Midnight sun in Lapland

A few weeks have passed since the Norway trip end of June 2013. As we spontaneously extended our tour, the "Northern Norway" trip really turned out to be a real "Lapland trip", including stops in Sweden (Kiruna) and Finland (Enontekiö). In 13 days, we drove about 4.000 kilometers. It was an impressive journey with many hours spent under the midnight sun, meeting a lot of reindeer, eating salmon, drinking arctic beer, and taking lots of pictures.

The trip was planned as a "wilderness experience", and that turned out very well! We had brought a tent, sleeping bags of the kind "Arctic Extreme" and made good use of the "Allemannsrett" to camp in the Arctic wilderness. We always found a cozy place with some flat ground and nearby water which we would use to bathe in the next morning, or – if too cold – at least use the water to boil some Nescafé. Only a few times did we chose to stay in official campsites or rented a cheap room, e.g. when it rained…

These are (roughly) the places where we stayed overnight:

Tromsø - Sifjord (island: Senja) - Harstad (island: Hinnøya) - Kongsvik (also Hinnøya) – Nyksund - Kiruna (Sweden) - Leppäjärvi (Finland) – Hammerfest - Skarsvåg (close to Northcape) – Litleng – Altafjord – Svensby – Tromsø.

It was the first time that I experienced the 24 hours of daylight. For our wildcamp-trip, it came in handy. There was no "we must build up the tent before darkness". No need of camping lights or alike. Also, sleeping in the deepest forest didn't cause angst because the surroundings were never dark but rather dipped in golden sunlight. A hungry bear would have been spotted just in time. And I will never forget how, when I had to step out the tent at 2.30 am, the birds were singing. Weird! Yet, there was a certain silence at night. Until now, I do not know why I felt that silence. With bright light and active animals, it should feel like daytime, no?!

Speaking of active animals: the mosquitos were pretty terrible. Especially inland, when we escaped the bad weather of the coast, we traded in rain for itchy bites. The deet ("Nobite") did help, but it seemed impossible to cover every inch of the body. I even put that stuff in my face. But forgetting some part of the forehead meant: lunch time for a whole mosquito family…

So, when we were tired of the mosquitos, we decided to drive back to the coast and venture into the "real" North, direction of North Cape. We had not really planned to go up there. You read about the North Cape as a "tourist rip-off", you are warned about the bad weather that most likely will be raging up there, after you have paid the 36 EUR entrance fee – and why would you go up there anyway, when the "real" geographic North Cape would be elsewhere anyway? But we were really glad we went: The weather was gorgeous, the visitor center with free wifi and nice panoramic view is worth the entrance fee, and the atmosphere was very special:

You sense that the North Cape must be the place of fulfilling dreams, e.g. "once in my life, I want to bicycle all the way up to the North Cape". And many do! Along that long gray road, we passed by many, really many, cyclists, their multifunctional shirts blowing against the arctic winds – and we felt a bit bad when overtaking. Their faces showed determination, but also some pain. The female cyclists I met again the washing room of the North Cape Café: They rinsed their face and looked exhausted – but very happy.

The trip has been great, and I am very happy to finally have come here. Here are some pictures to be look at.