Going on a road trip can be one of the most enjoyable things to do, especially when you get to drive some wonderful cars.
Last year we gathered a group of Porsche enthusiasts and headed north to Stekenjokk, a wonderful place in northern Sweden. The trip was a success and so we felt we had to do it again.
MORE: Our Q&A with spy photographer Andreas Mau
This time around we would have a few more cars because our last trip had received a little “advertisement”, so to speak. Several of the participants had read the article of last year’s trip in some car magazines and others had heard about it through friends and social media.
Many expressed their interest and as it usually happens some dropped out, for various reasons, the closer we got to the trip.
In the end, we still ended up with eleven cars divided between a bunch of 911s and two 928s. The owners were also distributed in terms of place of residence from Stockholm in the south to Luleå in the north. And as a bonus, we would meet a Norwegian Porsche enthusiast in Bodö.
This time, there were no “last-minute” operations on any car, so we could comfortably enjoy a barbecue evening at one of our fellow travellers, Lelle, where many of us gathered the night before. Sleeping places were distributed, cars were washed, and the mood was at its best.
Wednesday morning and time to depart. Of course, it’s raining a bit, but that doesn’t matter when the Lofoten islands are calling for us and our old Porsches are full of fuel.
Just before departure, a few more cars join, and we are on our way. It won’t be long before we are in Arvidsjaur and having lunch. Pär from Ljusdal meets up with his 911 SC in Arjeplog and from there we continue to Sandviken’s Fjällgård for coffee and buns at Lotta and Micke’s before continuing across the border into Norway.
A little way into Norwegian soil, at the first stop, Johan Andreas is waiting with his black Porsche 964. Johan Andreas lives in Bodö and has already advised us about suitable hotels and nice routes on Lofoten.
None of us are in a hurry to get to the hotel in Bodö where we will spend the first night in Norway, so Johan Andreas takes the lead and takes us out on wonderful small roads over the mountain so that we get into Bodö a little bit of the back way.
Lovely little roads invite active driving, but you must keep in mind that sheep and lambs can appear both here and there, so you have to be careful.
Before we check in at Clarion Collection Grand Bodö, we naturally think that we should take a group photo in the harbour. All said and done, the cars line up and to our surprise a reporter appears who has been tipped off about our road trip.
After the interview and some photos, it’s time to park the cars in the hotel garage and have a late dinner. Once in the hotel’s restaurant, another couple from Stockholm meet up – they have driven to Bodö with their Porsche 928 and checked in a few hours earlier.
After a lovely night’s sleep and breakfast, there will be some sightseeing in Bodö and of course some more coffee for some of us.
A little misunderstanding means that not everyone gets a seat on the early ferry over to Moskenes and Lofoten, so we have to wait for the next one. But once we and the cars are on board, we have 3.5 hours to get some food and enjoy the lovely sun on deck. It is wonderfully beautiful to see Lofoten with its amazing nature as it gets closer and closer.
Arriving in Moskenes, all you must do is get off the ferry and steer towards the evening’s dinner location. If you are on Lofoten, you must have a fish burger at Anitas Sjömat in Reines. It’s both a cozy environment and some good food, so it can be recommended. After the meal, we move on to meet the part of the gang that took the earlier ferry in order to enjoy a few beers at the hotel together.
Now you must be aware that even the shortest distance on Lofoten takes time, not only because the speed is limited but more because you see so much beauty all the time. So, expect to stop to admire and take pictures constantly.
After a good night’s sleep at Scandic Leknes and a good breakfast, we continue a little further north along the E10. Now, it’s not the E10 you want to drive on when you’re in Lofoten, even if it’s like a normal Swedish small country road. If you are there with your Porsche, you want to drive as much as possible along the even smaller and curvier roads. Our plan is to avoid the E10 as much as possible.
After about a mile north after the E10, we turn left towards Unstad and Unstad Beach. The road there is fun and curvy and there is a lot of beauty to see along the way. Don’t miss stopping halfway for a wonderful view of one of all the beautiful fjords on Lofoten.
Another fun detail is that there are some small and narrow tunnels that you drive through, so roll down the windows, shift to a lower gear and hit the floor. Yummy!
