Safe Return Doubtful

I spent three days at Forsøl, which is a small community on the northeast side of the Hammerfest peninsula. I was here before, but just for one night, two years ago, but it’s a great place for exploring the coastline on foot, and it deserves more time. In my last post I mentioned the extra long German vehicles that were also here on Thursday evening. I had annoyed one of them, who said I had taken his place while he had gone into town (about 10 kilometres) for some shopping. A couple of the other owners I actually got on well with. We chatted about how difficult it is travelling in such long vehicles. One was a converted coach, with a smart car inside at the rear garage. A lot of sites won’t accept motorhomes longer than 12 metres, many of the smaller roads are impassable and ferries are either very expensive or not possible. It made me wonder what the attraction of them was. There was another similarly long motorhome, American RV style with pod windows that extend even further width ways. The other was a converted truck, but not for off road, just to inhabit. Fortunately, the other two nights I was there were much quieter. 

The weather was in a dormant phase, doing very little, with no wind, a cloud cover and a temperature of about 12C; fine for hiking, just not great for solar power, especially now the sun, behind the cloud, is lower in the sky. 

The coastal exploration was great, we were out a couple of hours each morning. In the late afternoon we went to the nearby beach, in the other direction. 

I met two other interesting people. Parked next to me on Saturday morning after I got back from walking with a Dutch VW Caddy. The guy returned in the early evening, he had been sea fishing from a rowed dinghy, and we chatted for a while. He had been interrupted by a beluga whale, and showed the video he had taken. He and his wife had travelled from the Netherlands with their caravan, which was on the campsite in town, with his wife. The other guy I met when walking with Rua. He was walking with his white female husky, and she and Rua got on well. He walked her every night after he got in from work, so we saw each other and walked our dogs all three night. He was in his early fifties, a single guy, who had mainly worked on avalanche and rockfall protection for roads and towns, but had recently changed jobs and bought a van, a small truck really, and worked in a private capacity for the municipality collecting rubbish, he said it was much more lucrative. He was keen to convert a van similar to mine, and take off and travel, as his earlier work had involved travel all around the country. He told me a bit about Forsøl, and its depopulation in the last thirty years. The school had closed, but reopened this year, last week actually, as there was an incoming of young families to the town. Hopefully it has turned the corner. It is a beautiful place to live, but in the winter gets cut off from Hammerfest by snow on the hill. In 2020 it was cut off for two months, and it was necessary for the coastguard to bring supplies in by boat. 

Two years ago when I was here it was busy with visitors, but the weather isn’t as good, and there is a noticeable drop off in tourists this week, after the schools have returned. 

Sunday was me sixty fifth birthday, though these things mean little as one gets older. I moved over the hill into Hammerfest, which is a really interesting town to visit. They offer a stopover park for campervans right on the sea front, with electricity and bathroom facilities for about 20 euros. I was a bit low on electric, and it was a really good place to stay, especially on a quiet Sunday. The shower was at the neighbouring hotel, and there was a sauna in the deal also. 

Hammerfest was almost completely rebuilt after being bombed in the Second World War. These days it is a vibrant and thriving place due mainly to the Snøhvit gas field. It was the first development in the southern Barents Sea and the first major development on the Norwegian continental shelf without any surface installations. The other big industry is tourism, as many cruise ships call in all year round, and that means hotels, bars, souvenir shops and restaurants. But it still retains that small town feel, and has a good atmosphere with reindeer roaming the streets freely. 

We walked around town on Sunday afternoon, and up to a viewpoint. I’m keen to get Rua a bit of experience in towns, with different smells and lots of people and other dogs. It was something Roja never found easy. Late in the afternoon I was on a video call to my brother. Rua was playing outside, and I heard him bark; it was because a young reindeer had taken an interest in him, and was having a sniff. 

This morning I moved on, a couple of peninsulas up, to the Måsøy region and the town on Havøysund. I am hoping to get the ferry to the island of Rolvsøya early tomorrow morning, priority is given to locals, and the boat only hold 3 or 4 vehicles. The boat is the MåsøyXpressen, which I actually walked past yesterday afternoon in Hammerfest, which is where it is docked when not being used. It serves the small islands in the area, and is chiefly for foot passengers.