Train not Van

Don’t worry, we’ve not fallen out of love with our van. It’s simply that the prospect of a 1500 mile round trip in a relatively brief space of time didn’t really appeal. I’ve always wanted to go to the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway. A string of islands off the west coast of Norway connected by bridges and tunnels to the mainland. Well within the arctic circle we will hopefully experience the midnight sun (if the current weather forecast is incorrect), see puffins, sea eagles and dramatic coastal scenery. We have decided to attempt this particular journey by train starting from Oslo and ending up in Stockholm. I last went interrailing in 1980, so this is an opportunity to see if it’s still as much fun. The Thomas Cook red timetable book has been replaced with a Eurail app on our phones and my old backpack has been replaced with a state of the art new one, but the sense of excitement remains unchanged.