Cricket Trials

So Tom was put forward for cricket trials for our local district which is South Lakes (we live in a complicated part of the country - yes we are in Yorkshire, but Ingleton cricket club is part of the Westmorland League, which in turn is affiliated with Cumbria Cricket Club).

We have been kept hanging for ages as to when the trials would be, we were told October and then we got an email saying it was the following week.  Tom hadn't touched a cricket bat in over a month! We quickly got on to John asking for advice, he happily suggested he did a training session for him.  Phew.  He spent ages helping him with his batting technique - his weakest part of the game and gave me a list of hints and tips to work on.  Oh and Under 11s use a hard ball - never done so before, so he had to wear pads, box, helmet, gloves and use a wooden bat.  Not much to get used to then!!!!!  

We then took him across to the field on Tuesday evening for a practise and once again spent ages with him on his batting.  

Wednesday saw us at Sedbergh School for his trial.  I am never comfortable in private schools, and we got lost immediately but luckily someone showed us where to go.  It was your bog standard school gym, with the exception that it had 4 proper cricket nets.  Think we counted about 18 children altogether including Tom and Charlie from Ingleton.  Was strange watching them - Tom does stand out a bit at Ingleton, but here he didn't.  They spent 2 hours bowling in the nets - having one go at batting.  Tom's batting wasn't great but his bowling was good - he got a few wickets and was bowling straight.  I think he looked about average and he certainly looked bewildered at the start.  It wasn't until one of the adults went over to him and told him not to look so scared that he finally began to relax!  Quite a few of the children knew each other already, John sends our kids to trials at 10, but there are younger teams too.  Tom was in the boisterous lane - typical!  He kept out of trouble (apart from almost bonking an adult on the head with a mis-thrown ball and getting in the way of another boy during his run up) and showed his love of bowling.

With my lack of cricket expertise, I was worried at the end if he did enough to get chosen.  Matt was confident that his bowling would get him through.  It was a nervous couple of days before we got the email on Friday afternoon saying he had been accepted.  Unfortunately Charlie didn't, which is a shame as it would have been good to have friends to hang out with and share driving. 

Tom was delighted, bouncing around for a while with a huge grin on his face.  He now gets 18 hours of training with the South Lakes District Team.  They then select a number to go to Cumbrian County Cricket Trials in December / January.  If he isn't selected, he will still have the opportunity to play for South Lakes District team in some matches in the summer. It will be good for him to be around players of the same calibre and to have more training.  

We need to take him to a specialist sports shop in Preston now to get him some kit.

Humm, another reason to go for QES: playing for a Cumbrian team it would make sense to go to a Cumbrian school.  They hold training sessions during school holidays, but because North Yorks and Cumbrian schools have different holidays, Tom has been unable to go along to any.

The Andersons Come to Visit

Last weekend, we had the pleasure of the Andersons for a visit.  Millie is now 5 and still a whirlwind.  A very precocious child - of which the parents are aware.  She is full of energy and opinion and a blur of red hair.  Great fun, but it would be exhausting to be her parents!

Bolton Abbey stepping stones

We were blessed with the most beautiful Friday and Saturday for their visit.  Matt went to collect them whilst I was with Tom over on the cricket field whilst he got some training ready for his trials.  John came for an hour and stayed until we couldn't see the balls anymore.  You could see that Tom was a bit rusty, so it was good to have such an intensive session with him.

Millie arrived about 5 minutes after we got in.  She was full of it and could remember every detail of her last visit which was a year ago - pretty impressive!  We gave them an hour before bedtime.  Surprisingly both went to bed well and we were able to relax with some cheese and wine.

Saturday was an amazing, proper summer's day.  Tom had a footie tournament in Skipton.  He went with a friend, we followed after, arriving just as it finished: great timing!  We then headed to Billy Bobs so the kids could have a good play.  As it was such a wonderful day, we sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine whilst the kids played.  Tom took on the role of 'big brother' and enjoyed it - preferring to hang out with Millie than go to the bigger kids area. After lunch, an ice cream and another play, we headed to Bolton Abbey where both kids went across the stepping stones, had a play on the beach area and then went on the welly walk.

Tom and Millie

It was hot and we were all running out of water, so Sarah and I headed quickly to a cafe before it closed to get provisions in.  Oh, Sarah...we have a lot in common.  We were born in the same hospital, both lived in the same area of Berkshire and we discovered another coincidence: she has relatives in Backwell!!

