Life Inside The Arctic Circle

Day 25: Back at the Arctic Circle, Norway.

This morning was an early wake up call because we had a ferry to catch. We couldn’t really make sense of the partly converted Norwegian website but we thought the first ferry was around 10:30. Being sensible we decided we wanted to be down by the ferry port no later than 8:30 so that we had time for breakfast, to make sense of the timetable and get onto the first ferry.

After a couple of coffees and a quick round of showers we made the 10 minute drive over to the ferry. Low and behold there was a ferry at the port waiting to be loaded with cars. I joked and said imagine if that was our ferry and we’ve just missed it…

…IT WAS OUR FERRY!

Thankfully the ferry wasn’t leaving until 9AM and we were in time to make it into the already large queue. I guess that’s one way to workout when the ferries are. Pull up when they’re already loading up!

The ferry was massive. 3 decks I think. Smaller cars down and up and then us motorhomes in the middle. We parked Doris safely, paid our fees and headed up stairs to the lounge. This was going to be a 4 hour ferry so we needed to make sure we got a comfy seat!

Luckily we did and we passed the time playing cards, planning some of our Southern journey and having a little nap.

Next stop, mainland Norway!

 

Life inside the Arctic Circle

We’ve been North of the Arctic Circle for about 12 days now and this place has been incredible.

Whats different about life above the arctic circle? Well, the sun actually hasn’t set since we arrived. Nope. Not even a glimpse of darkness. The sun touches the horizon for a moment and then starts rising as early as 1AM.

Having no darkness has a weird effect on the body. Not only does it completely mess up your sleep cycle but it messes up your days too. Sometimes you can feel tired around 7-8PM and then by 10PM it’s still light and all of a sudden you have this surge of energy because your body clock is all over the place.

Other times you can nap in the day and then lie away until 1AM because you can’t sleep. We really should have taken the midnight sun a little more seriously and equipped Doris with some better blackout curtains. That being said we’ve managed OK and it’s definitely getting easier the longer we’ve spent up here.

It’s going to be weird when we actually get a sunrise and sunset in our days again. Might take some time getting used to but we’ll manage I’m sure!

It’s sad that we’re on our southbound journey to home now, but we’ve got at least 2 or so weeks to enjoy some of the rest of Norway.

Lofoten has left a lasting memory though. What an incredible part of the world that is. One I urge anyone to visit and see it for themselves before it becomes even more tourist driven. The place is incredible and is definitely somewhere you could spend an entire month and still have things to do. For us, it’s cemented the fact that coming back here to see Killer Whales in the winter is an absolute must and one we will fulfil very soon.

For now, we’ll sleep inside the Arctic circle for one more night. Tomorrow we head south.

Tonights sleeping location: Polar Circle Centre, Norway (Park4Night: Click here)