Our second sighting came two days later, when we visited Bergen. This is a city I would recommend and was worth a look around. Parking is pretty difficult for motorhomes – there is a dedicated overnight parking area for motorhomes that is easy to find with a map, but which is not signposted. We did not use it and managed to find another pay and display space (Nkr16/hour) for our van – but only because it can fit into a car parking space.

Bergen's old waterfront is touristy but attractive and well preserved.

Much of the city’s signposted parking is multi-storey – no use for motorhomes. On street parking for up to two hours is easy enough to find, but this does not really give you enough time, especially if you want to go up Bergen’s funicular railway, the Fløibanen, which costs around £10 per person and gives a great view of the city from the summit (320m) of Mount Fløyen.

Bergen's Floibanen funicular railway, which takes about 10 minutes to ascend Mount Floyen

The view over Bergen from the top of Mount Floyen - including the Queen Mary 2 again!

After leaving Bergen, our route took us on route 7 to Norheimsund, then on another ferry and along route 550, one of Norway’s designated tourist routes. Although it was scenic, it was by no means the best of the designated tourist routes which we followed while in Norway. After the 550, we continued via the 520 and 13 towards Jørpeland, last stop for provisions before Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock). This is a major tourist attraction that’s well covered by guidebooks and is well signposted. The size of the overflow car park (unused when we visited in June) gives an idea of how busy the path must be in summer.

The car park was busy when we were there - there's also a similarly-sized overflow car park for peak summer. It can be a bit of a procession up and down the path.

The guide time for the walk is 2 hours each way and it is steep and rocky in places. It took us 1h40 going up and about the same coming down, but we were not dawdling. A bit of clambering around is required – decent footwear is the most useful thing you can take with you.

A section of the path up to the top

The view from the top is good, unfortunately visibility wasn't perfect when we were there

The view from the top is very impressive, although the changeable weather on the day we visited meant that for about 50% of the time we spent at the top, all you could see was cloud. It’s good when it clears, though, although the number of visitors is such that there can be a queue for the best photo opportunities.

Geirangerfjord

However, the atmosphere is polluted by the multiple cruise ships which are usually moored in the fjord and Geiranger itself is a horrible tourist trap, consisting of shops and businesses operated solely to service the cruise ship trade. The whole place smelt like a dockyard because of the ships’ funnel emissions, which are trapped between the tall sides of the narrow fjord, and which create a near-permanent haze in the air, as can be seen in our photos:

P&O Aurora & another cruise ship moored in Geirangerfjord

It’s not really worth stopping at Geiranger unless you want some overpriced food, drink or souvenirs.

Things looked up after leaving Geiranger, however. The road becomes even more impressive as you climb away from the fjord and the views are good, including a new viewpoint which provides safer access to the Flydalsjuvet, an overhanging rock looking down on Geirangerfjord that’s used in countless postcards of the region.

Much better still is the Dalsnibba Pass, which is accessed via a toll road that branches off route 63 around 17km after leaving Geiranger (heading south). The Dalsnibba Pass starts at over 1,000m and climbs over 5km to a height of 1,476m. The road is part tarmac, part gravel and only opens in June each year for the short summer season. Despite this, it is in good condition and reasonably wide – motorhomes should not have a problem. At the top, there is a large, new parking area, complete with visitors centre, cafe and toilets. The toll cost 100Nkr when we went up in June 2011 and I would highly recommend it.

Driving up Dalsnibba

You can still see Geirangerfjord from the top of the Dalsnibba road

The view from the top of Dalsnibba

Here’s a video of us driving up Dalsnibba:

We headed into the Jostedalsbreen Nasjonalpark next for a spot of glacier viewing (‘breen’ means glacier). This national park offers four main glacier viewing and walking opportunities, two of which we tried. The first, the Kjenndalsbreen (near Loen), was a bit of a disappointment. After paying a 50Nkr toll and driving miles down a rough single track road, we go to the parking place for the walk to the glacier, which we expected to take about 20 minutes and bring us quite close.

We put our boots on, but 5 minutes later had reached the end of the (new) path, still a fair way from the glacier, albeit with a good view. The old path is visible but blocked off and appeared to go much closer to the glacier. It’s an easy option if you do not want a hard walk, but a little disappointing as you cannot get very close.

