About Norway
Norway is a truly colossal country covering an area larger than Germany at 385,252 km². It
stretches for 2,500 km from North to South, but it's coastline is over 83,000 km long, reflecting it's vast, penetrating fjords and thousands of islands which make up much of the west side of the country. The fjords are glacier cut valleys, flooded by seawater, stretching inland from the sea for many kilometers. Indeed Norway contains the second longest fjord in the world, Sognefjord, which is 205 km in length. This combination of calm sheltered fjords, Atlantic rugged coastline, thousands of small and large islands, and some of the highest mountains in Europe, plunging vertically into the sea, are what makes Norway an exceptional kayaking location.
Despite it's large size the population of Norway is only 4.8 million people. Most live in the larger cities in Mid and Southern Norway, and especially in the capital, Oslo. Norway is extremely wealthy, being the 7th largest oil exporter in the World, and has more money invested per capita of it's population than any other country. It is estimated that 1% of the World's stocks and shares are owned by Norwegians. Consequently, the Norwegian Krona (NOK) is highly valued, which can make visiting Norway very expensive. Norway remains outside of the European Union (EU) but within it's economic area. Hence, EU citizens can enjoy many of the privileges in Norway they enjoy in the rest of the EU.
Getting to Norway with a kayak, particularly from the UK, is no longer as easy as it used to be. In 2009 the Newcastle to Bergen and Stavanger ferry was terminated. There are no direct ferries to Norway from Great Britain. In order to take your own vehicle and kayaking gear to Norway, ferries are available from Harwich to Esbjerg, Denmark, which takes over 18 hours! This leaves a long drive up through Denmark and Sweden to your destination in Norway (to drive from Esbjerg in Denmark to Tromsø in Norway will take several days and is a total distance of 2529 km). Alternatively, a second ferry trip from Denmark to Norway will reduce the total driving distance. However, the ferries to Norway do not go from Esbjerg! Instead you can catch ferries to Norway from Hirtshals ( 3 hour 15 minute drive from Esbjerg), Copenhagen (3 hour drive from Esbjerg) and Frederikshavn (3 hour 15 minute drive from Esbjerg). Once in Norway, the country is so vast that to drive to many destinations e.g. Tromsø, could take several days. Roads are largely single file, with strict speed limits and many speed cameras.
By far the best option is to fly to Norway, and hire a car and paddling gear at your destination. The country is well served by airlines, one of the cheapest being Norwegian, which offers both international flights, and internal domestic connections. Indeed, Norwegian have a direct flight from London Gatwick to Tromso at the time of writing, unlike most of the other airlines who use Oslo as a hub. Other airlines which fly to Norway include British Airways, Ryanair and SAS. SAS offer international and domestic flights through their own planes, and also through Wideroe, which they own. I have in the past transported a sea kayak by air as "sports baggage". However, of late it has become very difficult to persuade airlines to take large fragile items like kayaks. At the time of writing much of the information about transporting kayaks by air has disappeared from the web sites of the major airlines. It may or may not be worth a telephone call prior to booking your flights to Northern Norway, but my recommendation would be to hire boats at your destination.
Top kayaking photo -Terje Rakke/Nordic life/Innovation Norway, Glacier and Lofoten fishing boat - CH/Innovation Norway,
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