The Road Goes Ever On

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Back to Sweden: Gammalstad

July 21 was a day of driving, from south of Hetta, Finland, to Lake Angerjons, south of Umea, Sweden, off the Bay of Bothnia, Baltic Sea. Near Hetta was a major snowmobiling site. Terrain, mixed pine and aspen, rolling hills, sandy soil, lakes, creeks, rivers, more lakes. Many reindeer on or near road, very docile. Great souvenir store, much Sami, in Sonkamuotka, “Arctic Knife.” Stimulated local economy. Drove on into Sweden, near Muonio, mostly E4 and tributaries. Stopped at Gammelstad, old village and church, UNESCO, 3 star, near Lulea. Gammalstad is important as a well preserved market town...the church at the town center, with houses radiating out along the paths to distant villages. The villagers used these houses to stay in on market weekends, then return home. Gammalstad has scores of the them, preserved for centuries. In any case, a long day of driving, stopping finally, at Lake Angerjons south of Umea at 10PM.

Gammalstad 14th century church

Pulpit

Font, said to be much older than church

Gammalstad houses

Houses and church

We also saw one of the old foundry towns

Vicki hates these "old/new" shots I do

Lapp Tops

Snowmobiling in Finland

Signage very similar to ours

Crossing signs near border with Norway

Finnish trail markers

Give way?

Warming hut? (no sauna?)

We enjoyed watching the sun bounce along the horizon...but then

it sank beneath the trees...oh well, too far south already

On to Finland

July 20, we awoke atop the North Cape amid a gale and white-out, the camper rocking and rolling in wind. (It's a full size campground up here, the parking lot, that is; no hook-ups though). We had to stick around till 11 to return Vicki's T-shirt at the gift shop.

We then drove south off the blustery and cloudy Cape to increasingly mild and sunny weather, first off the coastline, then the barren uplands, then a beautiful valley and large creek, then into Alta, where we re-fueled and re-provisioned. Then we headed inland on route 93, forsaking our old friends E6, and E10 and E69, up a long beautiful canyon and creeks, then into an upland lakes country, and the finally onto the vast northern Scandinavian plain. The hills are rolling, the trees are almost entirely scrubby aspen, and there are lakes everywhere. We had dinner overlooking one of ythese and then headed on, into Finland, about 6PM. We camped at a nice Finnish rest area, in the midst of serious snowmobile country: signs and trails everywhere. We had read that the reindeer head to the coastal areas in the summer, but we saw three big ones by the side of the road just into Finland, near Hetta, south of which we are camped. And then more.

Watched the sun, alas, set, although at midnight it was still full above the horizon. A hill-line in the distance spoiled our view.

Among the hazards of driving up north

Reindeer husbandry in Finland (what about wifery? Vicki asks)

It's our road, he seems to be saying

Rack

We eventually nudged them to one side; they're not exactly terrified of people

or vehicles

Vicki adds:

Hetta, Finland-- July 20, 2009

We just left Norway an hour ago, headed south to Paris. We loved Norway and could have spent another 3 weeks easily. We decided to go north to the Lofoten Islands which have to be one of the most gorgeous places in the world—see Mark's blog for pictures and details. Then when we found out my cousin wasn't going to be in Brussels for us to visit, we decided—what the hay—let's go to the North Cape. A place we had never heard of before 2 weeks ago, but it is the furthest northern point in Europe and a very popular destination for Europeans. (Be sure to look on an atlas and see how amazingly far north this is!) It was a mere 600 miles round trip out of the way, but then we knew we would never get this close again. It also allowed us to stop at another Unesco World Heritage Site—the rock carvings in Alta. Both were really cool, and tonight we are wild camping again and staying up till midnight to see the midnight sun. At the Cape last night, we could only see the midnight sun reflection due to the constant cloud bank over the Arctic Ocean. But given that it was the Arctic Ocean that is to be expected.

For those of you interested in the practical, we have wild camped the last 10 nights, staying for free at roadside pullouts and parks. Usually there are several other campers and even tenters, but not always. This is a huge wilderness area and very sparsely populated mostly by the Sami (Lapplander) people. Staying for free has been especially important as it costs about $150 for every fill up—or $ .30 a mile for diesel. We haven't had much in admission prices but that has been balanced out by the cost of the ferry boats. The Arctic Menu featured here of reindeer stew, cod, salmon also hasn't been that attractive—we haven't eaten out at all basically since the smorgasbord on the ship to Helsinki. Dinner for two would be at least $100 for a very basic meal. At the ESSO station they are having a special—two hot dogs and a small coke for only 49 kroners--$7.50.

I did have lunch at Burger King a few days ago—double cheeseburger, med. fry and small coke for $10. I asked the counter girl what she made-- $20 an hour. To start a person would make no less than $15. So that puts the prices into perspective. Basically a minimum wage worker in the US would have to work about 50 minutes to pay for that meal in the US and have no health benefits and probably no paid vacation or sick leave. In Scandinavia they would only have to work 40 minutes and get free health care and a month's paid vacation plus sick leave. That is why they have such an overall high standard of living and very little crime or poverty. Of course, they probably don't have the percentage of really high incomes that the US does because taxes are so high to pay for all the benefits. So basically the “socialism” that many in the US are so afraid of just means that the rich have a little less so that there isn't any poverty and all who work have the dignity of a living wage. Awful isn't it? I will get off my soapbox now.

