Fishing Tales

We stayed another night at the campsite by the fjord near Gullesfjordbotn. We went fishing in a little rowing boat with a line and some hooks of different shapes, and we caught such a huge fish - probably a massive cod. Unfortunately it jumped out of the boat and swam off just as Maros was about to kill it. Luckily our Norwegian neighbours in the caravan next door had better luck and gave us a huge fresh fish - possibly a coalfish. Maros killed, gutted and descaled it and Katka fried it for us and we ate it happily.

We also had some hiking, bike riding, reading and finally clothes washing.

Andenes and Whale Watching

Today we had to get up earlier to check in for the whale safari. We had a guide who took us round a small museum to give us information about the whales or dolphins we would see.

Eg sperm whales have blow hole on the left side of head due to the right one developing into the sonar chamber. They have the biggest brain of any known animal (8kg). The lone males are in the colder north where there is more food. The mothers and young stay in groups in temperate regions where it is safer.

Then we had an hour's break and we had coffee and cake in the caravan, and then we boarded the boat. There were about 40 people on the safari with us.

We sailed out for over two hours to the deep Bleik canyon. On the way we saw 10-15 pilot whales (the biggest dolphins) and watched as they leaped out in groups of three or five. Then we located a sperm whale using a microphone beneath the boat to listen for the clicks they make when diving and these sounds were broadcast on deck. We saw the same individual three times and there was a sighting of a second sperm whale a long way off. Maros spotted it though and pointed it out. When the whale was on the surface there was an intent silence as we all watched and photographed it. The first time after the whale dived people started clapping. It was amazing to see the dolphins and whales in the wild. (My photos aren't great but I shall try and post more from Maros later).

Then we were given hot soup and a roll as we returned to the harbour. We had left in the boat at 12.00 and we got back just before 6pm. The sea was quite calm and it was about 10°C but it got pretty cold on deck for all that time, although we were all three of us dressed as warmly as we could get.

Then we drove south for an hour and a half towards the Lofoten islands and we stopped at a small campsite on the edge of a fjord. We had delicious spagetti for tea with a whole head of garlic in the sauce to keep us healthy and then we all slept like little logs after the long day.

We have now travelled around 4,500km on this holiday - about the same distance to travel coast to coast across the USA. We met an English couple at the campsite and on the whale safari who couldn't quite believe how far we had travelled.

Harstad to Andenes on the Vesteralen

Today we had a great breakfast by the sea in the sun. It was 16°C so we were boiling! We saw an oystercatcher who kindly stayed on his rock while I raced like a gazelle to the campervan to pick up my camera to photograph him. We also saw sea urchins, jelly fish, mussels and a huge flock of gulls along the shore.

Then we parked on the edge of town and walked along the shore path to the Trondenes Historical Centre - a small interactive museum about the viking history of the area and the history of the little church. We learnt about the killing of King Olaf and the medieval trade with the Sami fur trappers. We saw a German motorbike from the occupation and a tapestry depicting the vikings presented to the museum by the wife of the Scot who made it. (He died in 2000).

Then we travelled 200 km to Andenes. It was 19°C in the afternoon but a proper 11°C on the northern isle of Andoya. We travelled on a ferry across a fjord from Reysnes to Flesnes on the way. At Andenes we booked places on the whale safari for the next day and travelled on to Stave to a campsite.

Skibotn to Harstad

We had a nice breakfast outside in the sun and then Katka and Maros went for a bike ride and I went for a walk. Next to the camp there was a bird reserve and you could see the gulls fishing in the river. On my walk I saw a red squirel but he was camera shy and as I stood still to take the picture mosquitoes took the chance to have an early lunch. The temperature was now 13°C. Katka and Maros went into the town and found a small marina.

Maros hosed down the back of the campervan and has put his reindeer and Nordkapp stickers up.

Then we packed up and set off 270 km to Harstad. Again the scenery was wonderful and the roads were clear and we got to Harstad at 18.30. I watched Germans gutting fish they had caught as I cleaned some strawberries.

We had a delicious tea of tomato soup and potatoes with onion, and sour milk to drink. Then Katka and Maros went for a bike ride and I have stayed to read and look out over the sea.

Nordkapp to Skibotn

We had breakfast outside at the camp at Nordkapp, beside a small lake in a brisk chilly breeze. On the hillside reindeer grazed. We had scrambled eggs and Norwegian smoked salmon which we ate in our coats, hats and scarves. It was 3°C. We also had hot showers and set off to Skibotn feeling happy and optimistic.

We drove 520 km south. The scenery was spectacularly beautiful as we took the road that wound along the fjords beneath the snow-capped mountains.

We stopped in a shop to buy fridge magnets and postcards. Katka bought a top and Maros bought some stickers of Nordkapp and reindeer to put on the campervan. 

We arrived at the campsite at around 9pm. It was a balmy 9°C and I decided to sleep in the tent (after asking permission this time). We had a delicious tea with soup and meat and pasta. Then Katka and Maros came to see me off to the tent. It got rather chilly in the early morning,  but I had their thermal sleeping bag and the reindeer blanket, thick socks, hat and three mats piled on top of each other to sleep on. The seagulls called all night and I could hear the sound of the river and, of course, it never got dark. 

Highlights of the day were the wintery breakfast up at Nordkapl and the wonderful changing views of the fjords.

