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2007 Card Front

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A Year of Travel (and Rocoline)

Fulfilling several of Lin's long-held ambitions to 'go north in Winter, take the Hurtigruten, and stay at The Ice Hotel', in February we flew together to Göteborg! (via a Heathrow Hotel and Kopenhagen due to a Technical Fault aborting our take-off the previous night)... for the start of the trip of a lifetime........

After visiting a very large private model railway [www.LMMJ.se], we took the X2000 tilting express to Stockholm where we boarded the overnight sleeper to the north. We enjoyed reindeer stew in an elderly restaurant car, as snow drifted in through the windows and gangways, followed by a night in a modern 'en-suite' compartment; transferring at 06:00 when the train divided, and arriving mid-morning in brilliant sunshine at a snow covered Kiruna station. Here we were met by a taxi taking us to the Ice Hotel for our two night stay. We were provided with thermal clothing and boots to keep us snug at the ambient -35C.

After exploring the hotel, ice sculptures and various ice rooms, drinking (non-alcoholic) Elderflower in Ice Glasses (cut from the river ice) and an evening of Samé Songs, we spent our first night in a 'luxury cold room' (-5C) of packed snow with ice sculptures, snug on reindeer skins in arctic sleeping bags (provided).

We were woken at 07.00 with a cup of hot lingon juice in time for our early morning excursion by minibus to a mountain tourist station in search of Elk. It is hard for photos to convey the atmosphere of that place!

This is a river, in the frozen landscape at -40C, with steam (or condensation?) above the flowing water, and only the creaking sound of walking on snow breaking the silence. Elk and reindeer passed at the edge of the woods or rested under trees alongside the road. That night we rode Skidoos to watch the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights); sadly it was overcast. The Hotel was full; including 2 British weddings ( 1 in a kilt )

After our second night in a luxurious 'Warm Room' (+25C) we returned to Kiruna, for a tour of the LKAB Iron Ore Mine and a night at one of the few remaining original Station Hotels; convenient for watching the ore trains from the mine, and our morning train on to Narvik. We were concerned to find two coach loads of Japanese Tourists also waiting for the train, as our reservations were for the previous day! and the train which arrived had only three coaches from nearby Lulea on the Baltic coast, as the main part of the train (the sleeper from Stockholm) was running 6 hours late! Fortunately there was plenty of room for all.

The weather was fine and clear and provided good views of the snow covered landscape. At Narvik we counted 52 x 100t Ore wagons behind the DM3 loco returning empty to Kiruna; the counting confirmed by a very young Norwegian boy. Lack of information at the local bus station (it was a Norwegian Saturday afternoon, but originally planned for the Friday), meant we took the bus to the airport, then a £100 taxi ride on to Harstad in the falling snow... at least most of the trip was in daylight!

Slowly by Hurtigruten

After a night in a harbour-side hotel we boarded the Hurtigruten 'Kong Harald' in the early morn. Pavements were steam heated to keep them ice free, and overnight snow was being blown clear by tractors as we walked to the quay. The Hurtigruten is a daily ferry service in each direction along the Norwegian coast from Kirkennes on the Russian Border in the North to Bergen in the South. We joined the ship about half-way for our four day journey to Bergen. The ship carries 650 passengers in the summer, but we were 2 of about 24. The journey was peaceful and luxurious as we sat in the Panorama lounge watching the snow-covered landscape glide by, with short stops 3 or 4 times a day (or night) when the ship called in at a small port time for a walk ashore or to watch the supplies being on and offloaded. Unexpectedly, we had a good showing of the Northern Lights fom the Snow-Covered stern of the Ship on our first night!

A Tale of Two Bergens? - Part 1: Bergen Norway

In Bergen we took the Bergen-Bahn Funicular for a view over the town and harbour and found a new Model Railway shop. The morning saw us on a train 'over the top' to Oslo, hauled by a class E16 (Swiss Re460). Our reserved seats were in 'the dog coach'. A superb trip along the fjords and then skiing valleys and plateau (some ski cottages were barely showing their roof above the snow) before descending into Oslo.

A hotel by the station for one night gave us time to visit the home of the Oslo Model Railway club (and model shops in their building ) before boarding the train back to Göteborg and the flight home.