towards Tromsø…

We had a very lazy morning this morning - not getting up until after 9am.  We were surprised to find that the school children had packed up and left, we certainly didn’t hear them!  We gave Bert a good clean - now we have found the dustpan and brush, this is much easier.  I also gave the bathroom a clean as it was beginning to look grubby and not smell too fresh.  We haven’t been supplied with any cleaning substances, so I just used fairy liquid.  Seemed to do the trick.  We emptied the toilet and grey water tank and filled up with fresh water and were on our way.

Pleasant spot for the night

We didn’t have a huge distance to travel today - we are making our way up to Tromsø as we would like to enjoy what it has on offer before we leave.  We headed north but decided to try out some other roads back so we didn’t retrace our steps.  The scenery was as wonderful as always.  Problem now is that we are so used to grand scenery that we have almost become blasé about it all.  Unfortunately it wasn’t clear blue sky today, so everywhere was hazy, still it was very lovely.

Starfish on the slipway

We did some shopping at a supermarket and headed on around the fjords.  We had lunch by the side of a lake and then trundled on.  I took over the driving just after lunch.  We stopped at a lay-by where there were some Sami tents (what we would know as tepees) full of souvenirs - nothing new and everything more pricy than other places so we left empty handed.  

We carried on up north, we decided to go to Tromsø the ‘other’ way - ie up the other side of the fjord along some more minor roads.  This means we have left the big traffic behind which is good.  We looked at the map and our camping app and decided to head down a dead end road which ended on the shores of a fjord and looked like it would have spaces to wild camp near a church.  We got there - it is perfect - the scenery as always amazing, the church quaint and next door toilets with lights, toilet roll and steaming hot water.  What more could we want?  We parked up.

Tea outside

 Opposite us we found a walk (we discovered this when we stopped at the Sami lay-by as there was a map showing some local walks on it - which we took a photo of - digital technology really is very helpful sometimes).  Get this, the walk took us to see some ancient rock carvings.   They were 7,000 years old, on smooth rocks which have made their way up from the shore over thousands of years since the last ice age.  Does that sound familiar?  We saw men, moose, reindeer, and this time porpoises. 

The walk was only a couple of miles, but interesting none the less.  On the way we came across some sheep

Crystal clear waters

Another beautiful sunset

who were foraging in the forest.  We only knew they were there because they had big bells around their necks and so we could hear them clanging away.  Didn’t get close enough to them to photograph them though - the forest was very think with growth.  Never seen sheep with bells around their necks before.  

We walked back along the road which was very quiet - because it is a dead end, full of lovely big houses though.  We then spent some time playing frisbee and then headed down to the harbour at the end of the road to look at the water and scenery.  The water, as usual, is crystal clear and this time full of starfish. The reflections were awesome, the mountains huge.  Don’t know what else to say other than wow!  We’ve certainly seen lots of scenery, don’t think I could get bored of fjords.

to Sweden?

Morning scene in the mist

We woke up to a beautiful but hazy vista this morning.  We had breakfast and packed up and left quickly as we were getting the train:  the Ofotbanen line into Sweden which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful trips in Europe - thought the boy would like a train day, and to go to another country as part of the deal was an extra bonus.  We weren’t 100% sure where the train station was, how long it would take to get there, if there was parking and how long it would take to get tickets etc, so we gave ourselves plenty of time.  We got to the station, it was strangely deserted.  We got parked easily 50Kr for a whole day which we thought good value (our perception of what is expensive has changed over the past two weeks).  Then we went into the station - found a digital screen saying that every train was cancelled - nooooooooooo!  Turns out they were doing track maintenance and were running a rail replacement bus service.  

Matt and Tom

Hummm, should we go anyway - we would still get a pretty ride and visit Sweden etc, we decided to go.  There was no ticket desk so I went to the ticket machine - it refused to give me a ticket for the morning train.   Hummmmmm, what to do…I found the driver for the bus and asked him how to get a ticket.  He said that he couldn’t sell tickets so we would have to ride free.  Free?  Oh, OK.  So will the bus come in the other direction too?  The response: it should, or there could be a train, he didn’t know where the bus would go from, what time or anything!  Do we risk it - of course we do!

Following the path in the Arctic tundra?

