Norway Day 3 ~ The Arctic Circle!

We slept great and hit the road with our tea and coffee. We continued along the Kystriksveien Coastal Route, taking the 9:35 ferry as our first ferry of the day. Unfortunately, the weather forecast was 100% rainy for the day (and rest of the week).

A word about the ferries in Norway – some are free (those that shuttle less than 100,000 people per year and/or are the only access to an island) – and some are paid through the autopass (toll) system.  Interestingly, there is no one company that provides all ferry service in Norway, so the best way to find out the times and cost, is to simply Google the route and you find the departure times and prices.

We chatted with a couple bikers from Germany for the 30 minute ride – comparing ferry notes/knowledge – and eventually stopped at a pharmacy for Brad to get cold medicine. Interestingly, one cannot get any oral cold medication without seeing a doctor although he was able to get nasal spray, throat lozenges, and cushy tissues with the help of a pharmacist. 

Brad using Google translate at the pharmacy!

We continued on – at one point, we had about an hour before the ferry left, so we crashed in the bed and napped.

Eventually we stopped at a campground to get fresh water and dump the toilet cartridge, which was full (after barely using it) after two days. (We came to realize that we needed to dump the toilet cartridge about every two days.) About the toilet cartridge – it ended up being pretty easy (especially for Suzanne who never did it😉) – it gets pulled from the rig and then dumped wherever one can find an official dumping place – and dumping places are all over Norway.

We continued driving – it was just totally overcast and rainy. 

We pulled over to eat lunch and looked at forecast – the entire next week was predicted rain every day, all day. We decided to leave the Kystriksveien Coastal Route (since we really could not enjoy the views) and head to the Arctic Circle. (This is how the entire trip ended up going – each night/morning, we would assess where we were and decide where to go. Then we either followed that plan or came up with another one along the way.)

We got to the Arctic Circle around 5pm......

.....and meandered the Arctic Circle Visitor Center. 

We even received our "Crossed the Arctic Circle" Certificate! 😂

We made a dinner of pasta and crashed in the parking lot. We decided to drive a bit north tomorrow, but unless the weather makes a drastic change, we will then head south. 

Rainbow over the arctic!

Cold night ahead here in the arctic…it's super windy and rainy. (Notice the other rigs - about twelve rigs ended up spending the night here.)

Today's route......