It is 2200 miles from the North Cape to Paris where we pick up Rebecca on July 29 so we have to hustle.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Nordkapp: The Road Definitely Does Not Go Ever On From Here

We drove further on, through a beautiful valley, a huge long fishing creek/river (many summer homes, fishing/hunting cabins), Sami (Lappland) shopping centers (tents with hand-made goods), and then out onto the Cape itself, mostly along the east coast, the land becoming more and more desolate. An 8km tunnel is a main feature, other than pancake rocks, sea-scenes and fishing villages. The tunnel goes beneath the sea for a couple kms. And the charge for vehicles over 6m (we're just short of 7) was a whopping 507NOK. $75.

Then the road climbed into ever more desolate, tree-less land, with patches of snow in gullies. North Cape itself is a 1,000 foot cliff over looking the Arctic Ocean. We arrived about 9PM, paid the 320NOK admission charge for the two of us and our vehicle, and proceeded on to the huge cliff-top parking lot, to join several dozen other RVs. The weather atthis height was a cloudy, rainy, gale, daylight, but no sun visible. We walked out on the Cape, did the obligatory pix, visited the gift shoppe—one of the largest ever—viewed the tryptych panorama movie about Nordkapp, actually good, museum, chapel, Thai shrine (really thais things together for us (see blog circa November, 2008), the King's view. 12AM, curtains rise to strains of the morning piece from Peer Gynt...like Xmas vacation, the drum roll (please), and then....clouds. At least at this point you could see the horizon and a definite shimmering. Many pix. Waited another hour, till 1 AM. Broad daylight outside, enough to read by easily, but no visible sun. Retired at 1:30AM.

There were sixty or so tour buses, easy. Equivalent number of RVs. The place was crawling with German retirees. On the other hand, it was not crawling with Americans. We saw license plates from all the major western Euro and Scando countries, plus Estonia, Lithuania, Poland. Ours the only one from Montana. People continue to do double-takes when they see our license plates. I am sure we will be featured, well, mentioned, in hundreds of family slide and video shows. When we talk to people, whatever nationality, they're always curious about the camper, about what we're doing, always very friendly and welcoming. I guess it goes with any curiosity, and we definitely are a curiosity.

Meteorologist Vicki notes that the polar winds and the Gulf Stream are a bad combination, producing rain, clouds, turbulent weather.

Along the North Cape of Norway

End of the road, North Cape end in the distance

The parking lot/campground at the end

Me downing a Mack's Arctic Brew before heading out into the frosty gale

The globe--very famous--on the promontory

Globe again

Vicki at the globe

The Thai shrine in the Nordkapp museum; the king visited in 1907

The King's View, a special lounge auditorium, with windows opening to the sun...

No sun this midnight, just clouds

But there was a shining on the sea

Part of the gift shoppe, huge by any standard

Alta

Our drive, July 19, to the North Cape was long but varied in scenery, mostly fiords, an unusual light blue color, and attendant mountains and forests. Another 3 star destination en route was Alta and the Alta rock carvings there, where we stopped for a few hours, walking the extensive array and museum. These are definitely paleolithic, ranging to 6,200 years in age. Occasionally, one can spot an original, unpainted, carving, as I did, but mostly they have been painted red, a Scandinavian custom, to make them easier to see. There are a couple thousand such carvings in the Alta area, but they have become known and studied only since 1973. Alta itself was completely destroyed by the Germans in their scorched earth policy of late 1944. Only the church was left standing. The entire city was rebuilt after the war. There was a very touching monograph in the gift shop, recounting all this, hoping to explain to visitors why there were no old buildings in Alta. Bodo suffered a similar fate, and the Germans bombed old Narvik thoroughly in 1940, after their troops were (briefly) driven out. It was in Alta fiord, later, that both the pocket battleships Tirpitz and Scharnshorst were anchored between raids on the Murmansk convoys. British mini-submarines torpedoed the Tirpitz here in 1943.

The Alta Museum and Heritage site

Alta Fiord, from the museum

The Alta boat, the site's emblem

Elk (moose); every now and then, you'll spot one that has not been painted

Deep sea fishing; as a bear looks on

Oldest known depiction of a fence

Pregnant reindeer

Another skier?

Our favorite: the boat party (note dancers and drummers in middle)

Lofotens II

July 18 we continued our drive on the E10 up the Lofoten chain and its scenery, incredible even in windy, rainy, cloudy weather, stopping briefly in Svolvaer for email and shopping. Here we received the welcome news that our $14,000 “deposit” with the Germans had been refunded, as we requested upon leaving the EU, and wired to our US bank account. What a relief!

At another mini-maelstraum down the road I went fishing again with a new new lure (15NOK at Svolvaer Maritime Supply). I made a fine cast into the maelstraum, from bridge pilings between the two islandss...with high hopes. But, alas, the line was not attached to the reel (factory defect?) and my line and brand new lure disappeared into the turbulent depths. Fish 3, Mark 0. Perhaps I'll buy new line and lures in Scotland next month. We paid $15 for my rod and reel and set-up at the Kathmandu store in Auckland last December. The lures and line will exceed that. Is this what is meant by sunk costs?

As we drove further north in Lofotons, toward Narvik, the question arose of where we would go next. Our relatives in Brussels will be out of town when we pass through, so we have “gained” a day or two from there. At length, the northering instinct prevailed, and we decided to drive on to the North Cape, the Nordkapp, as Europeans call it, the northernmost point of Europe. It is a major destination, and we wanted our RV to display the same Nordkapp sticker we have seen on others. We had dinner at a rest area and drove and on, into the “night,” stopping about 10PM at yet another rest area.