Tuesday, February 27th, 2018
Distance: 527km
Driving: 9am – 3pm (+ 3.5h ferry)
Weather: Great sunny day
Lowest temperature: -12C
Border crossing: Sweden – Norway (no border control)

SAC offered 4 hours of driving and drifting on the frozen lake next to Vilhelmina in the morning. Because of our car issues and the schedule for the early ferry from Bodo to the Lofoten Island (leaving 4:30pm, while the next ship leaves only at 2:30am at night), we hit the road early, after taking some pictures of an impressive ice chapel during dawn in the city centre.

The day and drive was just gorgeous: a lot of sun, first frozen lakes and white mountains.

We drove by some Swedish ski resorts in beautiful scenery, but not very exciting slopes.

And just after entering Norway, we met our first elk, directly on the road, only few meters away.

Later on, we reached a wide and empty plateau, where we crossed the arctic circle heading north…

… until we finally drove through the majestic landscape of the Norwegian fjords.

Some other teams were already lined up at the ferry terminal of Bodo, which we reached at 3pm for the 4:30pm ship to Moskenes on the Lofoten Islands.

Clear sky, great pastel colours of the northern dusk, steep snow-covered rock mountains all around us, the view was just breath taking. We stayed on the outside deck until it got dark.

3,5 hours later, the ferry got close to the Lofoten Islands.

Again outside, our eyes first caught the few city lights and after getting used to the dark, realised the steep white mountains raising immediately from the shore. So beautiful!

Our cabin for the night was just 15 minutes by car away from the ferry terminal, standing on wooden poles in the water in a small bay with fisher boats just in front of us. With warm temperatures of just below 0C, we had our champagne and beer outside on the dock.