Porsche Club 997 News | Norway here we come! | 997 News | 2014

997 Register RS Clive White gives the low-down on the Register's most ambitious tour yet

There was excitement and not a little trepidation as we embarked upon our journey to Norway - after all it was 2 days travelling just to get there and none of us had had any experience in Scandinavian countries before. But Gary and Jo Wiln had been planning this trip for over 12 months so we knew we would be in safe hands.

Friday

It was Harwich on Friday 6th June, 2014 that 10 members met up with old and new friends at the start of our expedition. An interesting range of cars comprising 2 Turbo 'S's, a C2 Targa, a Cayman 'S' and a McLaren MP4 12C, whilst a Boxster 'S' from the UK was due to join us in Denmark. A cavalcade that should certainly make the Norwegians sit up and take notice!

So it was, we embarked on DFDS Seaways overnight ferry to Esbjerg, Denmark with stories of storms and ship wrecks in the North Sea much on our minds. In fact, the water was like a millpond throughout the journey and it was a very pleasant voyage with decent cabins, restaurants - even a lounge and bar with live entertainment.

Saturday

From a 6pm start in UK, we arrived in Denmark the following afternoon at around 13.30 to begin our drive up the remaining length of the country to Hirtshals. Here we met up with Peter Kirton, the eleventh member of our group, who had decided that the unpredictability of the North Sea was not for him. Instead, he decided to take the longer route and had driven up through France, Belgium, Germany and Denmark to be with us - now that's dedication!. After a pleasant and comfortable first ferry trip, the one from Denmark to Norway turned into a bit of a nightmare. The boat was pretty crowded, due to Scandinavian bank holiday traffic and we were deposited deep down into the bowels of the boat, 3 decks below the main section and with no lifts. Cars were jammed in so tightly, it was impossible to get out through the passenger's door - and we had a 3 hour journey ahead! It was a tedious voyage and we were very glad to disembark for the drive straight to our first hotel, 10 minutes from the port in Kristiansand, Norway.

Arrived Safely in Norway

The Scandic Kristiansand Bystranda is an all-new sky-scraper edifice right on the sea-front and was probably one of our best hotels, but a swimming festival was on at the time and it was very busy - mostly with rather unruly teenage kids. Rooms and service were highly satisfactory, but 2 things immediately hit home to us. The first - it never gets really dark in Norway at this time of the year - at midnight the sky is still light, you can walk around outside very comfortably, so it's difficult to get to sleep. The second was the cost - 33 quid for a steak and £50 for a very average bottle of table wine; then over £20 at the bar for a beer and small G&T!

It's quite amazing though, how quickly you can become acclimatised to these new experiences. You draw the blinds/shutters ever tighter when retiring to bed and are happy to shell out 20 quid for a pizza without a murmur!

Sunday

Day 1 in Norway and a drive up to Stavanger on the South-west coast. The sight of 6 line astern supercars certainly created great excitement with the locals, also some who were not quite so local for, as we pulled into a rest halt, were immediately surrounded by a coach-load of American pensioner tourist!

On route, we visited the “Swords in the Rock” monument at Hafrsfjord. For historians, it was here Harald Hårfagre fought a battle uniting Norway into one kingdom in 872 AD - it represents peace, unity and freedom. The sword hilts are modelled on swords found in various parts of the country. The monument was unveiled by King Olav in 1983.

Monday

A beautifully hot and sunny day and we were off on another ferry, this time a one-way 3 hour sight-seeing tour from Lauvvik up the fjord to Lysebotn. This gave us a taster for all the magnificent scenery to come. Craggy cliffs, numerous waterfalls and a host of fascinating features, topped off by base jumpers throwing themselves off the top of a mountain towering above us as we sailed past.

Now the Lysebotn to Rystad road is one of the top ten driving roads in the world and has been praised by none other than Top Gear. This was one reason we were here - to drive some of the world's best roads. The traffic was busy due to the bank holiday, but this did little to detract from the true essence of Norway with 10' high snow-drifts lining the roads (and in June for goodness sake!) snow topped mountains, frozen lakes, aqua blue fjords and a stupendous ever-changing sweeping roadway with tightening hairpins, blind brows and many nooks and crannies.

The Lauvvik to Lyebotn Road in June!

10' High Snow drifts

So good was it, that after lunch we drove it again! This time the other way round in the general direction of our overnight hotel and at a time when the traffic had dissipated somewhat, so we were able to try our cars out for the first time. The weather was so good; we even spotted a couple skiing in the mountains in their swimwear! If you go to Norway, there are many strange sights to see and visiting this road is a must too!

There are many odd sights in Norway, but skiing in swimwear was very weird!

Tuesday

One thing's for sure - there's an abundance of water in Norway and we must have seen most of it by Tuesday evening. This was a day of waterfalls, fjords and some rain too. Where there's so much water, boats are an obvious way to get around and we became quite used to popping readily on and off ferries for short trips across fjords, this usually costing around £10 a time and an unforeseen addition to our budget. Today we took in 3 ferries en route and drove through numerous tunnels, one over 11km long. Norwegians must be the moles of the world since they never go over something they can tunnel through!

