After trips in Iceland and Sweden and to continue my road to see scandinavia, i spent three weeks in July  in the North of Norway, focusing only on one part; north west coast and Lofoten islands. Norway is a very very long country and between the south and the north there are around 2000km to browse.Norway has one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world,with the fjords, the sea, the moutain, the vegetation. So my first destination was to link the city of Bodo by the airplane. So from France i took two airplane, the first was between Bordeaux and Oslo (around 3h), and the second between Oslo and Bodo (around 1h30). So i linked the city of Bodo, located around 200km above the polar circle.I’m arrived in Bodo under the rain and a fresh weather, no more that 12 degrees. Bodo was one of  my step and to be able to adapt to the country, i spent two nights on couchsurfing there. After these two days i took a rent car.In fact a little above Bodo, Narvik in the last station and the terminal of the train in the north. After the train doesn’t exist  beyond Narvik.

My first step after Bodo was to drive and to reach Tromso. I wanted so much to seen Tromso because i had ridden nice article on this city and because it is called ‘North Capital’, the main city beyond the polar circle. The weather after was really sunny during many days. Tromso, staying two days, was a great experience for me. During all my trip after this two first nights on couchsurfing, i slept in campsites with my own tent. I wanted so much to do this because the days was so long and in the environment it was for me perfect. In fact never it was totally dark during the two small hours of nights. The sunset happened around midnight and the sunrise at two o’clock.

I slept regularly in beautiful places in the campsites, sometimes just along the sea, othertimes in front of a fjord or a lake with the moutains behind me. The views were great and it was definitely pleasant to camp in Norway in summer. The only campsite which was full was Tromso’s campsite, and it was for this reason that i avoided it. I found 20km further a peacefull campsite with perfect view and just few people. For the rest it is very easy to find campsites on the road and everytime there are places, sometimes also it is difficult to find the owner. And one day i slept in a campsite without to have to pay because nobody to lead the campsite in despite of the access of everything. I didn’t try wild camping because i wanted to take a shower at the end of the day and to find easily a place but otherwise, it is one of the best country to experiment wild camping.

After Tromso i continued on the surroundings, falling on beautiful places with transparent blue water. And then i left to go to the magical Vesteralen and Lofoten islands.It is a great archipelago. I crossed all the archipelago, island after island, to reach the last point and the end of Lofoten at the village of A i Lofoten. The feeling to be in the place in perfect. There are in first Vesteralen islands  in this area, and it is followed by Lofoten islands, again a little bit more beautiful. On the road we cross many fisherman villages. The perfect fisherman villages and houses along the sea. It has to be so great to have the experience to stay there during a longer moment. And so i spent few days there wandering in many places to walk.

I returned taking the ferry between Svolvaer and Skutvik, in order to not make the same road in the return. Leaving the islands by the ferry offers great views on the archipelago. I returned after to Bodo and finally i was in advance on my timetable so i decided for one day to go on toward the south and to stop at the polar circle center, which is a symbol of the line of demarcation. The occasion near this area to stop a little in the city of Mo i Ranabefore to return in my campsite in Bodo. Bodo’s campsite is a great location, not too far from the airport.

Thanks to the gulf stream, the hot current in the atlantic’s ocean. The climate along the Norwegian cost isn’t really cold. So for my experience in summer i had beautiful day and once hot day, very impressive at this lattitude. For exemple the location  was much above the south or Groenland. And here intead to have again snow or ice, we can find forest with many big trees, shrubs, and nice gardens with rustic plants,  that we can find sometimes in a continental climate. The temperature in July for me was between 8° and 12° during the night (but as the night is very short the lower temperature doesn’t stay a long time).  And during the day and the afternoon it was between 12° and 26°. So a big difference depending of the sun and the place. Like i said i had an extraordinay weather during one day and a half with 26°. I could drive with my windows opened  and i was in t-shirt in the campsite all the evening. So it was cool. However it is rarely so the average temperature in despite of this was normally between 15° and 20°. I could go a little in the sea, trying to for a swim in perfect beach with perfect weater. It was so tempting. The water was cold around 12° i think but i could walk on the water until my hips, bare chest. If really you are strong maybe you can swim totally on the water.