|  This
year my brother and his wife got an idea to make a car trip to Norway
during their summer vacation, and I and my girlfriend were welcomed to
join the trip. Brother had decided to rent a trailer, because of the flexibility
of staying overnights when and where ever. The destination, northwestern
Norway, and the route was agreed roughly beforehand.
I was very excited about this trip: having good time
with my fellows and great opportunities to shoot excellent scenario photos.
As an individual who lives in northern part of Earth, I know how beautiful
and unspoiled the nature is around Polar Circle during the summer time.
But I was also aware that this wouldn't be a pure photography trip, so
the trailer wound not stop whenever I'd like to..
Friday 23rd of July
The Beginning
 Last
minute checking and so we were on the road. Only after couple of minutes
I was so concentrated to my photomagazine that I totally forget to tell
my brother when to take a ramp to the highway. So here it was, our first
missed crossroad. Well, better get lost at home town than somewhere deep
in Norwegian mountains...
As soon as we got to Sweden, the scenario changed
a little bit. After the border city of Haparanda the road became wider
and it was quite nice to be a slower combination vehicle when others could
bypass us easily. There were also some beautiful landscapes, which we
noticed while having refreshments.
Since the night was bright enough, we
went ahead until very late. After bypassing some small parking places
we arrived to Lappeasuando, a big parking place for caravans. Great!
That was really well done from Swedish road office, Vägvärket.
There were a large Lappish hut with some local information, small bridge
and a restaurant.
 
Saturday 24th of July
Seeing the Mountains
 When
we got up in the morning -- or it was more like middle of day -- the most
of the trailers on that parking place were gone. Later we noticed this
was quite characteristic for our journey to came last to the camping place
and get up when everybody else were gone. Well, at least we partied heavily
almost every night!
It was easily noticeable that the landscape became
more and more harsh when we continued driving to north. Soon we arrived
to Kiruna, the northern mining city. Later we learned that the city was
quite young, established in the year 1900.
 First
things you notice while driving towards Kiruna are huge mountains covered
with dark mining leftovers. Next to the road there were lot's of companies
doing some mining related business like repairing mining machines. The
city itself looked little bit gray and disconsolate in my opinion, although
you have to remember that the weather wasn't the brightest one.
Back at the caravan we had lunch before
continuing driving toward Norwegian border. The scenario started to change
again, now it was clear that we were approaching the real mountains of
Scandinavia coast. The road started to curl like a serpentine around hills
and lakes. The lakes were absolutely pure blue colored between mountains
and there were also beautiful cascades of bluewhite water rushing down
from the mountains.
So it started to rain heavily after we bypassed the
border of Norway. The way continued over a huge bridge and on the serpentine
road where people drove almost scary fast. We arrived to the second stage
of our trip, the camping place of Narvik. That night we celebrated our
arrival to Norway, the land of massive mountains and peaceful fjords.
Sunday 25th of July
Going to Lofoten
 Sunday
we decided to see the Lofoten Islands. They are a series of islands next
to the cost of Norway, people lives there mainly by fishing (and by tourism
I guess) and the area is quite famous of its beautiful landscape.
We actually never did the Lofoten, because it was
getting late we decided not to continue further. We got acquainted with
local pub and hanged around the town of Sortland.
On way back to Narvik we stopped several
times to just watch the view. The buildings were built of wood exclusively
and they were nice looking next to the lakes and rivers. I didn't feel
disappointed about the cloudy weather, because now all seemed so blue
calm. Maybe adequate weather for this scenario.
  
Monday 26th of July
The Iron Man of Narvik
 When
we got up and started to prepare leaving the camping place, the most interesting
encounter happened. During the night a small and ragged car, Lada, had
appeared next to our trailer. An old man stepped out of that car and became
to us. He started to tell us what places would be worthwhile to see in
our route down to Norway.
 We
find out that he had been traveling Norway at summer times during the
last thirty years with his old Lada. This grand old man was called Johannos,
and he was from the city of Varkaus. His wife had died long time ago,
and this is what he told about her: "Well, she didn't like to travel so
much as I did, but now she is watching my trips from the cloud edge..."
Several radio and TV stations had also interviewed
him during his thirty years travel. No wonder that he was said to know
Norway better than most of the local people. This summer he told it has
been so cold in Norway that he had had to stay at cottages even three
nights, normally he slept in his vehicle. Suddenly we felt quite embarrassed
with our modern trailer and car -- this old retired guy was traveling
and staying nights at his small car. Truly an iron man, I'd say.
Before leaving Narvik we familiarized ourselves with
the city itself. We dropped in a small lyrical cafeteria, walked around
the city and saw for example a beautiful church made by rocks. I liked
the city, it didn't feel any dull or dark place not at all.
The E6 road heading south was full of long tunnels.
We experienced some exciting moments for example when we bypassed a large
track in a narrow five kilometers long tunnel.
End of Part I
continue to part II... |
tilhi.com/PhotoStories
© Juha Lehtomäki. Copying
and using any photos & stories without a permission
prohibited.