Day 126.Tana Bru to Grasbakken (Bike)
Posted by: James on May 6, 2009Distance 37km | Time 4.5hrs | Ascent 280m | Descent 280m
After breakfast I had to go and do some banking errands. I owed people money for telephone bills, postage costs and also for a GPS. These were soon sorted out. Then I had to buy some food for the evening as I would be in a self contained cabin at Grasbakken some 37 km to the east towards Kirkenes.
Due to banks opening late I was not ready to leave Tana Bru until 1200 so the short distance to Grasbakken suited. In addition I was saddle sore after a long day cycling yesterday.
Initially I cycled over the bridge which spanned the Tana River. It was flowing quite fast here and must have been 50 metres wide. Huge slabs of ice, nearly a metre thick and the size of a half a tennis court, when drifting by under the bridge. They slammed into a ice jam further down stream with much crunching as they hit the jumbled build up. It was a spectacular sight.
After the bridge was an easy 4 km beside the river. The river here seemed to flow through narrow lakes and lagoons these were still covered in ice. However great chunks of it were breaking away to flow down to the ice jam below the bridge.
After these pleasant 4 km the road now climbed up for a long gentle ascent which seemed to go for ever. There was an increasing easterly wind along this section and this slowed me considerably. Even on the gentle descent down the other side I could rarely freewheel because of the wind. After 13 km I reached Varangerbotn.
Varangerbotn was at the head of a massive but quite open fjord, more like and estuary than a traditional fjord. The head of this fjord was still covered in ice for a couple of km. It was now so far east the effects of the Gulf Stream were diminishing.
I stopped here for a snack in a petrol station and partly to rest and warm up before the next 20 km along the south side of this massive fjord. It seemed to have a large collection of substantial and traditional wooden buildings which were called the Lapp Parliament. Perhaps this was a political and administrative centre for Lapps.
The journey along the south side of the fjord was slow. The wind was a good force 4 and it was due east and directly against me. I frequently walked the uphill sections rather than peddle in the lowest gear. In the end I was looking forward to the uphill sections as I felt walking was as good as resting.
There was remarkably little snow here now. I think this whole region had received little this winter. Huge areas of the surrounding moorland were bare. The birch trees showed no signs of spring yet but there were catkins bursting open on some of the willow bushes. There are at least 20 species of willow bush in Scandinavian and some are so similar that the only way to tell them apart is when their catkins are showing as they contain the differentiating features.
There were many ravens here. They are remarkably acrobatic birds and seemed to be enjoying the wind and the opportunities it gave them to show off their skills. They were constantly diving and twisting.
There were many small homesteads along the road here. I assumed many were Sea Lapps, judging by some of the traditional outbuildings. None of the houses here are more than 65 years old as the Germans laid waste to northern Norway when they retreated at the end of the second world war. They did this so the advancing Russians would find no livestock, food or shelter.
After passing through some of these small hamlets I came to Grasbakken. Here there were two log cabins which were transported whole from Pasvik. They even had birch trees growing out of their turf roofs. One was open for me as arranged. It was perfect and cosy inside.
The father of the owner arrived soon after and I paid him. He seemed a Sea Lapp because of his size and stature. He was very friendly. Alarmingly he said I had come at the wrong time. In May he said it was a constant strong east wind. I should have waited for June. It was too late for that and the last week had been benign weather.
I had a snooze as I was feeling tired. I am not taking to this cycling like a duck to water and it is hard work on both legs and rump. I know the rucksack is to blame but the luxury of panniers were hard to come by at short notice up here.
It had been a reasonably uninteresting day in which I had struggled a little with the wind. It is only 105 km to Kirkenes now but I do not think I can do this in a day without it becoming purgatory so will head to Nieden tomorrow which is some 60 km and hope the wind drops.