Monday 29th June

We woke earlier than we had hoped or expected, but felt remarkably awake. Our first stop of the day, 5 mins from the hotel, was at noon at the Alta Museum. We had a guided tour of the rock carvings there which mainly depicted hunting scenes and were dated from 2 to 7 thousand years ago. The red colouring had been added by archeologists in the 1970s when they had been found!

Lunch was at the museum, reindeer wraps with lettuce and a pink colourd sauce (cranberry yoghurt?), and then we were on the road again. Today was one of the few occasions when we had already driven the same roads once as we were headed south towards Skjervoy to pick up the coastal ferry

It was very cold, but sunny. Our first stop was at a Sami 'outlet centre', a set of rough huts at the side of the road. Three of us bought reindeer skins, and Tove tried on a splendid hat.

The scenery was wonderful yet again, as we followed Ian and Mary's Jag along the side of fjords. They stopped at a lookout point while we carried on with Bjarne. At one point we passed a cluster of our cars around the midget. Despite a visit to the garage at 8am, it had failed again, and Hans Gunter generously towed it the rest of the way. Several cars have had problems this trip, but this was the only time we had to resort to a tow bar. Two cars did fail to make the final trek up to Nordkapp, however all the people got there thanks to generous offers of lifts from those with spare space.

We all got to Skjervoy for the Hurtigruten boat in plenty of time, especially as the boat arrived slightly late! All co-drivers had to board separately, then the cars were tightly packed into the hold.

Dinner was a three course meal, at set tables. Though a coastal steamer, the boat is more like a smal cruise ship, with tours arranged at any port where we stay long enough. The sun actually broke through the clouds just before midnight, so we finally feel we have seen the Midnight Sun!

The boat docked in Tromso at 11.45 pm, and we all headed into town for a drink. Tromso is known as the Paris of the North, and seems to be a town which stays awake all night. Not quite sunny but it was still fully light as we walked past the harbour.

A welcome beer, then it was back to the boat for our departure at 1.30 in the morning, and a very welcome sleep.

 

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