Day 14 - Maelstrom

We had a disturbed night owing to us waking every hour in our endeavour to see the Northern Lights which did not oblige, despite another clear sky. We were already parked in the Bodo ferry queue so got up at 5.45 to have time for a cup of tea and muesli before we were loaded on at 6.30 and away promptly at 7, arriving at 10.15. It was good Mr C knew to have the card entitling us to a discount as the crossing cost about £100 rather than £180. Mr C slept almost all the way. I enjoyed the views leaving Lofotens and seeing all the smaller islands about an hour out from Bodo.

At Bodo we filled up with diesel, £2 a litre, and bought some milk surprisingly cheap at £1.25 a litre, considering the bread yesterday was £6.

We turned off the main road to take the FV17, one of Norway’s scenic routes, and it certainly has not disappointed. Almost immediately we stopped to let 3 elk cross the road, and a short time after we reached Saltstraumem, the world’s largest tidal current. The maelstrom is created in a 3 kilometre long and 150 metre wide strait between the Skjerstad Fjord and the Salten Fjord. 400 million cubic metres of water flow through in about 6 hours, balancing high and lowtide between the two fjord basins. The maelstrom can reach speeds up to 20 knots. Nature's own "Bubble bath" makes characteristic whirlpools up to 10 metres in diameter. The direction of the current changes every 6 hours or so. For a short period, the strait is quite still, before the current picks up speed again. We were lucky enough to see the whirlpools - the colour and movement was a fabulous spectacle but will it make a blip? Yes I think so, a detail of it.

The road meandered along beside crystal clear fjords and with the trees hugging the steep mountainside, it reminded me of Canada. We crossed several bridges and entered many tunnels, the longest being 4.5 miles long.

We decided to stop in a resteplass looking down on the Holandsfjord and across at a snout of the Svartisen glacier. Svartisen is a collective term for 2 glaciers. It is the second largest glacier on the Norwegian mainland and part of the Saltfjellet-Svartisen national park located in the Saltfjell mountain range. Svartisen glacier ends at the lowest point of any glacier on the European mainland. It was 66ft above sea level in 2007 but has obviously shrunk back 3 times that now.

Today we drove 96 miles.