We got on the bus feeling pleased with ourselves.  Guess where the bus went?  Right past last night’s campsite.  Oh hum, we waved hello to it - still a very beautiful location.   We then climbed up a mountain pass - the scenery changed from trees to shrubs.  There were lots of lakes and cabins.  It was all very pretty.  The mountains here are very old.  Anyway we enjoyed the ride (although we didn’t see much of the train line).  We then passed into Sweden - two official looking men came aboard, one with a sniffer dog who had a good sniff around all our bags, they then got off and allowed us into the country.  Then about 2km down the road we hit Riksgränsen which was where we were going to for the day - our guide book said that during the summer this place is where you go to hike.  We thought we would do a hike.  

Mountains in the heat haze!

First place we went was the supermarket to get some drinks and snacks (we figured food and drink in Sweden would be cheaper than in Norway - we were right!)  In fact the supermarket was crammed with food and with Norwegians.  It wasn’t the biggest supermarket in the world, and as soon as they stocked the shelves, they were empty again.  They sold the biggest blocks of cheese I have ever seen, huge packs of meat and big packs of beer etc.  Capri sun seemed to be stacked to the ceiling.  The aisles were narrow and there were stackers everywhere - it was a bit of a squeeze but we got ourselves some bits and pieces including a chocolate bar called plop.  Bought it for the novelty value - it was horrible - really cheap sugary chocolate - instantly wished I had gone for something else!

We then went up to the train station to see if a train was scheduled to go back this afternoon.  No, bus only.  Once again, there was no-one to ask.  Hummmm, were we going to be able to get back to Narvik?  Let’s see if we can find tourist info - nope!  Is any cafe / restaurant / hotel open - nope!  Riksgränsen is a ski resort during the winter - it was a ghost town today.  No-one around at all!  We did see a sign saying a cafe was open - we went to investigate…it opens Thursday to Sunday.  Today is Wednesday!!!!!  Oh well, there was nothing we could do, and the train wasn’t due till 4pm anyway, so we had to entertain ourselves.  We went down to the lake for a look around - spent a good 30 mins throwing stones and then I noticed some ladies on a walking path.  We went to investigate and found a trail.  We followed it.  It was a very pleasant trail which led around the lake via lots of wooden planks.  We went up, down and around, the views were very lovely.  Oh, forgot to mention how hot it was today - think it reached about 23 degrees which for these parts (we are still in the arctic circle) is very balmy!  We stopped plenty of times, munching our way through a large packet of crisps as we went along.  We were sweating and having to wear sunscreen and sunglasses it was so hot!  No midges though so we enjoyed it.  We did wonder if we managed to walk back to Norway without realising, but no we were in Sweden for the whole day.

Little train on deserted platform

After getting so far, we headed back, got ourselves some ice-creams from the supermarket (they had Matt’s all time favourite - white chocolate and strawberry which he discovered in Spain and so far hasn’t reached the UK).  We then settled down on some picnic benches and waited in hope for a bus to arrive to take us back to Narvik.  We were in luck it arrived - phew!  We got on - again it was free.  We then headed back to Narvik - at the border this time just one official man got on and checked us - I guess we all looked ok to him as he allowed us to pass.  We got to Narvik in good time and found Bert (our motor home) waiting patiently for us.

Sunset from the campsite

We filled up with petrol and then went down to the harbour for a look around before heading out to find a campsite.  We wanted a proper campsite tonight as Matt had things that needed a charge and we all wanted a proper shower.  We didn’t see any in Narvik, in fact it was a good 30km before we came across one, Lapphaugen Camping.  We checked in - there is a large party of 17&18 year olds here camping for a history trip (it was along this road that the Germans headed into Norway - all the battles are noted by the side of the road with display boards, guns, memorials etc).  All in high spirits but friendly enough.  We were worried that we might not be able to get into the showers as there were so many of them, but we did - it is amazing how good you feel after a proper shower!

As it was such a lovely day, we decided to have a BBQ, so we got our BBQ out for our sausages, and I fried up some cold potatoes and heated some sweetcorn.  We sat outside to have our tea - surrounded by mountains, one with a glacier on top of it.  Lovely.  After tea we went down to the lake, Tom had a paddle and we all threw stones until the bugs started to get us.  Then we dived inside to catch up with various chores.  A good day, even though it didn’t exactly go to plan!

Polar Park

Sivert the bull moose

We all had a great sleep again.  Didn’t have to move too quickly as the Polar Park didn’t open until 10.00.  We had breakfast, did our chores, emptied the chemical toilet (found the disposal area for it) and filled up with water and headed the 3km to the park.  We got there just as it opened.  We paid £68 for the three of us to enter and then started the route round.  The park was very green - and the enclosures were massive, full of trees, huge lumps of rock, streams etc.  The park was there for the animals first and people second which is how it should be really.  Certainly if you were disabled, you would find it very difficult to get around as the paths were extremely steep and lumpy bumpy.  This could make finding some of the animals hard to spot, but we were lucky today.

