June Expenses

Norway is well known to be one of the most expensive countries in the world. 

And we are normally known to be "budget" travelers. But there is nothing saying that you can't do an expensive country on a budget! And by bringing our house with us, at least we don't have to pay for accommodation, which is a category that can really add up in an expensive country.

We were in Norway the entire month of June, so let's see how we did on the expenses...

This is as far north as we go

We got up at 6:30am Wednesday morning and started driving right away. It's so much nicer without as many vehicles on the road. 

We didn't have far to go... only 79 kms (49 miles) from Stryn to Geranger. But it's a varied route with a lot to see!

Every drive is a scenic drive

There isn't a road we've been on in Norway that wouldn't be considered a scenic drive in any other country. 

And of course, that's what we came here for. We didn't come to Norway for the local cuisine, or the culture, or the people. We came for the scenery and the hiking. And the scenery impresses us... every single day!

To go, or not to go...

We woke up to rain and fog Monday morning. And the forecast for the rest of the day was calling for 90% chance of precipitation. We contemplated simply moving on, but we really wanted to do the bike ride along the fjord.

For the balance of the morning, we tossed around the idea of leaving. To go, or not to go?

Just enough for a change of scenery

We're finding it hard to get anywhere fast here in Norway. Not that it matters really! Yesterday, we managed to do 56 kms (35 miles)! Just enough for a change of scenery.

But we ended up at the prettiest little village, with the prettiest view from our overnight spot.

There is so much to see and do

Saturday was a bit of a rest day. We liked our spot at the ski hill. There were very few people coming and going, and even overnight we only had one other motorhome and they were parked quite far away. 

So we decided to just hang out for the day. 

The amazing 900 year old wooden stave church of Urnes, Norway

A stave church is a type of medieval wooden church that used to be widespread throughout Europe. Most of them were built between the years 800 to 1400. But due to a variety of reasons including poor original building techniques very few remain in existence today.

And the vast majority of the remaining stave churches are located in Norway. In fact, they think there used to be as many as 1,000 of them spread across the country, but now only 28 remain.

The pretty little town of Laerdal, Norway

We used to think that Iceland was the most photogenic country we had ever been to. But Norway has now taken over first place in that category! The gorgeous scenery just never stops. It's just simply beautiful here. In fact, someone mentioned the other day that I'm running out of descriptive terms to express what we're experiencing.

So we found ourselves in the town of Laerdal, and decided to take a relax day and just hang out. But of course for us that means we only did a short 6 km (3.7 mile) hike on a trail above the town!

Cruise ships in the fjord

We were parked at the trailhead and the weather turned out better than expected. We weren't originally planning to do the Prest Mountain trail, but I did some reading on the internet and even though it's a fairly short hike, it sounded like it was a good one just for the views of the fjord.

So we set off at 10:00am, headed uphill.

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Finally had to put some fuel in Max

We had arrived in Norway with a full tank, knowing that Norway is probably the most expensive place in the world to buy fuel. But we knew that full tank wouldn't last us for our entire time here, and yesterday was the day to pay up.

Like most other places in the world, the price at the pump tends to fluctuate with the world price of oil. I've noticed here in Norway there is a bit of a delay in implementing that fluctuation, and the oil price is now off its peak. But the price at the pump here hasn't dropped.

We had a beautiful blue sky day!

Based on the past three weeks, a blue sky day doesn't happen very often in Norway! We woke up and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. And it lasted like that pretty much all day. Wonderful.

We went and did some more grocery shopping before doing the short drive to the tiny fjord port of Gudvangen. 

Discover America’s Secrets on Your Next Holiday

Why a holiday to America is a must

America is a wonderful country that never ceases to amaze. It has something for any kind of travelling or holiday experience. Whether you want a lazy beach holiday or hike across mountains, it has it all.

The country is often in the news for the wrong reasons, making it is easy to believe the American people are at each other’s throats all the time. However, this is largely media driven with most Americans being level headed, friendly people who are very happy to see you, especially after the two year lockdown. You’ll find this out for yourself when you discover the United States.

Max's one year anniversary, and a beautiful bike ride

First off, we celebrated our one year anniversary with Max. Yes, it was one year ago yesterday that we introduced you to our new European motorhome. Hard to believe it's been a year already isn't it? And even harder to believe is the fact that Max has already been to 17 different countries!

Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkiye, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, Denmark, and Norway.

We made our way to the popular tourist town of Voss, Norway.

We arrived here in Norway June 1st, and we depart July 26th. So we have a total of 56 days here. You'd think that's a lot of time, but for us it's not. We travel slowly. The half way point for this visit is June 28th.

Our plan was (and still is) to travel as far north as we can until the half way date, and then turn around and start heading south on the coastal route.

Too many motorhomes!

Now that we are in the fjord areas of Norway, we notice just how many motorhomes and campervans there are up here. Too many, and almost not enough places to park them all! I would expect that it is normally busy with motorhomes in June, July, and August in Norway, however I figure that this year is worse due to pent up demand caused by the Covid shutdowns the last two summers.

So we've had to adapt how we do things a little bit.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

We were due for a day of rest, so we got up and drove down to the town of Kinsarvik and found a good free internet connection. We had some future travel planning to take care of!