Unstad Beach is a well-known surfing spot, but at the beginning of June there are still very few surfers between the waves, but we count at least five surf buses. For comparison, I can mention that when I was in the same place a few weeks later, there were at least 60 surf buses of varying sizes from many European countries on the same beach.
Before we go on, there will of course be coffee and buns at Unstad Arctic Surf. Good but expensive, but you don’t go to Norway because it’s so cheap, as a wise man once said.
Time to follow the E10 for a while again along fjords and over fantastic bridges before we turn off towards Henningsvaer, which is a fishing village with around 500 inhabitants. And while you are there, take the opportunity to check out the soccer field that is at the far end of the village. Perhaps the world’s most beautifully situated football field.
We continue further north and turn onto Midnattsolvejen, follow the shapes of all the fjords on the way, enjoy the view, stop, and chat and take even more photos. These are wonderful roads to drive on and there are no speed cameras. But you still must keep an eye out, a lot of sheep and lambs are out for a walk on these roads as well.
We drive all the way to Fiskeböl, where we continue with one of the many small ferries between the islands on Lofoten.
The ferry goes across the sea to Melbu, where we continue along the coast along route 82 to Sortland and Scandic Sortland, which will be the next overnight stay. It is a new and fresh hotel that is located right at the water and offers a nice view from both the rooms and the restaurant.
The evening is spent in the bar and there is talk of cars, fun roads and, above all, Porsche.
A very good hotel breakfast is followed by an extra coffee in the sun before the journey continues. The cars remind us that they also want some breakfast, so all the cars are filled up, the oil is checked, and we discover that Norway has a high tax on sugar. Better buy your candy in Sweden!
Today’s stage destination is Andenes, which is the most northerly village on Lofoten. Andenes is on the island of Andöja and, as some say, this really doesn’t belong to Lofoten. But I think you could say that the whole archipelago can be called Lofoten, but that’s me.
We follow road 82 to Risöyhamn before we turn onto Lv974 and go via Björnskinn and Bö to Andenes. Somewhere along the way, the road changes its name to Nordmelavejen, but just keep towards Andenes and you will be right.
The closer we get to Andenes, the worse the weather gets and finally the rain comes. But we’re not complaining, we’ve really been lucky with the weather all along until now. Coffee is consumed at the convenience store in Bleik, where the excitement is high among locals when we roll in and fill the entire parking lot with our cars.
Once we arrive in Andenes, there will be some sightseeing in the rain before we decide to take the fast route towards Narvik and the last evening with the gang. The fast route in this case is route 82 to Sortland, route 85 to Gullesfjord and then E10 to Narvik.
With 80 km/h as the speed limit and some speed cameras and the knowledge of really expensive speeding fines, it’s a tough journey in the rain, especially for Christer in his 964 and me in my 911 SC. The problem Christer has is that the heat in his 964 has gone bananas and it becomes like a sauna in the car. It gets so hot that he starts to worry that the plastic on the air outlet could melt.
My problem is the opposite: I have no heating at all.
With the sportier exhaust system, the heating chambers fall away, and that is precisely why there is a small petrol heater mounted in the boot compartment of the 911 instead. The only problem is that the petrol heater for some reason didn’t want to start on this particular day. So, with Christer sweating and me freezing, we both long until we arrive at the hotel in Narvik.
Perhaps we should have changed cars every fifty kilometers in order to keep our body temperature reasonably normal.
The night is spent at the Quality Hotel Grand Royal but to be honest the hotel is neither “Grand” nor “Royal”. If you are in Narvik, look for another hotel.
It’s Sunday morning and it’s the last day. We say “goodbye” to some of the group and a now slightly smaller caravan of Porsches heads towards the mountains and the national border towards Sweden. Inside Sweden, we load up with some “cheap” candy and continue our journey to Kiruna for a coffee.
Once again, we say goodbye to some of the group, continue to Vippabacken outside Överkalix for the obligatory hamburger and then drive the remaining 120 kilometers before I drive up the driveway at home.
In total it was almost 2000 kilometres for me and apart from the heat striking on the only cold and rainy day of the trip, every mile was filled with joy and enjoyment. If only time could go a little faster so it will be time for next year’s trip again.
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