Next stop was the small coastal town of Pitea to meet up with a Swedish friend, Helena & her cousin, Camilla. Helena comes home for a holiday each year and we were lucky that our paths crossed. We enjoyed a lovely meal at Camilla's apartment and learnt a lot about Sweden and its customs. It’s so nice to have local knowledge to get a real understanding of a place. They had booked us into a great campsite right by the sea, with its own pool, and as the weath...

We have travelled over the mountains from Narvik to the Abisko National Park in Sweden. Strangely the mosquitoes appear almost as soon as you enter Sweden, it’s as if they are swedes and don’t venture abroad. The Abisko area is quite beautiful centred around a glacial river with many rapids. There are also many lakes which is why the mosquitoes are here. We can free camp here and have found a couple of lovely spots, you just need to get there by early evening...

Next on our list is The Lofoten Islands. So, we continued our journey north and crossed the arctic circle - a pretty uneventful occasion but we took the obligatory photo on the mountain plateau and gave a wide berth to the souvenir shop. Then we headed onto Bodø for the ferry. Stopped on the way at the Bula rock carvings, 4000 years old and still visible outlines of a deer, man on skis and a bear. Great place to free camp too, up in the quiet forests. Vanda’...

To combine travel with sightseeing we took the ferry from Hellesylt to Geiranger along the fjord. Bit like a cross between a cruise and a ferry trip. Awesome scenery as ever, passed the seven sisters waterfalls (could only count five) and several abandoned farms in the hills (where they tied the kids to ropes so they didn’t fall off the farm, surprised they moved out?) From Geiranger Connie hauled us up the Eagle Road, 11 hairpin bends up 620m to the plateau a...

Next stop Lom. Up over the mountains again, tunnel after hairpin bend and on and on. Vanda is starting to dread to mountain roads and prefers tunnels as she can’t see the drops off the side like on the roads! Snow up here again at 1400 m. We have to stop at a tunnel due to roadworks and get chatting to a workman who tells us that Norway is having a terrible summer so far, perhaps that’s why we’re wearing the thermals we brought along for Svalbard. Took a lo...