The previous blog covers the journey along the northern border of Finland to Karosjohka where the Sami people have their parliament and  then onto the island of Kvaloya where there is Hammerfest, the world’s most northern city. From Kvaloya, the blog continues with the journey southwards to Finnsnes which is the gateway to the Gisund Bridge which leads to the island of Senja.

Senja is Norway’s second largest island outside of the Svalbard archipelago with a landscape that varies greatly from east to west, hence the island is often called a ‘Norway in miniature’. In summary it has a rugged stunning mountainous western coast that faces the Atlantic Ocean. The western and northern coastline contains numerous narrow fjords and sheltered bays that contain colourful fishing villages, with 700-800m high rocky-mountains with sharp ridges rising from the ocean. The central part of Senja is mountainous with forest at lower levels; whilst the mainland facing eastern coast has lush green meadows and valleys interlaced with small lakes.

Norway in its entirety is wondrously beautiful, but for Duncan and Liz there were two places that especially stood out. Senja being one, whilst the other was the Nordkinn peninsula detailed in part 5 of this blog series.

Day 48: 23 August 2020 – The morning journey from Lyngen Fjord to Finnsnes was covered under the previous blog.

Crossing the Gisund Bridge, we arrived at the village Silsand on the island of Senja, which is now considered a suburb of Finnsnes.

Turned right onto the Fv861 almost immediately after crossing onto the island, since we had  decided to take an anticlockwise direction trip around Senja. This road heads northwards tracking the eastern coast of Senja. This eastern coastline has numerous small villages segregated with a mix of forest and agricultural land; with detached properties dotted near the road in a manner that it is rare that you unable to see a dwelling.

Parked up for the day at a car parking place just before the junction between Mefjordbotn (Fv862) and Fjordgard (Fv7884). Clouds were starting to form so Duncan decided to make the best of the dry weather and take to the mountains with Freya in order to take some photographs, whilst Liz did a much lower level walk with Storm.

Duncan and Freya headed up Barden. This involves a climb up a saddle (circa 240m altitude) between Barden (659m) to the north-west and Grytetippen (885m) to the north-east. The footpath up is marked but in places extremely wet with water up to the ankles. The views from this col were breath-taking.

The walk up Barden not only provided excellent views but the increasing cloud added a dimension to the photographs. The cloud thickened so on the descent visibility reduced to circa 30m and heavy rain started before Duncan and Freya could return to the motorhome.

The map below shows the route taken on day 48 and illustrates where the photographs have been taken:

Day 49: 24 August 2020 – Today was a day of a lot less travel, where we explored Oyfjorden i.e. the eastward (right) fjord seen in yesterday’s photographs taken from Barden. Unfortunately, it was damp with low cloud otherwise it would have presented a fantastic photographic opportunity.

Oyfjord has two fishing villages, Fjordgard and Husoy. Previously there were three other small settlements on the west coast of Oyfjord, but these have been abandoned. These were Tofta, Øyfjordvær and Breivika.

Fjordgård lies beneath steep mountains and lies on the west shore of the fjord Ornfjorden, which is an arm that branches off of the main Øyfjorden. Fjordgard is accessible by road using county road Fv7884 which is 4.2km long and has 3 tunnels on it: Fjordgard pipe tunnel (171m), Fjordgard tunnel (2284m), and the Ornfjord tunnel (870m). In 2001 the village had a published population of 213 people. There is parking and toilets just to the north of the village where the road terminates.

Husoy is at the east side of Oyfjorden and is concentrated on a small island (with the same name) connected to Senja by a 250m long causeway. Husoy became a settlement in the 1950’s and in 2017 had a population of 285 people and has since started to overspill onto the mainland of Senja.

Husoy is accessible via the 11.7km long Fv7886 and has two tunnels on it: Riven tunnel (935m) and Fjellsenden tunnel (765m). From the county road Fv862 the road rises from sea level to 200m in altitude when it enters Fjellsenden tunnel, after which it rises to 280m before entering the Riven tunnel after which it descends down to Husoy over a distance of a couple of kilometers. This provides a great view looking down onto Husoy.

The map below shows the route taken on day 49 and illustrates where the photographs have been taken:

Day 50: 25 August 2020 – The day was dry but unfortunately there was a low cloud hiding the mountain tops.

