Bodø, Norway 2017 🇳🇴 – Michael and Pam's Travels

Travelled: 63 kilometres by road from Løding to Bodø, then 102 kilometres by ferry to Moskenes in the Lofoten Islands.

Visited: Norsk Luftfartsmuseum Bodø, NOK120pp, then ferry to Moskenes NOK2028

Stayed: Museum carpark in Å, free. N67.87986, E12.97732

Whilst we had a nice view from the Hymer across the bay at Løding, it wasn’t a great night’s sleep. There is a factory and dockyard across the way and there was some banging and clanging during the night. We planned an early start today anyway so there was no chance for a sleep in.

We have the usual coffee and fruit, then make tracks for Bodø. A low-beam headlight on the Hymer has failed, so we make for an auto electrician who diagnoses a burnt out globe and replaces it. It is something I would normally do myself, but the low-beam globes are very difficult to reach, so I feel inclined to get someone to change them rather than dislocate my shoulder contorting myself to get the old globe out. I get him to replace the other low-beam globe as well and we’re back on the road. We see the flight museum (its hard to miss as you drive under it) as we head further into town.

This amazing mural of a sea eagle outside the tourist office in Bodø

We are told just be in ferry queue an hour or so before the 4 pm departure, that no boorking is required this time of year. So we head back out to the museum to kill a couple of hours. Having held my pilots license for many years I have a real affection for aircraft and Pam doesn’t seem to mind my enthusiasm.

A replica WWII Hurricane fighter stands on a plinth outside the museum.

The museum is divided into two sections, war birds and civil aviation. This F-5 A Freedom Fighter in original Norwegian livery stands at the entrance.

Pam stands in front of a fully restored DH 98 Mosquito fighter/bomber. It’s airframe made predominantly from laminated timber. Known affectionately as the ‘wooden wonder’.

A genuine Supermarine Spitfire also fully restored in Norwegian livery.

Arguably the best German fighter of WWII the FW190. Only ever seen pictures of one before today. Running out of fuel it crash landed in a snow storm in the mountains of Northern Norway by it’s German pilot in 1943. It remained undiscovered until 1984, recovered in 1986 and restoration was completed in 2013

Another legendary aircraft I have actually never seen. A CF-104 Starfighter. Known as the ‘Widow Maker’ due to it’s history of operational accidents.

Pam wanders off somewhere. I expect to find her asleep in a dark corner but no she’s found a friend.

Anyway I could babble on about the museum all day, the civil aviation side is also very interesting but you’d only get bored and not finish reading this blog. So we head back down to the port. There is a service port there, so we get the Hymer in order before joining the queue for the ferry.

We line up for the ferry in Bodø and a few minutes later we are rolling on board. Didn’t even have a chance to take a photo.

The passage to Lofoten is 4 hours. The views are nice but to take a descent photo you need to go outside and it’s very cold out there.

The obvious solution to a long ferry journey is alcohol but its just too expensive. So I watch another episode of Game of Thrones whilst Pam reads her book. But after a couple of hours we get desperate and start talking to our fellow passengers. Pam is chatting away to a German lady doing a tour of Norway on her Motto Guzzi. Whilst I chat to a plumber about heat transfer units. So the time passes on.

We arrive in Moskenes on time at 8pm. I have some co-ordinates in the GPS for a carpark in Å, so we head south. Å must be the shortest name of a village on earth, anyway that’s it name.

Michael and Pam

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