Camping in Alta

Despite our whole day of driving, various distractions (mainly the Sami and their reindeer) meant that we did not arrive in Alta until quite late in the day. So much so that our intended hotel was fully booked.

Rudolph!

Following the E6 along the coast in Finnmark towards Alta, we were therefore hopeful of seeing our first reindeer sighting and instigated Reindeer Watch which entailed driving slower whilst having cameras on constant standby to snap any fleeting glances. However, as the minutes turned into hours with still no sighting our enthusiasm waned...
 

Welcome to the wild wild north

The drive from Narvik to Alta was long (just under 500kms) and we only stopped to stretch our legs or to change drivers.  When driving into Finnmark, the first thing that met us after crossing the barren deserted plateau was a map of the region...with plenty of bullet holes in it. Finnmark is a very popular area for hunting and fishing, and judging by the sign someone’s either been target practicing or is very good at missing Rudolph! 

On the road

It was very light in our room which meant we had trouble falling asleep. We still managed to get up early the next day though and after another good breakfast overlooking the fjord we left Narvik to continue on the E6 ever northwards. We hope to reach Alta in Finnmark, the most northerly, easterly, largest and remote, many would also say most inhospitable, region in Norway. 

Narvik (and even more history!)

We spent a little too much time in Hamarøy and there was a lot of road between us and Narvik, where we were hoping to stay. Andy was driving and rose to the challenge; achieving impressive speeds and Top Gear style drifting across the road during bends (complete with screeching tyres) down a particularly steep mountain along Highway 81. 

The cultural island

The next stop in our journey north was Hamarøy, also known in Norway as the cultural island because it was where the contraversial writer Knut Hamsun lived and also because of the art museums here. The most famous one is the Hamsun Centre which hosts art exhibitions that mainly has some connection to Hamsun and his works. 

The obligatory history hour

After eating we walked down some wooden steps to have a closer look at the view and stumbled across an opening into the mountain where the entrance had been covered with a black cloth.