Anyway, we had a much needed drink and then split up: Matt and I to the car park and the kids and Michael and Sarah back to welly walk to do all the activities they missed on the rush for drinks.  We had complicated logistics for the day: 6 of us altogether, only 5 fit in the car, so Matt was on his bike.  However, he was wearing sunglasses as it was so bright, but time was getting on.  He was worried about getting home in the light.  All his biking gear was in the car!  Anyway, we worked it all out and we had a fab day.  The kids got on fine, and us adults were very happy and comfortable chatting about nothing much.

Tom and Millie. Again.

Sunday, the weather broke! Typical.  We decided to head to Sizergh Castle to do the Wild Trail and have lunch before dropping Michael and Sarah off at the train station.  This we did.  The trail was super muddy and slippery but we all managed it.  Tom helped Millie on the bits she wasn't sure of.  As I said she is a whirlwind.  Everything is interesting to her and she is super enthusiastic, she is a fun person to hang around with.  One thing though, as it was raining we gave her one of Tom's waterproof coats to wear.  She wasn't happy!  She called it a 'RIDICULOUS COAT'.  She did try to refuse to wear it, and was left in the car by herself until she wore it.  She did eventually wear it - but she wasn't happy.  The memory of the weekend is of Millie shouting 'this is a RIDICULOUS COAT' over and over again.  I dropped them off at Oxenholme and didn't fancy their chances keeping her suitably engaged for the train trip home.

It was fun though and Tom really enjoyed her company.  The wooden train set came out, and they had a ball playing with it together.  Certainly glad we have held on to it.

Which school - what a quandary

So, Tom has been back at school for a month.  He's had a busy time: he's already been on a school trip to Hadrian's Wall, is about to go on a residential to Edinburgh, went for Head Boy (he had to write a speech full of his ideas and present it to the whole school.  He did really well - but didn't get voted in) and played rugby for the school - gallantly offering to help when some (more rugby types) decided not to take part.  He has visited Settle College with the school and we have been to Settle College and QES for open evenings and 1:1 tours during the school day.  There was one week where Tom didn't actually do a full day's schooling for one reason or another.

Anyway, the main topic of conversation in the Young household is Secondary School or High School or whatever they are called nowadays.  This hasn't been easy for me.  It is no secret that I didn't get on at my first secondary school and just the sheer action of walking into a school (especially Settle College which looks and feels very like St Crispins) brings back all my old fears.  I have been in tears and poor Matt has been sympathetic - who knew school days could still affect you so long afterwards - especially when I have done so much since.

Anyway, I have (I think) put that behind me again and we are back to trying to work out what will be best for Tom for his next stage of education.

QES were the first to hold their open evening, and we were very underwhelmed by the place.  The Headmistress did a very boring speech to us about their core values - so much so that I couldn't actually tell you anything about it.  We came out not knowing any more about the school than when we went in - she didn't really mention the pupils, any achievements, nothing about clubs, school trips, curriculum she did keep harping on about how old the school is though: it opened in 1591!  The Head Girl and Deputy Head Boy did do speeches which were way better, along with the Head of Year 7 who also was OK.

We were then sent on a tour of the school with a 6th former.  She was great, but the tour was very very rushed.  We didn't get to speak to teachers for too long and didn't get to see much work / get any feeling for the school.  We did spend a long time in the art room though - full of wonderful pieces of art, this didn't have a great affect on Tom as he doesn't like art, thinks he is rubbish at it ( because he doesn't try!).  As a result he got a bit overwhelmed and spent the rest of the tour clinging to me - not a great sign.  I came out of the school feeling cold, Matt wasn't impressed either!

Such a shame as we really enjoyed the Settle College open day last year.  Anyway, we thought we couldn't leave it there, so I called them to book a 1:1 tour.  Wanting to treat Settle College the same, we booked in with them too - in the same week so we could do a quick comparison.

Settle College was first up.  We were taken around by Student Services, and saw many classes in action.  The noise level was low - it looked like people were working hard.  The only class with any noise was Alice's - lol!!!!  Some classes even had their doors open they were so quiet.  The teachers on the whole were young and enthusiastic and very welcoming.  Class size is around 27ish.  We saw a transition and all seemed orderly.  We met the headmaster (a geography teacher so he must be OK).  He welcomed a year 7 class when we were there and he knew everyone's name as they entered - not bad considering they had only been there 1.5 weeks.  His children go to the school which is a really good sign.  School trips seem good: Barcelona, ski trip and Belgium for WWII in the first 2 years.  They go to Iceland with A level geography - not bad hey, especially, when they could get away with no trip at all considering where they are located!

