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Home to Nordkapp and return in 2008.

Our Accommodation en route
Accommodation Summary
The whole journey
Accom
Home to Nordkapp and return
A wide range of cheap accommodation, all of good standard and value for money.

We had no complaints about any of the places we stayed.

Mostly we were arriving late and just having an overnight stop, so only needed the basic facilities, but we were pleasantly surprised with the results.

There were occasional places where we could have trimmed a little off the cost, we shall use the experience next time.

Total cost �817.35, or �51 per night.  We are well satisfied with that.

Accommodation Daily Detail
Friday
13th June
Accom
Accom
B & B Hotel Coquelles, Calais

A later arrival using the automatic check in terminal makes B&B an easy place for a quick overnight stop.

Only a few minutes from arriving at the gate to being in bed.

Toilet and shower in the room.

The rooms are typical French "one star", double bed, toilet and shower in a small area, but for a simple comfortable night's sleep this is OK.

Breakfast is self service from a reasonable selection of cereals, bread, jams, juices, yoghurts.  But I do enjoy their bacon and eggs, so B&B tend to hold my preference for one stars in France.

The staff are friendly and playful, encouraging English speakers to learn French.

Cost for B+B was �41.31 (52.30 Euro).  Well recommended.

Saturday
14th June
Accom
 
Top of the range French one star, or bottom of the range two stars, Etap is another large chain with known standards.  They have hotels in many European countries, spreading good value overnighting.

We arrived late, but having booked earlier and telephoned ahead we were given the room number and access codes.

Only a few minutes from arriving to being in bed.

Toilet and shower in the room.

Self Service breakfast, greater range than B&B, more meats and cheeses, but no bacon and eggs.

Cost for B+B was �47.39 (60.00 Euro). Well recommended

Sunday
15th June
Accom
Accom Accom
Accom Accom
Sarpsborg Hostel

Our first Norwegian hostel.

A really evocative wooden building, like a very large house,

We check in and find the hostel to be very well kept and our room has twin beds, toilet and shower.  We used our own linen to reduce our costs.

There are good facilities around for all our needs, and pleasant communal rooms.

I am impressed by the fire sprinkler system everywhere, fire safety.

We were the only people around and cooked in the small but adequate kitchen /diner.

There are pleasant walks nearby and we walk to the lake.

Self service Norwegian breakfast in the large pine furnished dining room, with candles lit on the tables. We had a good range of local breads, cheeses, meats and boiled egg, followed by jams.  We are well stocked and off for the day.

Cost for B+B was �53.87 (547 NOK). Well recommended

Monday
16th June
Accom
Accom
Trondheim Vandrerhjem Hostel
We found the place OK, due to good navigation, high above the town on the north side.

It would be quite a walk from the railway station with luggage.

We checked in to be told that they were no longer part of the Youth Hostels and we did not get the discount I expected.

The whole hostel is best described as functional, all you need but not very pretty.

Toilet and shower a little walk down the corridor, separate male and female. We could have had a WC/Shower in the room, but decided the cost was not worth it for one night

We cooked in the very large kitchen where there were 5 cookers and about 8 tables, and had good social interaction with other residents.

The other usual facilities were there, but not for us today.

We slept well in our bunk bed room, a little noisy from other residents.   We used our own linen.

Breakfast was in the very large student style refectory, with a good selection of Norwegian produce to enjoy.

I would say that this was expensive for the standard, however it did suit our needs.

Cost for B+B was �55.10 (558 NOK).

Tuesday
17th June
Accom
Accom Accom
Accom Accom
Korgen Camping

This is just through the village on the riverbank

All the cabins have names rather than the more usual numbers. We stay in a cabin called "London".  Perhaps the staff put the English people in cabin "London", the French in cabin "Paris" and other nationalities in appropriate cabins.

The on site facilities are spacious, pleasant and clean.  If this is to be the standard of cabins in Norway, I will be well pleased.

Toilet and shower near our cabin, about 25 metres walk across the grass.  Most of the other cabins were further away.

We had bunk beds, where we used our own linen.

The cabin has a stove for cooking, so I prepare a pasta meal for supper, which we eat on the veranda overlooking the river.

We made our own breakfast and on our way.

Cost for the cabin, without breakfast was �39.05 (370 NOK). Well recommended.

Wednesday
18th June
Accom
Accom Accom
Accom  
Narvik Spor 1 Gjestegard 
This was so easy to find, a clear sign as we turned off the main road, then down to the railway side.  I thought the iron ore trains would be noisy, but they did not trouble us.

We were met by Britt, who showed us our room and explained the facilities, everything we needed.

Toilet near the room and shower downstairs.

We cooked in the kitchen / diner and chatted with a couple from Australia. All very pleasant.

Being right in the centre of town we went out for a walk around the town in the midnight daylight.

We slept well in our twin beds, we used our own linen to reduce our costs., then up to make our breakfast and off on the day's journey.

Cost for room only was �53.80 (550 NOK). Well recommended.

Thursday
19th June
Accom
Accom Accom
Accom  
Skibotn, Strandbu Camping

Easy to find off the main road south of the town.

We met Rasmus at reception, who explained everything we needed to know.

Here we have a family cabin, bigger than at Korgen, the first one inside the site. 

4 beds, a double bed in the communal large room and two single beds in a separate room.  Toilet and shower in the cabin.

Here we use the large communal kitchen to cook, though more pleasant than the cabin, the only other people there were Russian who did not speak any English, and we no Russian.