Tunnels and waterfalls abound in Norway

Waterfalls aplenty and you can become quite blasé about them when you've seen a dozen or so, one after the other, then suddenly you come across something astounding. The waterfall at Latefoss was quite special, since you actually have to drive through it with water crashing down the rocky crags around you. Rather disconcerting actually, but useful too since it gave our, by now grubby cars, a bit of wash from the spray - but Peter with the hood down in his Boxster wasn't quite so impressed. A Russian registered 50th anniversary 991 pulled up alongside us in the car park and a rather delectable young lady, complete with Porsche branded luggage and handbag stepped out of one side with husband/boyfriend on the other - Porsche and Norway are truly international. Fellow tourists were mostly Swedes, Russians and Chinese as far we could see.

Tom tackles the waterfall at Latefoss

Rain clouds gathered as we headed into Bergen and we were glad of the tunnels with their dry roads since in the wet, the previously bone dry asphalt had actually become quite slippery from road film and diesel. With heavy traffic into town, we got split up and were all trying to make headway to catch up when drama struck and one of the our group incurred the wrath of the local constabulary, receiving a £350 fine for an 8 kph indiscretion over the 60 kph limit - apparently a mortal sin hereabouts, but a tad harsh in the circumstances, me thinks. We were strangers in a foreign land and you would have thought a word of warning might have sufficed for a first offence. Yes, we had been warned about over-zealous traffic police, but such a large fine for a relatively small 4 mph infringement does seem slightly OTT and unlikely to foster closer Anglo/Norwegian relations.

Wednesday

Our hotel in Bergen is the Raddisson Blu Royal and there's a rock festival on in town, so it's busy. Last night we found ourselves dining with ZZ Top, the Texas Blues and Rock band in the hotel's Italian Restaurant and this morning Clive is discussing the attributes of the breakfast buffet with one of its band members, Dusty Hill!

Now the heavens really did open up with dramatic dark clouds and fork lightening all around. It's a good job we found the Laerdal tunnel, which at 24.5 Km is the longest road tunnel in the world and is fascinating, not only as an engineering accomplishment, but because of its 3 observation points within the tunnel, where you can stop and take pictures with some rather strange and colourful lighting effects.

This is the mouth of the Laerdal tunnel, which at 24.5 Km is the longest road tunnel in the world.

.......and has 3 stop-off points inside

So on to our overnight stay and probably our most remote location at Solvorn, beautifully located on the western shore of the Lustrafjorden and probably deliberately kept remote by the locals to retain its tranquility, since it's approached by the most tortuous and poorly surfaced road on our tour. The Walaker Hotel is in stark contrast to the ultra modern establishments we had stayed in so far. It has been in the ownership of the Nitter Walaker family for over 320 years and we were warmly greeted by the current patron and his staff.

There was quite a contrast in the hotels we stayed at. This is the 300 year old Walaker at Solvorn.

....and the ultra modern Rica Forum in Stavanger

Thursday

And a lot more rain today! But we wend our way up the Trollstigen (Troll's ladder), another spectacular world famed driving road with a series of hairpin bends and fantastic scenery. Fuelling up each day was always an experience as locals and attendants alike all came around to look at the cars. Porsches start at around 2m Kronen in Norway (over £200K) so there aren't many around and, of course very few if any locals had seen a McLaren before!

The famous Trolls Ladder - a road not for the faint hearted!

Up in the mountains, the roads were clear and the lead cars managed to get a bit of spurt on, although the Macca was leaving bits of aero around over the cattle grids. These looked expensive, so the rest of us spent the day collecting them up and handing them back over to Gary when we got into Molde and our next overnight stop.

Other roads were less twisty

The Rica Seilet Hotel in Molde is a hotel, cultural and conference centre and a modern, architectural marvel with angled and cantilevered windows overlooking the Romsdalsfjord and these make you feel quite seasick when looking out over the water from the room. We'd pre-booked our meal, unfortunately this didn't guarantee quality - food and service were poor. Buffet breakfast next morning was only just OK.

Friday

Friday the 13th! Grey but dry and away we went towards Kristiansund (not to be confused with Kristiansand), the northernmost point of our journey and for the sole purpose of driving the world famous bridges contained in the Atlantic Highway.

An Atlantic Highway bridge.

From here, we turned south; once again to sample the delights of Troll's Ladder, but this time in the opposite direction. You just can't keep a good bunch down! The hairpins with proximity to waterfalls are unique and it's tremendous fun to drive, if somewhat hairy in places. The weather thankfully started to brighten and we were treated to yet more wonderful scenery as we wound our way over to our next stop at Geiranger.