We've had our flights back to Canada booked for quite a while. We leave from Amsterdam on August 5th. 

The four huge waterfalls of the Husadalen Valley near Kinsarvik, Norway

We said goodbye to Marti and Ryan yesterday morning. They are heading to Bergen for a few days, and then flying back to Texas. It was fun seeing them again and doing some more mountain adventures. Pretty sure we'll meet up again somewhere else in the world!

Ruth and I headed a little further north to the town of Kinsarvik. 

The spectacular Trolltunga via ferrata!

Trolltunga is a famous granite rock cliff hovering over a fjord in Norway. It's one of the most popular hikes in Norway, despite the fact that it's also one of the most gruelling and difficult, even for experienced hikers. But there are several ways to get up there.

The most common way is to simply hike up from the lower parking lot. It's a 28 km (17.4 mile) hike round trip!

Water everywhere!

Norway is all about the water. It is everywhere... lakes, streams, fjords, waterfalls, rivers. 

And rain. Lots of rain. On average, Norway "enjoys" 239 days of precipitation per year. But all of that water makes for some beautiful scenery, especially at this time of year when snow is melting.

Do you know what a via ferrata is?

Saturday was pretty much a day to relax. We were parked in a quiet, beautiful spot and we didn't have anywhere we needed to be, so we decided to just stay there and enjoy the day. Besides, it was a Saturday and to move just for the sake of moving and then have to find another spot didn't make any sense.

Of course we didn't just do nothing all day... we did get out for a 6 km (3.7 mile) walk.

Motorhome dump stations in Norway

Well we can't just show you pretty pictures all the time, we have to give you some practical information too! (Don't worry... there are pretty pictures further down!). One of our readers asked the other day how we empty and refill holding tanks if we're not staying at any campgrounds. So here you are...

Fortunately, like Germany, Norway is a very motorhome friendly country and some municipalities and some gas stations have free RV dump and fill facilities. In fact, some of them are really nice!

New boots for Ruth, and hike to a waterfall...

It was such a beautiful day when we woke up... mostly blue sky and sunshine. So we decided to go for a short hike right away. After all, we were already parked at the trailhead so we might as well use the trail!

It was only a short one though... 2 kms up a ridge to have a bit of a view of the town below.

Norway is a hiking and free camping paradise

While we are seeing a lot of motorhomes on the road here in Norway, there are also a lot of places for those motorhomes to overnight. There are quite a few campgrounds, although they seem pretty busy already and it's not even busy season yet!

But there are also a lot of free camping places. 

Bucket list hike... almost accomplished!

Norway has a lot of world class hiking trails, and some of them are very tough. Our son has been to Norway, and he told us several years ago that we had better get there soon because we're not getting any younger! 

Some of them are also very popular... not only because of the generally spectacular scenery, but because they might offer attractions that aren't available anywhere else in the world.

Another warm up hike, and grocery prices in Norway

Our friends Marti and Ryan flew from Texas to Sweden, then rented a car and had a five hour drive to meet us at their Airbnb near the village of Sinnes.

But we were already fairly close to Sinnes, so while they were driving, we decided to go for another hike.

It doesn't matter how expensive a country is if you don't buy anything!

We got up at 6:30am (sunrise is at 4:30am!) and decided to do some driving right away. As I've said before, we're trying to conserve our cellular data, and so far it's been pretty easy to find free WiFi in just about any town. Every town has a library, although the hours vary a lot, and not all of them have unsecured WiFi. And, most grocery stores, even the small ones seem to have an unsecured connection.

Speaking of grocery stores, we haven't been in one yet. We arrived on June 1st, and today is the 6th and we haven't spent any money in Norway yet! 

Yes, Norway is stunning!

Yesterday we did our first longer hike in Norway. Not really that long though. In fact, at just under four hours it was more of a training hike for some of our upcoming Norway adventures!

We had slept close by so that we could get an early start on the trail, and we managed to get going by 9:15am.

And we're not even in the good parts of Norway yet!

It's so nice not to have much of a plan, and simply be able wander and explore at our leisure. And especially when there is so much to see... and we're not even in the good parts of Norway yet!

Yesterday we drove a little further north. But only a little... 40 kms (25 miles) to be exact!

Staying in shape for what's to come!

It was such a nice campsite that we had for our first night in Norway that we decided to stay a second night. We were located right beside a nice bike trail, so Ruth packed us a lunch while I got the bikes ready to go.

We had no idea what route we were going to follow, or how long we were going to be gone.

Welcome to Norway! Country number 52...

Norway is a new country for us and it has been on our "to do" list for a long time. But it's a country that is best explored by motorhome, so we needed to get a European motorhome to do it. And the original plan was to do it last summer, but then Covid threw a wrench into things and we weren't able to pick up Max until mid June of last year. By then, we decided it was best to put it off another year.

But we are here now, and we're really excited. It's going to be a great two months!

Very frustrating!

We posted our May expense report yesterday evening. You can read it here if you missed it.

It was only a 35 km (22 mile) drive to the port town of Hirtshals at the northern tip of Denmark. We had a few things to do there, so we arrived fairly early.