NORTH BOUND

Today we crossed  the Arctic Circle!
There were no drum rolls, clanging of bells or loud hurrahs, in fact we didn't really know we had crossed over until doing a Google search on latitudes this evening!

Our first arctic adventure was in Tromso, where we picked up our hire car on arrival at the airport.  Unfortunately we were upgraded from the smaller car suitable for 2 people zipping around a country they don't know, to a big huge heavy, family size car with an abysmal steering circle & limited visibility out the front windscreen for tall people.  We're supposed to feel grateful, but I don't.  We have a day of narrow, twisting roads tomorrow which I was anxious about anyway & now we have this humongous vehicle we didn't want... I'm even more nervous.

Needless to say, I have been a tad reactionary & this did colour the rest of my day!  Jeff is much quicker at 'bouncing back' than I am. 

After our first mission on reaching Tromso, which was finding caffeine.... we went to the Polar Museum.

This is a really valuable little museum!  It does need an upgrade (!), and it is quite disturbing in parts, but never the less, it was an excellent representation of two significant polar activities centred in this area; hunting & exploring.

The hunting part was disturbing, but it was a source of survival for many families in this region & is part of the historical culture here.  Nowadays there are huge restrictions & conservation concerns, meaning that hunting & trapping as a livelihood is a career of a bygone age.
I liked the life-size models of huts & hunting procedures that illustrated so clearly the incredible hardship these men endured whilst hunting seals, foxes & polar bears, and the team work & planning involved.

We finally got to see what a Musk Ox looks like & both thought they were a very cute looking form of Ox!

The displays about the explorers weren't as visually interesting, but were about incredibly interesting people!  Roald Amundsen is well known for his explorations of the North West passage, North Pole & South Pole.  His final adventure was an attempted rescue mission, during which he & his team were lost & their bodies never found. He did a lot of scientific research & recording in his time & was very keen to try new technologies & ideas.  Even if not all were successful.  An incredible human being.

Another incredible person, was Wanny Worstad.  Widowed twice & with two teenage sons to provide for, she took on a 'man's' role & became a trapper & hunter.  She had a very accurate eye for shooting & was able to provide for her family using that skill.  Later she became Tromso's first taxi driver, she wrote a book about her life, and she wrote songs about Arctic life that are still being sung by choirs today!

I tried in vain to find a copy of her book, in English, in each bookshop here... alas, not a copy!

Leaving the centre of Tromso behind, we set off for Sommoroy.  There was no sun shining through blue skies today, all was grey & rather sleepy feeling. 
The countryside we passed through looked like parts of Iceland & there were still patches of ice up on the mountains.

After checking in, we went for a wander & found a beach!  An Arctic beach!  The water was a beautiful colour & as smooth as glass, but oh so very cold!  I don't think I would have lasted very long wading in that, even if I were inclined! Out from the shore, little islets dotted the skyline & we thought back to the Atlantic Road we crossed a few days ago & how like that this was... but without the chaos of cars & buses.  It is so tranquil here.  Beautiful.

 

Looking down at the white sand, we were taken aback to see billions of tiny shards of coral, dotted with blue mussel shells & the broken pieces of peachy coloured scallops. 

  

 

It is no wonder that this is a popular place for family holidays. 
Again we feel so overwhelmingly grateful to be in this tiny place on the other side of the world, that we otherwise wouldn't have known existed.  It doesn't matter that there is no blue sky, it is still beautiful.