Quick coffee and shower, packed up and checked out before 6:30. We're heading south and there's no trains unless we go back into Sweden,the way we came, but there is a bus that goes south and gives us access to the next line down.
The problem is is that there are 2 buses a day - 7am, and the other would be too late to make our train that's booked for the afternoon.
So, 7am and we're on a bus that may or may not go to the town we need to get to (Bodø), and we won't know for a few hours.
The bus takes 6 ish hours, and there are others that come from the north too, so whichever gets to Fauske first goes on to Bodø, everyone else has to swap busses.
One of the other passengers spoke timidly to the driver to explain they get really bad travel sickness and could they go carefully and smoothly if possible. Well, we drove round all the towns winding or way south and it was as smooth as smooth could be. The bus takes the coastal roads so was like a tour rather than a bus ride.
Just as we started relaxing the driver came over the tannoy to say we're just going into the ferry and will be getting off in 30 mins! Sure enough, the bus drives onto the ferry and the driver disappears. We timidly follow him to find a seated waiting area with canteen, so we could grab coffee and some snacks as well as use the toilet.
Couple of hours later and we make a stop and meet up with 2 other buses. We asked the driver if we needed to change and they said nope, we could stay on, but the driver got off and started moving some boxes around.
Suddenly we had a new driver and I think he was a budding rally driver who was impatient to get home. He would tailgate the camper or caravan in front until they relented and pulled off the road to let us pass.
Couple of hours of this and we pull into Fauske to be told we needed to swap busses onto one that we'd parked next to all those hours ago. A few very green people seemed happy to escape.
The third driver was a lot nicer and it wasn't long before we pulled into Bodø with plenty of time before our train.
We found a small cafe for refreshments and to escape the rain, then explored the town fully within a couple of hours.
With the rain still coming down and a few hours to get rid of we went for a couple of games of bowling, which was great fun and really cheap too.
A lovely meal and then grabbed some more snacks and went to catch the train down to Trondheim. It's an overnight sleeper and we've got a couple of rooms with bunk beds. You have to check in to get your room cards but when we got to the carriage, half of the cards worked and the others did not. Chaos ensured until they realised that the cards had been randomly swapped between carriages so everyone had to move down carriages trying their cards until they all got sorted out.
The train is rolling across the countryside, we're sat in the restaurant car and there's a huge storm in the mountains around us. A perfect end to the day.
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