Ulrich the musk ox

The animal we really wanted to see was a moose.  The first animal we saw…a moose!  Yay.  There were 3 of them: mother, father and daughter.  The father, Sivert was a very handsome specimen: great antlers, and a long goofy snout.  They are really tall and have small spindly legs, how they support their weight is beyond me!  They are known as the king of the forest.  During the summer they climb up the mountains to enjoy the fresh vegetation where they are nice and safe.  That is why we haven’t seen any.  They come down for the winter as it is so cold up the mountains and hard to find vegetation.  There are about a million moose in Europe (Scandinavia, Finland and Poland, east of the Urals, which is the same number as you can find in North America - which surprised me)  Anyway they were by the fence and some of the fence was open meaning you could stroke them and have a word with them which was lovely.  We stayed for a while.  We were very happy bunnies.

Next stop was the bears: they have two bears - salt and pepper who live together, they are brother and sister.  The sister (salt) is albino and pepper looks after her which is really quite unusual in the bear kingdom.  Salt is almost blind because of her albinoism so pepper makes the dens and allows her to use them.  She has a very good sense of hearing and smell so she can find food no problems.  Once again, they were in tip top condition, looked very happy and content.  There were 4 more bears in another enclosure   They were proper teddy bear bears, with thick thick fur and lovely little ears and huge paws.  They very much looked like they should be hugged.  I’m sure they would be lovely to hug, but maybe the last thing you would hug?

Storm the lynx

After the bears, we went in search for the lynxes and wolves and wolverine, but with no success - they were not to be found.  We then headed to see the Muskox.  Now this is an animal I don’t think I was aware of prior to coming here.  They have both sheep and cattle in their genes and their wool is the warmest wool in the world, selling for £2,000 per kilo!!!  I wonder who buys it and what it is made in to?  The male Muskox must be worth a lot of money as he had a good number of kilos of wool on him.  They are called Muskox because when the male is on heat he gives off a scent that smells of Musk.  We got a whiff of it and it wasn’t too unpleasant.  They were introduced to Norway from Greenland in the 1930s and tend to live in the central belt.  Anyway they were magnificent beasts - huge things, snorting and growling.  The male was massive and a bit shaggy, he showed us his prowess by rubbing up against a tree and knocking a fence post over which was leant up by his enclosure.  He had a lady friend and 3 calves.  He kept stepping over and on them!  We were all taken by him.

Male wolf

Next stop was the reindeer.  These were loose in the park - but when we went to see them they were hiding in a forested area.  We weren’t too fussed by that though as we have seen so many of them already in the wild.  As we left the area they were in, they did come into the open and quite close to us - but to be honest, with their long antlers and doziness, I didn’t really want to get too close to them.  Did you know that female reindeer are the only deer to have antlers?  Next stop was the red deer - didn’t hold too much appeal for us as we saw plenty in Scotland.  

By now it was after 12pm so we returned to the van for lunch and were back in the park for 1pm where there was a carnivore tour.  It took place in English (yay - we were the only ones to respond to her question on which language to take the tour in)  The lady was brilliant - she imparted loads of information about the animals - she obviously loved her job and the animals.  She had a bucket of horse meat which brought the carnivores out of their hiding places.  This way we got to see the lynxes (although all related - they all looked quite different, the mum was caught in the wild and had very defined spots, her children didn’t - they think because they were born in captivity).  They have huge paws so they can run on the snow, not through it.  They have short tails to keep as much body heat in as possible during the winter and are generally very lazy - sounds like cats to us!  She then took us to meet a lone male wolf (they are getting him a mate from Sweden)  Did you know that wolves howl when they are happy as well as a call to hunt and to confuse potential prey.

Next were the bears who all came out.  Apparently yesterday the keeper doing the tour had a bucket of whale meat as the afternoon treat.  Not good - apparently the lynxes and bears refuse to eat whale - so they have to mix it with lamb, but that doesn’t always work!  Who’d have thought it - but I guess whale wouldn’t be a natural food stuff in the forests where the lynx and bears hang out.

Brown bear

Lastly she took us to the moose - she showed us some leaves that the moose love in the park, so we picked some and took them over - apparently the moose are made for them - they call it moose chocolate.  We all got a chance to feed them, we got quite close up and personal as the moose chomped on them.  A lovely experience.

