2024 Scandinavia-Arctic Circle Trip / HGT'24: 14 days, 8 cars, thousands of miles

[tjlazer]

Wow, what a trip! It reminds me these cars are meant to be driven! Truth is I’d be very tempted to take my California for that just to enjoy the Nordic camping scene instead…must be getting old! Thanks for the inspiration !

[mjn77]

Originally Posted by anakha

Just did a trip through parts of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden last month. Would have been great to have my F87 with me, but not so easy to bring it across the pond 😂

Beautiful country and beautiful pics. Thanks for posting. Your story and pictures make me want to go back and explore more of Norway via motorways! Looks like an epic trip!

Also, hardly any motorways in Norway! There are a few around Oslo, but other than that, not really.

[mjn77]

Day 5

Weather not looking great this morning.



Some more morning pussy.









A very wet drive.



With very low cloud.



But the sun starts to break through the cloud.





Time for some supplies.





The rain gets worse





Extremely low cloud.



We say goodbye to Gaute as he heads towards his summer house and we carry on heading north.



The weather takes a turn for the worse.





As we head towards another fjord, the cloud lifts a little.



With a break in the rain, we decide to stop for lunch on the lakeside.





Jean giving me the side eye.



We also said goodbye to AJ at this point as he heads back towards Oslo.

And he choose the right point to leaves us as the rain came again.









A day ruined by rain.







The Ornesvingen viewpoint.





I imagine on a clear sunny day, you can see for miles around.











For us, it was another ferry.....and donut.



Looks like we were heading for better weather, finally.



Parked up.







Sunshine!!



Climbing out of the ferry port to our next hotel.



A quick break.







On the move again as we head towards Andalsnes.



Empty roads.



Our hotel for the night, which was "staffless".



As our hotel was staffless, there is no restaurant so no evening meal or breakfast. But knowing this in advance, i had already found a restaurant in the town centre and the Romsdalsgondolen cable car to the top of the mountain as a post driving day activity.

Just a short walk from our hotel.



The cable car.









Here we go.....















And the view from the top.



Marek from MDrives admiring the view.









Driving stats so far.

[Blue Bimmer]

I love it very awesome…. Enjoy team 👍🏻

[FMG20]

Great read sofar!

[mjn77]

Day 6.

We're nearly at the Arctic circle!

But first, another ferry and the Atlantic Road. Probably the most famous road in Norway?

Waking up in the morning and checking the group chat, there were loads of messages about some people hanging around the cars during the night. We'd been getting quite a bit of attention throughout the trip whether that was on the ferries, roads, in laybys or just parked up, so nothing unusual, but these guys were taking real interest in the cars. In the end all was good.





No idea what this was, but it was a tasty breakfast.



And another rainy start.





The view from the hotel room.



Hard to believe that only a week ago, Norway was basking in temperatures of 25 degrees...........

Here we go.....



But still looks great in the poor weather.





First ferry of the day.



On time as well.



And we go again.



The start of the Atlantic Road.



The most famous part.



And as you can see the photos you see online are very deceptive. It is nowhere near as scary or steep in real life.



















Probably the best known viewpoint.



Another item ticked off the bucket list.









We carry on heading north. Parked up on another toilet break. (There were many, LOL)





Another ferry.









Not long after having lunch we filled up with petrol and inside the Shell was the most amazing smell of sausages and i couldn't resist!!



The next hotel was just outside of Trondheim and the view from my daughter's room.....HELL



The food at the hotel was burger or chicken salad......



And of course, some beer.



In fact many beers.



End of the day driving stats.

[mjn77]

Day 7

What a great start to the day, a fantastic breakfast at the hotel. The best yet.



And the weather looked good!









And this Hollywood sign still makes me laugh.



With the cloud shifted, we could be reminded about the stunning scenery.







Perfect driving conditions.





As we headed closer to the Arctic Circle, the mountains gave way to a more barren landscape.



Much flatter.



The odd collection of trees.



Plenty of new smooth roads being built in Norway.



The UK should take some notes.



Picked up some moose meat for presents back home.



The Arctic Circle is now so close we could smell it.



Lunch time.



Back on the road. No more sweeping turns or hairpins now. Just wide open road.





One of my favourite photos from the trip.



Still hugging the west coast of Norway.