Kjenndalsbreen glacier view - 5 minutes from the car park

The other glacier approach we tried was the Nigardsbreen, which was the complete opposite. Turn off route 55 at Gaupne and then take the 604 north, along the bottom of the river valley until you reach the Breheimsenteret Jostedalsbreen Nasjonalpark information centre. This is a modern place, complete with museum, cafe, free wireless internet and toilets and a terrific view of the Nigardsbreen glacier.

The centre lies at the foot of the toll road (30Nkr) which takes you up to the large car park at the start of the glacier walk. The walk is fairly rugged, with some clambering over rocks (a common feature of walking in Norway) and takes around 45 minutes at a reasonable pace. You can shorten it by taking a boat ride from the car park for part of the way, but a walk is still required, including some rocky bits. However, this walk brings you very close to the foot of the glacier and its accompanying scenery, and thus is quite worthwhile. It is quite touristy, however – the walk can become a bit of a procession.

Up close and personal with the Nigardsbreen glacier, Jostedalsbreen Nasjonalpark

A different type of attraction in the same area is the Borgund Stave Church. Situated just 1.5km off the E16 to the west of Berge, it is Norway’s oldest stave church and dates back to 1180. Originally built along a major east-west trade route, it also has Norway’s last remaining freestanding medieval bell tower. It is more impressive and interesting than this description makes it sound and we were glad we took the short diversion from the E16 to see it.

Some other notable roads in this region were route 258 (Strynefjellet) and route 55 south (Sognefjellet). Route 258 loops inside route 15 between Grotli and Videseter and takes you up through some very impressive (and snowy) mountain scenery to the Stryn Summer Ski Centre, where you can see people skiing in various states of undress. It seemed like a very popular place and was heaving with life on the sunny Saturday in mid-June when we drove through.

Route 55 south from Lom to Gaupnes (where you turn off for Nigardsbreen) is also a good drive. It is the highest mountain road in Northern Europe and is a designated National Tourist Route. It rises to 1,434m and much of the road is over 1,000m, making it a stunning drive on a sunny day. Definitely recommended. If you approach from the north (Lom), it does take a while to get started, but it is worth the wait.

Finally, to complete a trio of very impressive roads, we took the ‘Snow Road’ from Lærdal on route 5 to Aurland on the E16. Technically, this road is redundant, having been replaced by the massive 24 kilometre Lærdalstunnelen, which links the E16 from Oslo to the E16 to Bergen. However, the drive over the Snow Road is well worth it and the road is being developed for tourists – we noticed several new rest areas with picnic benches and even toilets – although these were not yet in use. We stayed the night at a rest area on the snow road at around 1,200m – it was very scenic and very, very quiet – although there is tourist traffic during the day.

Having spent far too much time searching for the motorhome parking listed in our All The Aires Benelux & Scandinavia guide (see my review), we discovered it has been dug up and is being turned into a playground/car park. However, there is currently another large, flat, disused area where motorhomes can park for free nearby – although how long this will remain available is hard to say.

The Stiftsgarden, Norway's largest wooden palace and the Trondheim residence of the Norwegian royal family

We parked here and walked into the city for a look around and to use the city’s wireless network. Contrary to what our Lonely Planet Norway suggested (2009 edition), this is not free, although it is much cheaper than the cost of a coffee in a cafe with wi-fi. In June 2011, it cost 10Nkr for three hours (payment via PayPal or Norwegian mobile phone) with longer periods also available. It is apparently available throughout the city centre – we sat in the park in front of the Stiftsgården (Scandinavia’s largest wooden palace and the Norwegian royal family’s official residence in Trondheim) and picked it up without problem. Visit Trådløse Trondheim for full details.

The stonework on Nidaros Domkirke - Trondheim's cathedral - is especially distinctive in a country where most buildings are timber.

Trondheim was once Norway’s capital and the centre of an archbishopric that extended as far as Britain’s Orkney Islands. The christian church was founded in Norway by King Olav, who took power in 1015. Trondheim’s cathedral is home to his tomb and is an impressive stone building – all the more so in a country where wooden buildings predominate.

Trondheim's old, riverside wooden buildings have been well preserved - although most are trendy restaurants

Leaving Trondheim, we headed south towards the Atlantic Road. This is a series of road bridges that joins several small islets together and the driving experience it offers is much hyped in the travel press. In 2006, The Guardian, for instance, declared it ‘the world’s best road trip’. All I can say is that the journalist concerned must have been on the receiving end of some serious hospitality from the Norwegian Tourist Board.

