Safe Return Doubtful

Yesterday I entered Norway’s northernmost and easternmost county, that of Finnmark, the second largest in the country, but bigger than Denmark, and with a population of about 75,000. Whereas almost all the tourist visitors will head to North Cape, the north most point of mainland Europe, I will spend the next couple of weeks on the islands off the coast.

When in Norway two years ago, I avoided North Cape also, but travelled almost as far north, to Vardanger peninsula which borders with Russia. I have visited North Cape though, in 1990, on my journey to the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the Boxing Day Ashes Test Match without using an aeroplane. I had hitchhiked from Bergen in what I thought then would be the autumn, but actually was the start of winter.

Before driving yesterday morning I enjoyed an excellent few hours on the mountain next to when I had parked the previous evening, at the Utsiktspunkt viewpoint on the old E6 before the tunnel there had been built, at 400 metres above sea level.

An initial trudge through boggy flat land, which would have been much more unpleasant had there been much rain, was rewarded by gaining 300 metres or so to a few rocky dumplings, bluffs and wide saddles, all with panoramic views; most spectacularly to the south, the Lyngen Alps. Malingsfjellet was my aim, at 734 metres, rising 50 metres or so more than its neighbours.

Then followed the usual lengthy drive, in terms of time not distance, further north; a couple of hours. It meant a return to the E6 for half of the hundred kilometres, then a much quieter hour on the road west to Øksfjord.

Øksfjord town is the centre for the Loppa region, which encompasses the various inhabited islands off its coast, and also the mainland peninsula between fjords. Ferries depart here for the island of Sørøya, and Tverrfjord and Bergfjord on the adjacent peninsulas to the west. The landscape to the west is dominated by Øksfjordjøkelen glacier, which at almost 50 square kilometres is Norway’s ninth largest.

I found a place to park for the night just out of the town by a lake at a hiking car park, ideal for what I wanted to do the following day. The ferries here don’t run in Saturdays, so that fits in with my plan also.

That plan was to get up to the ridge above the town and its peak, Øksfjordfjellet, at 372 metres. The weather in the last two days has returned to the heatwave conditions of the last couple of weeks, in fact yesterday, the humidity was high also, and at midnight it was still 20C. Fortunately, my homemade mosquito net for the side door works really well, so we could sleep with the door open to help stay cool. There were a few brief thundery showers and today was a bit cooler, in the mid twenties, but the weather isn’t due to break properly until Sunday afternoon.

The hike up to the ridge was initially steep, one of those with a permanent rope up for 30 metres or so to help purchase on the steep rock, but once onto the ridge was quite magnificent.

Otherwise much of my time has been spent as ever, with sport and catching up on reading and reviewing. Though I did watch a good French vampire film late last night. The Olympics has started, and in fact for the rugby sevens, started on Wednesday. That has been entertaining, though rather frustratingly, the BBC chose not to cover the semi finals this afternoon..