Safe Return Doubtful

Day 49 – to Kåfjorddalen, Reisa National Park Just as I sorted the dog’s breakfast at just after 8 am, rain started, so I retreated indoors with coffee and read John Wyndham’s Chocky. I’m not a huge science fiction fan, but this, his last novel from 1968, is really clever.…

Day 48 – at Alta marina I met a guy, a local, walking his dog late last evening and got chatting. Though I steer away from politics usually, we got onto the price of power to homes, and would you believe, ‘levelling-up’ and it’s relevance here in Norway. I did…

Day 47 – to Alta marina Hearing rain on the roof certainly has an effect on the dog’s enthusiasm to get out of bed if not mine. Usually he licks my nose about an hour before our normal stirring time, gets a ‘settle down’ and dozes for the hour. This…

Day 46 – to Repparford It was a farewell to north coast this morning. I very much hope I’ll be back. I’m getting to that age now where it’s not going to be practically possible, funds aside, to get back to everywhere I had once intended, but this is a…

Day 45 – at Lebesby Back in the early planning stages of this journey I estimated 7,000 miles for the round-trip. Today I reached the extremity of this course after 3,560 miles, so I wasn’t that far out. Prior to that, we walked the Lebesby trail, which can be started…

Day 44 – to Lebesby The first trip I did in the Crafter was just a day after the Scottish lockdown was lifted in April last year. I ended up on a section of the North Coast 500. The route was launched as a pan encouragement to tourists, but the…

Day 43 – to Martenses Cultural Museum Ekkerøy doesn’t have a long history as small town, back only to the 1920s when the community was a fishing one. Previously it had only been used as a winter anchorage for boats. Today there is none. Driftwood was an industry for a…

Day 41 – to Vadsø, Varanger National Park, Norway 11 am. It’s 4C outside, with a gentle drizzle, but 19C in van. I’ve a second coffee, laid up in the favourite chair reading Monbiot’s Regenesis *. Could be that late Jamesons while watching The Red Headed League had enhanced my…

Day 40 – to Utsjoki Village Some rain this morning and a north wind making it a fresh start. But the heating in the van only needs 5 minutes or so to take effect, and pretty soon I was back into my current book with coffee. It’s a rare long…