Another day, another ferry.











The final stretch of road for the day provided some fun B roads.









Hotel for the night.



Well deserved beer.



But was not all good news. Just before we checked into the hotel we filled up our cars. But when i went to pay i couldn't find my card! Checking my transactions it appears the last time i used it was buying petrol just outside of Trondheim, the very same Shell i had that amazing sausage. A quick phone call and some kind person had handed it in and the staff had it. Phew. Let them know i would collect it in a couple of days on my way home.

And in more bad news, Jean's bank cards were declined at the hotel and with it being Sunday, zero chance of it being resolved until the next day. He was a little stressed.

In celebration of locating my bank card, more beer. With a very cool glass.



Food choices.

[cfm56d7b]

Amazing trip. Hope to follow everyone's foot steps one day.

So many things done right during the trip:

- Choosing to travel during the summer
- Zero.zero beer; major appreciation for setting the right example
- The secret car collection: stunning

PS. Was the trip sponsored by Lipitor? The quantities of fried potatoes in various shapes and sizes were a bit alarming.

[mjn77]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

Amazing trip. Hope to follow everyone's foot steps one day.

So many things done right during the trip:

- Choosing to travel during the summer
- Zero.zero beer; major appreciation for setting the right example
- The secret car collection: stunning

PS. Was the trip sponsored by Lipitor? The quantities of fried potatoes in various shapes and sizes were a bit alarming.

LOL, i love potatoes and i was on holiday, so no problem

[mjn77]

Day 8

Finally, today, the Arctic Circle!!!

Had an awful nights sleep. Heard some contruction work going on at 2am and looked out my window to see what was going on. And it wasn't really dark.



However, the weather was good and it was a short 90 minute drive to the visitor's centre.





Ooooooooooh.



We made it.......







Inside the centre you can get your passport stamped (if you brought one).



And purchase a certificate to confirm your attendance.



Club sticker with all the rest.





Outside the centre.















The centre.



After a couple of hours at the centre, it was time to turn around and head home. At this point Marek separated from the group and headed home alone as he had a date at the Nurburgring and needed to drive most of the way through Norway to make it in time.

On the road again, four cars remain.



We were heading home via the quickest route possible and it was still going to take 3-4 days! As such the roads were boring but the scenery still stunning.





However, not impressed by the room view! LOL



Found a steakhouse round the corner of the hotel for food.



It took a while to get served as we'd all walked in just after an even larger party had walked in. So showing some initiative, i ordered two beers.



Ordered and food and the waitress says, "You know the dirty fries are a meal on their own?" I sure did!!

The chicken burger was so so, but dirty fries were awesome.



And on our way back to the hotel room, i found where Norwegian hotels keep all their beer.



Driving stats.

[mjn77]

Day 9

We headed towards Oslo for our final night in Norway.

We might have headed inland away from the coast, but the scenery was still great.





I also made a small detour to collect my bank card from the Shell near Trondheim!



From there, we took the backroads to meet up with the others.







Once we were all back together we continued our journey to Oslo.







A quick beer in the hotel.



And then after a meal, it was out to explore Oslo.











After over a week sat in the car driving, it was good to get some steps in around the Botanical Gardens.









And a final beer in Norway for........£13.04!!



We also said our goodbyes to Joao and his passengers as they were heading back to Denmark via the bridge from Sweden.

Driving stats.

[mjn77]

Day 10

Last day in Norway was a short one. Out of Oslo and in to Kristiansand for the ferry back to Denmark. Everyone was hoping that the crossing would be smooth seeing as we had also booked the buffet meal!

Probably the worst hotel room view we've had in Norway, but at least the weather looked good.



Driving out on to the motorway.





Once back in Kristiansand we washed 2000 miles of dirt off the cars, well, all but Jean.



Jean had managed to suffer a stone chip on his windscreen which then cracked!



The sun was shining hard in Kristiansand and the queue for the ferry seemed to take forever, so i opted for a beer.



All racked on the ferry.





Great view from the dining room.



The buffet also included unlimited beer! Damn, wish i wasn't driving!



Much bigger sundeck than the last ferry.



More pussy, but on a leash.



Once off the ferry, it was a short 45 minute drive to our hotel in Aalborg.





