22 August

Ah, dear, reader, the problems of going into holiday mode. I have switched off and so this blog comes a day late, hoping I can remember.
The morning started at Saariselka, with an excellent buffet breakfast after morning preparations, which now include putting the suitcase out for the porter. There was a very wide range of food available, but not quite to the standard of the Japanese hotels (but then again the cost is considerably less). After stocking up for the majority of the day, I returned to my room to pack the Vegemite in the backpack (yes, I could have toast with Vegemite). Then, after a short wander around the front area, it was onto the bus.
We were scheduled to have only a few stops during the day. We were off by 0800 and settled into our seats and ready for sightseeing. I chatted to Keith in the breaks between commentary by Jerome. We headed north through Ivalo and Inari (and I was grateful we passed through them, as I’ll be back there in a week or so) until we got to Karasjok. Along the way there were a lot of children riding to school on bicycles. We stopped at 0930 Norwegian time to look through a Sapmi display area and village and then to have a (very early) lunch break.
After seeing where the Sapmi have their parliament while some on the bus hit the ATM for Norwegian cash, we arrived at the (theme) park and went almost straight into a short introduction of the Lapp life and then a multimedia presentation on the changes that modern living have made to the Sammi (Lapp) way of life. Most of us walked around the village area, which had examples of different accommodations used at different times of the year (and they look very much like the structures used by native American Indians). After that it was having the lunches which we had (which varied from licorice for me through to complete picnic lunches brought along by others) with us, a drink from the kiosk and a chat before we got back on the bus.
We then headed north again and stopped for a quick photo opportunity along the way until we paused at Russenes for another food and toilet stop (these become quite important when everyone is eating and drinking along the way). Along the way we saw miniature dolphins frolicking in the fjord.
Here there was another tourist bus in, which had also come from Rovaniemi, and had Italian tourists on board. Some I recognised from the airport in Helsinki, as they had taken the same flight up to Rovaniemi. Outside we saw a caravan park (not too different from anywhere else), a child washing his bike with a hose (oh to have so much water!), the fjord and flowers. We had been driving along beside the fjord for quite a few hours and seeing many reindeer (and the bus had to pull up a number of times – apparently they are not like sheep and you can’t just drive slowly through them).
The day had been overcast with a few glimpses of sun, but the temperature was in the low to middle tens. We left the mainland and went onto an island, which is where the town of Honningsvag is, by going through a seven kilometre long tunnel (which had an horrific toll!).
We arrived at Honningsvag about 1520 and pushed straight on to North Cape (like John O’Groats) the reputed but not actual northernmost point of Europe. On the way there were breaks in the sky but by the time we arrived there was a solid mist cover (just like in Cornwall, where at Perranporth all I could see was the mist). We all trotted out to experience if not to see the area. I was unsure of the accuracy of the claim of the latitude, as my GPS showed it was 70°10’15’’ and not 20” as claimed. The view was, well, limited, but the experience was unique, so we all photographed ourselves at the marker (and I photographed a Slovenian family there, for them). After that, we say a dramatic short film of the North Cape area on six screens covering just over 180°. There was a lower viewing area, but the view was limited by mist here too. Along the subterranean path there was a small Thai museum (not a tie museum!) and a chapel.
We were back on the bus by 1705 and headed back to Honningsvag. The mist on the road made for slow travel, with cyclists, cars, reindeer and mobile homes adding to the narrow and winding road. We were in by 1800 at the Rica Hotel, got our room allocations, found our rooms (and some were not happy campers, so there were quite a few room changes) and settled in (even though the luggage was slow arriving). I got an internet card and found I had to be in the lobby for it to work (and there’s another story after that). As there was fair time until dinner (at 1945), I went for a walk past the quay, along the entry road to the town and up to the fish drying racks. On the way back I was walking at a brisk six kilometres per hour but was left in the dust of a local girl who was powerwalking along the footpath.
Back at the hotel we had dinner in the restaurant – the first thing was the entrée was salmon, but that was soon fixed up, and then the problem was getting through the amount of food. Fortunately as it was a buffet, we could only blame ourselves. Dinner was over by 2100 so I went back and processed my photos and then went to the lobby – and could not log on. A lot of the hotels, for some reason, only permit one logon per visit. In future I will make sure I have everything ready to go before I establish my connection. At 2215 I gave up and went back to my room, got everything ready for the morning and then went to sleep.