The Poor Journey - Norway part 1/2

We get up in the morning and realize that the long-awaited moment is coming! Departure to Norway. While we started "planning" the entire trip, fundraising, etc. about six months earlier, something always fell out, disturbed and effectively prevented one hundred percent from planning a trip from A to Z ... which made our trip a huge spontaneous trip :) Hmm, spontaneity? It's our style! Until the last minute, we did not even know the exact date of departure, we booked the ferry several hours before departure, the only thing we knew was the direction of travel. The session at the university, which started quite early for us, the instructor exams, late-night studies and bachelor's exams effectively prevented us from devoting ourselves to a blissful in-depth reading about the attractions and curiosities that Scandinavia hides before us. Our standard day, about a month and a half before departure, looked like this: breakfast -> university -> work -> study until 2:00 am, and Bartek still had to find a moment to bury at Tripciak so that he could safely and without any problems drive along the entire route and complete the new interior development.

The beginning of July, the hottest time of preparations, was intertwined with the stress of graduating from university, which we managed to finish sumasumarum with a very good result :)! When the emotions have subsided, the time has come for a celebration, which we decided to spend on the reservoir in Kryspinów during the largest European rally of tangoers - Garbojama 2014. What a lot to say, who was not, regret it and reserve time for the next year;) Great fun guaranteed! In the meantime, we managed to get some tips about Norway from the teams that were already there in their minibuses. After the rally, it was time for mass shopping, where we had to stock up on food for the entire trip - at least we hope so :) And as it happens just before departure ... Tripi fell ill with a freezing immobilizer, which made it fire once, sometimes not. And what will be when Immo is completely offended somewhere in the total wilderness? Fortunately, Mateusz (Mulitmati) came to the rescue, who helped to solve this problem, equipping us with lots of spare parts, and as a fishing fanatic, he enriched our poor kit with a whole box of lures and two decent sticks. We left the packing for the last minute ... "because if everything is already bought and packed, we'll arrange it nicely in the car" ... as to spite, it was raining from the very morning, which made it impossible to pack properly, the more open the box on the roof. .. so anyway, everything flew in when it flew into the bus, and we decided to make order during the stop or in Sweden itself. During the loading of the lumber on board, it turned out that we are missing the license plate ... stolen, lost ?! What to do? Fly to the communications department? We only have a few hours until our departure. However, Bartek decided to go through the roads we were driving the day before and fortunately we managed to find a sign by the road ... we had to fall out during a downpour and gale, when tree branches were falling on the road every now and then. Bahhh! The zero hour, or rather 22 o'clock, is coming, when we leave our warm apartments and go to Świnoujście for the ferry. Everyone was asleep almost the entire route, so the only person who spoke to the driver, Bartosz, was the GPS voice ... We arrive on schedule before 9:00, which gave us the opportunity to visit the city, do some last shopping and refuel Tripi. Bartek decided to stay and look after the bus, sleeping off the all-night ride. The three of us, however, went to the local ferry, which transported us to the very center of Świnoujście. It seemed to us that 5 hours is a lot of time and what are we going to do during this time, so we started exploring everything in a relaxed manner, and then we went to the beaches to enjoy the drink of the gods. It was only there that we realized that we lost ourselves in time and that we have to come to the check-in no later than an hour before the departure of the ferry and at that moment the phone sounds with Bartek's angry voice ... where are we because we are leaving for just over an hour ... and before we still have a long way to the port + a 15-minute ferry cruise and finally you have to reach the check-in point. Bartek was almost gray with nerves, calling us every 5 minutes and becoming more and more nervous, but what is surprising him, the poor man had to ask the ladies from the check-in to wait a moment for us, because the rest of the Tripciak crew got lost somewhere. I think his charm worked as the ladies finally agreed to let him pass through the gates where he could wait for us.

