Kirkenes!

Gday all,

The lively city of Tromsø hosted us a further few days - met more fantastic people, became good friends with Eric's waffle iron, and even made it to Finland for a day. Jon presumed one of us had knowledge of how to drive a van (....4 months since I was last behind the wheel?), so when I dug the wheels deep into Eric's driveway while reversing at 8 o'clock on a Friday morning....let's just say neighbour Lars had an early appointment with a tow rope, his car and a stranded Nissan King van.

A little later than planned, Guus, Jeff and myself were hurtling down the E6/E8, taking a turn at Birtavarre for 25km of rough road into the hills. With scenery similar to Scotland (and weather conditions to match...), we eventually climbed our way across the Norwegian border and onto the summit of Halti - Finland's highest peak.

Monday afternoon and Tromsø city faded in the distance as we joined up with the E6 northbound. Good to be back on the bikes and the amazing coast road lead us to Alta. Riding uphill through forests of autumn colours, the landscape soon changed to a seemingly endless plateau, broken only by the road and occasional Sami communities. Onto the 94 to Hammerfest - the city illuminated under the glow from a huge flare stack at the recently opened gas works. Aboard the Hurtigruten ferry to Havøysund, we rode south on the 889 into our fiercest headwind yet (30km covered in 4 hours!!!). Good to change direction and head north again, our progress on the E69 halted when Guus' pedal crank snapped in 2...for the second time! This had occurred the previous day and been repaired by an obliging local. We were fortunate with a hitch into Honningsvåg from Odd and a visit to the bike shop the following day. Nordkapp was our next stop and an evening hike to camp at Knivsjelodden (the "true" North cape, but no road there so keeps the tourists away!).

Boarding the Hurtigruten once again to Kjøllefjord where we were fortunate to stay with the Hansens. Guus and I joined fisherman Oddmund the following day fishing for king crab - 224 hauled up in the cages! An amazing trip...yet again, my stomach was not intended for life on the open seas. Things had improved by the evening when we feasted on the catch of the day...superb. Frank took us to Skjøtningberg, Gamvik and dropped us at Mehamn 5 minutes before our boat was due to leave. North Norwegian timing...perfect. To Berlevåg, Båtsfjord and a 4am arrival into Vardø. Explored the fort on this island before riding along the coast to Vadsø and Kirkenes. Caught up with Kjell Arne (met on Svalbard) and he and girlfriend Kristan are now showing us the sights of Kirkenes and surrounds. Took a trip to Grense Jacobselv yesterday - the end of Norway and the heavily-patrolled Russian border. We've just finished off an interview with the 'Finnmarken' paper, a local assured us our trip would be of interest to the general public! Too bad we'll be in Finland when it goes to press next week!