Scenic Route 17 and the Atlantic Coastal Route

The weather is supposed to be improving, but there is no evidence of this yet. It is just another 30 km north on the busy E6 until you turn onto the 17 when you reach Steinkjer, which is the gateway to the Kystriksveien or Coastal route.

The distance from Steinkjer to Bodo is 650 km. There are six ferries along the Fv 17 with crossings that are from 10 to 60 minutes.

We started out late at 11 am in the rain again. From Steinkjer we drove the 77 km to Namsos with a fairly heavy traffic. Here the cars and RVs thin out and the road continues with twists and turns another 139 km to the first ferry at Holm. The last 100 km it got very cold and it really started to pour. This is the unfun part of overland travel. The days you just want to go home. We had planned to go another 50 km after the ferry. We only had to wait about 10 minutes for the ferry. This is an enclosed boat and passengers have to leave the car deck. This meant a heated lounge and a hot coffee! Arriving in 20 minutes at Vennesund we were thrilled to see a camping site at the dock with small cabins. For not much more than camping we had a dry heated cabin with a small kitchenette. The other bonus was wifi fast enough to get in some Netflix. This was a great break from the horrible weather outside. We were stoked to see only a light rain when we got up and then some sunshine.

Today our plan is to head towards Bodo and get as far as we can get.

The ferry schedules are timed here so you can make it from one to the next, but of course we were now out of the rotation. We waited until the rain had almost stopped before we packed up and stupidly we did not consult the ferry schedule. There is a 64 km drive to the ferry at horn, and we missed it by 10 minutes. This meant an hour plus wait for the next sailing. But this did make time for a snack.

The crossing was again 20 minutes to Anddalsvag.

Then everyone races the 17 km to the dock at Forvik because if you miss this boat the next is in 2 hours. There is a 60-minute crossing to Tjotta with the option to get off at 3 smaller islands on the way if you wish. From here it is another 71 km to Levang, but since we now had the schedule worked out we had time to stop for some groceries on the way. The road here is big sweeping turns thru the countryside. This last crossing today to Nesna was 25 minutes. There is also a nice church and museum on the way. This is the most beautiful of the islands with snow-capped mountains and the road curving along the fjords. There are two 3 km very narrow and poorly lit tunnels on route.

We arrived at the camping at Haugland just as it really started to pour. A cabin it is again. The rain did stop and with a bit of sun the reflections were amazing.

Leaving in the morning it had improved to cloudy with occasional showers. But at least we had figured out the ferry schedules.

We had just a 30 km drive to catch the 10 am ferry from Kiboghamn to Jetvik, which is 60 minutes and you cross the Arctic Circle after about 40 minutes.

From here the whole load of cars again races the 28 km from Jetvik to Agskardet to get the next scheduled ferry sailing of 10 minute to Foroy.

From here you stay on the 17 north another 143 km of winding road along the fjords to arrive at Saltstraumen. This is a small strait with the strongest tidal current in the world. Up to 400,000,000 cubic meters of water flow thru the 3 km long and 150 meter wide strait every 6 hours. Water speeds reach 41 km/h and vortexes or maelstroms form that are up to 10 meters wide. We went down to see the water flow at the low flow so we were really impressed when we saw it at high slow. The vortexes were so huge they were like volcanic craters.