The Atlantic Road is pleasant enough, but no more impressive than many other stretches of road in Norway. In addition, at 8km long it does not qualify as a road trip, even by bicycle! It’s hard to avoid coming to the conclusion that the Norwegians are using tourist toll payments (the tunnel at one end of the road is tolled) to subsidise the cost of creating these bridges – but who can blame them, when the travel industry laps it up?

Our route took us via route 64 from Kristiansund, along the Atlantic Road and onwards to Molde. This route included two toll tunnels (total 223Nkr for a sub-6m van) as well. We continued from Molde to Andalsnes where we drove up the Trollstigen pass. This is steep, narrow and impressive, even on a slightly cloudy day.

The visitors centre that is meant to provide a view over the edge at the top was still not finished when we visited in June 2011 (although it was meant to be completed in 2010) but looks like it is nearly ready and should provide a stunning ‘precipice’ view point.

Instead of continuing to Geiranger in the normal way, we then took a diversion along route 60 to Ålesund. This is a beautiful fishing and ferry port with lots of pastel-coloured Art Nouveau buildings and a pleasant – and unique – feel. This difference is the result of a fire in 1904, which destroyed most of the city centre. The resulting stone and brick rebuild created a town which is quite unlike most others in Norway.

The waterfront in the centre of Alesund

The view from the top of Aksla hill makes the walk (or drive) worthwhile

Ålesund also has excellent, dedicated motorhome parking (16Nkr/hr or 160Nkr/24hrs in 2011) which has good toilets and showers, plus a service point. It is signposted as you drive into the town on the E136. We parked in here for several hours while we visited, but if we ever visit again will plan to spend 24 hours there – it is a brilliant waterfront location that’s just 10 minutes’ walk from the town centre.

Following our visit to Ålesund, we headed west again to the island of Runde, which is popular with walkers and birdspotters and home to 100,000 breeding pairs of puffins, amongst other things. Access to Runde is via a series of road bridges which are toll free and which we thought were more impressive than the Atlantic Road.

We spent an evening up on the cliffs watching the puffins and enjoying the (steep) walk, before leaving the island in search of somewhere to park. There really is no overnight parking on Runde except for the Goksøyr campsite.

Looking over towards the campsite and the starting point for the walks up to the birdwatching cliffs

We saw Skuas...

Runde’s 200,000 or so puffins are resident from Feb/March until late August and nest on the Lundeura section of cliffs (click here for a map, it’s about halfway down the page). To reach the puffin cliffs, follow the main path up from just beyond the campsite and then turn left at the top – there are some signs. It is a bit of a clamber over rocks to get to the puffin area, but it is the official route). Go down the wooden ladder and then make your way to the edge.

...and hundreds of puffins

Runde is very much like the Shetland Islands and we liked it a lot.

As you head north, the scenery alternates between very bleak and forested – but even a small change in altitude is enough to remind you how far north you are and the Arctic wind gradually often adds an impressive wind chill, even on mild early summer days.

Access to Magerøya Island is via toll tunnel – click here for the tunnel website (Prices are under ‘Priser’). Our sub-6m van plus one passenger cost 192Nkr each way in June 2011.

Getting To Knivskjelodden

Our ultimate destination was not the tourist mecca of the Nordkapp Visitor Centre, but Knivskjelodden (71 degrees, 11 mins and 8 secs north), the true most northerly point in Europe. This is reached on foot from the Jalgavarri car park, which is free and is situated directly off the E69, just south of the Nordkapp visitors centre. The walk to Knivskjelodden is an 18km (12 mile) round trip and it is fairly rough, but not difficult going. In early June, we found mud, snow and a cold wind – dress as you would for a long walk on an English winter day.

The walk to Knivskjelodden starts here, at the Jalgavarri car park on the E69

The path is clearly waymarked with cairns and red painted ‘T’s on rocks. For much of the walk you can see the distant Nordkapp Visitor Centre on the top of its cliff, although this does disappear into the clouds occasionally. This walk is at a lower level and we did not experience any visibility problems, although it’s clear that the weather could change fast.

The walk starts from the back of the Jalgavarri  car park, at right angles to the road. Follow the way markers up to the top of the first hill and then onwards, passing through a glacial valley and eventually along a rocky beach to the finish line, Knivskjelodden.