That was the tour over, but before we left we had to go and see Ulrich the Muskox again.  We went and were once again enthralled by him and his entourage.  Some of the calves were stood up and they were bundles of fluff.  We said goodbye and paid one more visit to Sivert Moose and his ladies, we had him to ourselves this time which was good.  Think Matt must have taken about 50 photos just of them!

Happy boy and moose!

We returned to the shop and cafe and had an ice cream - I forgot to mention that it was actually quite warm today - so much so that we dumped our jumpers in the van at lunchtime and just walked around in our T-shirts.  Considering the average summer temperature here is 12 degrees, we did quite well as it was 18 today!  We went for a quick look in the shop…lots of soft toys…Matt bought himself a Muskox which he has named Ulrich!  What is it about this family and soft toys.  I wonder if we will be able to fit all the new toys in our luggage without having to buy a new bag?!

We left the park around 4 and headed to Narvik.  We found ourselves a supermarket to stock up on essentials (bread, cucumber and toothpaste!) and then we found ourselves a rough camp.  Now, we could have got a toll bridge to Narvik, but we figured that it would be nicer to camp out of the town centre, so detoured to drive round a fjord instead.  Mistake…the toll to cross the bridge was 15Kr, as we headed around the fjord we came across a tunnel - a toll tunnel, cost us Kr99!  There was no warning anywhere that the non-bridge road would be a toll road.  We haven’t had to pay any tolls for the dozens of tunnels we have driven through so far.  We were unable to turn around, the toll is automatic via cameras, so staying in a rough camp has cost us!  Poo!  Anyway, we have found ourselves a rough camp at the end of a fjord with mountains all around.  It is very still so the water is beautiful, however it is very very hazy so it isn’t quite as scenic as it could be.  Hoping it might clear in the morning for some good pictures.  Tom was out immediately to do some stone throwing whilst Matt and I had our end of day beer and cheesy wiggles.  Always a good end of day / beginning of evening routine!

Howlllllllll

...onwards...

Birtavarre scenery...

We all had good sleeps despite the rain.  We have all learnt to sleep well in our motor home now - in fact we have had some great sleeps here - how come - not sure, no work stresses, tired after driving a big van, happy bellies full of food and beer every evening, whisky chaser?  Maybe a combination of it all.  Certainly something works for us - we sleep well here. In fact Tom slept so well that he didn’t wake up until 9am!  AND he slept in the van in the afternoon yesterday - all the late nights catching up on him maybe?  We were surprised that it wasn’t raining when we woke up as the forecast was rain for the next  24 hours.  In fact the scenery was magnificent - huge mountains with stripes of cloud across them.  It may have been dull it was still very very pretty.  Kåfjord is definitely my favourite place for scenery so far.

We didn’t have much planned - just to keep driving south.  We did a little shop in the village - but it was mega pricey and not much selection, so we got some bits and pieces with the view to stopping somewhere bigger to get the rest.   Then onwards, southwards. The scenery changed, we got more trees and no reindeer - boo.  There were plenty of signs warning us of moose on the road, but nothing, absolutely nothing.  We got to Bardufoss in time for lunch and found a pretty park to have lunch in.  We were planning to go swimming here but their swimming pool is closed on Mondays - so we had lunch, went to a supermarket for the rest of our provisions and then had a play in the park.  Bardufoss was quite important during the war as there is a military base here and as we were in the park a massive transport plane with 4 propellers (a bit like a Hercules) took off - I missed it but the boys were impressed.

... and some more

I then drove the rest of the way for the day.  We ended up in a campsite we found in the Norway magazine.  It has electric hook up, laundry (much needed) and showers but no grey water drainage or chemical toilet disposal - never mind, also a trampoline for the boy.  We are up in the mountains, with a river by the side of us and seem to be the only people here.  Norwegian campsites seem to be full of little cabins and then have some electrical hook ups for motor homes and caravans.  Don’t think many actually camp here.

Oh, it is much warmer here - a huge 14 degrees as we were driving here, feels really warm.  

We spent the afternoon / evening doing chores - namely the laundry - unfortunately they only had domestic machines, so we couldn’t get everything we wanted washed, but the worse of it.  Took 3 hours in the dryer to dry it all.  We all had showers too - we went at the same time which was a mistake because we were taking water off each other and it was timed - we could only have 5 minutes.  This meant that I still had soap on me when it finished but never mind we were certainly fresher smelling and feeling better for it.  At 5.30 a sudden stream of motor homes joined us - from Sweden, Germany and Norway.