Peter heading into another waterfall on the Trolls' Ladder

Saturday

The Hotel Geiranger is a rather strange place with rooms and facilities on multiple floors and in 2 sections, divided by a road and connected by a bridge. It's tired and expensive and not one I would want to hurry back to, except for its location. Undoubtedly, the scenery is delightful and it's clearly a tourist trap - witness 3 cruise ships in the fjord and coaches zoning in on what is really a fairly modest town.

Anyway, no disaster had befallen us on Friday 13th: so we were relieved and continued on our way across the mountains, negotiating the famous Snow Road, the highest mountain pass in Europe with fascinating moonscapes, before stopping to take in some of the sights from superb vantage points above Aurland.

Scenic beauty in Norway is astounding.

Along the way, we stopped in the little mountain village of Lom for coffee and were treated to a parade assembling outside a wooden church with local dignitaries and ladies dressed up in traditional costumes - a lovely sight, except for Gary who decided he really ought to be in the procession.

Wooden Church & Parade Assembly in Lom.

Incredibility in the parade, there was a guy the splitting image of Gary

There are a lot of Chinese tourists in Norway. We'd met several coach-loads of them at Geiranger and yet another coach-load turned up at the rather smaller hotel we were staying at in Aurland. They keep themselves to themselves and didn't really bother us too much, but they do annihilate the breakfast buffet and their coach took up quite a lot of the limited parking. Another pop concert was progressing down the road (the Norwegians love their heavy metal), but most of us were pretty tired, so we weren't greatly bothered. The Aurland Fjordhotel was a pleasant enough stay with friendly staff and superb outlook; also they have what can only be described as a moving floor lift to upper floors, which was a real hoot!

Sunday

Another lovely sunny day and a drive comprising a 190 miles from Aurland to Drammen, stopping off for a trip on the Flam railway, which climbs steeply from Aurislandsfjord past spectacular waterfalls and snow-capped mountains. We were even treated to a sight of the mystical "maid of the mist" who lures unsuspecting travellers to their doom, but we managed to save Tom just in time!

The Maid of the Mist luring unsuspecting travellers to their doom.

Down at Drammen, we probably had our best meal in a glass fronted riverside restaurant before seeking out the Spiralen, a corkscrew road with 6 loops - built inside a mountain - arriving at a vantage point at the top overlooking the whole town. Peter found a cannon to lean on too.

Peter finds a cannon to lean on at the top of the Spiralen.

Our overnight accommodation was at the Holmen Fjordhotell, about 16 miles from Oslo. It has a wonderful waterside location and its own jetty for those into boating. It's also a conference centre and the multi-millionaire owner is clearly keen on cars, because he's built a small museum on site in order to house his classic collection. Don't arrive on a Sunday, though as there's nothing happening - no staff, no food, no service but it is quiet and we managed to grab an evening drink from the hall porter.

Monday

As we checked out, the Chinese checked in. The day was spent heading south and back to Kristiansand for our last night in Norway. Progress was quite slow due to extensive roadworks on the E18 - yes they have them there too. Fuelling up created the usual interest from the assembled throng, but this time we were politely requested to line up side by side at the pumps, so the manager could take our photo as he wanted to use it for a corporate publication - no Macca required this time though as he'd never heard of them!

Back at the Scandic Kristiansand Bystranda, we had time to kill - a first for this holiday. The sun was shining, the swimming gala kids had gone home and we sat around in the sunshine with a drink in hand and everything right with the world. Our last supper was a strange affair as we were sat next to a group who were noisier than us (but, to be fair, we were well outnumbered).However, in a quiet corner of the bar, we managed to express our gratitude to Gary and Jo for such a wonderful trip and present them with probably their now most valuable acquisition - a genuine Norwegian Troll!

Tuesday

Another bright day and a 6.30am start to catch the ferry back to Hirtshals and Denmark. This time a more pleasant trip, parked on the upper deck, so no stairs and plenty of seating.

The drive back through Denmark was accomplished at a heady 130kph (only 110kph max. in Norway) and we had to say goodbye to Peter on the way, as he was retracing his steps back through Europe to Calais. With a bit of time to spare before our overnight ferry back to UK, we took a look at the Man Meets the Sea monument consisting 4 x 27' high seated men overlooking Sædding Beach with the sea beyond.

The four wise men at Esbjerg.

....... and the Five Wise Lady's on tour.

Wednesday

The North Sea was a little choppier for our return crossing and some reported feeling a little queasy, although there were no dramas thankfully. We docked in Harwich late morning. There's special comradeships that builds up between a group who travel together and share their experiences and as we said our farewells and departed home to all points, we took away with us many wonderful memories of our trip.

Les Tout Ensemble - We nobbled an unsuspecting local to take this photo.

It was undoubtedly our most ambitious project to date, certainly a highly successful tour and without question our best yet. We are all very grateful to Gary and Jo for their hard work in planning and fronting this expedition. Norway really is a very beautiful country.

My thanks also go to Gary and Jo, David and Carole and Mark and Chris for their contributions and help in compiling this report.

The Runners and Riders on tour were: -