57 Degrees North: Seeking the Midnight Sun

I've always wanted to visit Norway, firstly after seeing pictures of Lofoten and the amazing climbing, and latterly the thought of skiing above the fjords in winter.. but for that I definitely would need to improve my skiing to get the most from it!

The Tromso coast area

Probably at about 11pm!

Then some time back a chain of events led to me reading about a mountain bike race in Northern Norway. I procrastinating over the expense and idea of it all for a few months. Then after a few drams and with Abi away one dark winter night the credit card came out and I entered the race!

The midnight sun

Tromso coast walking

I know I could have gone to Norway without entering this race, but somehow it gave a fixed point and reason to go. The trip although not long in time, became a very exciting prospect. If honest the race was secondary and I really wanted to go to Northern Norway and be in the arctic circle and explore it a little.

Walk up the wee hill near Sommaroy

We flew into Tromso and almost immediately were blown away by the place. The views on stepping out of the airport of the sea/fjord and snow topped mountains were very compelling.

The bridge over to Sommeroy

Kayakers

As it was mid summer it doesn't get dark at the moment in N Norway and we quickly adjusted to this fact. You slot into a different schedule, we explored in the day maybe chilled out for a few hours around 7 - 9pm, and then you go out again, either walking on the beach, up a mountain, or whatever really. And clearly this is normal to the locals, who would be out jogging or cycling in the middle of the night.

The fishing folk at Hella

We also took a drive West from Troms and explored some islands towards Sommaroy. This place was very different again with white Caribbeanesque (I imagine) beaches. We climbed a small hill to admire the views before returning to the city.

Stopping at Hella on the way back was pretty special. Old wooden houses and buildings removed from Tromso during modernisation have been removed and put here to form a surreal empty village museum next to the fjord. Lots of locals come to this spot to fish from the rocks and it was fun to watch the fishing as the ships passed by.

Hella still..

One night we went up Fjellheisen hoping to see the midnight sun. At the top of the gondola (we walked up) you can go onwards and higher, so we hiked to the next top (the mountain continued beyond, but we stopped at this point) and although we didn't see the midnight sun the views of the city were great. I think we got back at 1am and it was still light obviously - very strange, and yet normal...