Travelled the southern side of Mefjorden on Fv7868 to the end of the road at Mefjordvaer, which is a fishing village that had 171 inhabitants in 2017.  The village is offered protection from the Atlantic weather by the small mountain Knuten (110m altitude) which is to the northwest under which there is a sheltered harbour.

The total length of Fv7868 is only 5.8km and passes Senjahopen, which is a fishing village with a good natural harbour and had 305 inhabitants in 2017. The majority of the working population work in fishing, fish farming or fish processing and it is one of the most important fishing villages on Senja. There is also a motorhome service point where drinking water can be replenished / waste water and toilet emptied.

We pulled up for a long break between Mefjordvaer and Senjahopen in a hope that the cloud may lift thus providing an opportunity for reasonable photographs, but unfortunately the cloud remained. Whilst waiting we encountered otters and a reasonably small sized raptor which initially, we thought was female Eurasian Kestrel; however, the Merlin Bird Identification App suggested it to be an Immature Female Merlin (Falco Columbarius).

Knowing from yesterday’s walk-up Barden that the scenery was stunning and the inability to fully see it due to the low cloud was somewhat frustrating for Duncan and Liz as they back tracked down Mefjorden until they picked up the Fv862 which in a southerly direction almost immediately enters the 2.1km long 6m wide Geitskar tunnel (aka Goat Tunnel).  The tunnel takes you through to a small valley circa 1.5km long before reaching the head of Ersfjorden where there is a beautiful beach, free camping facility with picnic tables and campfire sites and a toilet (WC) with outside cold-water shower facility. The village of Ersfjord is a settlement in the innermost part of Ersfjorden and in 2015 had a population of 40 people.

About 2.5 km further along the Fv862 (in an anticlockwise direction) is the Tungeneset viewpoint, which is at the tip of a peninsula between Ersfjorden and Steinfjorden. Here there is parking with a modern toilet (WC), along with a wooden walkway down onto the gently sloping rocks that offer a fantastic view of not only both fjords but also the Atlantic Ocean along with the Okshornan is a mountain range which towers over Ersfjorden.

At the head of Steinsfjorden is Steinfjord, which is a fishing village with a population of 25 people in 2015. From Steinfjord we passed through the 1.3km long Steinfjord tunnel which took us to Bergsfjorden which has the settlement of Skaland on its northern shore. In 2017 Skaland had 198 inhabitants with its main industry being graphite mining and processing.

Leaving Bergsfjorden, county road Fv862 climbs sharply with a couple of hairpin bends on the incline. At the second incline there is a viewpoint over Bergsfjorden. It was from this viewpoint that I captured a photograph of a Female Eurasian Kestrel perched on a power cable.

Our next and final destination for the day was a small roadside parking place alongside Straumsbotn fjord. To get here we had to go through the 1.9km long Skaland tunnel which climbed from 180m altitude at the entrance to 300m at the exit after which there was a long descent to the fjord.

It was whilst we were parked that we noticed what looked like a wooden stake sticking up from a small distant islet in the middle of the fjord some 400m away. On viewing this with binoculars we found that it was actually a white-tailed eagle. The camera mounted with a 150-600mm ultra-telephoto zoom lens was duly set up on a tripod and over a 35-minute period a series of photographs and video taken. According to Gurumaps Pro App the islet was a distance of circa 400m away!

The picture below also has a hooded crow stood just to the right of the eagle. This gives an indication as to the size of this massive raptor!

The map below shows the route taken on day 50 and illustrates where the photographs have been taken:

Day 51: 26 August 2020 – Using county road Fv86 we headed west to explore Gryllefjorden and Torskefjorden.

The first stop was at a motorhome service point at Finnsæter, where fresh water could be replenished and both waste water and chemical toilet could be emptied. This service point is next to the Senja Troll Park. Throughout our tour in Norway the facilities for touring motorhomes have been excellent as demonstrated in the photograph below:

A little further on from Finnsæter the photograph below was taken in a north-northeast direction across Bergfjorden towards Skaland. When zooming in on this image it is possible to identify the church at Skaland plus to its right and ascending the mountain can be seen the graphite mines.

We continued on county road Fv86 past the holiday village of Hamn which is predominantly constructed on a very small island linked by a bridge.