There are 156 in Year 7, and 600 (ish) altogether.  It is small enough that every teacher knows every pupil and that's how they market themselves: as a small, intimate school with a community feel.  Lots of pupils come from Skipton where they have the grammar school system.  Usual happens: those who have gone to private prep schools who teach to the 11+ get into the state funded Grammar Schools, meaning that state primary school pupils have little chance of getting in and have to go to the non grammar schools which have a bad reputation.  They are shunning this and heading to Settle College instead.

There is a 6th form with 75.  They do a good range of subjects.  They start GCSEs in Year 10.  They have a cricket team, however, there aren't a huge number of extra curricular clubs.  

QES, we were shown around by the Head Mistress.  She is definitely better 1:1 than in front of an audience.  She was enthusiastic and honest - pointing out areas where they could do better.   She answered every question well.  The school was very very quiet during lessons: you could hear a pin drop.  The transition looked good too (saw Luca!)  Class size is slightly bigger.  They take in 250 (ish) each year, full school is 1,400 including 6th form of 200.  They keep Year 7 together in one area for the year so they don't get swept up / intimidated by the other pupils.  

The school does have amazing facilities - much better, newer and brighter than Settle College and they have a studio school, meaning that if Tom isn't academic - he could go there at 14 and do some vocational pathways which include: engineering, land management, health care, photography, criminology etc etc.  6th form areas are amazing: they have their own library and a brand new funky common room and study areas etc.  School trips are different at QES - as they say, it is difficult to take 250 children at a time to places, so I don't think they do many in the early years, but they do have a ski trip, overseas trips and field trips etc, how you get on them I don't know - forgot to ask!  They also have a 'nurture' area where children who need additional support can go (i.e. - if pupils are misbehaving they can be sent out of class and sent there - which is good).  They have dozens of clubs at lunchtime and highly recommend each pupil joins at least 2.  They have an active cricket club with a team in each year.

The school does have a reputation for good behaviour and the head teacher was on it when we were with her - telling people to straighten ties etc.  She had a banter with the kids (especially the 6th formers) but you could see they all respected her.  She had a presence which is what is needed!  Tom was happy to ask her questions and make comment which was good to see (he didn't so much at Settle)

So...what to do.  They are such different schools.  We have looked at results and QES is very slightly ahead of Settle College.  Matt and I had a good chat about it...the best differentiator we can come up with is people.  The more boisterous pupils at Ingleton seem to go to Settle College, whilst the more academic / sensible pupils seem to head to QES.  His 2 best friends from last year's Year 6: Rebecca and Luca have both gone to QES.  Also Owen (Annabel's brother), who Tom looks up to and is a great role model, also goes there.  Also the behaviour at QES is 'apparently' better. 

As far as his class goes - it is split between the two schools which is normal.  Lucas, Finn and Matthew are going to QES and Charlie to Settle.  We think more girls are heading to Settle than QES.  Tom isn't swayed by who is going where.  He hasn't made close friends at Ingleton and is keen to start a new school with more opportunities to make friends.  He will know quite a few children going to QES: from football, cricket and scouts - more than will be going to Settle College.

Also, QES is nearer to us than Settle College, this does have a bearing, as regardless which way he goes, he will have to go on a coach.  Time on a coach is dead time.  He will spend significantly more time on a coach if he goes to Settle - if you add it up, it gets quite scary! 

Question is - will he get 'lost' at QES?  It is so big, the teachers won't know him. Will he go under the radar due to him being average academically and well behaved?  Or, will the fact that every time he changes teachers he will have to prove himself again be good for him?  There will be more chance for him to be lazy in Settle - if he gets too comfortable.

I think on the whole Matt and I are heading towards QES, Tom doesn't seem to have an opinion, although we have tried hard to find out his feelings.  I even got him to write down his good and bad points for each school - but it didn't really reveal much.  We've got until the end of October to make a decision, wish I had a crystal ball to see what sort of person Tom will become.  This decision is much harder than I thought it would be...

