North Cape

Apologies for the gap - after a week back in the UK for a family occasion, cutting grass, weeding etc we arrived back in Tromso at midnight with the sun shining on the town. It was good to be back. The following day we camped up by a river, and caught up on much needed sleep. From Tromso north the scenery gets progressively wilder with great expansive views across the mountains and fjords. With improving (i.e. dry but still cold) weather we walked 6kms up a beautiful glaciated valley, beside a tumbling river to a Glacier in the Lyngsfjellan mountains. It was only as we were descending that we saw anybody else.  The following day we walked to Kafjorddalen waterfall which drops into a narrow gorge 155m deep. A bridge has been built across the gorge to give a view of the waterfall, and also for adrenaline enthusiasts who can bungee jump off the bridge. We were not tempted to take part but just enjoyed the sun and scenery.

North again via Alta to see the stone age rock art, and to Hammerfest to see the end of Struve's Geodetic Arc, which he used in the 1850's to calculate the asphericity of the globe. The final push to North Cape follows the road cut into the side of the fjord, and then plummets 300m in an 8km tunnel under a fjord. The final approach to North Cape is across barren treeless mountains, passing some very pretty fishing villages. North cape itself is a large car park, housing hundreds of camper vans with a number of tourist attractions, so we opted out of staying there and headed back to the end of the footpath which leads to the most northern point of mainland Europe and the following day walked the 9kms each way to the headland. A glorious day with a lot of birdlife including golden eagles and the completion of our ambition to have driven between the southern tip of Africa at Cape Aghulas (8 years ag0) to the northern tip of Europe (Nordkap).

The whole area around Nordkapp is very special, bleak rock and scrub, reindeer, and fantastic colour in the skies to the north, incredibly clear water and huge, succulent king crab.

We eventually tore ourselves away and started our journey south, leaving behind the fjords and entering Finland today. Amazingly the temperature has increased dramatically (now 16 degrees) and we have not even worn our fleeces. Our first night in Finland is near Sarriselka. A lot of trees and water so far, and I think there is a lot more to come.