Bardufoss decoration

We then decided to cook our evening meal in the cabin, so took everything across and spread out and played games whilst it cooked.  All very good once we got the cooker to work.  Unfortunately it rained for the rest of the day so we stayed in the cabin until Tom’s bedtime (which seems to be 9pm at the moment!)

towards Narvik…

Hurtigruten boat approaching Hammerfest

We all had a good sleep last night so we are figuring that the church didn’t bong through the night (we were slightly concerned as it seemed to bong through the day and when the cruise ship left and we were wondering if it would keep us awake)  We did our chores (empty toilet, grey water and fill up with clean water) and then headed to the Polar Bear museum which opened at 10am.  Get this - it was free?!!!!!!  The best value for money activity we have had here!  It was small, but sweet.  Lots of taxidermy animals - including a number of polar bears and lots of display boards explaining about life in Hammerfest.  The British got a mention for being pesky and always fighting - they even looted the town once!

Isbjørn

The museum shop had a wonderful array of soft toys including some fantastically looking little walruses - just as well we already have one as we would have come away with one if not and we already have 3 extra soft toys this holiday!  We bought a patch and a sticker and then headed on our way.  (Oh, and if you were wondering - there were no showers, laundry etc at the museum, so we have no idea where on earth they were?)

The plan was to drive as far as we can, so we can get to Narvik.  First job though was to stock up with food as we were running low.  Mistake, big mistake - we discovered today that supermarkets aren’t open on Sundays.  Oh dear - we had two pieces of salmon and some pasta and cheese in the fridge.  We were going to have to have weird dinner and lunches.

Bull walrus

We carried on our way, we discovered something else…there were no lorries on the road.  This was good, made driving so much easier and as a result we ate the miles effortlessly.    Matt got us to Alta where we thought we might find a supermarket and if not, we might find a restaurant open.  We parked up and Tom ran round to see if Peppe’s Pizza was open - it was, we booked in immediately and enjoyed a very lovely pizza: called a Moby Dick - it was curried garlic prawns, leeks and peppers with tomato sauce and cheese.  Think it was about 14 inches across - way big enough for the 3 of us and we gobbled it up enthusiastically.  As we were in the restaurant, we saw someone come in eating a big bag of cheesy balls - hummmm, did this mean there was a shop open selling food - we needed to investigate.  We walked round the block and found an open supermarket - yay.  We went in it - hummmm, it was tiny.  Basically the main supermarket was closed, but there was a small room crammed with food and drink.  We think the law here is that to be open on a Sunday your shop has to be under a certain size.  Anyway, we got out of jail and were able to buy enough food to sustain us until tomorrow when everything opens again.

From Alta, I took over the driving and did about 65 miles along the E8.  I was looking forward to driving back along Kåfjord as it was so so so scenic.   However, the mist was down and it was raining so we could barely see anything - such a shame as when we drove along it last week - it was so beautiful.  Oh hum.  Matt drove a bit more and then I did the last shift.  We decided to camp exactly where we camped last Monday night - nice and flat, tarmac, quiet and a lovely clean WC on hand.  What’s not to like?  Also there is a Co-op here meaning we can do a shop in the morning for all the provisions we couldn’t get today.

Travel weary

We got here about 6.15, parked up and just stayed in the motor home, the weather was so miserable - shame because there is a nice green area here on which we could have played beach tennis or something similar.  I made tea, we played articulate, the boys did the washing up and then we started to watch the next Harry Potter film.  Good job we downloaded them onto Matt’s iPad before coming away…

Hammerfest

We all had a good sleep in our rough camp for the night.  Matt told me that the rain woke him up - I was amazed.  I am on the top bunk so very near the roof and slept through it - in fact I had the best sleep of the holiday - and when I woke up I didn’t want to open my eyes.  I tell you bunk beds in a motor home is the way to go - although, of course I do miss a night time cuddle!

A room with a view

We started the day slowly and once ready headed towards Olderfjord where I took over the driving from Matt.  We dipped into a souvenir shop to see what we could find.  I found a patch for Honningsvåg which was good - but why do they sell them 50km from Honningsvåg and not in Honningsvåg itself?  Anyway, I then drove us to Hammerfest - it was quite uneventful.  Can’t say I enjoy driving the motor home - it is tall, wide, I’m never sure exactly how wide it is so get nervous when a big lorry comes my way and that’s without having to drive on the other side of the road and having to change gears with the wrong hand.  However, I am determined to get over it and get to the point where I can drive it without being nervous - it’s my holiday challenge.  

