Ski and Paddle Norway 2009

Distance 88km | Time 9hrs | Ascent 1120m | Descent 1100m

I got up at 0600. The sun had been up for hours and it was a mostly overcast day with a slight east breeze. Haldane had laid out the breakfast already so I started on that soon after and managed to get away just before 0800.

The east breeze was cold. I had to wear gloves and balaclava and most of the drips from overhangs had developed small icicles. The road climbed up with purpose and within a few km I was already at 200 metres. All yesterday’s sleet was lying as snow up here, the road however was generally clear. There were many impressive snow drifts on each side of the road in places.

After passing a couple of cabin areas, probably owned by Lapps as it was beside a lake, the road continued to climb up onto the plateau. There were lots of Finnish cars and campervans here. I could see them sitting on stools on nearly every lake I passed ice fishing.

The road on the plateau was high and exposed. It would have been miserable up here yesterday. There were some drifts of new snow blowing across the road where I had to get off and push the bike. They were only a problem because there were no cars on the road and they had built up to 15 cm.

For the next 20 km the road undulated across this plateau. To save my legs and rump I walked a lot of the uphill sections as I would not go much faster on a bike. It was still very wintery up here and easily possible to go on skis. It was much more overcast now.

Then came the long awaited descent of the plateau down to Vestertana Fjord and the hamlet of Sjursjokka. I assumed this hamlet was Sjoesamisk, or Sea Lapp. These Lapps did not participate in reindeer herding but lived beside, and from, the sea. The Finnmarks Law of a couple of years ago gave huge privileges to reindeer herding Lapps but little to the Sea Lapps or anybody else really. Some people almost described the Finnmarks Law as apartheid with the Reindeer herding Lapps as A people and everybody else as B people.

As I cycled round the bay I saw a white hare on the road. It was huge and bounded off with great leaps when it noticed me. There were also a couple of Sea Eagles in the bay, waiting for some carrion.

Sea eagles along the coast here are common. They are bigger than Golden Eagles. They live largely from carrion and some fish they manage to catch as opposed to the Golden Eagle which catches prey. This reflects a bit in their personality. The Sea Eagles are scruffy vagrants compared to their cousins, with none of the pride and panache a Golden Eagle has.

The next 20 km was along the coast and cutting over various headlands. It was a cultural landscape with small homesteads beside the fjords and small farms were there was some flat land for grazing. Occasional harbours had a few small fishing boats and the large high traditional A frame shaped drying racks for the cod.

There was a lot of up and down on this section and it was hard work. Again I walked many of the steeper uphill bits but before long I arrived at Rustfjelbma. There was a garage here where I stopped for a drink and some snacks. Some people recognized me from the article in the Finnmarken paper which I had not realized was published yet.

The final 25 km to Tana Bru was just what I needed. The road was flat as it headed south along a terrace above the Tana River. This river is one of the great rivers of the north. It drains a huge area of north Norway and Finland. By the time it gets to Tana Bru it is old and lazy, but still virile enough not to meander across its flood plain. It has deposited vast amounts of sand and gravel here and continues to do so in the fjord it flows into.

The snow on the hillsides was continuing to melt. Around each birch tree the warmer air had penetrated and melted a wide ring which exposed the ground plants beneath. The whole hillside therefore looked like a bundle of Dalmatian dogs. Mostly white with masses of black spots.

The river was partly still frozen and partly starting to break up. It would be impossible to cross now without a bridge. That is what Tana Bru has and it is why it is reasonably important town. The river is also a salmon fisherman’s paradise.

There is one hotel here. Having got used to poor value for money in Finnmark I braced myself especially as the place had a monopoly. For once I was very pleasantly surprised. The assistant manager could not have been nicer. They gave me a very reasonable deal and were very service minded with free laptop, sauna and even a very nice simple dinner. He also phoned to arrange a cabin for tomorrow and to see if anybody had the newspaper. Top marks.

I wrote the blog in the evening and then went to see if I could find the newspaper. Tomorrow I have some banking issues to deal with in the morning before the relatively short day to Grasbakken some 40 km to the east. Leaving two short or one extremely long day to Kirkenes.

It had been a great day. The scenery was good and varied, the weather improved from cold and overcast to warm and sunny and I had gone a considerable way without getting too saddle sore.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 at 7:41 am and is filed under Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.