Fearing the consequences of being caught in foul weather north of the arctic circle, we planned to quickly drive to our northernmost pre-planned Norwegian destination, Senja Island, while the weather forecast called for mostly sunny days in the foreseeable future. This meant cruising, and camping, though Norway’s interior roads (think driving Hwy 5 through California, but infinitely more spectacular!), for a full seven days. Once we arrived at Senja Island, we could then explore the coastal and scenic backroads of Norway at a more leisurely pace.
Here are a few pics from the first four days of our travels to Senja Island. Enjoy!
Mid-day traffic on the road to Trondheim
Approaching the city of Øvre Årdal, which sits on the northern edge of the 5.6 mile long lake Årdalsvatnet
Further south lies the beautiful Årdalsfjorden, which is a tributary fjord to the longest and deepest fjord in Norway, the Sognefjord. Nicknamed the 'King of the Fjords', Sognefjord stretches over 127 miles to the ocean, and reaches 4,291 feet below sea level at its greatest depth.
These crazy sponge-like plants covered most of the ground in the pine forest that surrounded our campsite near Atna, where we spent our first night out of Oslo
The popular Tvindefossen falls was at one point the ninth most visited natural attraction in Norway, with 272,000 visitors. It's location being less than a hundred yards off one of the country's main auto routes may have contributed to those numbers.
A view of the Høgsfjorden near the village of Dirdal, which saw heavy fighting between German and Norwegian soldiers during Nazi Germany's assault on Norway in April of 1940. Germany prized the occupation of Norway's long western coastline as bases for their naval units.
Kvitingen falls empties into Hunnevatn lake. This pic was taken by Angela from the passenger seat of the Puffin at 80km per hour. It was just one of the many gorgeous sites we passed on our drive north.
According to our mapping app, we've reached 66°33' N latitude for the first time in our lives, the arctic circle!
The Thunder Puffin, parked in front of the Arctic Circle Center
Interestingly, when the Arctic Circle Center was built in 1990, the arctic circle was directly aligned through the middle of the center and this monolith, at 66°33'39" N latitude. Today, due to oscillations in the earths axis, the arctic circle has drifted 1,600 feet further north to 66°33' 51" N.
Sighting along the arctic circle, as it was in the year 1990, through the Arctic Circle Center
Beautiful especially Årdalsfjorden.
🏔️🌊🏔️🤩
Okay, so much here. The Arctic Circle remains bucket list. And the no comment: Gonna comment. Those arctic foxes are so cute!
We didn’t see any living arctic foxes or polar bears, but did see a few reindeer north of the arctic circle!
Fantastic pics & who knew that the Arctic Circle could drift
Right?! We sure didn’t realize the circle could drift until we were there! Travel expands the mind in so many different ways! 🤔
So glad the blog is back !!!! Great photos and comments and info as always. So very happy to know the two of you are able to see and experience all the beauty and wonders of this world however messed it is right now
It’s reassuring to know the world is such a huge, wonderful place! We have to remind ourselves that feeling the magic of experiencing these things bonds us all together in that shared wonder.
Beautiful Days Above the Arctic Circle ! Especially liked seeing the four footed residents on their way to . . .