From Hamn county road Fv86 heads in a southerly direction leaving Bergsfjorden behind and slowly begins to ascend towards Gryllefjorden. Here we parked for lunch just at the entrance of the 850m long Ballesvikskaret tunnel, which was opened in December 2013. Prior to the tunnel being opened the old road climbed up 160m to a col between the mountain peaks of Jesla (548m) and Smatindan (490m). The old road was blocked off to traffic, so we took the opportunity to walk up the road to the Ballesvikskaret col. This disused roadway had suffered numerous rockslides as demonstrated in the photograph below:

During this walk a few photographs were taken including a Eurasian Kestrel in flight.

At the exit of the Ballesvikskaret tunnel there is a bridge that carries you over Gryllefjorden. If you continue further out of the fjord you arrive at the fishing village of Gryllefjord, that in 2020 had 382 inhabitants, which is a decline from the 1300 people in the 1970’s due to a reduction in fishing. In summer there is a ferry from the village to Andenes on the Island of Andoy in Vesteralen.

From Gryllefjorden, we ascended via a number of hairpin bends to another col, before descending down to village of Torsken (population 202 people in 2017) and Torskefjorden, which was the end of the road.

We then had to backtrack the way we came and decided to end the day parking at the same place where had started off from in the morning along the shoreline of Straumsbotn fjord.

Whilst walking the dogs along the coastline, we encountered a couple of white-tailed eagles sat on rocks that protruded from the fjord.

The map below shows the route taken on day 51 and illustrates where the photographs have been taken:

Day 52: 27 August 2020 – Awoke to rain so was in no rush to set off. Whilst having breakfast we watched a white-tailed eagle fly down the fjord, then perch itself on a rock on the opposite shore. We could never tire of these incredible raptors!

Today we travelled to Grunnfarnes which is on a peninsula south of Torsken and is accessible via the 35km long Fv7862 which has 3 tunnels on it i.e. Kaperskar (598m long), Silfjordura (1.5km long) and Grundfarnestunnelen (595m long).

The Fv7862 gradually climbs from 30m to an altitude of 367m where it enters the Kaperskar Tunnel. The view when exiting the tunnel is a surprise:

From the Kaperskar tunnel the road gently descends before dropping steeply through 6 hairpin bends before dropping down to Silford. The view of Sifjorden whilst descending was stunning.

At the head of Sifjorden, the road splits into two, with the right fork leading to Grunnfarnes and the left fork to Flakstadvåg and Selfjorden – we visited both.  The Grunnfarnes tunnel had no lighting, was full of potholes and was leaking water – by far the worst tunnel we have been through; however, work was ongoing to improve it. On exiting this tunnel we were presented with the view of Grunnfarnes and its associated fjord.

Grunnfarnes had a population of 76 people in 2015 and like many Norwegian villages has a communal picnic area with a barbecue, with wood also provided for burning. Also at the end of the road was a very large fish drying area for the stockfish.

On our return journey we stopped at the summit of county road Fv7862 (367m) just after the Kaperskar tunnel so that the dogs could be walked. It was somewhat colder than we had previously encountered and this was compounded when it started to rain. At 630m altitude the rain and wind were biting cold!

The map below shows the route taken on day 52 and illustrates where the photographs have been taken:

Day 53: 28 August 2020 – Today we toured some of the southerly parts of the Island of Senja. To access the south, we used county road Fv7856 which is only 6.3km long and is an unsurfaced road.

Fv7856 picked up the much better surfaced Fv8600 which runs along the southern coast.  Here the mountains were less dramatic, it was forested, there were far more dwellings, with the occasional grass field cut into the forest.28

Since the scenery was less dramatic than we had seen, it was decided to return back to the mainland.

The map below shows the route taken on day 53 and illustrates where the photographs have been taken:

Senja has been a truly fantastic experience with a vast contrast between the wild and rugged west to the more populated east and forested south. Indeed, both Duncan and Liz fell in love with the western coast which was extremely quiet, provided fantastic views and had an abundance of raptors.  

Senja certainly lives up to title ‘Norway in Miniature’ and for a traveller on a limited timeframe, we would recommend the island since it does give a taste of many other parts of Norway and with a rugged western coast from a photographer’s perspective can certainly match if not exceed the opportunity given in the Lofotens. There were also many walks and unlike much of Norway, there was parking generally available at the start of these walks.

Although dry it was a shame that the visibility was not better from a photographic perspective. It is certainly a place that Duncan and Liz would love to re-visit sometime in the future and spend considerably more time exploring.

