Tuesday 16th June
Today is the start of week 4 and the start of our journey southwards. Our destination for today is Alta, the main town on the Alta Fjord. This is the fjord that the German Navy used to hide the battleships Scharnhorst and Tirpitz in readiness for their part in the Battle of Murmansk and subsequent attacks on the supply convoys from Canada to Russia, and it is from this fjord that they both met their end.
The drive down to here was just as beautiful as the previous ones; now we are moving to the deeper fjords with their fantastic and rugged scenery. A meal out for the group at a restaurant in town brought more new experiences. We would need to travel to the restaurant and were offered a lift from Roger and Jackie who had an identical motorhome to ours other than the fact that it had rear transverse seats for travelling. The food is local and whilst possibly not as fully native as one might eat in the wilderness, there were local meats included. I missed out on the Reindeer stew, but did manage to get a good share of the Whale meat stew, which was delicious.
Wednesday 17th June
The plan for today was to cycle to Alta Museum, which is the largest open air display of Stone Age rock drawings in Europe. Once again the plans were changed due to the weather. It had rained during the night and continued this morning. Our only option was to take the motorhome. The museum and it’s exhibits was expansive; as it is open air, there are raised walkways all the way round in order that the fragile flora does not get damaged by trampling. It can take generations for some of the plants in the Tundra to grow even a couple of inches. The walk around the rock drawings is 2.9 kilometres, provided you only go one way.
The drawings are fascinating, dating back up to 7,000 years. The newest of them are 2,000 years old. It has been possible to date them due to their positions on rocks that have lifted by known amounts over the years. The images depicted are of life in the Stone Ages; many of the scenes are of hunting and feature Elk, Reindeer, Bear, Whale and Seal. Men are to be seen hunting with bows and spears and fishing from boats. Inside the Museum building is an exhibition depicting the rock drawings that cannot be accessed by members of the public.
Thursday 18th June
Our journey today takes us from Alta to Skibotn, a journey that is entirely along the Fjord road in Western Norway. As expected, the views were every bit as spectacular as they are reputed to be. It is not possible to get an idea of the scale of the fjords by looking at a photo or even from a cruise ship; the only way is to drive the coast road.
On our journey we are slowed by roadworks. Yes they happen everywhere, but in Norway they are building new roads on the cliff face. The other complication is that roadworks can only be carried out during the summer months, during the winter months it is too dark and too cold. This meant that on several occasions we were faced with travelling on loose gravel rather than tarmac for quite considerable distances. Needless to say, there was a mass vehicle cleaning session once we arrived on site.
During our journey we were able to see a Fish Eagle, many Reindeer, Highland Cattle and Sheep, but still not the elusive Elk.
Our site for the next three nights is Olderelv at Skibotn, a lovely site with large marked pitches. The views from the site are of the snow covered mountains. The temperature has risen by driving south and is quite pleasant in the sun.
Friday 19th June
It’s my birthday, today I officially become an Old Git. I start to collect my state pension and recommence becoming a tax payer.
Today we had a coach trip to Tromso, the largest city in Europe North of the Arctic Circle. By travelling by coach we all had a chance to view the scenery around the Fjord. Our first port of call was the Tourist Information Office to get city maps for all. As we pulled up outside we saw a familiar face; it was Stephanie, the girl that we had met at the Nordkapp campsite and again at NordKapp. She was on her long journey southwards and had just arrived in Tromso herself. She told us about her journey and then informed us that she expected to be at the Lofoten Islands by Monday. We told her that we were moving there on Sunday for five days and that we hoped to see her there.
Our next port of call was the Polar Museum. This is a museum dedicated to the exploration of the North Polar Region and Ice Cap. It was interesting, but as it dealt with all aspects of the expeditions was quite gruesome in places. Following the museum we had an excellent group lunch at the Skandia Hotel, for desert there was chocolate gateau that was really heart attack on a plate. After lunch we had a couple of free hours before meeting up again for a visit to the Cathedral of the Ice. We decided to take a wander around the shops with Mick and Mavis, eventually settling at a coffee bar where the barista was an artist. On the way back to the coach Val found a new friend.
The Cathedral of the Ice is not really a cathedral, but has been termed that as it represents Ice Crystals and is dedicated to the people of the Arctic. It is a very modern church with sides designed to mimic the Aurora Borealis. The interior is very different from normal churches.
In the evening, we had an impromptu get together to mark mine and Dora’s birthdays. We each received a super gift courtesy of ACSI. It was a warm, sunny evening and we all took the opportunity to sit together and socialise for the first time on the tour.
Saturday 20th June
This was a free day with no travelling. Most of us took the opportunity to do some housekeeping and clean the vans. We took a stroll into Olderelv, which is a very small town with a strong Sami history. There was a traditional Sami market being held where in days gone past the Sami would buy and sell goods to provide supplies for the next winter. Today, it has gone the way of many markets, selling more cheap clothes than anything else. There was a charge of 50Kr for admission (About £4.25), we didn’t go in based on feedback from others who had. In the evening we had another game of Molkky, won this time by Kath.
Sunday 21st June
A long journey today (250 miles) to the Lofoten Islands. These are a group of islands off the Western Coast of Norway. They can be accessed by road bridge or ferry. They are warmed by the Gulf Stream and the scenery is absolutely stunning. There are steep mountains still with a thick covering of snow and fjords with the clearest sea water you have ever seen. Scattered around are small fishing villages making up what is the largest Cod fishery in the World.
Things did not go according to plan when we arrived on site. There should have been a new section of the site reserved for our group; unfortunately, the management of the site are rather disorganised and had allowed other campers to pitch wherever they wanted. By the time that we had arrived, eight of our pitches had been taken and on four more there was no power. Eventually Codi, our tour leader came to a mutual arrangement with the site management and we found pitches wherever we could. With scenery as stunning as this all around us, we were not in a mood to complain. Mick managed to persuade a Swiss couple to move so that we could join him and Mavis at the water’s edge. The sun was shining and the temperature had risen so we had a beautiful evening outside for once.
Monday 22nd June
A free day today with no driving. Instead we decided to take the bikes into Svolvear for a ride and a mooch around. I had my normal bike and Val’s is electric; there are some quite long steep hills between the site and Svolvear, by the time we arrived Val’s battery was rather low and still had to cope with the return journey.
Svolvear is a small, but very modern town. The parking spaces are swollen not only by the locals, but also with touring motorhomes. It is lucky the Scandinavians have an attitude that says that if there is space then you can park. We needed to stock up on food and there are three large supermarkets in town. The better supermarket proved to be COOP; we stocked up on essentials: beer, whale steak, cakes etc, plus Val thought that we should have some salad. We visited the local branch of Elkjop (Currys in the Nordic Countries) and I took the opportunity of sending a photo of the view from the front door back to the guys in Hemel. We spent a long time looking round after lunch and then took the ride back to the site.
The ride back was harder, not certain if the hills were steeper or it was the weight of the shopping, or we were knackered; possibly all of the above. Val’s battery just managed to survive with greater economy on the pedal assist.
A barbeque at last and I am pleased to report that the Whale steak was superb. The family in the motorhome next but one from us had been fishing and brought back some Cod. loads of it. What they didn’t need they gave to the people around them. Looks like it will be fish again tomorrow.