Safe Return Doubtful

I had planned to head to Jokelfjord, the fjord running north-south just below the Loppa region. Loppa’s mountain vistas feature Norway’s ninth largest glacier, Øksfjordjøkulen, currently 46 square kilometres but sadly reducing each year. Jokelfjord wasn’t what I hoped for. Though it had an attractive trail along the coast, the stopover areas weren’t appealing. It is the case that one can be very choosy in Arctic Norway; no doubt in Finland in a few weeks I would settle for it, the land of forests and lakes, but here it is possible to get incredible views thrown into all the other features that are sought after.. quiet, permitted, flat, out of the wind, with 5G signal (though that is not important now I’m using Starlink). 

I decided to head for Øksfjord, the gateway to remote Loppa through the ferries that operate for its port. Two years ago I spent two weeks in the area, travelling by ninety minute ferry to the island of Sørøya, and by a 150 minute ferry to Sør Tverrfjord. The latter destination I had thought I would revisit. My plan for Friday was to take the first ferry departing, wherever it was going to. Very few run these days, demand is low; they are free, but still visitors prefer to keep to the accepted route up to North Cape and are reluctant to veer off or even slope off, to Loppa. It was mid-afternoon when I got to Øksfjord, and other than wait to 5 pm and go to Sørøya, the only option was across the fjord, just 15 minutes, to Tverrfjord, which I took. I then drove around the solitary road of twenty kilometres to investigate. I decided on Maristøa beach at the south end of a fjord, a beach upon which a mob of reindeer lay; from here a valley ran into the seemingly impenetrable mountain walls, with a hiking trail marked on my map, at the start of it was a rough car park.

There was no one around at all, it was peaceful, despite wisps of low cloud moving in and out, idyllic. 

The following morning we hiked in for about ninety minutes to a lake, beyond which was the realm of the climber. The views were incredible, though that night rain was to move in and hide the peaks. 

We moved a few kilometres to the town of the area, Nuvsvåg, and decided on the chapel car park to stay. The tourism is mainly for fishing, which is excellent in both the rivers and the sea. There were are few fishing visitors around, though the fishing is excellent the accommodation is budget.

At low tide Nuvsvåg reveals a beach that one wouldn’t expect it to have. Again, a rangale of reindeer come to lay on it. On the Sunday we took another trail along a valley into the mountains, this time with an obscured view, it was still rewarding, in atmosphere though rather than backdrop, and in a steady drizzle. There was hardly any wind, and the drizzle more of a sea mist, and hadn’t been forecast. 

After an hour along the beach this morning, we left for the morning ferry. It had been forecast to rain heavily all day, but that hadn’t materialised by mid-morning; the weather in these parts does seem very difficult to predict, even for the experts. 

I had the chance to look ahead at my schedule on Sunday afternoon, with the lack of sport, and realised that I had really only just over two weeks before heading back south. With that in mind, I cut short my time in Loppa, and not revisit Sør Tverrfjord, the ferry to which only runs three times a week and takes two and a half hours. Instead I headed back to the E6 and up to Alta, the biggest town around. I needed a few items; a mains battery charger for my vehicle battery (something I should have attended to in the UK), an enquiry at the Campervan outlet as whether they could repair my MaxxFan, and a couple of things for Rua. I had mixed success. The Campervan outlet likely can do the repair, and I will contact them by email, as I’m back in Alta in a couple of weeks. I picked up the engine charger. And I got to the per store, only to be shocked by the prices, especially for food. I did buy a wire brush, as he has started to lose quite a bit of hair, but other items will have to wait, the supermarket is a better option for food. Some large bags here were at least twice the UK price. 

From Alta I drive another hour to Storekorsnes, it’s a fishing port with a foot passenger ferry to Seiland and other islands. My plan is to continue on this one way road and use a ferry to cross the fjord and get to what I hope is a remote area further north, close to the island of Seiland.