Day 277 Thursday 19 Jul 2007 Svolvaer to Nottvan, Norway

The plan for the day is to drive to Borg, two islands further down the Lofoten chain, where there is a Viking museum in a recreated chieftain’s hall and then return to Svolver in time to take the 2pm ferry back to the mainland. The Viking long house, which is the largest in Norway, discovered in the 1980s, has substantial rooms housing active exhibits of crafts, archaeological finds and an exhibition detailing the Battle of Hastings as portrayed in the Bayeux Tapestry – the connection is that the defeated King Harold was a viking (as of course you knew). Theres’ a lamb stew being prepared over a very smoky fire and a woman with a baby weaving. (We’re not sure if the latter is an exhibit). We drag ourselves away from this fascinating place which dates back to 900AD and forego joining a raiding party on the viking ship on the fjord as we don’t want to miss the 2pm ferry back to the mainland.

So you can imagine our annoyance when the ferry arrives and only has room for half the vehicles in line. Another is due at 3.30 so we think we’ll still get to our destination in time – no such luck – it arrives, fills with a few cars and departs without us! The 4.30 fails to materialise, so the next option is 7pm which actually doesn’t turn up till 8pm – several irate people of various nationalities are by now plotting their own viking raid on anyone associated with the ferry company. We leave the car in the queue and walk back to the town centre for late lunch/early dinner and return in time to pay the usual ridiculous amount of Norwegian kroners for the privilege of wasting 6 hours and having our schedule put seriously out of whack. It costs us more for the two hour crossing than for the return voyage to Sardinia, or across the Adriatic from Croatia to Italy. As with the $70 tunnels we suspect Mac Bank is running the ferry business too.

Nevertheless its a beautiful evening cruise through spectacular mountianous islands and eventually we reach the mainland in bright sunlight at 10.30pm. However there's now with little prospect of making it to Trondheim 800km south so opt for a cabin on a camp site by a lake which we reach just before midnight.