A Scandinavian Winter - chapter 1

Could be titled: Going where the sun don't shine (no not there, don't be rude!)

Or: Winter at 70ºN in the “world’s most northerly town".

Or: It’s a long way … to Copenhagen, it's a long way to go (you have to sing that bit)

At least it is the way I'm going. Looked at on a map this route is insane! But I bet it will be fun.

I have been asked several times “why?”. The answer as usual is something along the lines of “why not?”, or “because it is there!”

However, yes (since you asked), I am feeling guilty. I could have simply got to Copenhagen by train via Amsterdam and Hamburg but my interest has been piqued by a visit to the Arctic circle while the sun doesn’t shine … at all! Technically I could get there by boat, but train is not possible so I have swallowed my pride, paid the carbon offset (probably more to assuage my middle class guilt than to actually make a difference to the planet) and jumped on a flight to Hammerfest, via Oslo.

In passing could I name the carbon offset tax after myself? The AMcG tax - The Assuage Middle Class Guilt tax. Of course Macgregor is actually spelled with a “Mac” but poetic licence and all that! Anyway I paid it and now anyone else that does so (well, the very few people that ever read this rubbish) will know that they can do so in my name!

I will be leaving Hammerfest by boat making my way thereafter by sea and land. And believe it or not I don't quite have enough time to go both ways overland. As it is it will take me 10 days to get from home to Copenhagen.

So why Hammerfest? (I don’t hear you say)

Well, for anyone daft enough to have read my previous Norway blog I stopped briefly in this “world’s most northerly town” when travelling on the Hurtigruten ferry from Kirkenes back to Bergen a couple of years ago. Its status of course depends crucially on how “town” is defined and there are certainly more northerly settlements - Longyearbyen on Svalbard for a start is, at 80ºN a good 10º closer to the north pole, but I guess it does not count as a town, and so it is that Hammerfest claims the mantle. Russia has any number of settlements further north but again so tiny they do not count - apparently.

Since my oh so brief stop in Hammerfest a couple of years ago, I have been fascinated not only with the place but also how it might feel to be in a place in which the sun does not come up. I have experienced the midnight sun in Finland some years ago, but no sun at all - nope, I have never done that. So given that Hammerfest meets that criterion from late November to late January, was the launching point for many early Arctic explorations, and it is where early measurements of the circumference of the earth were completed, I have decided it deserves a visit longer than an hour or so. I’m under no illusion - there probably won’t be much to do there but I understand it is the home of the famous Polar Bear Society and just by visiting I think I will earn the right to join. And Nareesa thinks I am half polar bear anyway!

And so it is that the first couple of legs of my journey involve a couple of flights, an overnight in Oslo and touch down in Tromso and then what will be perpetual night for the next two months - for the residents, not for me. I’ll be spending only about 24 hours here and then heading south again. I don't think the sun will come up for the first couple of days on the boat but after that I will be back below the Arctic Circle and back to days of at least a couple of hours sunlight!

Last night was spent in an anonymous hotel at Oslo’s Gardermoen Airport. Did the job, and I had the foresight (unusual for me) to book a place within walking distance of the terminal, which at least meant no negotiation of cabs and I had extra time in the bar - which, at Norwegian prices, might not actually be a very good idea. Cheap it ain’t. And not a Greek salad in sight!!

Today, Oslo and Tromso airports passed with little drama. Other than paying an arm and a leg for a coffee and a muffin - and even more for a bottle of water (note to self - I really must carry my own bottle!) - both airports were exactly what I have come to expect of Norway; clean, efficient, and courteous. Last night I managed to be in my hotel, a mere half hour after landing. This morning I was through security in moments and moreover treated with courtesy throughout - in English. Can’t work out how they know I am not Norwegian! For the purposes of this trip I am of course Irish - which allowed me to fast track the entry to Norway using the automatic gates whilst the UK passport holders queued for what I am absolutely sure was hours!

Tromso was nothing more than a brief touchdown although for a short while I did wonder if I had made a booboo in booking the two legs separately (to save almost a hundred quid it should be said) as I had to collect my bag and go through security again. Even though I was using two different airlines it might have been smarter to have my bag checked all the way through to Hammerfest. But Norwegian efficiency saw me landed, and back through security with minimum fuss in less than half an hour with ages to spare. So here I am ready to board my rather tiny aircraft for the 35 minute hop to Hammerfest. And 100 quid saved - that will buy me a few beers. Well, not that many.

On leaving home yesterday I have to admit to having been more anxious about travelling than I can ever remember - and that includes crossing many a border in south east Asia in my 20s where they just about strip searched me checking for illicit substances. More than once I have feared the snap of a rubber glove! Its nothing to do with going to the frozen north on my own, and all to do with whether or not I had got all the entry requirements and Covid rules correct. As I am writing this from Hammerfest, you can assume I made no major screw ups. It is good to be on the road again - and the sea, and rail, and even the air. And in a country I have grown to love, even if a beer is a bit on the pricey side!

And despite the fact it was a 2.6km walk each way to the “Meridianstotten” (where they measured the earth), and it is currently -8ºC, and everywhere is covered in snow, and I needed to wear sort of crampons on my boots (which miraculously I brought with me), it was worth every minute. Yes, I am certifiably insane, but I don’t care. I’ve just found a bar that serves the best pizza in the Arctic and has local beer. What’s not to like? (apart from the bill obviously)

Slainte, as they don’t say in Norway.

PS I admit I didn’t take the picture of the northern lights at the beginning! But just maybe I will see lights like this (and doubtless fail to get a decent picture)

So to close for today, not much in the way of pictures but hopefully better to come. Have I mentioned its bloody cold!

Moonrise over Tromso (rubbish picture though). My excuse is that my warm jacket was in my packed bag and I wasn't venturing too far from the airport terminal in this cold!

The only luggage carousel at Hammerfest airport, which gives you some idea of the size of the place

Tromso Airport. Of course they take off and land in the snow. This place is covered in snow half the year (maybe more?)