August 31st 2015: Norway: Herdla

Monty the Motorhome is wild-camping on the island of Askøy, an island close to Bergen.

After another rainy night we left the Bergenshallen and headed to Åsane, which could loosely be described as a suburb of Bergen. Our destination was the local Ikea store, though not to buy furniture!

They do a ‘fat boy breakfast’ for 37 NOK, which is about £3. OK they don’t call it ‘fat boy’, but it is a buffet where you can have as much as you can pile on your tray. The fare on offer is good quality, so this deal is well worth taking advantage of. We had cooked items, cold meats and smoked salmon, salad, fruit, yoghurts, buns/doughnuts and hot drinks.

Totally stuffed we went off to do a supermarket shop. Probably the best time to do food shopping.

Then on to Askøy - a long thin island that is quite built up at its southern end. We were heading for Herdla, a tiny island at the northern most tip, connected to the main island by a road bridge. During the WW2 the Nazis laid out an airstrip here, which can still be seen in places. They also fortified the island and built a torpedo station. During the Cold War era this torpedo station was upgraded and run as a secret establishment by the Norwegians until decommissioned in 2006. The whole lot is open to the public, but at this time of year only on Sundays. What a shame, as I think it would be really interesting.

We had a walk round the outside, but the place was deserted. However it was most strange to see all the shuttered doors, some leading into the hillside, and all manner of aerials and antenna.

We had parked up in one of the local marinas and our initial plan was to overnight there. However on the way in we had spotted a large lay-by, with a marvellous westerly aspect - just right for sunsets. So after our walk round we moved an got settled there. Today the weather has been great (as soon as we leave Bergen), so the camera is at the ready for later on. 

Our overnight site

The sunset from the van was terrific