After our adventures, we finally got on the ferry, where we spent 7.5 hours. At first, we were all excited to admire the views, we ran on the deck, etc. like little children :) However, after a long moment, everyone got tired from the all-night journey and we fell in the corridor, sleeping through the night. We arrived in Sweden at 21:30 and immediately went in search of a place to camp. Sweden is such a friendly country that you can camp almost anywhere, as long as it is not rubbish and does not destroy the environment. After a few kilometers of driving along the coast, we managed to find a beautiful place, right next to the beach. We pitched tents there, we drank hot tea while sitting on the pier, admiring the view of the sea illuminated by the full moon.

After breakfast on the beach and the first swim in the sea, which, despite the fact that we are on its northern side, is much warmer than in Poland :) We collected our lumber and went to Malmo. Malmo is the third largest city in Sweden and for me the prettiest we have visited during our trip ... The city's infrastructure knocks us on our knees, especially when it comes to the network of bicycle paths, parks, etc. While visiting the port area, we found an observation deck suspended 8 meters above the water from which a group of young people was jumping into the water. Of course, Bartek felt he would jump too, but he had doubts whether he would like to explore the rest of the city and return a few kilometers to the bus in wet panties, but after a moment of persuasion by the rest of the Tripciak crew, Bartek joined the locals and dived from the terrace to the sea ... he liked it so much that it was difficult to get him out of there to go further :) If he could, he would probably jump there until now: PW on the way back to the parking lot we hit a skatepark, which the lady from the tourist information mentioned to us and it's not because I asked or because of Bartosz's BMX appearance, but because my grandparents often flock there! Which is, in a way, an attraction. And it was exactly like that - the sight of a 70-year-old grandfather on a skateboard, who is learning to ride a bowling or ride a qarter with his grandson, knocks you down. In Poland, at most, such a grandfather can be chased from the skatepark, because his grandson cannot play tag with his friends, because some crazy people jump on bikes and skateboards on the "slides" ... and back to the report, Bartek did it it is sad that he does not have a bike with him, because the skatepark, as befits foreign countries, was done with panache and on a standard.

After sightseeing all day, we wrapped our butts in the bus. Our chauffeur had a night to drive again, because it is better for him to drive and it is easier for the bus if there is no such heat, so boldly until the first signs of fatigue we headed towards the Swedish-Norwegian border. Around 5 a.m. we stopped several dozen kilometers before the border in a parking lot by the motorway in order to regenerate. After a few hours of nap, we got into our horse again and went to Norway, but we were interrupted by a large shopping center located right next to the border, on the Swedish side. We decided to use wi-fi and replenish our supplies in the form of bread and a 30-pack of canned Coca-Cola, which in Polish terms was less than PLN 1.20 per can: Oh! By the way, taking advantage of a slightly lower fuel price, we fed the Tripciak, and a moment later we crossed the desired limit.
We took the course in Oslo, but we decided to spend the night in Moss on the bay in the port, where we managed to catch the first mackerels, which were cooked and went to the grill - mmm yummy! Such a fresh fish straight from the water <3 Despite the fact that we were in the south of the country, it was "dark" only around 1:30 am, which made us lose all sense of time. We arrived in Oslo in the morning. What can I say, as in every capital city, monuments mixed with modern infrastructure, nothing pleasing to the eye, quick sightseeing and that's it ... in addition, on the way back we were caught by a downpour, but at least using Wi-Fi at the station for the next time we first started looking for job offers. Analyzing the origin of seasonal job offers and after long disputes as to which direction to choose, east or west and the area of search, we chose the Drammen area and just below it we started a strong job search to earn some extra money for fuel. We managed to find a beautiful place to stay - a vantage point under the top of the mountain, from which there was a beautiful view of the illuminated city, lakes, fields and mountains. Something beautiful! After spending the night we went to look for a job, but only Bartek managed to catch the painting of the windows and porch, work for only 1.5 days, but always something :) Unfortunately, the rest of the crew was not so lucky, but there was one plus! During our search, we met a Pole who mentioned an even better place to stay than before. It turned out that by going higher along a steep slope and driving a few kilometers along the ridge of the mountain through the forest, we will reach a lake located between the peaks. We did so and we saw a beautiful, clean and several dozen meters deep lake. The water heated all the time by the sun was very warm, there was a possibility of lighting a fire and cooking on it, there was a mountain stream nearby, from which we could draw water, so we decided to stay there for a few days, while making friends with a family of ducks that were eating us with hands and during inattention, france stole pasta from their plates during dinner.