The next blog will detail the trip southwards taking Duncan and Liz out of the Arctic Circle. Places visited within this blog include Narvik, Tranoy, Rognan and the blood road.

Further blogs will follow covering the journey back south down through Norway using as many central / easterly roads as possible including the UNESECO world heritage mining town of Roros and the Rondane National Park. After which the journey back to the UK through Sweden, Denmark and Germany.

The previous blog covers the trip from the Lofoten and Vesteralen Archipelago’s up to the Barents Sea to Europe’s most northerly mainland peninsula and the most northerly mainland lighthouse in the world which is at the same latitude as the Northern tip of Alaska.

Day 44: 19 August 2020 – The previous blog covers the morning of day 44 and details the Nordkinn peninsula (part 5 of the trip). From Nordkinn we returned back to Ifjord and headed eastwards on county road Fv98 until we reached the river Tana at Rustefjelbma where the road then headed southwards following the river to Tana Bru. At Tana Bru the Fv98 meets European route E6. Here we picked up the E6 and headed south-westwards following the river Karasjohka, which forms the border with Finland. Just outside the Sami village of Levanjok we parked for an overnight stop.

That evening we walked on the east side of the river Leavvajohka, near Levanjok. During ths walk we came across the skeleton of a reindeer, which enabled us to obtain a pair of reindeer antlers. To transport these antlers, we wrapped them in several plastic bags, which we then taped up. On the return to the UK, Duncan worked in turning them into a wall mounted hat stand. These go well with the red deer antlers Duncan found in Scotland.

The map below illustrates the route taken on day 44:

Day 45: 20 August 2020 – Travelled south-westwards on the north bank of the river Karasjohka until we reached the village of Karasjohka (also called Karasjok). In total over the last two days, we had travelled circa 130km alongside the northern border of Finland. Within the village of Karasjohka is the Sami People’s Parliament building, which in the Sami language is named the Samediggi or Sametinget .

Karasjok village is located both sides of the river  Karasjohka and is 12 kilometres west of the border with Finland. Other than the modern Sami Parliament building there is a tourist information, cultural / contemporary centre (closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic) plus a few shops, garage and airport. In 2017 the population was 1844 people with circa 90% of them being Sami with the majority using Sami as their first language – the area is officially bilingual. Nomadic reindeer herders have lived here for hundreds of years, and the traditional lifestyle is still very much alive.

During World War II a prisoner of war camp was built in Karasjok by the German’s which was run by the SS. In July 1943 there were 374 prisoners including mostly Yugoslavian POWs plus political prisoners who were made to work widening the road to Finland. After just a few months there were only 111 prisoners still alive. It is recorded that as the prisoners were being moved out of Karasjok , 45 were executed.

From Karasjok we continued in along the E6 in a north-west direction to back to Lakselv. The journey on the E6 from Tanu Bru through to Lakselv is circa 255 km in length and is continuous forest. The photographs below give an indication as to the vastness of this.

Finding a suitable place to park overnight proved difficult and it was not until early evening that we came across the first suitable location. This was at the south-westerly most point of the island of Kvaloya which was much further than we had intended; however, the car park we had found included picnic tables and a toilet. Kvaloya is sometimes referred to as ‘whale island’.

The map below shows the route taken on day 45 and illustrates where the photographs have been taken:

The map below illustrates the key places visited on both day 44 and day 45 and the geographical relationship to both Finland and Russia. It is understandable why in World War II the Germans deemed Norway to be of such strategic importance and why during the Cold War, Norway enforced national service.

Day 46: 21 August 2020 – A very early morning walk up the nearby hill named Kargenesfjellet provided nice views off the west coast of Kvaloya.

Afterwards made our way up the western side of Kvaloya to Hammerfest where we crossed over to the eastern coast of the island to the village of Forsol which is the most northerly village on Kvaloya and is 8km from Hammerfest. Forsol is a fishing village with circa 200 residents and has a fish factory, with reindeer wandering freely in and around the village.

A short walk from the village centre there is a site where there were Sami grass huts. These have been dated back to 1640. Whilst on the walk we sighted a White Tailed Eagle being harassed by a Parasitic Jaeger

From Forsol we returned back to the colourful and vibrant city of Hammerfest, the most northerly city in the world.

