Bridget’s Recovered! by Roy Locock

“I don’t do cold” – “Security is not a problem” – “The roads in Europe are fine”

BRIDGET THE MIDGET and I sloped off into the night without fanfare or fuss. Just as well really as we were late due to ‘technical problems’ which were eventually found to be caused by a coil only delivering half power.

We made our way down to Folkestone and boarded the tunnel train to Calais. From there a short drive north to Antwerp where we would spend our first night of the latest adventure. No specific objective in mind other than to go up to the Arctic Circle and eventually into Russia. Once there I will decide what to do and where to go.

Although I have visited all of the Scandinavian countries previously it was always on business and you do not get the opportunity to see the real country on those jaunts. Bridget has not been to any country north of Belgium before so they will all be new to her.

Driving is an important part of my travelling and so I had decided that we would travel up through Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway rather than getting a ferry to Denmark and then to Norway which would be quicker. The Harwich to Stavanger ferry service is no longer available before anyone says there is a direct link.

From Antwerp we headed north, but instead of going to one of the larger cities in The Netherlands we headed for Alkmaar. What a good decision. Alkmaar is a medium sized town that is clean, and both architecturally and historically interesting. I stayed just out of town and, to get both some exercise and show off more of my versatility, I hired a bike! Having successfully negotiated the ride in and out of town during the afternoon of our arrival, I decided to take one more ‘turn around the houses’ the following morning.

Having cycled about two miles towards town there was a loud bang behind me and the bicycle swerved all over the place as the rear wheel had seized up. The reason for the problem was some elastic used to hold parcels on a rack at the rear had become entangled with the wheel. Although I cleared most of it, some had become jammed in the gear change and so I returned the bike rather sheepishly and left.

In the week prior to leaving the UK I had met Jan and Aafke Sol who were visiting Kimber House from Niekirk, in The Netherlands. They invited me to visit them when I was passing through, and so I did. Jan, Aafke and their daughter Marloes kindly gave me a peep into Netherlands culture and food. Jan is certainly an MG enthusiast with a capital ‘E’. He has a modern TF and a beautiful MGA as well as a couple of Minor 1000s, one of which is a rare Dutch built Traveller.

From Niekirk we continued north, via Copenhagen, to Gothenburg in Sweden. I found a hotel near their magnificent sports stadium and after eating dinner turned in for an early night. First thing the next morning I went to get something from Bridget and discovered some low-life had taken a knife to her hood, slashing right across the rear window as well as the vinyl support. They had then helped themselves to a bag containing mostly battery chargers for all the electrical things that we carry with us nowadays, but also a video camera. I then spent half the day at the local police station.

As I intended to drive up to Oslo the next day I decided to call Ola Thygesen, president of the MG Norsk Club, to see if there was anything he could do to help. The MG community swung into action. After I had explained what had happened he said to give him five minutes and he would call me back. He then made a phone call to the local parts supplier, who in turn called Moss Europe in the UK who already had an order for him that was being shipped that day. Although it was 3:30pm they managed to run around and get the hood added to the shipment before it left and a confirmed it would be in Oslo the next day.

Sure enough, whilst I was driving up the road to Oslo, Ola called me and confirmed the hood was in his car awaiting my arrival. What’s more, when I arrived Ola rolled up his shirtsleeves and helped me fit the new hood when he should have been packing his bags to go off on holiday.

From Oslo we headed over to Bergen on the west coast of Norway and for me the journey really began. Once out of the city the scenery improved with every mile. Even the weather started to improve although that proved a false start. The roads throughout the journey have been delightful and Bridget seems to have appreciated this by running really reliably. There have been minor problems, mainly electrical, that should have been rectified after a good shake-down drive before leaving, however this never happened.

The drive from Bergen up through Trondheim to Narvik has to be amongst the top ten most beautiful in Europe. The mountains are breathtaking and still have a little unmelted snow lying on them. Unlike so many forested mountain areas the trees are a good mixture of coniferous and beech, willow, birch and many others. Also there are lots of wild lupins everywhere.

The road surface which was so excellent throughout Sweden and southern Norway has unfortunately deteriorated considerably the further north we have ventured. The problem generally is not from potholes but an extremely uneven surface, so that it feels akin to being in an Australian ‘tinny’ in a force eight gale. A couple of times when I have lost concentration Bridget has been almost physically thrown across the road by the unexpected undulations.

Narvik is some 250 miles inside the Arctic Circle so I shouldn’t be surprised that, even in July, it can be cold and wet. So that’s it, from here we head south until we find some sunshine and we can drop Bridget’s new hood.

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