For much of the way, Nordkapp is visible in the distance - as here

The final stretch - the path goes down to the beach and then round to the left

The true most northerly point in Europe is marked by a small obelisk and there is a metal locker nearby, which houses a walkers’ logbook. We found we had arrived just a few days after Adam and Sophie of Europe by Camper – it’s a small world. (The four of us were the only Brits in the book this year – how come so many more Germans, Dutch, French, Swiss and Italians visit Norway than do us Brits?).

No one is further north in mainland Europe than you! Looking east, you can see Nordkapp

If you stare hard, you can see the Nordkapp from Knivskjelodden - it's a bit to the south.

The walk from Jalgavarri to Knivskjelodden offered impressive views and was very satisfying – we were very pleased to have chosen this option. The return trip took us 5.5 hours, with a half hour stop for lunch.

You could overnight in the car park at the start of the walk, but it is exposed and in a pretty bleak location. A good alternative, if you have the time to drive before or after your walk, is to park in one of the two large rest areas situated at sea level in large bays en route to Nordkapp, after you have passed through the undersea tunnel to Magerøya Island. We stayed in the second of these and it was ideal, although the drive to the Jalgavarri car park took 1.5 hours.

After leaving Nordkapp and Magerøya Island, we would have liked to continue east to the far reaches of Norway and the Russian border. However, time didn’t permit this and we headed south again, back down the E6. We did take one further sidetrip, to Hammerfest, where we hoped to see the midnight sun.

Now, I think this is a bit unecessary – I know the sun is still up at midnight because it’s still bright daylight. However, many people, some of whom are close to me, like to actually see the sun. As it happens, we found the perfect place to observe the sun against a clear horizon and to park overnight, just beyond Hammerfest, near the village of Forsøl – here, in fact (head out to Forsøl and then follow the sign ‘Kulturminner’.

Note: If you are not much of an astronomer, you may not realise that in the Arctic Circle, the sun does not just go up and down in midsummer – it goes sideways, too. This is how it manages to remain above the horizon in the west but then appear above the horizon in the east in time for morning. If you look at the map I’ve linked to above, you will not that the view is more or less to the north, not to the west!

We had to hastily reposition ourselves when we realised this but managed to get a bona fide midnight sun shot, as you can see:

It's midnight

The view (at midnight) across to Forsol from our parking place

Hammerfest itself has undergone lots of redevelopment over the last decade or so but is still an utterly pointless place to visit, unless you happen to need the facilities of a medium-sized town or harbour. It’s not an unpleasant place, but there just isn’t really any point in going there.

Two days of hard driving later (Norway is a big country), we were within spitting distance of Trondheim and ready to begin the second half of our Norwegian tour.

The main ferry port for departures to the southern Lofoten Islands is Bodø. Ferries to Moskenes (on Moskenesøya) take about 4 hours, with a further 1.5 hours to Værøy. There are only two attractions on Værøy- walking and birds. Birds are best seen by taking a bird safari by boat from the harbour, as the cliffs on which they live are not really visible or accessible from land.

A video tour of Værøy:

We opted for the walking part of the deal and headed for the departure point of a walk to see the abandoned village of Måstad. Måstad was abandoned in the 1950s and was only accessible by boat, even when it was inhabited. The walk is described as a “tricky walk” in our guide and should take 2-3 hours. We found it surprisingly hard going – this walk requires lots of clambering over boulders and walking on very narrow, steep and uneven paths. It is not suitable for children or anyone without a reasonable level of agility and fitness.

Ferries to and from Værøy are limited and we did not want to get stuck on the island overnight. We caught the ferry off Værøy in the evening and made our way to Mosekenes, the ferry port on the island of Moskenesøya. The main Lofoten Islands are joined together by bridge so from here, we were able to make our way by road (toll free) onto the adjacent islands of Vestvågøy, Austvågøya and Hinnøya. In truth, we would not bother with Værøy again and would head straight to Moskenes, instead.

The scenery is impressive throughout the Lofotens but weather can vary dramatically – we had both perfect days of blue skies and sunshine and days of blustery rain and low cloud cover, which rendered the mountains all but invisible. We visited most of the standard tourist destinations – the historic fishing village of Å, which is picturesque albeit very touristy and the less impressive traditional fishing village of Henningsvær, which our usually reliable guide book claimed “richly deserves an overnight stay”.