Later in the evening, other people arriving came to us thinking we were the Reception.  It seems the relaxed way of doing things was to leave a list of vacant cabins on the Reception. If anyone wanted a cabin, they simply wrote their name against a cabin, the key was in the door and they paid the next morning.

After supper we go for a walk around the estuary, but still see no elk even at midnight with clouds covering all the sky. We decide not to walk into town and sleep comfortably in our double bed, using our own linen.

Then up, breakfast and packing up when someone leaving asked if they could leave their payment with us as Reception was not yet open, I declined.

Then on our way.

Cost for the cabin, without breakfast was �37.50 (450 NOK). Well recommended.

Friday and Saturday
20th and 21st June
Accom
Accom Accom
Accom  
Skardsvag Mini Motell
Easy to find, as we saw the signs and flags as we entered the village.

We had asked to stay one night extra here, and knew we could not have the same room both nights.

We were met by Solveig who explains that the room we have for tonight is a small room and tomorrow we move into the bigger room with a shower and kitchen.

We cooked in the main kitchen / diner, two cookers, a little tight but adequate as we worked around other people.

The bed was laid with linen, toilet and shower just outside our room.

The next morning, after the breakfast prepared by Solveig, we moved into the large room we had booked, our own toilet, shower and kitchen.

We take our linen with us to save paying twice for linen.

That evening we cooked in our own kitchen and eat at our own table looking over the lake outside.

When we are checking out, I realised that we could have used our own linen, that would have reduced our costs.

Cost for B+B for 2 nights was �136.92 (1380 NOK). We expected this to be the most expensive, being the peak tourist time.

Well recommended.

Sunday
22nd  June
Accom
Accom Accom

 

Kirkenes Camping

We had not booked anywhere, knowing that there were plenty of vacancies around.

We looked at Kirkenes Camping and decided to give it a go.

Reception was closed, and a sign gave me a phone number to ring.

I was told that the keys for the vacant cabins were in a box nearby and I had to pay when Reception opened at 10:00 the next morning.

We looked at cabin 18 and decided it was fair value and we used our own linen on the bunk beds.

Toilet and shower, separate large facilities for male and female, were quite a walk, around 80 metres, but most cabins were closer.

The cabin had a small cooker, so we decided to use the fair sized main kitchen to cook our pasta meal.

We had a walk around and there is nothing nearby, the site being about 5kms south of the town, so we stayed on site and chatted with a bird watcher from the Forest of Bowland.

Being only a few yards from the E6, I would have thought that traffic noise could be a problem, but we had a good night's sleep.

We can recommend this as a place to stay.

Cost for the cabin, without breakfast was �39.05 (370 NOK).

Monday
23rd June
Accom
Accom Accom
Accom Accom
Tankavaara Gold Museum
Easy to find, well signed off the E75.  Reception was in the restaurant.

We have been given a small cabin, but it is really quite big with a double bed downstairs and an upstairs room with one double bed and two single beds. 

We use the double upstairs.  There are mosquitoes around and we need to be careful not to let any into the cabin.

Toilet and shower in the cabin.

A really pleasant spacious cabin.

There are several signed forest walks nearby, we walked the "Geological Walk" of around 7km.

We  have a pasta supper, using the cooker in the cabin, but not daring to eat outside because of the mosquitoes.

Breakfast was in the lobby of the restaurant, we had rye porridge, followed by a selection of breads, cheeses and jams.

Cost  for the cabin, including breakfast was �49.97 (60.00 Euro). Well recommended.

Tuesday
24th June
Accom
Accom Accom
Lulea, Tina's Rum

We were going to be late arriving, so I telephone and she gave me the access code and left the room key out for us. 

Fairly easy to find, though the front door is actually on Tullgatan.

Our room was spacious with our own toilet and shower, also a TV.

As we were settling in, Tina appeared, and we chatted about life and being relaxed about life.

Breakfast was a self serve from a selection of Swedish breads, cheeses, eggs, fruit, jams and very good coffee.  All collected from the kitchen and eaten in the dining room.

I was puzzled about the non sequential room numbering, there being rooms 105, 151, 146, 155.  They were arranged at random along the corridor,   Tina explained that when they built the rooms in what had previously been offices, they had bought second hand doors from a hotel that was being refurbished.  They had tried to remove the original door numbers, but found the veneer was getting torn, so simply decided to leave the numbers on the doors.

After enjoying Tina's company and hospitality we were well equipped to continue our journey.

Cost for B+B was �49.67 (590 SEK).  Well recommended.

Wednesday
25th June
Accom
 
Ibis is a large worldwide chain, with corporate standards, and here at Sundsvall this was a typical Ibis.

Our room was of adequate size with toilet and shower.

Breakfast at Ibis is very "large hotel" and "corporate", their typical massive selection for breakfast was an indulgence.  Their boiled egg was really good, suited me perfectly, perhaps I just happened upon the right egg at the right time.

Cost for B+B was �57.79 (685 SEK). Well recommended

Thursday
26th June

Sundsvall to Tystberga
We stayed with my friend from my WIMS days, at his really beautiful large house in the Swedish countryside.

A really pleasant evening being treated to Swedish treats.

Friday
27th June
Saturday
28th June
Sunday
29th June
Tystberga to Home

There is not much point in detailing here as I would only be repeating the northwards journey.

Ibis Malmo was �53.79 (640 SEK).

Etap Flensburg  was �47.53 (60.00 Euro).

B & B Calais was �44.60 (56.30 Euro).

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