Linda's travels: Sunday 28th June. We reach Nordkapp

We had a nice lazy start to today as the morning was basically free time. After breakfast I had a chance to catch up on emails and blogging, whilst Mick went and played with the car. At 1pm we all met up for a lovely lunch just down the street. Amongst the buffet were lots of fresh vegetables and a delicious reindeer ragout.

Back to the cars, and we drove south of Alta to Sorrisniva where we divided into two groups. Our group did the river safari first, after several of us borrowed warm overalls. Mick is beginning to talk about a new TR regalia item, one piece insulated driving suits.

The boats were an interesting design, very slim and with large outboard motors. Small padded seats gave us a comfortable ride, sitting in a line down the centre of the boat.

We were taken 21 kms up stream, passing meadows, trees and then into a narrow canyon with waterfalls on each side. The salmon fishing in river said to be some of best in Norway, and we passed a large fishing lodge used by the King of Norway when he comes to stay in the area. There is very little road access to the river, so there were many boats on the banks along the way.

The return trip was much colder, and we were very glad to get back and to meet the other group round an open fire surrounded by reindeer skin covered benches.

The two groups then swopped agendas, they went on the boat trip, while we went to the slate quarry on the side of valley.

Our guide was the third generation of a family working the slate, and his helpful nephew made four generations. He showed us a traditional slate worker's hut from earlier times, and also where they wait for the Northern Lights display in the winter (they run holidays just to see the lights!). Working the slate has always been a hand industry, though they are now assisted by powerful machines. The workers are very muscular, which Mick confirmed when he later lifted a 10kg lump hammer that our guide had been using like a toffee hammer. Their main market now is roof tiles, many of which we recognised later on houses in the Alta region. The slate is greyer and thicker than Welsh slate, more like a granite.

Our guide demonstrated how the slate is split, then we each had the chance to make a slate coaster. Great fun, and a good souvenir of our trip.

Our evening meal was in a circular building back by the river, heated by a huge open fire in the very middle of the room. Food was very good, but no wine as we still had a long drive in front of us.

We left at 8.45pm, just as the rain started. The drive to Nordkapp took just under four hours, and it rained the whole way. Despite this the scenery was still awesome. We crossed a high plateau, then followed the edge of a fjord, with mountains glimpsed through the low cloud and mist. Small communities, and the occasional town were scattered across the whole area.

The TR3 is not a good vehicle for rainy weather! We got wetter then when we had the roof down, and developed synchronised wiping of the drips as we drove.

As we got further north and the land opened up we started to see reindeer at the sides of the road, eating the sparse grass. Dave Burgess had a reindeer jump the crash barrier just in front of him!

We finally arrived at Nordkapp at 24.40, just as the earlier arrivals from our group were allowed to drive up to the globe sculpture by the headland. We all parked, and many photos were taken as we enjoyed the feeling of having achieved our objective. It was still raining, and very cold, but the rain finally stopped just before we left at 01.20. Sadly the shop and toilets had all closed at 1am, so no souvenirs, and crossed legs for the return trip.

It was a long way back to Alta, but a more relaxed drive and we had the time to stop and take some photos of the reindeer. At least we didn't have to worry about driving in the dark.