Country: Norway
Distance travelled:
Weather: Sunny

Typically, on a day when we planned to do chores and clean up, the weather was clear and sunny, perfect for sightseeing. We were up and getting our money’s worth from the fee for a day using the Europa Sim managing to track down a coin laundry in Trondheim, reputed to be the most northerly laundromat in Norway, possibly the world ? It was mentioned on several different websites and was visible with a check on Google street view. Parking nearby also seemed adequate unless the area got really busy on a Saturday morning.

We got into conversation with an Australian gentleman who told us that he and his wife, both being teachers, started overseas teaching in the 60’s and have lived and travelled across most of the world. They currently live in Germany although they maintain a house in Sydney and were heading for the Lofotan Islands, our next point of call. Their motorhome was on a four wheel drive base with right hand drive, ready to be imported into Australia when they finally moved back for good.

Programming the GPS for Elefanten Vaskeri (Elephant Laundry), we set off though what seemed to be the middle of Trondheim. The roads here have a plethora of zebra crossings with traffic lights, rather confusing when people appear to be about to step out even when you have a green light. Mark got the hang of the situation long before I stopped tensing at every pedestrian paused on the kerb. We reached our destination, only to find the laundramat had closed down sometime since the street view car had been by. Bugger…

Further internet searching and a phone call to the Trondheim tourist information centre, had us duly informed that Norwegians don’t use coin laundries. We could drop our clothes off at a dry cleaners which may wash them for us or we could find a camping ground equipped with a washing machine, both choices equally expensive. Finally, we decided to return to the free motorhome park we had spent last night in and test how well our solar panels, including the power film we had brought from Australia, would run our little portable washing machine.

By climbing onto the roof of the van through one of the skylights, I managed to spread the power film out in the full sun beside our two fixed solar panels. Mark disconnected the loop which topped up the starter battery from the solar system and we plugged in the washing machine to give it a spin. It worked! Now to balance our water supply against the most urgent washing requirements taking into consideration the limited space available to hang wet clothing. By mid afternoon the van was festooned with soggy unmentionables and several shirts were swinging in the breeze on coat hangers hooked on the window struts. Thankfully it was a sunny day.

Slowly the carpark had filled up again around us and it wasn’t until I went to throw some rubbish in the bin, that I realised there was more than thirty motorhomes here. A quick walk around eyeballing number plates and I came to the astounding conclusion that more than twelve of them were French, and from the exuberant conversations I suspect they all knew each other. As the evening progressed more motorhomes turned up, just a couple more managing to squeeze into a parking spot and after that all had to retreat.

Trondhiem

At about 10pm, we strolled into central Tronhiem (dodging the attack seagulls Mark fought off with his tripod) to see Nidaros Cathedral, and then around to some riverside warehouses. I had been hoping that it may have been dark enough for some atmospheric lighting and reflections on the Nidelva River but I am still not used to the sun going down so late. We idled around experimenting with shots but became too cold after a while so giving up on that idea we walked back to the van, and to bed. Still in daylight…

Norway-50

Trondhiem Warehouses