Year 6

Tom started school again today.  Year 6, wow, where has the time gone?

He still has Mrs Clements, but has moved with her round to the Year 6 classroom which is a little apart from the rest of the school - meaning it is quieter.

He is in a class of 27: 5 boys and 22 girls including 7 girls from Year 5 (all classes are mixed years this year).  He's off to Edinburgh for his residential in October and has already got to sit on the benches at the back at assembly.

I think he is going to like Year 6, just hope he learns to concentrate this year...can it happen?

Norway

Things to note for next time (if there is another next time)

+ Everything is expensive!
+ You can rough camp pretty much anywhere - it is the norm.  If you look at a map, look for a view point or the end of a fjord, that is where you tend to find great rough campsites

+ Map - you need hardcopy map - way more info than sat nav, and can see the bigger picture.  The Cappelen Kart one was best by Kümmerly & Frey (www.swisstravelcenter.com)

+ Supermarkets - the Norwigans seem to like to have lots of supermarkets.  As a result most of them are small.  The national dish is frozen pizza and the supermarkets reflect this - meaning there is very little anything else.  Prices are extremely high.  I liked Rema 1000 as they tended to have a 10kr area and more offers than other supermarkets.  You have to shop smart.  If you see something cheap / on offer in a supermarket buy it there and then, as it might not be there again.  Some supermarkets have morning only offers, so best to go in the morning if you can.  A deli roast chicken is suprisingly cheap.

+ Panting.  You should ‘pant’ your empty pop bottles and beer cans etc.  Each time you buy a bottle of drink you pay a pant price.  This is redeemed at a supermarket when you hand it in for recycling.  Average 2-3Kr a bottle - so well worth it.  We didn’t realise this at first and probably forfeited a good Kr40.  

+ Everyone sticks to the speed limit and no-one seems to want to overtake you.  Apparently the police have a zero tolerance approach to speeding, so you will get fined if you are 1km over the limit!

+ Fuel is cheaper at the weekend.

+ Mobile signal amazingly good even in the middle of nowhere.

+ Signage is terrible - not every town has a welcome sign so very easy to not know where you are, it is very easy to miss parking spots due to lack of signage.  

+ There are lots of lay-bys on all types of roads and good number have WC or tourist info or bins or all 3.

+ Alcohol is prohibitively expensive - £8+ a pint if you go to a bar

+ Hotel breakfasts are amazing. So much food - fruits, yoghurts etc with all the trimmings: granola, muesli, raisins, nuts etc.  Smoked fish, hot food:eggs, sausages, bacon, beans, mushrooms etc.  Make your own waffles, a huge selection of bread, cheeses, hams, pastries, and every other breakfast food stuff you can think of (except avocado).  We stayed in a Scandic hotel in Oslo and Radisson Blu in Tromsø.  The Scandic did a better spread and a nicer atmosphere - ie more Norwegians.  (The Radisson Blu was too full of posh tourists with grumpy faces, but their hotel rooms were better equipped and bigger!)  Certainly you don’t need lunch afterwards and only a small tea!

+ Living in a motorhome was fine.  We all got on and we all enjoyed it - quite fancy our own now! 

Norway is a very easy country to visit.  Everyone speaks English, everyone is relaxed and chilled out.  Certainly can see why it is at the top of countries to live in: standard of living is high, wages high.  Alcohol is expensive but apart from that it's a great place.  Lots of people own second homes / cabins in rural / fjord locations, property is reasonably priced.  There is a lot of space.  By the end of our stay there, it felt comfortably like home - didn't feel foreign at all.  

Back home

So we didn't sleep so well in our large hotel room last night, too hot, too quiet and I had a headache after my 1 pint of beer!  Oh hum, never mind, we had something to look forward to, a Norwegian hotel breakfast.  We feasted ourselves on all the goodies - still not as good as the Scandic in Oslo, but can't really complain - much better than anything you get in the UK.  We all managed a good 3 courses before our stomachs started to complain.

Then upstairs for showers and to sort out bags before counting up our money and going around the Tromsø souvineer shops to spend it.  We didn't do too badly - a last patch for Tom's blanket, a half price T-shirt for Matt, a half price jacket for me, a couple of fridge magnets (turned out one was a business card holder) and some danglies.  We still had a bit of money left, but felt we had done justice to Tromsø.

