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bvddobb
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@Amarillo, you must have been here:
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Nuorgam, the northernmost part of Finland, and thereby of the EU.
How do you have take a photo in an ‘aggressive manner’?We visited another extreme border these days, the Norwegian-Russian border. The yellow pole is the Norwegian border marker, if you look carefully, you can see the Russian red border marker across the river:
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A lot of things are not allowed in the border region:
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... and here we were wondering where you were - without any updates.Wednesday, September 1
The weather has changed for the worse. 5 degrees Centigrade, winds of Beaufort 5-6, cold rain, limited visibility... No way we will do the 4 hour hike on an unsheltered ridge under these circumstances. It will be miserable and cold, and you won't see a thing once you reach the end... It puts us down a bit.
We look for an alternative, and stumble on a new, recently opened national tourist route towards Havøysund and back. A beautiful route, and very quiet!
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Thursday, September 1
Today we'll do our last stretch of North Norway: we want to reach Øksfjord, via Alta. Marga's brother lives in Øksfjord. Her parents are on the Hurtigruten currently, and will arrive there tonight at 02:00 (Øksfjord is one of the Hurtigruten stops). So, we will have a rest day there tomorrow and see family we haven't seen for a long time since Covid, and then move on on Saturday.
On the road we visit the Alta museum, where in an open air part one can see thousands of years' old rock carvings and paintings. A beautiful museum, where we have lunch:
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During part of WW2, the Tirpitz, a German battle ship, lay hidden in one of the side fjords of the Alta fjord. There is a little museum dedicated to that period, but unfortunately also closed because of Covid.
So, we drive on towards Øksfjord, we see many reindeer on the road there, end we end up parking our van on Marga's brother's drive way.
That night the Hurtigruten with their parents arrives, and moors right in front of Marga's brother's house:
Friday, August 3
We have a rest day in Øksfjord, together with the family. We camp in Marga's brother's garden and make a short hike along the fjord. The weather is still awful: rain, wind, cold...
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You may follow us on Polarsteps, see earlier in this thread.... and here we were wondering where you were - without any updates.
Yes, I do - but don't use the app often. Now I shallYou may follow us on Polarsteps, see earlier in this thread.
Oh boy! that looks like a bummer ... but you seem to be enjoying the ride on the truck - in the van. Interesting that they allow that in Norway. Hope it is something minor.Oh, oh! During our ‘race to the South’, suddenly: limp mode! No indicator lights, no strange noises from under the bonnet, the simple stop-key out-start reset dodn’t solve it…
It is far too busy on the E6 to limp on, so we are being hauled to the next VW dealer on the route:
not only Norway, but also in France, Germany, Belgium, etc...Interesting that they allow that in Norway.
Duh! UK is so boringAi, hopefully just a faulty sensor or something like that.
not only Norway, France, Germany, Belgium, etc...
Seems like a helpful Dealership. Hope everything is sorted and you catch the ferry.So, they checked the log, and lo: the (in)famous N75...! They checked the valve physically, and it turns out it is not just the sensor, but the actual valve that is broken. Therefore the key reset method didn't work, the car will go into limp mode over and over again...
Part was not in stock, will be shipped there overnight, they expect they can put it in around 09:00 tomorrow morning. We may still catch our booked ferry!
The dealer offered we could camp on their site, with EHU and all, but the weather is so bad, we decided to take the hotel across the street...
That definitely sounds like a very good dealer. glad to know things are progressing well.The part is due to arrive any minute, now. We have been able to push out our Bergen-Hirtshals ferry booking to a day later, that will make our drive there much more relaxed. The dealer printed out our new tickets for us. We should be OK!
Well, we cheered too early… The N75 fault is gone, so far so good, but the permanent limp mode is still there. Check, check, double check: no other fault codes, no warning lights, nothing. The only thing is that the system says the DPF is loaded beyond the threshold value and the standard operation then is to replace it. There are other methods (e.g. cleaning, a method not available here, spoofing the system, which the official dealer won’t do), but not available right now.The part is due to arrive any minute, now. We have been able to push out our Bergen-Hirtshals ferry booking to a day later, that will make our drive there much more relaxed. The dealer printed out our new tickets for us. We should be OK!
Oh boy, that is definitely not a happy ending ... but knowing of your travels, the van has taken you to many places without any issues ... so, well, I am sure it will be fixed and take you along on more adventures.Well, we cheered too early… The N75 fault is gone, so far so good, but the permanent limp mode is still there. Check, check, double check: no other fault codes, no warning lights, nothing. The only thing is that the system says the DPF is loaded beyond the threshold value and the standard operation then is to replace it. There are other methods (e.g. cleaning, a method not available here, spoofing the system, which the official dealer won’t do), but not available right now.
A replacement part is not currently available in Norway, has to come from Germany, takes at least 5 working days and is terribly expensive here, the dealer warns us. He reckons it will be much cheaper in NL.
We have a discussion with our dutch dealer on the line and we decide to try adding a regenerative agent to the fuel and driviy around for 2 hours at very high revs, to see of we can auto-regenerate the DPF this.
No avail.
So, now we have arranged with our insurance that the van will be repatriated, we cancelled the Bergen ferry and have claimed that back, and Friday they fly us back from Trondheim to Amsterdam.
End of trip.
Is that a raincover you have over the top?Wednesday 18 - Thursday 19 August
After our first few days of wandering through the Finnish lake district, we decide to make some miles up North. We plan an 'adventurous' route (TomTom option) on back and dirt roads to Rovaniemi, via Oulu on the Botnic Gulf.
Driving is a bit slower than TomTom calculated, so we don't make Oulu on Wednesday. We end up on an activity campsite (kayaking, swimming, climbing. cycling, a beautiful open air theatre on the river) near Muhos.
The next morning we drive to Oulu, where we do a city walk, guided by this website.
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We visit the old market hall for a coffee:
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That afternoon we drive to Rovaniemi on the Polar Circle. WE meet our first free running reindeer (see above) and end up at Napapiiri Campsite near Rovaniemi. Beautiful spot, excellent facilities, but very expensive, in our opinion: obviously one pays a premium for Santa's proximity...
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