Top of the world, fjords, a cave choir and fish heads.
We passed a few isolated, very isolated, wooden houses. A few,obviously seasonal fishing cabins but others with an air of more permenant residence. I cannot, in my wildest dreams, imagine what it must be like to live in such a place. Remote doesn't even cover it. There were no gathering places either. Not a community centre, shop or bar. Nothing. And, for half the year it barely gets light. Just an hour or so of twilight. The rest of the time it doesn't get dark and you cannot sleep. Plus; it's bloody freezing cold. This is supposed to be summer too. A person could go crazy in such a place. I would. Many do.
Still, for us rallyist it was a real treat to reach the top of the world - even if we couldn't see further than a metre or two in front of us. We had to pay £50 to get into the Norkapp car park. Norway is very expensive! Luckily, the fog cleared for a few seconds and we were able to get a group photo in the biting cold before the mist came down again and we all ran back to our cars to get away from the wind coming straight off the North Pole. Those of us lucky enougho have a roof, that is.
We then headed south to our night halt in Alta, home of the Northern Lghts Cathedral. Our room looked directly out at it. Apparently, there was an architectural competition for the design. I can't imagine how awful the losers were.
The following morning we set off to Rundgaug, 377 Kms away. My, but this country is unbelievably beautiful. Sparkling fjords, mountains, snow, pretty houses, rivers, woods - you get the picture. I'm glad we went to Sweden first as the other way round would be a disappointment. Norway is so much lovelier. All that oil money has to be spent somewhere and they have lavished squillions of Krona on their roads. Even the ones that don't really go anywhere are superb. There are many, many expensively built tunnels through the mountains also, some several miles long.
Rundhag has some of the best salmon fishing in Norway. We stayed in a quirky little hotel in a quiet little village and had a big surprise in store. At seven o'clock, we followed our host down a little lane towards the mountain, past the area hearse, disconcertingly, to find ourselves entering a candle lit cave. A glass of champagne was thrust into our hands and we entered, more deeply, into the cave. Hundreds of tea lights lit our path. Deep inside, the local male voice choir were there to sing to us. Marvellous acoustics, pure voices, perfect harmonies and spine tingling soloists made many of us cry. It was truly unforgettable. What is more astounding is that all 24 of them live in the local area. You would not have imagined that 24 men full stop would have lived in the locale, let alone 24 with beautiful singing voices. The cave had been dug into the mountain by Russian prisoners of war, apparently.
Yesterday, we had a very jolly ferry ride to the Lofoten Islands. As soon as we left the dock on the islands we had to pinch ourselves to make sure that we were still north of the Arctic Circle. White sandy beaches and emerald and azure water greeted we incredulous rallyists. It could have been the Caribbean. Bit colder here though.
It was a spectacular journey. We are now in Henningsvar, the centre of Norway's cod fishing. Out side our little waterside hotel, there are huge racks of drying cod. The fillets separated from the heads, which are underneath. It's quite a sight. And smell. The heads, minus the cheeks which are eaten here as a delicacy, are then shipped to Africa where there are rehydrated and made into a fish stew. Who ever knew that? They are dried for a couple of months on the racks. We had cod cheeks for dinner last night. Delicious! We also had some cod caviar too, which was the best ever.
Today has been a rest day. The temperature is 8C. But the "feel like" is -1C. I have never been so cold on June 2nd. Some of our intrepid party went snorkelling - remember we are still north of the Arctic Circle - whilst a few of us smooched around the cute little village whilst freezing our socks off in the pouring rain. The drying fish is not covered. Seems a waste that the rain will make it a bit wet again.
Many cars are having work done on them today. All the cars have had issues of some description. Except one. I'm pleased to report that the fine shiny red Bristol 401 has been going like a dream. Personally, we have travelled 3100 miles since leaving home with barely an egg cup of oil having to be put in the engine. It's performing faultlessly. She said, touching some of the ample Norwegian wood there is around here.
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