Just before dropping down into Hammerfest we reached the airport, which was opened in 1974 and has an 880m long runway that sits above the city at an altitude of 70m across a step on the hillside of Storfjellet (328m).

We decided due to the Covid-19 pandemic to remain as isolated as possible and hence elected not to wander around Hammerfest, but instead drove slowly around the city.

Reindeer are protected on the island and wander freely around Hammerfest taking little notice of either people or vehicles.

Hammerfest was chartered in 1789, was attacked by the British in 1809, razed by a hurricane in 1856, destroyed by fire in 1890, yet the worst was to occur in February 1945 when the German army retreated from the advancing Russian army, they implemented a scorched earth policy leaving in Hammerfest only the graveyard chapel standing. The article available here, describes the horror of the German retreat in Finnmark where 70,000 people were left homeless. Circa 45,000 people were evacuated from Finnmark by the German’s; however, despite threats of death some 25,000 people throughout Finnmark avoided evacuation by hiding in caves and mountain huts during the winter of 1944–45.

At the south end of Kvaloya we discovered that the Stallogargo tunnel was closed for maintenance, so we were diverted on the old single track road that clings to the cliffs and runs along the coast circa 50m above the Kvalsundet which is a strait separating Kvaloya from the mainland.  From this road we saw porpoises fishing in the Sound of Kval.

On further reading about Sound of Kval, we were informed that reindeer herds swim across the sound near the bridge as they migrate between their summer and winter pastures, on Sennalandet.

From Kvaloya we started our journey towards the island of Senja, which meant backtracking southwards along European Route to just beyond E6.

Just north of Alta we stopped in a large carparking area to brew a coffee in the motorhome. Whilst on our coffee break we noted a family pull up in a pickup truck and load a hand trolley with supplies (including drinking water in a plastic container) before heading off on foot to a hut the other side of the river. Access to the hut was by foot only. This answered one of the questions we had been asking ourselves – how people get supplies to their remote premises. The other question is with regard to wc’s – most toilets we have encountered in the Arctic circle have been understandably dry composting toilets, since water would freeze in the winter months. Hence, we noted standalone sheds several meters away from the main residence. Not somewhere you would want to visit on a cold freezing winter’s night!

We returned back to Alta on the E6 which skirts through the attractive and modern town, with the roadway tree lined, with pavements the other side well away from the road.

Whilst travelling southwards on the E6 alongside Langfjorden we stopped for the evening at a parking place that we called in on our trip northwards.

The map below shows the route taken on day 46 and illustrates where the photographs have been taken:

Day 47: 22 August 2020 – Whilst having breakfast we could see reindeer playing havoc with traffic on the E6 as they ignored vehicles and trotted obviously down the central white line.

The day was spent travelling in a south-western direction using European Route E6, which is the same rroad used during the northwards journey. The E6 is the main north-south highway and at this latitude in Norway, is the only route south without entering Sweden, which due to Covid-19 quarantine restrictions for re-entry into Norway was not an option.

After leaving Langfjorden we crossed over to Alteidet, a small coastal village at the head of Lille Altafjord, which is a an eastbound arm of the Kvænangen fjord.

A little further southwards the E6 also skirts alongside Burfjord and Badderfjord which are also both branches off Kvænangen fjord.

As the E6 leaves Badderfjord, the road starts to ascend as it climbs up Kvaenangsfjellet where the summit of the road is at an altitude of 401m. Three quarters the way up we stopped for lunch at an off-road parking place. Here we discovered 3 abandoned Sami grass huts or gamme, which in bygone days used in the summer when herding reindeer.

Due to damage from moth invasion, the shrubs were as we saw before, very stunted and devoid of leaves.

There was a parking area nearing the summit of Kvaenangsfjellet which provided an excellent view of Kvænangen fjord and the island of Skorpa. Skorpa was used as a prisoner of war camp during World War II. Around 1980 the last residents on the island left, leaving it uninhabited.

It was a long descent down Kvaenangsfjellet, after which we headed southwards to Lyngen Fjord, where we were presented with clearer views of the Lyngen Alps compared to when we travelled northwards on day 41 of the trip; however, they were still not ideal for ‘picture postcard photography’.

We found parking for the evening alongside Lyngen Fjord adjacent to the Alps; however, rain quickly came in eliminating any possibility for good photographs.

