Safe Return Doubtful

As I walked to the beach yesterday evening I met a cycle tourist, a young Finnish woman who had finished her day and was about to set up her tent for the night. No camping is permitted around the beach area so she wandered a bit higher up the hillside and found a spot amongst the blueberries. I asked her if she needed anything, as I’m well aware of the limited luggage bikepacking necessitates, and she mentioned that she wanted to check her tyre pressures, so later on she came down to the van. She told me that she only decides where she will head on the evening before. Eventually she will finish in Gothenburg, but has another six weeks until then. She also had a problem with something rubbing between the front disc and the brake, which she hadn’t been able to sort with her bike tool. Fortunately mine was easier to handle and we had some success, but it is one of those problems that needs an extremely slight manipulation, and patience, as well as expertise, is necessary. 

So, reluctantly, this morning I turned south. But stopped again after 1.6 kilometres, as it was the Trailhead for the hike I wanted to do. It was another fine and warm morning. I noticed the outdoor temperature at 6 am was 22C. But at least there was a breeze. This far north the landscape is another degree wilder. The treeline is lower, here at the north of Kvaløya less than a hundred metres. Here, the mountains are not as high as on Seiland, but have vast plateaus all around 350 metres. To be on them in adverse conditions would be foolhardy. The windspeeds will be more than they are on the Cairngorm plateau. Andrej, at Seiland Brygge, was telling me that winter storms often coincide with Polar Vortex, a vast area of low pressure and cold air resulting in extreme conditions. The start of this year was an example, with temperatures up here down at -40C, -51 is the record low. It’s not rare for the windspeed on plateaus such as I was on today to be above 200 kilometres per hour. The record high in Stratospheric Polar Vortex conditions was recorded a few hundred kilometres from the North Pole, an incredible 476 kilometres per hour (296 miles per hour) recorded on January 24, 2023. Andrej told me that that storm had a devastating effect in Seiland also, taking roofs off buildings, and even blew a whole barn into the air and sent it 80 metres, something like Dorothy’s house in Kansas in the cyclone.  

Fortunately today was a tremendous day to be up there.

The ascent was a steep one via a gorge, steep but short, and it emerged to two lakes. I then took a route up on to the highest points (around 400 metres) that made a wide circle of about four kilometres. With the views to the west out over Sørøya and Seiland, where I have been for the last few weeks, it was a memorable hiking experience. 

Again reluctantly, I drove further south after lunch, and found a place for the night at the estuary of the river Goahtemuorjohka. Rivers here do tend to have the most unpronounceable of names. Here it is indeed, ‘full of fish’, to quote the Python poem about the Yangtze. It is a popular fishing spot for many visitors. 

Later in the evening, as the heat of the afternoon cooled, I walked an hour or so along the bank, and of course, Roja swam, just to encourage the fish to the awaiting lines.