30th of September, 2022.
Hitchhiking in Norway.
What makes you to like a country? Lots of people ask me “what is your favourite country”, and I have big trouble answering only one. There are so many things to consider. For reasons I am still trying to understand, I fell in love with Norway, and I would love to spend more time here, exploring the country in a deeper way.
Remember I am living from Hell! Laugh. They are fixing a new rest area by the road, so it is a bit of a mess. Perhaps that helped me because the cars kind of have to slow down. In a few minutes, Bard stops his car.
Bard is not going far, but I figure perhaps he can drive me to a better place. He is a sport guy, likes cycling, and he is extremely surprised by the way I am living my life. When we are talking about the food subject, he asks me if I want to have some breakfast. I kindly refuse but he doesn’t accept my “no” and immediately pull over in a supermarket and gets me 3 lovely yogurt meals, blueberries and chocolate. What a feast! How sweet of him…
He also tells me a very interesting story, about a German ship, Tirptiz, which was hiding in the Fjords of Trondheim, during the World War II. After here, the ship was sent North, near Trømso, where it sank. Apparently, the damages caused by its chemical fog of chlorosulphuric acid for camouflage, are still found in the trees around the areas where it had been.
After Bard, a young man stops his car. He is also not going much further, only until Verdalsora, where he works in a pig’s slaughter factory. He is recovering from an accident he suffered, while playing football. Another player hit him with his elbow, and broke his cheekbone! His left eye also got hurt pretty bad.
My next hitchhiking spot is not entirely outside of the city, but on the way. I am by a gas station.
I couldn’t predict what a great surprise was about to come into my life.
Hilde and Håkon stop in the gas station and make a sign I can come. My sign it says Bodø and they are going to Mo i Rana. I remember that name because I wrote it down on my journey, as it is on the way to Bodø. And it is almost 400 Km from here. Uhul!
They are both so sweet and immediately we have a great connection. We spend the whole time chatting. They are going to their holiday cottage to have some rest. We pass by the “division mark” for North and South Norway, Nord-Norge, as Hilde tells me. She always takes a photograph and send to her family when they cross this point. I take a photo too!
Hilde tries to contact a friend in Bodø, to check if she is in town so perhaps, she could host me for the night. How sweet! She also checks the Northern Lights forecast and it seems that there will be some strong activity around there tonight. Oh… I so much need to arrive in Bodø tonight! I was planning to camp somewhere outside the town, so my chances of seeing Northern Nights would be higher. Hilde’s friend is not in town after all, but she will contact some other friends and send me an email later on.
We stop for a delicious coffee and some delicious chocolate pastries. Hilde and Håkon are also surprised about my travel style and they want to help me. When we are saying goodbye, at this great hitchhike spot they drove me to, outside of town and quite out of their route, Hilde put some NOKs on my pocket. I try to refuse and give back to her, but they insist. Immediately I think about my boots, and how they are falling apart, so perhaps I could use this money to get some second-hand boots and be able to walk over water again without getting my feet all wet. They are so kind and lovely people, and I am sure they are happy to help, so I decide to accept. After I say many times “thank you”, my lovely friends depart.
There is still sun in the horizon, but I know it is getting late. But I am in Norway, so what the hell, I decide to carry on with the hitchhiking anyway. Let the dark begin! I put my wet socks to dry by the grass, where there is still some sunshine.
A few cars pass and in one of them a young lady with pink hair. Suddenly, I see she comes back. Ingeen open the window and say something like that she passed by but because she is going to Bodø, she felt bad and that’s why she came back. What? Bodø? Really? I will arrive in Bodø today? Wow! Unbelievable! The only thing is, I get so excited with these news, that I completely forget about my socks. NO!!!
Ingeen works as a nurse in Trondheim but she is going to take some courses in Bodø. She will be there only for the weekend, staying in a hotel. She named her car blueberry, for obvious reasons, and she has a super cute and fluffy teddy bear on the panel, called Prince.
Even though is getting dark, I still can see a bit of the beautiful views up here. Lovely mountains and landscape! And we see one moose! A bit far away but still! That would be the first and last moos I would see in Scandinavia. I guess I was just unlucky with them.
It is a bit more than 200 Km all the way to Bodø, so we arrive there around 9 p.m. Ingeen stops by her hotel in the city centre, which luckily for me is by the train station and the port where the ferries to Lofoten islands depart.
10 Years Around the World 