In retrospect - Road trip on the Swedish west westcoast and southern Norway - Part 2

When snorkeling and hanging out in Gothenburg was over and done with  (https://adventuresoup.blogspot.com/2018/10/in-retrospect-swedish-west-coast.html) the trip continued northward.

I'm a (forever) noob climber and my brother is really a more proficient one. The west coast is known for its many crags (check out 27crags.com) and he had found one that looked fun. We go to places where there are low grade routes for me and higher grade for him.

We brought all climbing gear (harness, shoes, carabiners, rope, helmets, gloves,  quick-draws) and headed off toward Uddevalla, a town that through history has been part of Sweden, Norway and Denmark in turns.. over and over...
Nowadays it's a pretty pleasant town, with a water front, hilly topography and lies close to interesting nature and towns.

The crag we decided to try out can be found on Vindön (wind island, red arrow.

https://27crags.com/crags/vindon

The area has a lot of interesting rock to climb and has 50 routes at levels from 4 traditional or 4+ sport to 6c+ traditional and 8a+ sport.
There is also a single boulder leveled 6b.
I had been climbing for several days already in a row (not a good idea) and my fingers and forearms were bummed.

The rock looks fun and there are quite many routes here. The longest routes, I think, are actually multi pitch (you climb up, secure yourself up there, bring your rope up and continue upward from that point - several pitches).

I didn't do a lot of climbing at Vindön. Instead I mostly stood on the ground and secured Ben, who on the other hand tried several routes, but he too had been climbing a bit more than usual. At some point we realized we had to keep traveling toward Norway. We decided that this place is so much worth visiting again.

As dusk made its way towards us we set off northward in my blue Peugeot. Driving in  Sweden is easy and the roads are good. Max speed is 120 kmh (130 kmh in Denmark) and there are loads of possibilities for a break on the road.

Quite soon we reached the Norwegian border. The border control is quite relaxed and doesn't cost anything.

Driving in  Norway is pretty much the same as in Sweden, but there are loads of road tolls, so you either should  register your car (so as not to receive the highest payable rate) or if you go there often, get an autopass.

http://www.autopass.no/visitors-payment

There are loads of tunnels in Norway. We only passed the ones near the border this time, but depending on where in the country you are you might be in really long tunnels, in sometimes steep angles, with intersections in the deep. Makes for some interesting driving.

By the time we got to Norway it was getting dark and we still had some ways to go to reach the area, Drammen, where we had planned on staying the night in a tent. More about that in the next post...