Ian Wright begins his Nordic journey high on a cliff in Stavanger, where he witnesses the extreme sport of Base Jumping. He journeys from Staveanger to Bergen by ferry, which takes him along just 150 of Norway’s 21,000 miles of coastline. Ian enjoys a night out with locals and travellers in Bergen and discovers that drinking in Norway requires a small mortgage.
The next stage of the journey is from Bergen to Voss by train. The usually highly reliable train breaks down and Ian has to complete his journey by taxi. He arrives in Voss before nightfall and camps out at the edge of a clear lake – not a very comfortable option but next morning aches and pains are soon forgotten as Ian takes on nature with a lesson in river boarding.
Ian travels onwards to Stryn, one of Norway’s three summer ski resorts. The journey takes two days by coach and Ian has the opportunity to see Norway’s mountainscapes at their best, as well as take a short trip in a replica Viking boat. Ian has a go at a telemart skiing – a traditional form of skiing that combines downhill and cross country styles. To help him recover, he takes a quick sauna.
Three hundred miles further north by bus to Trondheim, Ian rents a bike and takes a whistle stop tour of the town. He then travels by train and plane to Lapland, the land of the Midnight Sun.
Lapland is also known as Samiland and it covers parts of Sweden , Russia and Finland. Ian thumbs a lift from a Sami Reindeer farmer and soon finds himself erecting a Norwegian Labu or tent. Dinner that night is dried reindeer meat, which seems to be a staple of the Sami diet.
Before leaving Lapland Ian is invited to a colourful Sami wedding. After the ceremony the guests enjoy a lavish feast of, not surprisingly, reindeer meat!
Ian dons his wellies, hat and white overalls and spends three days gutting fish to earn enough money for a helicopter flight to Spitzbergen, the Northern most point of Norway. With a greater population of polar bears than humans, this island is the closest stretch of land to the North Pole. The temperatures are way below freezing and Ian has the opportunity to go ice diving with some resident researchers.
The ultimate challenge of Ian’s Norwegian journey comes in the form of eight huskies and a sled which take Ian deep into the wilderness.
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