The Farthest North – Honningsvåg and Beyond

 

The next day on our Hurtigruten cruise we rounded Nord Cap, the most northerly point of the Norway mainland – the John 0’Groats of Norway – and stopped at the picturesque town of Honnegsvåg.  At 71⁰N it is the most northerly European town.

 

Honnegsvåg harbour

 

We took a walk along the hill behind the town and were treated with some delightful views and a multitude of beautiful wild flowers.

Overlooking the town

 

 

 

Wild orchids

Heather, but smaller and lower to the ground than what we saw in Scotland

A peaceful resting place.  The inscription says 'Thanks for everything'

What struck us about these little towns above the Arctic Circle was how normal they seemed.  The towns consisted of colourfully painted wooden houses with pretty gardens of bright flowers, green grass and trees.  Bob had spent a year at Casey Station in Antarctica which is located at 66°17’S or 26 nm short of the Antarctic Circle.  There the average high never rises above freezing and ice and snow cover the ground year round.  Here we were at 71°N and people are mowing their lawns!  It just shows the powerful effect of the Gulf Stream on the climate in these parts.  One wonders what would happen to Norway (and all of Northern Europe) if the Gulf Stream ever changed course.

On our way back to the ship we met up with Martin and Elspeth, our mess mates for the last week.  These intrepid cyclists were leaving us to ride their bikes from North Cape back to Trondheim over the next 5 weeks – over 2000 km.  This is just a short ride for them as about 6 months ago they had finished cycling around the world over a two year period.  We will miss them as mess mates but look forward to following their travels on their blog. https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/directory/?user=Elspmart1

Martin and Elspeth off on their 2000 km Norwegian tour

We travelled on enjoying the scenery and stopping briefly at little towns such as Mehamn and Berlevag where the MS Lofoten brings vital supplies and fishing is the main industry.

Cathedral rocks

Mehamn harbour

Fish drying on harbourside racks

Delivering building supplies in Berlevag

The next day we arrived at Kirkenes, the half-way point in our journey and the start of the return southbound trip.  Kirkenes, at 30°02E, is further east than St Petersburg and only a few kilometres from the Russian border and Murmansk.   It was a quiet, pretty town.  

 

Watching for the Russians

Tidy houses of Kirkenes

As with all these towns above the Arctic Circle, we were struck by the homogenous multiculturalism of the modern world.  Everywhere we go we see Kebab shops, Asian food stalls, Pizza parlors and the faces of a wide mix of ethnic groups.  The products in the shops were the same brands one gets everywhere in Europe and Australia.  One expects this in big cities but we were amazed to see such diversity in these remote small towns.  Ironically the one ethnic group we did not happen to see were the original inhabitants of the area, the Sami people.

 

The menu is pan-Asian - sushi, Thai Red Curry, Tikka Masala and everything in between

On our southbound journey we stopped at some different ports or the same ports at different times so we could see them during the day time.  We had a short stop at Vardø where we all trouped off to check out the 18^th Century fortress overlooking a blustery coastline.  Vardø is also where Nansen returned to Norway after his 3 year expedition towards the North Pole.

The outskirts of Vardø

The wall of the 18th Century fortress

Tour Guide

Polar Bear Pub

Crossing the Arctic Circle

 

 

The third day of our voyage was the big day for crossing the Arctic Circle.  We were up early as we were due to cross the magic latitude line of 66⁰ 33’N between 7 and 8 am.  The ship had a contest on to guess the exact time of the crossing.  The previous night Bob and I spent hours calculating the nautical miles from the last port of call by all the possible routes through the many little islands and how long it might take going at the cruising speed of 14 knots, etc.  It was all good fun but in the end we just made a guess.  It was a misty, gray morning as we passed the silver globe on Vikingen Island; a perfect mood setting.

The silver globe on Vikingen Island

Taking a selfie to commemorate the occasion

Later that morning King Neptune came for the traditional Arctic Circle ceremony.  Hardy souls volunteered (not us) to have Neptune pour ice cubes down their backs then take a shot of Aquavit to warm up the insides. All in good fun.

Getting the ice treatment from King Neptune with our Captain (right) looking on

Warming up with Aquavit

After the excitement of the Arctic Circle milestone we settled in for more gazing at the beautiful scenery.

Beautiful lighthouse

 

 

Mid-afternoon we arrived at Bodø were the Norwegian Aviation Museum is located.  We had a 2 hour stop over here so caught a bus for a quick look at the planes.  Bob was thrilled.

Mosquito

Spitfire

Sabre

In the early evening we made short stops at the pretty towns of Stamsund and Svolvær in the beautiful Lofoten Archipelago.  On the dock at Stamsund we witnessed a touching reunion of recent African and Syrian migrants.  One doesn’t expect to see recent migrants in a small (population 1000) remote town above the Arctic Circle.  I thought what a huge adjustment it must be for them.

Happy reunion

Svolvær was in the middle of a music festival and the town was abuzz.

Party night

Misty waterfront in the twilight

The red-letter day ended around 11pm when we entered the magnificent Trollfjord.  It was still twilight and rain and mist gave the whole area an ethereal atmosphere.  The fjord is 2km long, the entrance just 100m wide and 1000m cliffs surrounded us.   Stunning!

 

 

Bob looking Nordic

The narrow entrance

The next day we spent several hours in the largest Norwegian town above the Arctic Circle, Tromsø.  We walked around the town taking in the sights. 

Snow fields in the mountains

Scenery on our way to Tromsø

Approaching Tromsø

Lovely old movie theatre now a pub where a cold beer will set you back €10!

The Migu Run Skyrunner World series was taking place while we were there.  This is a 50km run with a 4,400m vertical climb over incredibly rough terrain.  The winners finish the race in 7 to 8 hours.  We were there around 10 hours after the start of the race and watched some of the muddy and battered participants finishing.  These men and women are fit!

One thing that has struck us generally about Norwegians is their incredible level of fitness.  One rarely sees anyone overweight or obese.  Everyone exudes a rosy healthiness.  Norwegians have a very outdoors lifestyle.  There are TV channels which telecast hours of people walking over the moors and mountains and we watched Norwegians riveted to this (for us) stupefyingly boring programming.  

Finish line

Celebrating fitness

We finished our short visit to Tromsø at the Polar Museum.  This museum showed the life of trappers and hunters (quite brutal by today’s standards) and had a good exhibit on Polar explorers.

Trapper lodge

Sled dogs