In fact, Henningsvær is a tourist trap that seemed to have very little going for it. It is certainly a historic fishing village and many of the original buildings remain, but coach parties are wheeled remorselessly in and out and the whole place was singularly uninspiring. You may get an idea of the level of cynicism involved if I tell you that it is possible to take two-hour fishing trips for 750Nkr (£85) on a cod fishing vessel to see what cod fishing is like.

Fishing is still big business in Norway and you will see fish drying on giant racks all over the Lofoten Islands

One of the reasons we decided to come to the Lofotens was because they are one of the best places in Norway (and Europe) to see Sea Eagles. The Lofotens are also jam-packed with great scenery. In both respects, the islands were very good to us. We took the 815 on Vestvagøya from Leknes to Sundklakk and saw three white-tailed/sea eagles circling above us at different times.

The following day, we took a Trollfjord/Sea Eagle Safari cruise from Svolvær. We had reservations about this, as it turns out that the eagles are lured close to the boat by feeding them with freshly caught fish. Although this is, realistically, the only way you will ever get such close sightings of these mighty birds, it does seem wrong to interfere with their natural hunting in this way.

However, our desire to see the eagles overcame our scruples and we were rewarded with several distant sightings and three close sightings when the birds were fed (see my video below). Close to, they are seriously impressive predators.

Offering freshly caught fish to sea eagles will persuade them to come much closer to humans than they normally would... To give you an idea of scale, the fish in this eagle's claws is about a foot long.

Sea Eagles off Svolvær:

The Sea Eagle cruises from Svolvær last 3 hours (or just over 1 hour if you opt for the fast RIB boats) and take you along the coast from Svolvær and into the Trollfjord, an impressive narrow fjord and a good place to spot sea eagles. Although the RIB option may seem attractive if you are pressed for time, I would caution against this. Five of the six eagles we saw were en route to and from the Trollfjord. If we had been in the RIB boat we would not have seen these nor have had the chance to photograph them. In this case, slow and steady is the best way to see the sights.

Cruising into the Trollfjord, on the Lofoten island of Austvagoya

On leaving the Lofoten Islands we continued through the islands to the Vesterålen Islands and the island of Andøya. Our plan was to drive up through the island to Bleik, on the north-west coast, from where a Puffin Safari runs, to see the puffins (and sea eagles) on the nearby island of Bleiksøya. The drive up through the island was very scenic and was improved still more by taking the minor road (Fv976) up the west coast of the island (branch off Route 82 at Risøyhamn), past the Skogvoll Nature Reserve. Ever on the lookout for eagles, we were rewarded by a close sighting on this road – we pulled up to the side of the road and the eagle lazily flew right across the road in front of us. Amazing.

Bleik proved to be a sleepy place with a small fishing port. It’s also the base for the Puffin Safari operation (www.puffinsafari.no) which runs 1-2 bird-watching trips a day to nearby Bleiksøya, a small, uninhabited island that’s about 30 minutes away by fishing boat. Each trip includes a knowledgeable local guide who is a local fisherman in the winter but has a great knowledge of both local history and birds and speaks good German and English (like many Norwegians).

Unlike the Sea Eagle safaris of Svolvær, the Puffin Safari is completely unintrusive – the fishing boat simply holds station just off the island and allows you plenty of time to observe the bird life. We saw several eagles as well as a great many puffins, cormorants and other sea birds. Each trip is around 1.5 hours and cost 350Nkr per person. I would recommend Puffin Safari over Svolvær’s Sea Eagle Safaris as it provides a more authentic experience, doesn’t interfere with the wildlife, and includes a very knowledgeable and interesting guide. Bleiksøya is also far less touristy than Trollfjord, which gets visitors on bumboats from cruise ships as well as at least four or five Sea Eagle safari services that run from Svolvær harbour.

The Puffin Safari to Bleiksoya lived up to its name, but we saw several eagles, too

We left Andøya via the seasonal (summer only) ferry from Andenes, which is just a few kilometres up the coast from Bleik. This turned out to be a lively crossing but did save a lengthy drive, the fuel for which would only have cost marginally less than the ferry charge of 575Nkr for our sub-6m van. The ferry from Andenes arrives at Gryllefjord on the island of Senja, which is joined to the mainland by road bridge. A drive through Senja is highly recommended – the scenery is excellent and the island is much less touristy than the Lofotens. The entrance to the fjord on the ferry is stunning.