Norway 2021 - Planning process - Travel through Europe by 25x25 Squares

General thoughts

I didn’t do much upfront planning. The option to travel for 2 month came up rather on short notice. Additionally, due to Covid it was difficult to determine where I could go. I decided on a day by day basis what I thought was interesting in the area nearby and how the weather forecast was. The main idea was to reach the North Cape and then go westwards along the Norwegian cost.

This approach is a lot easier when you travel outside of high season. Sweden and Norway can get quite crowded in the summer and especially in the South. On the other hand, in Norway a lot of facilities close or have significantly shorter opening hours after mid of August.

Sources

I mainly used to following sources (sorry, all but the last are only German sources, but they are only examples anyway and should not be considered as advertisement):

a travel guide with focus on tours for campers to get some ideas on possible routes (Norwegen – Reisewege zum Nordkap)
one general travel guide to get some more information especially when I decided not to follow any route from the above guide (Reiseführer Norwegen)
blog Hin-Fahren as they described pretty much exactly where I wanted to go and they had specific tips e.g. around routes, spots, and parking (Norwegen mit dem Wohnmobil)
blog nordlandblog with detailed descriptions around the street toll and ferry charges and a lot of information around hikes (Maut in Norwegen & Skandinavien im Überblick: AutoPass, Ferjekort, EPC, BroBizz, BroPas, Unsere Empfehlungen, Routen und Tourenbeschreibungen für die Planung eurer Wanderungen in Norwegen im Überblick)
tour proposals for hikes at ut.no

Two travel guides, sheets of paper, and pen on a desk — Typical planning evening

I also made it a habit to stop at tourist information offices and check out the maps and what the staff had to say. During off-season staff at museums or other facilities also might have time for a talk and can give some hints to interesting spots.

Signs

In Norway a special sign indicates that there is some spot of interest. Unfortunately it is not always clear what it might be and how far it is to get there. But if you have time you can just follow the signs and check out where you end up and what you will see there.

The pictures will show some examples.

Green area, house in the background with a big white sign looking like a ribbon with 4 circles, a sign showing a waffle in the foreground — The sign in the foreground is also important as it indicates the availability of waffles 😉. However, I am referring to the curved white sign on the museum in the background.

White street sign saying "Minnesmerket - John Savio" and the curved symbol next to it — Here is an example of the symbol on a street sign. Turned out to be a monument created by John Savio.

Brown sign saying "Gravfelt" with the curved symbol next to it — Another example leading to a ancient burial ground

If you have time I can only recommend that you deviate from your initial plan in case you see anything that sparks your interest.