Munch and a runaway dog, Kragerø, Norway

Zagan the motorhome is living it up at the ‘Carry On’ sounding Bogstad camping (N59.96516,E10.64168), nine kilometres outside of Norway’s capital city of Oslo.

Rewind a couple of days and we woke in Kristiansand surrounded by a group of giggling folk armed with potatoes and knives. When Jay took Charlie for his morning stroll he had to ask them what they were doing, to which they sheepishly replied “erm, making potato animals”. Yes folks, even in Norway the enforced fun of a corporate team-building day is just as surreal as it is in the UK. As we ate our breakfast, showered and got ready for the off, we had a front row seat as the group guided themselves along a rope while blindfolded, identified foodstuffs through smell, slapped their thighs and yelled to a beat and all manner of other things in the name of being a team. I cringed, Jay loved it. We were both glad we won’t have to face another of those days again, we’ve had our fair share.

Setting off we were heading north once again, which is a bit strange as we’ve been going south for ages. The road varied between a single lane and dual carriageway. Jay let out a cheer and Zagan roared with delight as the speed limited lifted to 110 kph, finally his engine can get the revving it has been dreaming of, and he can feel wind flow past his Prince Charles wing-mirror ears. After getting some miles beneath his wheels Zagan turned into a petrol station and made use of the free service point – they are pretty much everywhere now we are in the south of Norway. The service point was next to a car wash, so while we couldn’t support the petrol station by buying any diesel, we still had plenty on board, we paid our way and rewarded Zagan for his continuing efforts with a good old wash down. Of course, as soon as we had finished we spotted bits we had missed, but he’s still looking loads better.

Heading off the main road we made our way towards Kragerø. Suddenly all the cars in front of us slowed to a halt. I grabbed the camera as in northern Norway cars randomly stopping is a sign of reindeer, maybe it was an elusive elk on the road? As we crawled along the creature that appeared was somewhat smaller than an elk, it was a small dog running free alongside the road. As we got past it we pulled in and got out to see if we could help. A young boy was wandering around in his socks, tears in his eyes as his beloved pet had bolted from the house and made good its escape and was now playing in the traffic. We deployed our number one weapon for such an occasion – Charlie.

On a large patch of grass away from the traffic Charlie’s lead was unlocked and our pooch was free to roam. We had the loose dog’s interest and he came over for a sniff. After watching Jay fish for many hours I knew what to do next, Charlie’s lead was shortened in and our canine ‘lure’ moved closer to me. As the loose dog got right next to me I reached over to get its collar, but it was so jumpy it was off like a shot. Not to be disheartened we tried ‘dog fishing’ several times, but each time he got close, he also got spooked and flew off back towards the road. A woman driver who had stopped apologised that she had to go, but had called the young lad’s mum, who was on her way. The beauty of our lifestyle is that we could stay and help, and so we did – food and treats didn’t work, so we ushered it down a path away from the road for safety.

An hour later the pooch was still free. Jay had returned to Zagan with Charlie who was squeaking for his lunch, while I’d followed the running pooch down the path. I attempted to get close to it, but just got growled and barked at, so I wasn’t going to try and catch it on my own and risking a savaging. Instead I spent over half an hour sitting in a field watching it, waiting for someone to show up and help. No one came. Reluctantly I left the runaway in the field and returned to the main road. There was no sign of the boy or his Mum, and as the pooch was now in a traffic free part of the town and as safe as it could be I left, defeated. I do hope the skittish little thing has made its way home for tea.

Reaching Kragerø we drove around for a while looking for the free parking area mentioned in our Park4Night database, but sadly times have changed and a pay meter was installed charging 20Nok per hour for a maximum of 10 hours. Kragerø is a bit like a large Cornish fishing village, one half of it pressed up against the water, the rest crawling up a hill. After a bit more searching and driving in circles we drove through an industrial building site and found a patch of land big enough to park on (N58.8743942,E9.41745). Once again another parking meter, but this one was a bit kinder, 150Nok for 24 hours. We joked that we have certainly been in Norway too long now as we didn’t flinch when we paid it – £15 to park on a patch of land, we’d get a campsite with full facilities for that in Croatia or Spain at this time of the year.

The patch of land didn’t look much, but it did have a wonderful view across the water to the town. Jay grabbed his fishing stuff while Charlie and I sat in the cab of Zagan in the warm sunshine gazing out at the ferries and boats criss-crossing the water in front of us. Once the fishing urge was satiated (there are no fish in the sea in Kragerø) we headed off for a look around the place and to see someone famous for a scream.

Kragerø

So, yes just to check there’s a garage for the boat too?

Edvard Munch, Norway’s most famous artist, lived in Kragerø from 1909 to 1915. It was here that he was inspired by the people and the scenery surrounding him, which lead  to the creation of two of his main works, namely The Sun, and History. I wonder if he too had a motorhome and spent some time here looking for free parking which inspired his most famous work, The Scream. The Scream isn’t in Kragerø, it lives in Oslo, but there is a museum dedicated to him here, and we arrived after it had closed for the day, so instead we popped to see his statue. Positioned looking out to sea it is where he stood as he painted one of his pieces, there is a copy of it behind him and other works of his dotted around the town showing his view of the place. If you are a fan of his work, it is certainly worth a visit.

At least by painting the place you can miss out the powerlines!

Sadly I’m a shallow creature, so despite being surrounded  by a beautiful town and art history, I got the most excited when Jay spotted ice creams for 10Nok, that’s just £1, a bargain here in Norway. Of course we had to try them!

Now we know what is behind all those wooden planks on the buildings

A fella pulled up in this and went to the cashpoint, it took me a while to realise what was wrong, he left the car running. No one in it. I guess every in town knows who the car belongs to, but Norway does feel that safe.

Back in Zagan Jay supped a final Norwegian beer I had bought him (he can’t face seeing the price and getting them himself) as we sat in the front seats and watched the boats nip by, lights come on and the sky turn to the deep blue of dusk.

Good with reindeer – Aass beer!

This morning Jay was up and at ’em for his final Norwegian fish, he caught a mackerel, but it was too small, so it went back. It was probably larger than the first fish he caught and cooked up, when we arrived in Norway over two and a half months ago, how times have changed us. After a spot of breakfast it was time for the final push to Oslo. We had one quick stop at a petrol station when we spotted it had LPG, but sadly we couldn’t for the life of us work out how to use the pump and it was unmanned on a Saturday. We still have plenty of gas, so figured we’d get some elsewhere before we venture into Sweden as we hear it is more expensive there.

If you see a Kr next to your road, you know it’s going to cost you. No idea how much until you are past the point of no return!

After that it was 110kph motorways and many tolls that got us to Oslo. We headed for the marina only to find that the parking there closed about a week ago. Jay nipped out to check as sometimes closed just means that the services are shut and you can still park, but here closed meant closed. We can only assume, judging by the sheer number of boat holders, that the space is used for boat storage in the winter. So we drove on another ten minutes until we reached the camping.

Since then we have had a crazy Saturday night. We’ve sat outside reception for hours using the wifi to fix our satnav – sadly it wasn’t fast enough using our booster aerial from the comfort of the Zagan – and have done a load of laundry. Tomorrow we hit Oslo and from the traffic queues and sheer number of people we have seen so far, I think we might be in for a shock.

Ju x

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