We then got the airport bus back and checked in our flights.  Had to do everything ourselves - and managed to screw up - I operated the touch screen and didn't see any questions about bags for the hold and therefore we had no tickets to put on our bags, so we had to stand in line and get an operator to do it all again for us!  Oh hum.

Tromsø is a small airport so security took us about 30 seconds, how lovely.  Then Tom sat and watched planes arrive and depart, Matt did some work (he has a workshop coming up this weekend in Edinburgh) and I read a book.  Flew from Tromsø to Oslo with no incident and then had to wait 2.5 hours for our flight to Manchester.  Got some food, then counted up the Krona again and went to duty free.  Bought a box of red wine and a mini chocolate bar for exactly the amount we had left.  Yay, not often that you use up every last penny of your holiday currency.

We got back to grey, rainy, miserable Manchester on time, got the car and headed home.  Matt was freaked out the by the car - it was too low, too quiet, too fast and on the wrong side.  I was quite scared as we were going really fast.  The average speed we went in Norway was probably 70km an hour which is 43mph, so 70mph on the motorway felt VERY fast in deed.  Also there was so much more traffic than we were used to.  Oh hum, and we live in an 'empty' part of England!

Got back around 10pm, so pretty much went straight to bed.

to the top of Tromsø

Looking north from Tromsø

We woke up to sunshine today - yahoo!  We had breakfast and then set to pack up our van into the two bags we brought with us - didn't do too badly, considering we seem to have gained quite a few new soft toys!

Mountains

We then waited for Tomasz to arrive to sign us off.  He was very thorough - took a good half hour going through the van to check that we hadn't added any bumps / dents / scrapes etc to it.  It was like taking a test and although we knew we didn't do anything to it - we were still a little nervous!  Anyway we passed - phew!  Tomasz then drove us back to the Radisson Blu.  We were all quite sorry to say goodbye to Bert, and although we have loads more room in the hotel, it felt wrong to go there! In all we drove 2,961km in Bert (1,840 miles).

Tromsø Bridge and the Arctic Cathedral

Looking Over the City

Anyway, we dropped our bags off and then walked along the harbour to the big bridge, across the bridge to the cable car which we got to the top of a mountain looking over Tromsø.  We had lovely clear blue skies and no wind so the view was AMAZING - we could see the whole island of Tromsø, turquoise waters all around, fishing vessels and cruise liners coming and going, the airport and planes coming and going and jagged snow capped mountains all around.  We couldn't have asked for a better view.  We stood taking it in for quite a while.

Nik and Tom enjoying the view

After a quick ice lolly each, we decided to climb to the top of the mountain, På Toppen.  It didn't look that far, but as tends to be the case with mountains, it is always much further than you think.   And it was hot.  And we didn't have much to drink with us.  Oops - we never learn!  Anyway, we set it as a challenge to ourselves, also because we haven't really walked much / done huge amounts of exercise this holiday.  We made it to the top.  The view was amazing, but we knew that.  We weren't the only ones doing it - there were lots of locals in Lycra doing it too - and who wouldn't on such a magnificent day.  All the shops and lots of restaurants and bars are closed on a Sunday, so you might as well.

We were quite hungry after all that exertion, so walked back down to the cable car station and stood in a long queue.  Managed to get 3 x hot dogs and a portion of potato wedges for £21 - a bargain and filled our water bottle with water 3 times to rehydrate (no point paying for soft drinks - they are extortionate in this environment (£5 each and that includes mineral water!)  The food was actually very good and we all felt much better.  We decided to walk back down the mountain - we headed to the Sherpa Steps and headed down.  There were 1,200 (ish) steps (built by real Sherpas from Nepal last year) and they turned your legs to jelly.  Down, down, down they went jarring your knees as you went.  It was a relief to get to the bottom.

Hurtigruten boat arriving

We then walked back over the bridge to the hotel for a much needed shower and relax.  Matt was in need of a visit to a bar and next door to our hotel was Rorbua, which apparently is Norway's most famous bar, not sure why?!  Anyway we had a pint each and Tom an apple juice - it came to £31!!!!  Was good beer though and strong!

We then went in search of food.  Our first choice was closed for holidays, so we went to our second choice, Huken Pub which was very funky and quite small.  We were worried initially that they might not do food, but the kitchen was open - yay.  The prices were reasonable - double yay.  Matt went for a burger and chips, I went for a taco pancake and Tom for a blueberry and bacon pancake.  We were all very happy with our choices, it was all high quality and very tasty.