There were plenty of reindeer on the side of the road, in the road etc again.  We have quickly gone from being very excited to see reindeer to dismissing them.  They are basically the ’sheep’ of the tundra.  They hang around in herds, but believe it or not seem to be even dimmer than sheep!  They don’t seem at all bothered by traffic.  Today there was a calf in the road, and it just sat there and watched me as I had to drive around it.  If you honk your horn at them, they tend to panic and run - but can continue to keep running in the road.  Their antlers are huge, so they could damage the van if we get them wrong!  At least sheep are small enough to man handle, reindeer aren’t!

The symbol of Hammerfest

We arrived in Hammerfest around 1pm.  Just in time to see a cruise ship leave.  Now we were looking forward to Hammerfest because the guide book said it was an interesting town (it said Alta wasn’t worth a visit and we found it fun and it said Nordkapp was overpriced and not worth visiting - we though it definitely worth a visit).  We eventually found the motor home campsite - not a campsite - part of a car park where there is electric hook up.  There were supposed to be toilets, showers, laundry etc in a building nearby, but we walked round and round and couldn’t find them.  We came here to go to the polar bear museum.  It is a Saturday so we assumed it would be open.  Oh no - it closed at 12.  Humpfh.  We continued looking for the showers etc, but came to the conclusion they were in the polar bear museum, so we gave up.  We then looked around the town - it isn’t great - lots of empty shops.  We got excited when we saw a Peppe’s Pizza - we have cooked ourselves every night, but found out about Peppe’s pizza where you can get a massive pizza for a ‘reasonable price’ so we thought we would do it tonight - no luck - the place was very much closed, permanently closed!  It took us about 10 minutes to go round the town and decide that it wasn’t going to be too much fun.  However, we had paid for our parking space so we were going to stay.  We went to a supermarket to buy some food and beer and then we spent 15 mins filling the water tank up with 2 watering cans (the piece of hose the rental company gave us is so short it makes it pretty much impossible to use).  

Beautiful sunset

Then we heated up the water so we could have showers. Matt went first, he did his shower in one, the bathroom obviously couldn’t cope and as a result water leaked onto the van floor - good way to wash the floor and use up kitchen roll.  Oh hum.  I went next and did it in bursts - the bathroom didn’t flood - success.  Tom also managed it.  We then settled down to an afternoon in the van.  We have planned the next part of our journey.  We are thinking to head towards Narvik where there is a polar park and a train which you can get into Sweden: 2 long driving days and we should be there.

We had roast chicken for tea - the supermarkets here tend to have delis which sell them and the one in Hammerfest luckily was no exception.  Get this a whole roast chicken was £4 - we weren't expecting that - what great value.  We snaffled it up with potato salad and sweetcorn - a great dinner made with very little input - great for holiday.  

Our mate Adolf the cook from the Fram

As the sun was shining after tea, we decided we had to go out for a walk, so we got togged up (it was still quite cold) and went out.  The place was looking lovely because of the sun, but both of us felt a little uneasy - there were 'odd' characters hanging about, Matt had noticed people giving us stares - he wasn't sure if he was being paranoid or not, but he had left his computer in the van, and was regretting it.  Hammerfest certainly has the feeling of a frontier town.  We think it is on the way down as well - so many empty shops and restaurants - it had the feel of a ghost town.  

However, we carried on, we found a path, known locally as the zig zag path which went straight up a mountain. The view from the top was wonderful.  There was a restaurant at the top of the hill - all the tables and chairs were set up nicely - but there was once again no sign of life.  We think it probably closed a while ago.  Shame.  We took some photos and walked down again.  We returned to the van (all was OK) and then spent the best part of an hour outside watching the comings and goings of the port and Tom threw plenty of stones into the water.  We watched the sun set - it was lovely - maybe this town isn't so bad after all!

As far north as you can get….

Tom and giant friend

Breakfast - one happy and one sad boy...

We all had a good sleep last night, the wind died down and with vehicles on each side of us, we were well buffered from any weather.  We woke up to a blue sky too -yay.  It didn’t take us long to get ready and moving this morning as we were rough camping - we had no chores to do and breakfast was pastries so that didn’t take too long either.  The problem we had was that Nordkapp doesn’t open until 11am, so we couldn’t be too early.  We decided to head into Honningsvåg for a walk round.  It was much bigger than we were expecting but nothing there opened until 10am!  We did find the public loos which was good - and get this - they are heated, and when I say heated - they were very cosy indeed - in fact I would have happily stayed in them for the morning they were so warm (and clean).  

