UKC

Having just finished browsing the article about Flatanger Norway in the latest edition of Climb i m once again full pd enthusiasm for a trip to Norway. Am I right in understanding there are no car ferries to Norway at all now? I'd heard a rumour about a container ferry it might be possible to take the van over on?

Really want to drive my van over there but it seems near impossible without either v deep pockets or a very very long drive.

Has anyone done it? Which route did you take and what were the rough travel costs?

I'm travelling from the lakes if that helps?

Thanks in advance for any help ☺

In reply to joe_lowe:

There are no car ferries at the moment. There has been talk of a new service over the last year or two, but so far nothing has materialised.

There is a cargo ferry from Immingham to Brevik, which you can theoretically book a car onto. Last time I looked into it this option didn't seem particularly practical, as they wouldn't promise to guarantee spaces for the likes of me. There was the risk of turning up and getting bumped at the last minute if one of their regular customers needed the space.

Fortunately flights aren't too bad. Norwegian are reasonably cheap and have a fairly friendly baggage policy. Car hire is quite steep but affordable if you split it between 3 or 4 people.

In reply to davidbeynon:

Thanks David!

Really keen to take the van, simply because we have a dog and it allows us complete freedom with where we travel. Such a shame there is still no ferryservice to Norway!

I've been looking at newcaste-amsterdam, Amsterdam - Bergen route but ferries alone are coming I'm at £1000 return!

In reply to joe_lowe:

Sadly you would have been looking at that price via the old ferry, we did it with a car so perhaps more with a van?

The current ferry is a freight one as mentioned and you can bumped off if there a lorry wanting your space.

Driving wise it's 24 hours once you get onto mainland europe - Denmark and the ferry / bridge seem the quickest. Once you get into Norway the drive is at least interesting and there's cragging / biking / walking / kayaking opportunities all the way up to the far north.

A magical and chilled out nation enjoy it

In reply to joe_lowe:
Reminds me, I need to add some more info to the crag page. I'll be going there in the next few weeks and I'll put up a load more info.
My mate got a boat over after Christmas as he was importing a car, he ended up on some transport ship and arrived somewhere south of Oslo. I'm pretty sure he did a lot of research, so I don't think there's any realistic sea options.

In reply to joe_lowe:


One evening in the winter I was bored and priced up driving from London to southern Norway. It worked out at about £800 but surprisingly little driving.
London to Harwich (?) - about 3 hours
Harwich to Denmark (Esbjerg?) - overnight
Drive through Denmark to Hirtshals - 3 or 4 hours
Hirtshals to Kristiansand - another overnight ferry

From there to whatever granite climbing destination you choose.

What made it expensive (about £800 iirc) were the overnight ferries, which all required you to take a cabin rather than sleep on the floor.

In reply to seankenny:


One summer I drove from Edinburgh to northern Norway. It worked out at about £800 with an unsurprisingly large amount of driving (just one ferry from Dover to Calais). It took four and a half days and was quite enjoyable. I had decided the ferries were too expensive, but next time I'd consider taking one across from Denmark to Norway. The Harwich-Esbjerg one seems extortionate for the amount of driving it saved.

In reply to Robert Durran: #

Sounds like a great road trip. Any photos online?

In reply to joe_lowe:

My partner and I took our van on the Immingham-Brevik freight ferry in 2009. It was approx £500 one way. It took about 25-30 hours but was a chilled-out way to get the van to Norway (which was loaded to the hilt with supplies and that can save quite a bit in terms of costs).

We were there for longer than a month so it was definitely worth it. If it was for shorter periods I would consider flying, however we drove all the way to Lofoten. I reckon you could get to Flatanger in one really long days drive, but you might as well break it up stopping at some of the excellent climbing spots on the way. We went up the E6.

In reply to seankenny:

Harwich to Esbjerg route is finishing in September anyway, so no longer an option.

In reply to joe_lowe:

Dover-Dunkirk ferries can be really cheap, we've paid around €50 return in the past. You can drive around Denmark over the bridges but it is a long way round if you are not going to Legoland! The short Germany - Denmark ferry that cuts out some of that driving was about €60 one way when I last did it maybe 4 years ago. Bridge from Copenhagen to Sweden is pricey - maybe €30 or €40 one way? Then it's just lots of driving!

http://theforeigner.no/pages/news/uk-norway-ferry-initiative-pushed-back/

In reply to joe_lowe:

Unfortunatly the Harwich-Epsberg line is being scrapped so there will be no ferry from the UK to anywhere in Scandinavia. You can fly to Trondheim on a cheap ticket and rent a car, it's a couple of hours to Flatanger. Other than that you best bet might be Hull to Rotterdam and a long drive.

In reply to joe_lowe:

I don't think you would be able to take the dog anyway even if there was a ferry - it's not on the approved entry list see

https://www.gov.uk/pet-travel-information-for-pet-owners#routes-and-transpo...

In reply to joe_lowe:

On the ferry, in autumn 2013 Aftenposten reported that the Bergen - Newcastle ferry would open this April, but to no avail.

DFDS who were supposed to operate it, do however allow passenger cars on their freight vessel from Immingham to Brevik in Norway.

More info and contact/booking here... http://freight.dfdsseaways.com/dfds_ferries/north_sea_ferries/brevik_imming...