After failures in the search, we went to the very center of the city, where we also earned our first fine of PLN 400 ... for, attention, exceeding the parking time in front of the supermarket by 2 minutes, despite the fact that we were customers of the store! Unfortunately, we could not afford such an expense, so we decided to go to the management of the store and do something, for example to reduce the sum by 1/4, in the end we were customers of the store, unfortunately the issue of issuing tickets was handled by an external company and in order to get the controller responsible for the fine, you have to to wait for someone else to come to stamp someone else's ticket. Fortunately, the store employee, who was a very nice person, seeing our commitment and trying to call the headquarters of this company, and knowing the details of our low-budget trip, said that the matter would be settled ... he took a fine from us and a receipt confirming our presence in the store. .. we only hope that the talk will not end and that he will actually keep his word in resolving the issue of canceling the mandate. At least we managed to find accommodation by the water, but as much as we cooked dinner, Ala and Marek set up a tent and a downpour broke out, and while sitting in the bus we remembered our school years, playing in your cities :) We spent the next days looking for work again, by the way moving towards Bergen. Following our path in the Expressmap's 3in1 guide, we came across a former silver mine. Unfortunately, the mine was already closed, but anyway, admission to it was not on our pocket because it cost several hundred crowns per person ... but we managed to hit the local TV program during the shooting, so we could see the blacksmith's work and the process on the surface. boring fire tunnels. This process involves lighting a large fire in a cavity, which heats up the rock, making it brittle and can be easily chipped off, unfortunately this process is long, because a miner is able to bore only 2 cm a day, but it was supposedly one of the the safest tunneling patents due to the low risk of roof collapse. The tunnel in the photo has been bored for 14 years, and its length is only a few meters. Overnight, Bartek drove to Odda, where a few kilometers before we stopped at the avenue of waterfalls, where we could admire this element up close. Then we spent a standard afternoon, lunch by the lake, fishing, etc. The next day we went to the troll's tongue, where we had to hike 11km one way, but it was worth it, because the views were breathtaking, we quenched our thirst with streams created by melting on the tops of the mountains snow, in general, the trip sucked us out, and this was due to the fact that the day before we could not get any bread, so we went to the mountains in one can of sprats: P The return took us much less time, but unfortunately we missed the bus from the upper the parking lot on the lower one, where Tripi stood, so we had an additional 6 km hike on the asphalt. On the way, we tried to hitch a ride, one attempt was unsuccessful, the other also nothing, but up to 3 times a piece and after about 2km, a nice gentleman picked us up and took us downstairs. As a thank you, we gave our savior a Polish golden drink, which he was very happy about ... Hehe, probably because of the percentage, because in Norway the normal drink of the gods is only 3.5%, and ours had 6%. After the whole day of hiking, we decided that we were not going to Bergen, but we would choose the direction by going back a bit to Stavanger and on the way we will attack the famous Preikostolen cliffs, and from there we will go north.

