I took almost 700 photos, just going through them now and picking the best for this blog will be difficult.
Instead of boring you with blog posts for every day we spent, I'm rather summarising our trip into four posts for the stages of our journey. Stay tuned!!!
We are really doing this!
Friday, July 7: London - Narvik
We had a great last night at our friend's house with beers and probably the best take away curry ever, which helped stuffing our faces properly before the long hike through North Sweden. Every pound counted for once.
An early morning start saw us driving to Heathrow around 7:30am, dropping the car off at Purple Parking and getting a lift from them to our terminal. Worked very smoothly and I can surely recommend Purple Parking from our experience so far.
It was hot and sunny in London as we stepped onto the plane not knowing what to expect yet way up North.
Smooth flight to Oslo where we had an hour and a half to spend around the very stylish airport. You immediately know you're in Scandinavia with all the wooden walls and quiet elegance.
They have an amazing duty free shop spread over almost all of the international transfer zone. We tried on some pricey Oakley and Ray-Ban sunnies and unfortunately I found a pair that really suited me. That went straight onto my shopping list for when I have the money to buy them, haha.
We thought we'd pick up some beers for later, but the ones we fancied were in bottles and we didn't really want to spend £6 on a Norway bottle opener. No beers it is then.
Another quiet flight to Harstad-Narvik airport. The last half an hour the views from the plane got ever more dramatic with countless snowcapped hills and mountains, fjords and deep blue sea. The approach to the airport was one of the most stunning I've seen so far! Sureley the sunny weather helped a lot.
Got our bags quickly, hopping onto the bus around 6pm which was waiting outside. There are only a few planes going to Harstad-Narvik, so the bus times are matched to their schedule. Sweet.
The 1hr bus ride to Narvik was amazing! Towering mountains in the distance, 3000+ft high, spotless blue sky and the glistering sea... so beautiful it makes your heart ache! The £26 per ticket made our wallets ache. Still, our eyes were glued to the window taking it all in. Rich even spotted a moose!
Hopped off right opposite our hotel, checked in and went for pizza nearby, which was fairly good, but £50 for two pizzas and some chicken goujons, phew. We knew Scandinavia was pricey, but this hurt.
Went for a walk around town and down to the water front marvelling at the simple but colourful and beautiful design of houses up here. Checked train times for the next day and our return in two weeks time and went to bed.
An early morning start saw us driving to Heathrow around 7:30am, dropping the car off at Purple Parking and getting a lift from them to our terminal. Worked very smoothly and I can surely recommend Purple Parking from our experience so far.
It was hot and sunny in London as we stepped onto the plane not knowing what to expect yet way up North.
Smooth flight to Oslo where we had an hour and a half to spend around the very stylish airport. You immediately know you're in Scandinavia with all the wooden walls and quiet elegance.
They have an amazing duty free shop spread over almost all of the international transfer zone. We tried on some pricey Oakley and Ray-Ban sunnies and unfortunately I found a pair that really suited me. That went straight onto my shopping list for when I have the money to buy them, haha.
We thought we'd pick up some beers for later, but the ones we fancied were in bottles and we didn't really want to spend £6 on a Norway bottle opener. No beers it is then.
Another quiet flight to Harstad-Narvik airport. The last half an hour the views from the plane got ever more dramatic with countless snowcapped hills and mountains, fjords and deep blue sea. The approach to the airport was one of the most stunning I've seen so far! Sureley the sunny weather helped a lot.
Got our bags quickly, hopping onto the bus around 6pm which was waiting outside. There are only a few planes going to Harstad-Narvik, so the bus times are matched to their schedule. Sweet.
The 1hr bus ride to Narvik was amazing! Towering mountains in the distance, 3000+ft high, spotless blue sky and the glistering sea... so beautiful it makes your heart ache! The £26 per ticket made our wallets ache. Still, our eyes were glued to the window taking it all in. Rich even spotted a moose!
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| Stunning views from the bus |
Hopped off right opposite our hotel, checked in and went for pizza nearby, which was fairly good, but £50 for two pizzas and some chicken goujons, phew. We knew Scandinavia was pricey, but this hurt.
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| Last proper meal for quite some time |
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| Just so you know |
Saturday, July 8: Narvik - Abisko
Our train wasn't before 11am, so we had a long breakfast at the hotel which offered a very good buffet with the highlights being super fresh bread and some variantions of fish in different sauces. Yum. Our last proper meal!
Checked out and booked a room for Saturday in two weeks time, deciding to stay here again the night before our flight to make the airport transfer less stressful.
Onto the train at 11am. No ticket counter, just a machine. No problem and at £7 per person a very fair price. The train looked a bit outdated, but was comfy and roomy.
Yesterday's blue sky had been replaced with lots of grey clouds and the odd drizzle, still the hour and a half to Abisko Turiststation saw us glued to the window again. Skirting hills and water the track wounds its way through more stunning scenery passing tiny settlements in desolate places. We kept wondering what people do up here, living amongst nothing but rock and some scattered trees.
Half 12 we got off, walked to the bustling Abisko Turiststation, had one last faff with our backpacks, got the last supplies at the shop (gas, mosquito replellent, new spork to replace my broken one) and off we went to the start of Kungsleden and two weeks of walking!
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| And so it begins |
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