Safe Return Doubtful

Sultry days at Seiland would not have been what I expected researching the course last winter, but sultry it was indeed, particularly Saturday, when there was barely a breeze and a range of temperature between 21 and 28 throughout the day and night. 

Roja and I ventured into the National Park for a second time in the morning before getting out of the sun for the rest of the day. 

In the evening we wandered briefly along the marina and settled on a seat outside the Brygge for a beer. It’s the first time I’ve been out for a beer in Norway as the chance hasn’t really presented itself. I haven’t gone looking either, as I know that bar prices are ridiculously high and that the beer isn’t very good. Here though, it was shop prices, 60 Kroner (about £4) for a Porter which wasn’t bad at all. I was soon joined at the bench by a growing crowd of locals in their finest dress, some of the women in traditional Sami clothing. I was soon told that there was a wedding, at 7 pm on a Saturday night, in the small chapel just down the road, of a couple who had been together for exactly 50 years. 

Reindeer roam the roads freely. In the winter Andrej feeds them, so in the summer a few of them come in the hope of something. But the image of a relatively busy bench area outside the shop, folk in their finest attire, with huge antlered reindeer pottering between them is one I will remember for a long while. 

The hospitality of the owners of the Brygge was wonderful. This morning I went across to fill up with water, and was soon given coffee and I sat and chatted with Andrej for half an hour or so. He was mulling whether to offer a facility for motorhomes, a parking place that could include electric hook up, and use of a bathroom. In the end I think I talked him out of it. The island is so peaceful that it really doesn’t need an influx of motorhomes, and besides, the small ferry couldn’t cope. This is the Brygge’s website.

There were three crossings back to the mainland today, and I took the 2:55 pm, for which there were far too many vehicles. Fortunately I had arrived early and had lunch there. The crossing is only ten minutes, so in these cases the boat just returns immediately for an extra crossing. 

In the morning we had driven ten kilometres around the fjords to Eidvagen and walked up the river into Cahcegopvaggi valley. 

Seiland has been one of the highlights of the course so far. I have spent hours looking at the topographical map of it working out hiking routes in the farthest reaches of the National Park that I will probably never take. But the combination of its stark and yet often accessible wilderness, that it somehow doesn’t attract many tourists, and the tremendous hospitality I received make it high on the list of places I want for return to. 

From the ferry, back on Kvaløya island, I drove to the end of the road to the north, about another 15 kilometres, and through the world’s northernmost city of Hammerfest. The road ends at Forsøl, a quiet fishing village of 140 people, where these days it seems inconceivable that its hills were vital look-out places for Nazi soldiers. Walking on them this evening, it’s impossible not to ponder how such rugged allure contrasts with war. 

I’m now at the furthest place north on this course, after 112 days and just less than 5,000 miles. This week I’ll turn south and head inland into Finland.