Driving and driving, along narrower and narrower streets in the total wilderness, we finally came across a small village, the name of which we do not remember until today, and because it looked quite decent, we stopped to look for work a bit, and this is the right day for us. The search was fruitless until we found the host of a campsite, who, after a short conversation about potential work, invited us to his field and let us spend the night. After all, for the first time in more than a week, we had the opportunity to take a hot shower, nothing special, but when you bathe in icy mountain streams throughout your trip, a bit of hot water provides a banana on your face from ear to ear. In the morning we were awakened by the owner who brought us the happy news that he had found some work for us. Unfortunately, even in Norway you can get cheated. After a day of hard work, in the sun, dust, nettles and manure, when it was time to settle accounts, our owner started shaking his nose, so we already knew something was wrong ... and unfortunately it worked out after a short conversation The owner said that he was not able to pay us, but said that if we stayed and worked with him for a few more days, he might have money (or not). After a long battle, we finally managed to get half the salary, always something because we were convinced that we would leave with nothing. We found that a longer conversation with this host might end badly, because his behavior and argumentation did not seem to be a mentally healthy person. We packed our bags and, having learned a lesson for the future, we ran towards the famous Preikestolen cliffs. On the way, we found a lovely spot on the beach where we spent the night, and in the morning we got there. We have about a 3-hour hike ahead of us to allegedly the greatest attraction in Norway. The weather was good, so we covered the route much faster and we are on the cliffs. The view is actually quite spectacular, after all, we are standing over a 604m vertical wall, but the envelope created around this place is a bit exaggerated. The tongue of the troll made a much greater impression on us. Aaaaah and even in Norway you can observe the ignorance of people, despite the large board at the entrance to the trail with verbal and pictorial information with a painted large trekking shoe, nevertheless on the trail you can meet people in sandals or flip-flops (yes, most of them were ... Poles ) jumping over the rocks ... I wonder how they were doing on the way back on the wet rocks when the storm came: P Time to conquer Stavanger, unfortunately it was very difficult to find a place to set up a camp, but a young employee of a gas station who was Polish woman and showed us a very nice spot by the beach, where we spent the night and the next day, swimming and lounging on the beach. Time flew by so quickly that it was too late to explore the city, so we spent one more night on the beach and in the morning we set off to conquer the city. We visited the port, used the Wi-Fi in the tourist information and sent postcards, in the meantime we had various tastings in the port, there were not many of them, but we had the opportunity to try the natural, home-made rhubarb and lemon juice, which its taste knocked us out legs. After a walk and tastings, we jumped into Tripi and headed towards Bergen.
The route was very picturesque, beautiful views, just like in the rest of Norway, but these had something to do with them. Unfortunately, the three of us missed it, because as standard all Bartek's navigators slept almost the entire way. In the meantime, we had two ferry crossings, the most expensive throughout Norway. In the evening we got there and headed towards the viewpoint, where Ala camped two years earlier, unfortunately this rock ledge was partly already occupied, or rather inhabited by gypsies. At the beginning there were only two cars and three Roma, but the mess around and the lumber brought from somewhere showed more residents, so fearing for the car and our belongings, we decided to move to the parking lot next to the block, where real residents were parking, and Ala and Marek went with tents on a rock ledge located several dozen meters away. After waking up, our fears turned out to be true, if we had stayed in the place where we had parked earlier, we would wake up in the very center of a gypsy village. We counted 12 cars inhabited by gypsies. Phew, it would have been an unpleasant wake-up call, the more so as the male group did not look at us very friendly while passing by them. After a quick morning toilet, which was publicly available at the sports center, we jumped to the center of Bergen, where we found ourselves at the end of a rally or yacht festival. On the one hand, there were many attractions, stalls and tastings, but all those beer gardens and stalls obscured and disfigured the famous wooden buildings in Bryggen, but at least we were to try reindeer, whale and elk salami, and also whale meat mmmm delicious! At the first bite you can feel the aftertaste of fish, then beef :) After a nice afternoon, unfortunately, sad moments have come, because our trip in a way ended.