We looked around the town, mainly a fishing port / cruise port / service boat port - plenty of industry and quite a few tourist shops as the cruises stop here for the Nordkapp excursion.  There was also a huge troll who looked like he had recently been spruced up and a statue of a dog, Bamse who served during the second world war - sounded like he had a very eventful life and when he died many people came to his funeral.  He spent some time on board British ships and as a result Prince Andrew has been to acknowledge him.

At the top of the world

We looked in some souvenir shops, Matt got himself a holiday hoodie at a reasonable price.  We were expecting the prices up here to be way above those in Oslo, but we were wrong - they were pretty much the same, and some even slightly cheaper.  There were reports we read of being ‘ripped off’ in the shops, but maybe they were written by people not yet used to Norwegian prices?!  Oh, Tom got his last souvenir - a soft toy puffin - which he has named Cody.

At 10.30 we headed up to Nordkapp.  We arrived dead on 11am.  It was clear blue skies all the way to the top, but when we arrived the actual cape was doused in cloud.  Oh well, we were here to see it regardless so we went out.  It wasn’t too bad, a bit foggy but we could see out to sea.  We took a couple of photos, but then the mist rolled in and we couldn’t see anything at all!  Oh well, not a problem there were plenty of things to do inside the visitor centre, so we decided to look around and see if the fog would clear.  

There is a panoramic cinema experience showing you the changing seasons of the Nordkapp region which is every hour.  As we had a good 20 mins to spare, we searched around other areas, there was a cave of lights, where there were large soft pebbles for you to perch on, and a light and sound show to watch (changing of the seasons, northern lights, etc) all very chilled.  We watched that and learnt about the history of the area.  It was discovered by…yep the British!  A chap called Richard Chancellor on the Edward Bonaventure in 1559 - how on earth they survived the voyage I will never know.  

Once the fog cleared...

Above Honningsvåg

There was also a story about the King of Siam visiting in 1897 and 1907 - he was carried by 4 men up the cliffs (obviously he was too regal to actually use his own feet!) and a rock carving took place to commemorate the occasion.  There was a room with lots of photos he and his party took of his month’s long visit to Norway - all very good and amazing to think that someone from so far would visit the place?!  There was also a diorama of Norwegian King Oscar visiting the place.  What stood out was that the men were all dressed up in good rugged outdoors clothes, boots etc, whilst the women were wearing court dresses with huge skirts.  I dread to find out what shoes they were wearing - how on earth were they supposed to climb up cliffs like that?  I’m surprised the wind didn’t get up their skirts and take them off their feet and back down the cliffs.  How did anyone think that was a good idea?  

Some perspective

We watched the panoramic film which was very lovely and then went to see if the fog had cleared.  It hadn’t - in fact it was raining, so we decided to head back to the motor home and have lunch.  This we did and then we did some shopping - once again the prices were very reasonable (for Norway), wrote and posted some postcards and went to watch the film again.  When we came out there was some blue sky…within 10 minutes the mist had completely cleared and it was a beautiful clear blue sky.  Yay.  

We took more photos of the globe on the cape, the children’s statue and art and of the landscape in general, enjoying the difference in the light. We were all very happy.  However, we could see a ‘tsunami’ of cloud heading to the cape and figured it would be a good idea to get ahead of it and head back down south again.  We could have stayed there overnight (it was £65 for the 3 of us to visit - for which we got a 24 hour ticket) but we had seen it at its best and it is too light to see the northern lights so there wasn’t a reason for us to stay.  Also it would have been a very cold night if we had stayed there and the mist hung for the whole night.

Tom with his certification 

It was 5pm before we left, so we headed south back towards Honningsvåg.  On the way we picked up two hitchhikers, who turned out to be Spanish.  Had a great chat as we took them back to Honningsvåg.  The women actually lives in Bristol - but is having trouble staying (she works in a nursery) as she hasn’t been resident in the country for 5 years and that means with Brexit looming she doesn’t know if she will be able to stay or not.  Once again we had to apologise for the Brexit mess.  She’s currently working in a hotel in Honningsvåg for the summer holidays whilst she works out what to do - she has accommodation and a car in Bristol, but she might not go back.  You do get to meet all sorts when you travel like this - we met 3 Germans who had walked 200 km to Nordkapp and some Italians who had driven there from Turin in a Fiat Panda!

Matt drove us back South and we found ourselves a spot near the sea for the night.  The weather is remarkably different today, hardly any wind at all - made the driving so much easier.  Still got the tunnel with roadworks to squeeze through.