The map below shows the route taken on day 47 and illustrates where the photographs have been taken:

Day 48: 23 August 2020 – Awoke to a dry day but with a patchy cloud covering which gave the mountains of the Lyngen Alps a mystical appearance.

We headed southwards on the E6 to the head of Lyngen Fjord, before cutting across to Nordkjosbotn which is at the head of Balsfjorden. At Nordkjosbotn, the road splits with a turn-off to Tromso which heads in a north-northwest direction on the European Route E8 . We however, stayed on the E6 and headed in a south-westerly direction, until we reached the Buktamoen junction where county road Fv855 takes you 30km to the Island of Senja. This junction is circa 1km after Olsborg and has a couple of fuel stations where we found one to be much cheaper than the other.

We arrived at Finnsnes at around mid-day having travelled 140km since our morning departure. Finnsnes is a small town that is the administrative centre of Senja Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The town is located on the mainland part of Norway, just across the Gisundet strait from the island of Senja. The Gisund Bridge connects Finnsnes to the villages of Silsand on the island of Senja.

The next blog will detail the trip around the island of Senja, which is reported to be much quieter than the Lofoten archipelago and is supposedly a photographer’s dream.

The map below shows the route taken under this blog on day 48 and illustrates where the photographs have been taken:

Further blogs will follow after the island of Senja covering the journey back south down through Norway using as many central / easterly roads as possible including the blood road near Rognan, the UNESECO world heritage mining town of Roros and the Rondane National Park. After which the journey back to the UK through Sweden, Denmark and Germany.

The map below is a summary of the route taken over the four and a half days, as detailed in this blog. It covers the journey along the northern border of Finland to Karosjohka then onto Hammerfest and then the journey southwards to the island of Senja.

The previous blog covers the Lofoten and Vesteralen Archipelago’s. This blog covers the journey northwards to the most northerly mainland lighthouse in the world on the Nordkinn peninsula facing the Barents Sea.

Day 41: 16 August 2020 – As forecast the day was wet and set to remain so for 5 days, hence we revised our plan and instead of heading for the Island of Senja, we decided to head northwards towards the most northerly point in mainland Europe (which isn’t North Cape as many thinks, since North Cape is on an island), which is circa to be 900km away. Based on the weather forecast this should take us above the band of rain. After this we will loop back and visit Hammerfest and Senja. 

Hence, we headed towards the European route E6 route which by enlarge has a speed limit of 80km / hour and would take us the bulk of the way towards the peninsula that Nordkinn is on. To get to the E6 we used county road Fv825, taking photographs at Foldvik on the shore of Gratangen fjord and also at Storfossen waterfall as we climbed up from Gratangsbotn towards the E6.

Circa 3km after joining the E6 there is a turnoff down towards the Gratangen Fjellhotell where there is a public carpark and toilets (WC). From this vantage point which is at an altitude of 250m you are presented with a great view of Gratangen fjord.

It is in this area that the World War II Battle of Gratangen occurred during the first Nowegian counter attack in the Narvik campaign.

Between Setermoen and Heggelia the E6 follows the river Barduelva for circa 22km, after which the Barduelva joins with the Malselva river which for another 9km runs alongside the E6. One could not fail to be impressed with the size of the Malselva.

Our first experience of Sami culture was when we came across tented Sami Shop at Heia. Within it there were a lot of reindeer furs, antlers, horn handled knifes / cutlery, stuffed reindeers and wolverine. The photograph below was taken outside.

Large areas of land around Bardufoss in Målselv Municipality have restricted access since they are designated Norwegian military zones. The photographs below are typical of the scenery experienced on the days journey.

Parking places have been limited during the days journey and those suitable for an overnight stay very sparse, hence we took an early opportunity and pulled up for the day alongside Storfjorden after only covering 150km as the crow flies (the actual road distance is circa 220km). We parked just off the E6 on the old road just after the Nuorastunealla, where the road quiet thus providing us somewhere to walk the dogs. Unfortunately, the views of the Lyngen Alps to the west of Storfjorden / Lyngen fjord where not fully visible.

The map below illustrates the route taken on day 41 and the locations of photographs:

Day 42: 17 August 2020 – The morning was damp but managed to pick a few wild strawberries whilst walking the dogs on the roadside along Storfjorden.  The Lyngen Alps looked very attractive, it was just a shame due to the weather that we could not do them justice with ‘picture postcard photography’.