Meanwhile, Marek was already at the Nurburgring, ready for some laps.





Driving stats.

[mjn77]

Day 11

This day was looooong.

From Aalborg to Gent or Luxembourg if you were Jean.

But lets have a another look at the hotel before we leave. It has this really cool old lift from 1929 (i think).

















The motorway through Denmark to Germany is long and boring and once we were back in Germany it was time to fill up. Jean standing guard over the cars, LOL.



Then it was a meet up with Alexander_Sebastian who had a couple of car parts for me.





Then it was awful Hamburg traffic.



We stopped again around Dortmund and said our goodbyes to Jean and Kelly who was peeling off to Luxembourg.

Then we were down to two cars.

Then the rain came. Again.





Meanwhile, some friends we were meeting in Ghent were on the way to getting merry en route to their hotel.



Arrived at the hotel around 9pm.





Our friends were at a hotel 5 minutes walk away.



From there, a short tram ride into the centre of Ghent. And there is only one place to go for beer.....Bier Central. 300 beers in stock.

A couple of large 750 ml bottles for me.





Approaching midnight, time for bed.





Driving stats.

[mjn77]

Day 12

Never staying in this hotel again. No aircon and the busiest train line right next door.

And a very foggy morning.



First thing to do before any beer was consumed was to fill up with petrol before we headed home the next day.



This pump was that old, it had a conversion chart for Belgian Francs into Euros, LOL.



Doing some beer shopping and find a 1 litre can of beer. Bit unusual.



First beer of the day.



Chicken burger.



Some time ago i read about a bar (Dulle Griet) that served beer in 1.2 litre glasses and to stop people running off with the glasses, you had to leave a shoe as deposit, so we did exactly that!!





Shoes are stored in a basket which is then hoisted to the ceiling.





And if you break the glass.......€90 to get your shoe back!

After demolishing that, another beer.





Then it was time for all you can eat ribs.





And beer.





After beer and food, it was time to walk it off.

[mjn77]

Day 13

Final day.

Our Eurotunnel was just before 12 noon. And it is only a 90 minute drive from Ghent to the checkin desks. So we had time for a final quick shopping trip to the Carrefour in Calais.

Beer supply topped up.



And before we knew it, we were on the train to Folkstone.



Final stats for the trip.



Thanks for reading.

Videos will follow soon.

[cfm56d7b]

Epic journey. Reading it was just like being a shadow passenger. Thank you!

[Dégoûté]

Originally Posted by mjn77

Yeah, Marek will have some video online soon enough but he said it’ll take him weeks just to go through all the footage he captured.

I’m still going through my photos. Not touched the videos yet!

I’ll be driving the nc500 next month and want to document the trip like you have here. Do you have any camera recommendations?

[mjn77]

Originally Posted by Dégoûté

I’ll be driving the nc500 next month and want to document the trip like you have here. Do you have any camera recommendations?

I just used my iphone XS and GoPro 11. Remember to enable GPS tagging though so you can remember where you took photos when doing your write up.

[Jbrown7403]

Awesome! Really great pics and descriptions! I’m quite envious as I love long road trips and yours was truly unique. I must say I was surprised by the total trip distance….I wouldn’t have guessed it would be well over 4000 miles. Hopefully zero punctures for all involved 👍

[mjn77]

Originally Posted by Jbrown7403

Awesome! Really great pics and descriptions! I’m quite envious as I love long road trips and yours was truly unique. I must say I was surprised by the total trip distance….I wouldn’t have guessed it would be well over 4000 miles. Hopefully zero punctures for all involved 👍

Yeah, zero punctures. In fact in the 10 years i’ve been doing road trips, no punctures. The only major problem on this trip was Jean’s broken windscreen on the way home.

In previous years i’ve had a cracked fog lights and failed DPFs, but car was still driveable so no problems.

[MJBO]

Originally Posted by playswcars

Fun fact: The E30 M3 you saw actually has a complete F82 M4 drivetrain swap including engine, DKG transmission, custom axles and Carbon Ceramics off the F82. It's way more than just iDrive.

I was wondering if it went far deeper considering the F8x instrument cluster.

Looks like a great trip OP!

[mjn77]

4k time lapse of my journey from Arctic Circle to Oslo. Change the YouTube video setting to 4k.