We then went for a walk around the harbour - looking at the various boats.  A very pleasant evening after a very lovely day.  Home tomorrow - humph!

Polaria

We woke up to better weather this morning and had a nice slow morning getting breakfast, having showers (immaculate bathrooms) and heading back into Tromso where it was misty and raining again!  Oh hum.  

The gang

We had given Tom lots of options of things to do in Tromsø today and he chose to go to Polaria where there is an 180 degree cinema showing various films and more importantly an aquarium and a pool with 4 seals.  Give him an activity which includes animals and he always chooses it, so off we went.  I was on map duty trying to get us there - easier said than done when the main roads of Tromsø are being dug up.  We did eventually make it but we used a lot of fuel up!  We parked up and headed in.  As we headed into Tromsø today we noticed a huge cruise ship, Queen Elizabeth, was in and when we got to Polaria, the first thing we heard was an English accent.  We then realised that we had hardly met any Brits at all over the last 2 weeks - just one couple in a motor home in Alta and the military man in Alta who is now Norwegian via passport and family.  Felt strange to hear someone else speak the same language as us with the same accent, but I think always the sign of a good holiday when you have got away from fellow countrymen and especially now, don’t want to know what is happening at home politically - it is too depressing!

Anyway, there was a queue to get in and then we noticed lots of other English accents - we had got swamped with cruise ship passengers!  Oh hum, never mind, can’t complain, we have had almost every museum to ourselves so I guess we now needed to share.  We first went to the cinema, where someone confirmed to us that they were passengers from the ship - apparently 2,000 on board a cruise from Southampton to Tromsø and back - stopping off at other Norwegian ports.  We settled down to watch a film about Svalbard which was very bleak but scenic.  The cruise ship passengers were then asked to go to a certain exhibition to continue their tour, we took note and went in the opposite direction!

Climbing wall at Polaria

We had noticed there was a cafe at the site, so thought we would go and see if they had anything we could have for lunch as we have run out of food in the motor home.  We were in luck - they had cheese and ham rolls and for only 42Kr which was amazingly cheap.  We immediately took them - they were good too - on really nice bread and they were heated up for us, meaning the cheese went all gooey.  Fantastic.  We enjoyed them and even went back for pudding - a lovely slice of apple pie.

Next we headed for the seal pool as they were feeding them.  They have 4 seals: 2 Harbour Seals and 2 Bearded Seals.  The Bearded Seals were especially impressive, they were large, rotund and had fantastic white whiskers.  Anyway, the trainers put them through their games and they were all rewarded with fish.  The people from the cruise then headed to their next stop and the museum emptied.  Yay.  We had a look around the aquarium, then Tom had a play in the children’s area before we went to the cinema again to see a film about the northern lights.  They did explain how the northern lights manifest - can’t say I completely followed the explanation - physics is not my strong subject, but the cinematography was amazing and we recognised some of the places they filmed.  Must say it whetted our appetite to come back again in the winter when we can see the place in snow and get a chance to see the northern lights.  Not sure about driving a motor home in the snow and ice though?!

Harbour seal being "instructed"

We went back to say goodbye to the seals, just as the museum announced they were to do a show with the seals in the auditorium, so we stayed to watch that and then we left.  Our next job was to get some fuel - we had run the van down to fumes only as fuel is cheaper at the weekends here.  On the way in we tried to get fuel at 2 separate places, but neither of them would take cash and we need to get rid of some cash so we drove away.  In the end we had to put 10 litres in via card just to be sure of getting somewhere without running out!

Our next plan was to drive round the island which Tromsø is on to find a rough camp for the night (the island isn’t that big, in fact the city spills on to the shores of land either side of it as a result of growth.  I had had a look on Google Earth last night to find some places, and had found 2 spots that looked good candidates.  Hummmm, the city council certainly do not want motor homes in the city.  Both parking spaces had been blocked off with concrete blocks to stop any vehicle entering - meaning that there were parking spaces with picnic benches etc that no-one could use (unless they went on foot!).  We gave up, but what to do - there is one official camping place in Tromsø but every review said it was very overpriced and facilities are awful.  Did we want to spend a lot of money on a rubbish place or do we travel 30km to go back to the campsite we stayed in last night?  Then Matt had a bright idea - why don’t we call up the company we hired the motor home from and ask them if we could park up and stay overnight?  He did that and they said yes.  So in the end we get a free camping place with free electric hook up.  Fab.  Not the most glamorous place to camp, but hey, it was free and close to where we were.

