0334 Stokkvagen to Bodo

21^st Aug 2015

More ferries, glaciers, and more sunshine.

We woke up reasonably early, at about 7.15. and since we had so many ferries to catch today, and the first one had about 2 hour between sailings, Janet suddenly suggested that it would be a good idea to try to catch the 8.30 ferry from Kilboghavn to Jetvik – Trouble was it was about a 30 minute drive from where we slept !!  So we quickly cleaned teeth, put everything away, and without our usual breakfast or even a cup of tea, set off down the road.  But the sun was still shining, and fjords still blue, and the scenery still great, so it wasn’t too much of a hardship.  We even passed the “Polar Camp” grounds – Just to remind us where we were !!  Eventually we reached the terminal and the ferry was already sitting there with its “mouth” open, and about to pull away !!  We paid our fare and boarded, and less than 5 minutes later we were off – We had made it !!

The morning light in the water and in the surrounding mountains was just unbelievable.  We stood on deck for the entire journey, just awe struck by the majesty of the fjords, and reminding ourselves how very lucky we were to be seeing everything in this perfect weather, with still, almost glass-like seas, and virtually no wind at all.  As we hadn’t had time for breakfast this morning, we treated ourselves to a coffee and a (shared !) roll with local smoked salmon and egg – An interesting change from our usual breakfast !

Only half an hour after we left Kilboghavn we crossed the Arctic Circle  !  There is a sculpture of  globe mounted on a rock right beside the fjord, but there were no ice floes or polar bears present to mark the occasion !  Seemed odd crossing it by see, and not being able to park beside the monument for photos like we had done at the Tropics, the Equator, and of course the other two times we had crossed the Arctic, in Alaska and in Canada.  Anyway, we are now in the Arctic – And still wearing shorts and a T shirt !!  Unbelievable. 

The scenery today, all day, was just stunning.  I have deleted some 300 photos, and still have 132 left that I just have to keep – Sorry !! 

We started to see more snow still lying up on the mountains, which may have only reached about 1200 – 1500 metres max, but since we were always at sea level, they still looked pretty impressive !  After docking in Jetvik on schecule at about 9.30 am,  we then only had about a 40 minute drive to our next ferry at Agskardet, but it was an incredible drive, past rocky crags towering above us, over bridges across gorges, passing water so still that the reflections of the mountains in them was almost perfect, and through rough hewn tunnels still dripping water so that the road inside was always shiny and wet.   Once we arrived in Agskardet once again the ferry was already there waiting for us and we only had about 5 minutes to wait before we paid our fare (again – Getting expensive, these ferries !!) and boarded.  The water everywhere up here is unbelievably clear and clean – You can see the bottom clearly whenever it is shallow enough.

This time it was just a short 10 minute ride across to Furoy, and then we were off cross country again. 

On the ship we had been able to see glimpses of the Svartisen glacier, but now we were driving towards it and it became clearer and clearer.  And eventually we turned a corner and could see the tongue of the glacier falling down the valley, instead of just the white of the ice field up on the top.   This tongue is quite unlike that of any other glacier I have seen, for instead of being craggy and chunky as it reaches its end, this tongue is kind of smooth and sort of “tongue shaped” !  Just very different from other ones we have seen.  It is northern Norway’s largest glacier, covering almost 400 sq kilometres, and up to 600 metres thick in places.  It is also the lowest glacier in Europe, with the summit only being at 1200 metres, yet it flows at up to 2 metres in 24 hours.  Little ferries run across the Holandsfjord to take people who want to hike the glacier, or even stay and camp there in special huts.  We found a delightful little rest area overlooking the glacier where we bumped into two French girls who were hitch hiking – Via and Alex. We had met them on both of our previous ferries, so started chatting to them and ended up sharing a cup of tea and even some vegemite sandwiches with them !!  A very pleasant interlude, and we were sorry not to have had more room in the van so we could have offered them a lift !   And as for the rest area – I have never seen one so beautifully kept, with flowers, and picnic tables and fresh water etc.  Just a pleasure to stop at. 

After our break it was on along the road – At one point passing through 3 tunnels in very quick succession (like only 100 yards between each), with a total length of 14 kms – Quite a long series of tunnels.  We then continued through almost boringly breathtaking scenery for about another 2 hours until we arrived at an immense bridge over the narrow opening between fjords at Saltstraumen, which is the world’s largest tidal current.  It is created in a short strait between the Skjerstad Fjord and the Salten Fjord, and 400 million cubic metres of water flow through the narrows every 6 hours, balancing the high and low tide between the two fjords.  The maelstrom can reach up to 20 knots and creates whirlpools up to 10 metres in diameter.  It is quite impressive, but poorly signed and set up, which makes it a bit of a nuisance when the tourist brochures talk it up a lot.  Interesting to see, especially from the top of the bridge which we eventually walked up in order to get a better perspective of the phenomenon. 

From Saltstraumen it was only 32 kms into Bodo, our destination for the day.  We plan to catch a ferry from Bodo tomorrow, out to the Lofoten Islands, a 4 hour ride away.  So our first port of call was the harbour to find out what the deal with the ferries was, and what time they left, and when we arrived we bumped into a few of our trip buddies who we have met on the various ferries over the past few days.  We decided to book on the 10.30 am ferry tomorrow, so went down to the local Information centre and did that on line.  Then we need some groceries, so managed to get that done. As well as finding a bank to get some cash out.  After that, all we needed was a place to sleep for the night, and we found a place about 3 kms out of town.  Once settled there we had some more of the Norwegian Fish cakes that we have found and really enjoy, before struggling to get on the internet to do blogs etc.  I have to say that the wifi up here is SO bad – If I can get on, about all I can do it get the written part of my blog up.  I have not been able to upload photos for several days now.  Sorry about that – But I can assure you the scenery is stunning !! Tomorrow morning we are off to Lofoten, and I am really looking forward to that – So many people have told us that it is stunning.  With a bit of luck the present perfect weather will hold for a few more days, as we head even deeper into the Arctic !  Getting cool at night, I can tell you !!

Photos are here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0334StokkvagenToBodo?authkey=Gv1sRgCKiLpub93-vwKQ