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Sunday 10 August 2014

The Troms Border Trail – a 100-mile hike in Arctic Norway (En 160 kilometer lang tur langs Troms Border Trail)


 

POINTING THE WAY
 

Just back from an eight-day hike in the Norwegian Arctic, and to tell the truth it’s hard to find the words, yet, to tell the full story. Let’s just say that in a hundred miles (158 kilometres) of walking over eight days we saw not a single gate, nor a fence, nor a motorised vehicle; not even a light bulb. Just mile after mile of superb mountain scenery with the occasional fellow hiker – perhaps one or two a day.

 
THE REMAINS OF LAST WINTER'S SNOW


At altitudes no greater than 1000 metres, and often nearer 500, the weather – despite the ever-present snow-banks – was what you’d expect in an English summer, the temperature varying between 15 and 23 C (60 to 73 F). At night, with the sun up for 23 or more hours a day, it never dropped below about 10 C (50 F). We had one thunderstorm, which drenched us, but the joy of this trip was that, as members of the Norwegian Trekking Association, we had a key to their beautifully equipped huts.

 

THE HUT AT VUOMA; I'LL SHOW SOME INTERIOR SHOTS NEXT TIME
 
Each hut had a four-ring propane stove for cooking on, a large wood-burner with log-stack, and bunks with mattresses and pillows. All we had to carry was a sheet sleeping-bag, a change of underwear, some foul weather-gear, and all the food we would need. (More on that in a day or two)

DRYING MY WASHING
 
The scenery ranged from grassland to long stretches of glacial boulders and the occasional woodland at lower levels. The abundant rivers and lakes provided clean drinking water and a daily opportunity to bathe and do a little laundry, using a suitably ecological detergent fluid.
 

ONE OF MANY BOULDER-FIELDS WE HAD TO PICK OUR WAY ACROSS
 

There’s an awful lot more I could say, but it’s late on a Sunday night and tomorrow morning I must be a ghost-writer again. So I’ll pick this up later in the week and throw in a few more photos.


OUR WAY HERE LED BETWEEN THE TWO LAKES AND OVER THE FIRST MOUNTAIN
 


AFTER THE STORM
 

 

 

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