Queen Elizabeth leaving Tromsø

We then realised we needed to buy tonight’s tea - so we headed to a shopping centre we spotted yesterday and went for a mooch around the shops.  Glad to report that Norwegian shopping malls are as dull as English ones but more expensive.  Needless to say, nothing got bought.  We ended up in the supermarket and bought some prawns and sweet and sour sauce to go with our remaining pasta for tea.  We then finished our lap of the island, found a place to fill up with fuel with cash and then went to the motor home lot to park up.  Wow!  When we picked up our motor home it was one of about 5, on arrival today there must be 30 or 40 parked up.  In fact there was only just enough space left for Bert to fit in.  Most of the motor homes were exactly the same as Bert, although there were a couple smaller and 1 bigger.  We had a good mooch around.  To our surprised, loads of the vehicles were left open, some doors were open, there weren’t even any gates on the lot, gas bottles on view etc.  If this was the UK there would be electric gates, CCTV and a huge security risk!

Anyway we parked up, watched the Queen Elizabeth sail past and then had tea.  We will have to say goodbye to Bert tomorrow - we will miss him, he’s been good to us. 

Here's a video clip of us doing a walk around explanation of out motor home: https://youtu.be/jV52q5DGV0M

Back to Tromso

I didn't have the greatest of sleeps last night, but the boys did OK.  We had a lazy morning getting ready, no need to rush as we didn't have far to go and it was raining outside.  In fact, when we woke up, we couldn't seen any mountains at all it was so foggy!

I decided to start the driving today, so we headed in the rain back to the main road.  We were going to drive up a new road to Tromsø today, but there was no point, we couldn't see anything and it was a toll road and a slower road!  We got to Tromsø in good time and as it was still raining, we thought we would search out the local swimming pool as we had such a good time in Alta.

Husky on a go-kart

Well...what can I say.  Another AMAZING pool.  Get this - it was brand new, only opened on 24th August!  It had a 50m pool with professional diving blocks, huge clock and diving boards at 1m, 3m, 5m, 7.5m and 10m - some concrete and some spring boards.  It also had a current pool with donuts to laze on as you whizzed round, some water canyons, a wave pool and a stream that took you to a lovely hot outdoor pool.  Also included was a climbing wall above the wave pool. a HUGE jacuzzi, another swimming pool, another hot bath and a sauna, steam room, cold plunge pool and hot grotto pool.  Upstairs there were two slides, one of which you could time yourself on.  

Wowzers!  It was going to be a good afternoon.  It was a good afternoon.  We splashed, jumped, slided, relaxed etc.  As the local kids are at school, we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  It was fabulous.  We had put enough money in the parking machine to give us almost 3 hours in the pool.  We thought that would be enough, but in fact we were quite sad to have to leave.  

The pool was part of a huge new sports complex.  In with the swimming pool was the largest collection of climbing walls I have ever seen - full of wirey fit people leaping up.  Next door was a huge new sports hall - would love to have seen what was in there. 

Now, we had to come up with a plan of what to do for camping tonight.  We had scoured books, magazines and apps trying to find some parking places within a reasonable radius of Tromsø but we hadn't come up with anything concrete.  There is one camping site in Tromsø but it had got very bad reviews from all that had used it.  There were roads we could have tried out to find a parking space, but the fog was so dense we weren't sure we would find them.  Eventually I found a campsite 30km away which had good reviews, so we decided to head that way (we needed one last laundry visit anyway), however, if we found a good rough camp on the way we would rough camp.  

Sunset over the fjord

We drove out of Tromsø - we got caught in a huge traffic jam by the airport, ended accidentally going down a bus / taxi dedicated lane but we did get out - only just.  We then drove up towards the campsite - there were no parking spaces anywhere so we ended up in the campsite.  It is the most expensive one we have stayed in - but we didn't really care.  The weather was better here - visibility had got remarkably better and it had stopped raining - all good in our books.  We got booked in and then got our clothes in the washing machine asap.  Then we managed a game of frisbee before making tea and then finishing Harry Potter.

Need to decide what to do tomorrow... only one more night left in Bert after tonight, shame, we will miss him! 

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