Whilst picking the strawberries, we discovered a new plant called a Stone Bramble (picture 2) who’s berries were red in colour, edible and tasted a little acidic.

We departed from Storfjorden and made our way around a spur from Lyngen fjord to Olderdalen. It was from here we tool a photograph of Storfjorden and the Lyngen Alps:

Shortly after we left Olderalen, the rain increased its intensity until it was a downpour. Hence we pushed on in a north-easterly direction, with the aim of reaching better weather. By the time we reached Langfjord, we had travelled some 187km and had left the rain behind although it was still somewhat cloudy.

It was alongside  Langfjord on the side of the E6 that we encountered our first reindeer.

We then passed through Alta which is the third largest city in Troms Og Finnmark. Alta comprises of 3 settlements (Bossekop , Elvebakken and Bukta that have merged together With Alta being given city status in 1999 and is famous for the northern lights and midnight sun, mountains, stone carvings, sami culture, reindeer, the Northern Lights Cathedral, low precipitation and the predominantly ice free Altafjord.  

North of Alta very near Leirbotnvannet lake, we pulled up for our evening meal. Whilst we were eating we were graced with a herd of reindeer, some with bells on them walking at the other side of the river.

After dinner we moved a little further along the E6 climbing to 280m altitude where the landscape turned to shrub-land, stopping for the evenning at a parking place by the river Okselva. In total the vehicle odometer advised we had travelled for 6 hours covering 296km in the day, but the Guru Maps app indicated that as the crow flies, we had covered 157km.

The map below illustrates the route taken on day 42 and the locations of photographs:

Day 43: 18 August 2020 –The target for the day was to both leave the bad weather behind us and to also reach the most northerly mainland lighthouse in the world which is at Slettnes on the Nordkinn Peninsula.

The most northerly point in mainland Europe is on the Nordkinn Peninsula at Cape Nordkinn (Kinnarodden), which is a 46Km return hike from a gateway at Mehamn airport, and is reported to be a full-day hike from Mehamn and another full day back, since the terrain is sufficiently difficult for hiking that more than two days is usually required.

North Cape (Nordkapp) is often published as being the most northerly point in mainland Europe; however, it is actually on the island of Magerøya, which means arguable either Cape Fligely on Rudolf Island in Russia or Rossøya on Svalbard (Norway) would be much further North, since they are also on Islands. The confusion being that the border between Asia and Europe is ill-defined, thus Cape Fligely is deemed by some to be in Asia. For further reading on the extreme points of Europe click here.

Although appealing, the prospect of hiking to Cape Nordkinn (Kinnarodden) was impractical for Liz to attain, thus why Slettnes Lighthouse (71°05`33”N) and surrounding nature reserve was chosen since they are only 4.9km further south than Kinnaroden (71°8′2″N) and possibly the most northerly road in mainland Europe. Indeed, the lighthouse is at the same latitude as the northern tip of Alaska!

The initial part of the day’s journey involved travelling circa 65km over shrubland at an altitude between 200-300m to the coast at Olderfjord. The map calls this regiaon Repparfjorddalen. Along this section of the journey reindeer wandered freely as the sheep do on the Northern England moors. Over this section of the journey the housing used by the Sami was very different to other dwellings we have thusfar seen in Norway where there was a mix of huts and caravans with separate standalone small wooden toilet huts a little away from the main premises.  A good proportion of these dwellings also had vans, pickup trucks and snowmobiles parked by them.

The shrubs were very stunted and had a lot of bark stripped from them. We initially and wrongly assumed that it was the deer that was stripping and deforming them but subsequently learned that it moth invasion damage.

Once we reached the village of Olderfjord on the coast of Porsangerfjord there was the option to turn left and head northwards on European route E69 towards Nordkapp (North Cape) or to turn southwards to the village of Lakselv at the head of the fjord. We stayed on the E6. We noted that the dwellings we had seen along Repparfjorddalen reverted back to the type we had seen elsewhere throughout Norway. Alongside the fjord there were also stockfish racks, but these were much smaller than we had seen on the Lofoten archipelago.

At Lakselv we turned off the E6 onto county road Fv98, which by comparison is more minor and quieter. Here we photographed reindeer near Borselv before stopping for lunch at the Silfar Canyon.

