Halden at Dusk
After Orebro we made a run for the border, calling in at a couple of towns along the way. We've been using Autoroute to navigate right into the centre of these towns to suss them out before parking up and exploring since you never really know what to expect. We're flicking between two sets of guidebooks - Eyewitness since it has pictures but slightly rose tinted descriptions (we've found) and Lonely Planet with no pictures but with very honest reviews which can sometimes save time.

After a tank of diesel on the Swedish side we crossed over into Norway at about 6pm on a minor road with no customs minius a few potatoes that we threw out in the last layby in Sweden. It was about 20 miles to Halden - another double page spread in the guidebook but given the misadventure with the last one (Uppsala) we were being cautious with this one!

The town wasn't anything to write home about and the Castle was best viewed from the top, where we parked to spend the night. It wasn't actually open until 1st May, however it was all open and unlocked so we spent a good couple of hours exploring despite it being 9-10pm at night it was only just starting to turn to dusk.

Today we've travelled to Fredriksend where the old town exists on a sort of fortified island. Somewhere in the restoration it must have lost some of its original features and gone down a sort of country and western theme, it didn't seem very original!

Now parked near the centre of Oslo in the only best looking municipal carpark we could find in the centre near Munch Museet, £10 for Saturday and free on Sunday with Wifi to boot. Driving in Oslo was an experience compared to Stockholm with some anti rat-run barriers and serious pavement mounting required to navigate around some of the locals abandoning their cars and vans where they wanted to! Not quite sure to make of Oslo yet, so keep an eye out for the next update!

The Castle at Halden viewed from the bottom

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