Day 53 – to Balsfjord, Norway

It may have been a degree warmer this morning, but with the northerly wind stringbas yesterday it was difficult to tell. Could be the fresh snowline on the hills was a few metres higher. It wasn’t enough to hurry me out of bed, and for the first time on this course I clicked the remote control of the heating from under the duvet.

Having briefly walked Roja, filled up water, paid the bill at the campsite, and recycled rubbish, I settled in the cafe to read for a while and got talking to a German guy who lives in Helsinki who had just completed an 8 day wilderness hike, waiting for the bus back to Rovaniemi. Like pretty much everyone I have met in recent years, he asked what I thought of Brexit, but I’m going to have to get used to being asked about the monarchy also now. The easier option is not to divulge where you’re from, which has been my previous get-out.

Back on the fjord coast conditions were much warmer, a sultry 8C with just a bit of drizzle, and calm. I had located a quiet village half an hour off the E6, and it is perfect. I’m actually sharing the harbour parking with an elderly Finnish couple; the guy fishes, the woman knits.

There’s a short loop walk that takes in the sites of three rock carvings, the clearest and largest in the north of Scandinavia, dating from 5000 BC. They are of reindeers, porpoises, boats and humans. There are also geometric lines and figures, as yet not interpreted.