From the parking area it was a short walk to the canyon; however, the walk alongside the canyon is narrow and in places is a traverse across a steep slope with some areas a little slippery, but is well worth the walk. There was also evidence of elk’s recent presence due to fresh scat littered around the footpath.

From the Silfar canyon we made our way to Ifjord where we picked up county road Rv888 which took us to the fishing village of Mehamn. The road is 101km in length, is very remote with little passing traffic and follows a mountain ridge of rolling hills, typically 200 to 350m in altitude. This was somewhat a surprise since we had been told that the north was flat boring tundra. This certainly was not our impression since we were presented with fantastic views in all directions with numerous lakes along the route. Furthermore, there were many raptors including white tailed eagles, golden eagles, rough-legged hawks and Merlin.

National road Rv888 drops down to a very narrow strip of land (circa 550m) between two fjords, Eidsfjorden – a branch off Laksefjorden (Lágesvuotna) and Hopsfjorden – a branch of Tanafjorden (Deatnuvuotna). The peninsula is landlocked by the 600 meter wide Hopseide – this is the Nordkinn peninsula and on a map is circa 30km (north-south) by 50km (east west).

The road undulates across the tundra at an altitude of between 160m to 300m with a landscape dotted with numerous small lakes and marshland with rock covered slopes. National road Rv888 gradually descends to the small fishing town of Mehamn which in 2018 had a population of 792.

From Mehamn we headed towards the fishing village of Gamvik. Between the villages there were the ocassional huts scattered around small lakes with vehicular parking several hundred meters away by the roadside.

Along the way we spotted a magnificent reindeer stag and was very fortunate to be able to capture some photographs using a 150-600mm zoom lens.

Gamvik is on the northern shore of the Nordkinn Peninsula, facing the Barents Sea. Up until the 1970’s Gamvik was only accessible by boat until the airport was built and it became more accessible in the 1980’s when a road was constructed.

From Gamvik we made our along a 3km long gravel track to reach the Slettnes lighthouse. Here there was a parking place.

From the lighthouse there is a 1.3km gravel track westwards that took us to the Slettnes nature reserve, where there is parking for circa 4 vehicles. Hence, we decided it would be an excellent place to stay for evening with a view of the lighthouse and a network of footpaths for us to exercise the dogs.

The day was a total surprise and was not what we had expected based on what we were told and read. It certainly is not flat and was quite rocky with only the last 50km having a significantly reduced amount of foliage. This is certainly not the image we had of tundra.

The map below illustrates the route taken on day 43 and the locations of photographs:

Day 44: 19 August 2020 – Awoke to gorgeous warm sunshine so enjoyed time exploring the nature reserve, which was really fascinating. There was evidence of old dwellings amongst the rock laden landscape. There were information boards providing historical facts about the German occupation and the subsequent scorched earth policy when they retreated. This was to stall the Soviets by sabotaging local infrastructure, destroying villages. Thousands of civilians from Troms og Finnmark were forcibly evacuated to southern Norway with between 43,000 and 45,000 Norwegian civilians forced out of Finnmark. German General Lothar Rendulic, claimed to have successfully evicted all but 200 Norwegians which he promised he would handle. In reality, between 20,000 and 25,000 civilians avoided relocation, including 10,000 residents of Kirkenes and the Varanger Peninsula who could not be moved due to logistical constraints and 8,500 Sami nomads who were exempt from the removal policy.

Afterwards, we set-off backtracking south down the Nordkinn peninsula, using the road we came on yesterday (there is no other road); however, the perfect weather made for some nice photographs. During this leg of the journey, we saw no less than 7 large raptors including white tailed eagles, golden eagles and Rough Legged Hawk (also called a rough legged buzzard). These were identified using an app called Merlin Bird ID.

Below are some of the pictures taken on a trip back from the Nordkinn peninsula:

The next blog will cover the journey along the northern border of Finland to Karosjohka where the Sami people’s parliament is held and then onto Hammerfest after which it will cover the trip to the beautiful Island of Senja; however, the trip around the island will be covered in further blog.

Further blogs will follow covering the Island of Senja, and then the journey travelling back south down through Norway using as many central / easterly roads as possible including the blood road near Rognan, the UNESECO world heritage mining town of Roros and the Rondane National Park. After which the journey back to the UK through Sweden, Denmark and Germany.

The map below is a summary of the approximate route taken over the three and a half days detailed in this blog covering Nordkinn peninsula and the journey to it.