Heading North...

Man with a van

We all had a great night’s sleep last night and as a consequence didn’t get going until quite late.  We had a bowl of muesli each, packed up the van, did the washing up and had lovely hot showers and bundled in the van into Alta to Bunnpris supermarket to spend a mortgage on some more food. We did a better job this time and were able to search out some bargains.  Curious thing = can’t find much meat in the supermarkets - is that because it is so expensive or is it because people use butchers / local farms?  Who knows.  Anyway, I managed to find a fridge which had meat in it which was 30K a packet if you bought it before midday so we took advantage.  We also found a 3 for 2 offer, so bought some stuff with that and of course now we are ‘panting’, so we had money off.  In the end we bought 2 days food for £50 whilst last time we bought 3 days food for £100.  One bad thing though on our way back to the motor home one of our bags broke and as a result we lost a can of beer (£4) and a tub of yogurt.

we then headed out of Alta to go north.  we had lunch at the first opportunity and then I took over the driving across some very barren hills.  We came across lots of reindeer - one herd just walking up and down the road, not doing much.  Silly reindeer.  At one point they were galloping up and down the road.  It wasn’t until a truck came by and hooted his horn that they headed into the wilderness.  It seems that they are roaming wild, but apparently there are no wild reindeer in Norway - they all belong to someone.  We saw loads of them today.

Reindeer stampede

I drove the best part of 100 kms and then we swapped over when we hit the sea.  The road changed significantly when we hit the sea, it got narrower and the wind picked up and when I said picked up I mean it got mega windy.  Put it this way, I was glad Matt was driving.  There were loads of tunnels, including one where some workmen were working on the entrance, meaning half of it was cordoned off.  This meant that Matt had to squeeze through it - scary stuff.  As I said I’m glad I wasn’t driving.  He did a great job. 

The plan today was to get as far as Honningsvåg which is on the island of Magerøya - the main town before you get to Nordkapp.  The wind was completely manic on Magerøya, but we figured that Honningsvåg must be in a sheltered bay and we were right.  The wind died down and we stopped at the first parking space.  I let my hair down and it didn’t move.  We parked up - nice view of the harbour and town from here.   Typical, as soon as we parked up and put the van on blocks and had a beer, the place started to get windy and started to rock.  Looking at the weather forecast, it should calm down over the night.  Let’s hope so!  Number of miles driven today: 131.

Portrait of a local

Oh - I have to talk a moment about somethings we saw.  As we pulled into our parking place there was a cyclist sat down eating.  Didn’t think much of it (we have seen loads of cyclists heading to and fro Nordkapp - guess it must be a famous cycle route)  However, we then watched him get his gear on his bike…he had a couple of bags on his bike (once again not surprising) but then he put a huge backpack on his back!!!!!!  Wowzers - and it was mega windy!  Matt felt sorry for him and took him some biscuits.  He was Chinese and didn’t have a word of English.  We wonder who he was and what he was doing.  Whatever it is - it has taken him a huge amount of effort.  Can’t believe he was going to attempt to ride a bicycle in the mega wind with a huge backpack on him.  Hope his journey works out.

Oh and as the evening wore on, the car park got fuller.  Matt parked in the middle of the car park, hoping that others would park either side of us and therefore take the worst of the wind.  His plan worked.  We have two Norwegian motor homes on one side and a camper van on the other side.  One of the men in the camper van was swigging from a bottle of gin, so Matt showed him his whisky…he immediately came over.  They were Ukrainian.  We weren’t expecting that.  He didn’t speak any English but one of his party did…the story - he had driven 2,500km here from Finland where he works so he could go diving in the sea here for King Crab.  It is freezing cold, he had a wetsuit - but really?!  He asked if we could boil some water for him so we did and then we saw him go into the sea - he was swimming in it for quite a while didn’t see him get anything though.  Fancy driving all that way to go swimming in the freezing sea.  He showed us photos of previous successful dives.  He has 2 days here before heading back to his job in Finland.  We were chatting about long distance driving (the fact you can’t do it in England, but then the roads in England are full - so it wouldn’t be possible or pleasurable) he said that he wasn’t allowed to visit England because he needs a visa and a visa is hard to get.  He can visit all of continental Europe but not the UK.  It is embarrassing to be English when you are in Europe these days!

Tomorrow’s plan…to head to Nordkapp and then drive back down to where it is less windy!  Oh, the expected high for tomorrow - 8 degrees!!!!