Nordkapp (To Finland and beyond pt 2)

As we crossed the border into Norway, we entered an inhospitable, cold bleak land with stunted trees and small homesteads with tractors on the lawn, quadbikes and snow-mobiles and tee-pee structures, piles of tyres and outdoor toilets. They looked like Sami settlements and that they had a tough life. We stopped for a toilet break and discovered a dead reindeer by a lake of black water, the first snowflakes fell and the temperature dropped to 3°C.

But then the landscape changed - rocky cliffs of black stone and fast running streams and pockets of snow up on the hilltops. It was beautiful and dramatic. We drove along the fjord at Alta when the German battleship that attacked the Murmansk convoy had been hidden in 1943.

We drove over snowy tundra with herds of reindeer roaming across it, and passed lakes with dark blue cabins and small boats and eventually we hit the dramatic coast road and saw tankers and fishing boats out in the sea, and crossed beneath the sea in rocky tunnels up to 7km long.

It grew colder and snow blew in as we climbed up the cliffs above the fjord on the  narrow snaking road. Finally we reached the end of the world - Nordkapp, and we suddenly were in a crowded carpark full of coaches, cars and campervans and visitors from all over the world. It was midnight and as still light as day. It was 2°C.

We looked out from the clifftop towards the North Pole and looked at the sea and a trawler with the binoculars. The wind blew and it was bitterly cold. We learnt the name the North Cape had been given by British explorers looking for a northern route to China and that it had been visited by the then King of Siam at the beginning of the 20th century.

Then we took some pictures which I'll post later, and we drove down to a campsite and celebrated with some Russian vodka and dried cod.

To Finland and Beyond (part 1)

We set off after breakfast to Nordkapp. We turned off the main highway and took a smaller road which shortened the distance to the destination and cheered us all up. It was bright and sunny and 10°C and we were in good spirits - only 700 km to go!

We soon found a sign showing us we were officially  entering the arctic circle. We stopped in Payala for petrol and postcards and learnt that we were in the heart of Lappland! Then we turned over a bridge and Schengened into Finland across the river Muonio. The houses were now mainly white, it seemed a bit less neat and tidy and there were now signs telling us that we were entering areas of reindeer husbandry.

We stopped for delicious salmon steaks and I bought some woollen socks. In the shop/restaurant/camp two older ladies  (sisters maybe) came in wearing Sami folk costume. I asked if I could photograph them and after a short period of mutually amusing pantomime, they said told me 'okay' ("you have to tell her 'okay'," the younger prompted the older one). I took the pictures and showed them. They exclaimed to each other over them and the older one was a little offended that her photo wasn't as good as the younger one's. Then we said goodbye in our different languages. About 100m up the road we saw our first reindeer.

The trees were getting smaller and the landscape was becoming more open and marshy. Suddenly we were leaving the EU behind and entering Norway.

At the edge of the Arctic Circle

Today we travelled just 600 km. We are on the edge of the Arctic Circle in a nice camp at Overkalix on the river Kalix. We have left the coast and the Bay of Bothnia behind us and headed up inland towards Finland.

We left our last campsite at about 11am and visited a Swedish Lidl which had a helpful beggar outside who lent us a coin for our trolley. Then we drove for four hours and stopped for a Swedish MacDonald's at Umea as a late lunch and a chance to finally connect to wifi. But we didn't like our food which was not as good as the lunch yesterday and when we set off we all somehow felt dissatisfied with ourselves, and then the coast road had few views of the sea and there seemed to be only the same red farmhouses and endless forest to look at. We started to understand just what a huge country Sweden is - twice as big as the UK with only 10 mil people. If we had gone south from Banska Bystrica we could have reached Sicily in the same distance as going from south Sweden to Nordkapp. (Useful facts provided by Maros).

One success of the journey was that I finally managed to photograph the now familiar 'watch out for the moose' road sign.

But then we got to our camp and had warm soup and grilled sausages, which we ate outside in a bracing arctic breeze and we felt better. We turned the heating on in the caravan and went to bed to have a read and get warm. Apparently it is about 5°C colder than it normally is in the summer here.

Highlights of the day - reaching the Arctic Circle, seeing a fox in the forest, nice people in the Overkalix camp and the toasty warm kitchen and toilets there (I considered sleeping in the kitchen). I'm glad I have the reindeer blanket.

First half of Sweden

Today we travelled nearly 900 km from Markaryd to Sundsvall.

We woke to a beautiful morning and had a nice breakfast and a bit of exercise. I walked round the lake till I found a white boat with oars waiting for me. If I had taken it and rowed into the centre of the lake, an arm would have appeared with a sword and I would have become the Queen of Thule. Instead I chose another fate and returned to the caravan. Maros and Katka returned on the bikes from shopping in town too.

We set off around 11am and had a great lunch at a petrol station near the ruins of Brahahus overlooking lake Vanern. We passed planes at the roadside near the Saab factory where they made them in Linkoping. Then we drove on through Stockholm in the pouring rain and for the first time hit heavy traffic. It rained for the next couple of hours and we all got disheartened and wondered why we hadn't gone to Egypt instead. Then the blue skies returned and more lakes and at 9.30 I put on my sunglasses to stop the setting sun from getting in my eyes.

After tea we drove on another 170 km to an oil refinery by the sea and beyond it a crowded campsite. We arrived just before midnight. We had a beer or two and some cake and then at 1am saw the sunrise over another factory. We then had to wander into the woods as you needed a card to open the toilets which we didn't have. We can't quite work out why so many people are staying here.

We decided we will go on to Nordkapp. Next stop the Artic circle!