Country: Norway, Finland
Distance travelled:
Weather: sunny and warm, about 10 degrees

When I woke this morning, finally feeling fully rested, our quite little rest stop had sprouted three other motorhomes and the semi trailer that had stopped late last night had left. I was feeling far more energetic than I had in quite some time and when I went outside to put the washing machine away, found it surprisingly warm. Perhaps it was our tree-sheltered position. I took the opportunity to sort out the garage a little, packing away some loose articles floating around getting in the way and bringing inside our last jar of Vegemite before setting off again.

As we came around another of the ubiquitous corners on our voyage north, Mark spotted a red squirrel dashing across the road. I missed it as usual, since I was looking at the roadside trees. If squirrels here are prone to that kind of behaviour, I suspect they will become as rare as the red squirrels in England. Once on the road beside Storfjorden, all eyes were peeled trying to recognize a location we had visited while on the aurora tour way back in February. It would be a challenge since we were last there at midnight on a very dark night with deep snow blanketing the countryside all around. One mountain stood out with its distinctive profile and a clear area on the shoreline appeared familiar. I wasn’t so sure, not remembering the trees being so numerous. Mark pulled up a photo and we compared horizons, ok, yes, this was it.

We soon reached the turnoff to Kilpisjärvi, one of the locations we had stayed at while in Finland in February. It was a detour of some 60km to reach complicated by serious road works which I remember had been underway last time we were here. Upon reaching Kilpisjärvi, we dropped into the ‘resort’ we had stayed at as we had left a power adaptor and thought to check in case they still actually had it after all this time. Unsurprisingly they didn’t but we had a good chat with one of the men at the reception who remembered us from our last visit. He was telling us that it has been unseasonably cold there, explaining the snow still lying about and ice still floating in the nearby lake.

Taking advantage of the cheaper prices in Finland, we filled the van with diesel and grabbed a few groceries to restock the bare cupboards. Then we headed back into Norway, pausing just over the border for a very late lunch. Confusion reigned briefly as some clocks had adjusted to Finnish time and now, back in Norway, hadn’t caught up the hour difference. Luckily the van clock requires physical modification so was still on Norway time.

Back on the road beside Storfjorden, we continued north again, dodging another suicidal squirrel on a mad dash across the road. The sun was out, the sky and water blue and the mountains dusted with snow. The views were glorious and we stopped regularly at rest stops to take more photos. We paused at one such rest stop for a dinner of Swedish meatballs with mash, carrots and brown gravy, from a packet bought in Sweden.

At a tiny settlement, Talvik, we stopped at a great bobil service point next to a petrol station. Bobil is the Norwegian word for motorhome, I’ve come to realise. This place had water, requiring the smallest of our hose adaptors. It had an entire room given over to the care of the toilet cassette with everything you could require including a hand basin and soap. It had very well maintained public toilets. It was a motorhomers’ dream. If it hadn’t been midnight when we arrived I would have spent some money in appreciation. The only thing we couldn’t find was a drain for the grey water. We still find it difficult to drain our soapy polluted water into the environment especially when, like here, it will end up going straight into the ocean.

Half an hours’ drive further on we pulled into a rest stop, well off the road and acceptably level and stopped for the night. Tomorrow we spend some time in Alta and then it’s the final push to Nordkapp.