Oslo - Narvik

We already packed all our luggage last night so that we can set off this morning without much stress. Our original afternoon flight was cancelled and we were moved to one early in the morning. So today we fly at 08:35 from OSL (Oslo) to EVE (Harstad/Narvik). We get up well before 6 a.m. so that we can catch the shuttle train between Oslo City and Oslo Airport in time. The airport is at Gardermoen, about 50 kilometres north of the city. The high-speed Gardermobanen line connects it with Oslo in around 20 minutes.

At the airport we can check in and drop off our luggage at a self-service machine. Our plane leaves from a rather remote gate, and despite the far northern destination it is almost full (mainly with locals). The sun is shining in Oslo, and in Narvik it is raining when we arrive. The flight is bumpy as a result, with some minor turbulence. But we land safely, and our luggage arrives too. We find the Hertz desk right away as well. Harstad/Narvik Airport lies in the municipality of Evenes, around 45 kilometres by road from Harstad and 57 kilometres from Narvik.

We had actually booked the smallest car category, but with automatic transmission for the sake of comfort. Instead, we get a car from a much higher category: A Toyota RAV4, a hybrid SUV with four-wheel drive. We are very happy with the car and first drive along beautiful coastal roads for 3 hours to our first accommodation in Rystad. From Evenes the E10 crosses the Tjeldsundbrua, a suspension bridge just over a kilometre long, onto Hinnøya, Norway’s largest island outside Svalbard. Lofast, the Lofoten mainland connection, and the Raftsundbrua then lead on to Austvågøya without a ferry. On the way we stop at a KIWI, a Norwegian discount supermarket chain, to buy the groceries we need.

Our accommodation is a little house on a campsite right by the sea, Rystad Camping. Once there, we enjoy the view of the sea and the mountains. It is simply stunning. Despite the colder temperatures we like it here a lot. The red houses of the campsite stand at the foot of a green mountain and have grass roofs. Our grey RAV4 is parked in front of our little house, and an old VW bus stands on a meadow by the water. The grass roof, torvtak in Norwegian, is an old way of covering a roof. Under the turf there used to be a layer of birch bark. Today a sealing layer is used instead, often made of plastic sheets.

Rystad is a farm in the municipality of Vågan. Around two and a half kilometres away as the crow flies, the Gimsøystraumbrua crosses from Austvågøya to Gimsøya. The little house is our home for two nights. After that we drive on to Hamnøy in the south of the Lofoten. A year later, in September 2022, we come back to the campsite one evening for the northern lights.