For some time the atmosphere in the bus has started to deteriorate, only 3 square meters of living space, shared by 4 people for almost a month, do their job and our characters, frustrations resulting from various habits and different styles of traveling are out of the question. Unfortunately, despite the attempts to talk and save the rest of the trip, Ala and Marek decided to leave us and return to the country with Ali's brother, who had just finished his seasonal work in Bergen and was returning to Poland. And so our further journey to the north ended, as we could not afford to cover another 6000 km, including several ferry crossings for two of us. After parting ways, we counted the funds and decided, or even we were forced to turn back to Poland :( We chose a slightly different route, where you did not have to take a ferry and it was a bull's eye! We spent the night there, probably the coldest during the whole trip. In the morning we jumped into the stream to wake up a bit and then we moved on. Somewhere in the middle of Norway, Tripi's first breakdown caught us - the gear stick broke, in a rather unfortunate place, because there was no possibility of welding. After several minutes of combining, Bartek came up with a patent consisting of a 24mm socket wrench, ties, two wrench extensions and a piece of tape :) The patent worked surprisingly, almost like the original, so on the way back we touched the village near Drammen, where Bartek had previously worked. After the telephone conversation, the owner was still willing to cooperate, but unfortunately he was still on a business trip and he did not know when he would come back exactly, so we both agreed that there was no need to wait and a bit sad we moved on. After several dozen kilometers, we stopped next to the marina in Moss, in the place where we spent our first night in Norway. There, Bartek managed to catch a few mackerels, which we threw on the grill and eaten with taste. In the morning we made a general order in the bus and went towards the border, unfortunately it was not without adventures. Along the way, our makeshift stick died, or rather remained intact, only another part of the original one was damaged. Once again, Bartek's technical thought won with the failure, after setting the selectors in the right place and tightening the self-locking pliers on the stump of the stick, we had the opportunity to stick the gears, but only 3,4,5, sometimes two, but she likes to fall out a lot, and so each ended up. trying to throw it in. Hania and Staś, hitchhikers from Poland, approached us during the removal of the fault at the gas station, and thanks to the places freed by Ala and Marek, they could take us all the way to Poland. Everyone was happy, they hitchhiked for almost 600km, and we left the country in four and the four of us returned to the country. On the way back, H and Ś told us their experiences in hitchhiking and all their adventures and dangerous situations, which, surprisingly, was only one, despite the fact that Staś has over 15 years of experience in hitchhiking. Coming back to the trip ... In Norway, we decided to call Multimati, who organized a rescue operation under the pseudonym searching for the bar and thanks to his help we contacted Rafał (Fryta), who decided to twist his stick from his bus so that we could safely return home, if he doesn't find his old spare stick in the garage somewhere. The search was successful and, with the help of Frit, we exchanged the jack in the parking lot. Thanks a lot Rafał! You can always count on bus drivers! :) After Tripi's quick repair, as part of a rest after an all-night ferry cruise, we went to the Szczecin Lagoon, unfortunately, as soon as we got to the beach, we were caught by a storm and that was all from sunbathing. In the meantime, we decided to go to the zoo while driving through Wrocław. By the way, through the blablacar portal, on the way to Gorzów Wielkopolski, we picked up Marta, who is also a traveler, mainly using a hitch. We talked all the way through this, we told her about Norway and our last year's trip to the Balkans, and Marta about her previous voyagas and this year's expedition which was supposed to take place at the end of August. We arrived in Wrocław late in the evening, it was difficult for us to find a seat, so Marta arranged for us to stay overnight, for which we thank her very much! In the morning we went to the ZOO, where, despite the rainy weather, we had a few nice hours. In the evening we jumped into the bus and we went to the house at a slow pace on the highway due to two huge traffic jams caused by renovation and an accident. The long route started a brainstorming session to use the rest of the holiday and go somewhere for a few days. We chose the Bieszczady Mountains in order to reach one of the peaks of the Crown of Polish Mountains - Tarnica, the whole plan has evolved so much that we decided to conquer all the peaks of the KGP in the Carpathians. On the way back, passing through Katowice, we made a quick pit stop to leave Ali and Marek's lumber, which we had to lug all the way back from Norway, which they were not able to take when leaving us and to do a quick wash. A few hours later we set off to conquer the Bieszczady Mountains. After reaching the place, we set up a camp on the last wild camping site by the San River, where we spent 3 days ... it was not without adventures, but it will be about this in the second part of the report :)