August 9th 2015: Norway: Polar Camping

Monty the Motorhome is feeling like an intrepid explorer as he is within sight of the Arctic Circle, at the evocatively named Polar Camp.

We left Offersøya Camping in the rain and continued our journey in drizzle and low cloud. 

North of Sandnessjøen we crossed the Helgeland bridge - one of the world’s longest cable-stayed bridges. It has been voted Norway’s most beautiful bridge - check out this picture 

We now entered the most scenic part of the Kystriksveien, and even with the weather conditions it was obvious why. Great sweeping vistas out to sea, deep valleys and pointy mountains; landscape straight from a Tolkien film.

At one point we got a second sighting of a white tailed sea eagle, only much better this time. We were driving alongside the sea when the bird appeared, also flying alongside the shore, but coming from our opposite direction. This time we saw it for maybe 5 seconds. So magnificent.

Spectacular scenery

We stopped off at the Helgeland Museum, where an exhibition highlighted the brutality suffered in the second world war by Russian prisoners who were sent to various parts of Norway by the occupying German forces and made to work on various construction projects. However our main reason for stopping was to visit the Grønsvik Kystfort - a well preserved German coastal fortress overlooking the sea. However the signage was dreadful and somehow we completely missed it, blundering off at one point down a muddy track to a nature reserve, then taking a track to some private cabins. In the end we gave up and drove off.

That brought us to our overnight stop. Polar Camping is literally a couple of kilometers from the Arctic Circle and we can just see in the distance the globe sculpture which marks the southernmost extent of the midnight sun on the summer solstice. 

On the cusp of the Arctic Circle

This is third site we have chosen after reading a travelogue published by some well seasoned motor-homers - their blog is really well written, with so much information, including reviews of all the camp sites they stayed at. So now all our laundry is done, washed and dried. Unlimited hot showers at no extra cost - 10 NOK everywhere else we’ve been, and a great scenic views. Top stuff.