Hurtigruten norsk tur: Del fem

A busy day today, with stops at Oksfjord, Hammerfest, Havoysund, Honningsvag, Kjollerfjord, Mehamm and Berlevag. Some were for just 15 minutes, long enough to drop off the mail and pick up a few passengers. A pleasant day's sailing, with plenty of time to sit and look at the passing scenery. Until it got dark, that is, which is does at around 2.45 pm in these latitudes.

I was hoping that the notice on this very isolated building said something along the lines of 'Open all hours - your local Spar'. But it didn't. Even my non-existent Norwegian could figure out that it was something to do with an electricity supply cable.

A very small boat to be out in such a big sea. I like boats and I like taking photographs of them. I've got lots but I'm keeping them to myself.

A little fiddling with the fish-eye setting makes the boat appear to come out of a whirlpool. I don't go much for post-editing with my images, apart from cropping, but sometimes it's fun.

Blue skies, blue sea, white snow - the colours of our leg from Havoysund to Honningsvag.



Our stop at Honningsva,g, on the island of Mageroya was for 3 hours, which gave us time to join an excursion to the North Cape, the northernmost point of continental Europe. We drove through some stunning snowscapes to get there. The road we followed is only partially open at this time of the year because of the high probability of snowdrifts. Vehicles are only allowed along the stretch to the North Cape in convoy, with a snowplough in the lead and a support van at the rear.



Entering the car park at North Cape we had a brief view of a bridal party off to have some wedding photographs taken. At -10C, I do hope the bridal gown was covering up some thermal bridal knickers underneath.

Some painted stones placed on the cliff edge at North Cape. I presume they are in memory of various people. So, here's to them.

The Globe at North Cape. It is the point where the Norwegian Sea, part of the Atlantic Ocean, meets the Barents Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean.

Now here's a thing. The North Cape that gets all the fuss is not actually the northernmost part of Europe. It should really be described as the 'Northernmost part of Europe that people can easily get to'. The true 'northernmost part of Europe' is a promontory just to the south of the false one, but has the distinct disadvantage of not being as easy to get to.

A chapel in a broom cupboard? Not quite but St Johannes' Chapel was certainly not large. It had a simple charm and a very attractive altar. And, guess what, it can claim to be the northernmost chapel in Europe.

And this is the northernmost chapel ceiling in Europe, with the northernmost in Europe light fittings dangling from it. It was also the northernmost in Europe photograph of a chapel ceiling that I've ever taken. Another first for the boy from Trethomas.

The northernmost in Europe oddity? A Thai museum commemorating a visit by the King of Siam in 1907. Delightfully incongruous, I thought.

In bygone days, before the road was built, the only way to visit North Cape was by boat and then a long climb up a cliff to the top. Mrs P and I decided to re-enact this to fill in a bit of time. It was a bit of a slog..............

..........but well worth the effort to get as close to a group of Puffins as we did. They seem to be nesting about 3 months early this year and on rocks rather than in their customary burrows. There's something not quite right about these.

All that effort quite took it out of me. I'm not as young as I used to be.

The drive back to Honningsvag and the sun was getting lower in the sky. Apparently at the bottom of this fjord lies the smallest fishing village on the island, with a population of four permanent residents. Their occupation is fishing. The mixing of the Norwegian and Barents' seas produces an incredibly rich microplankton population and makes the area very fertile fishing grounds. Everyone who lives up here either fishes or is part of the tourist trade, unless they are involved in the public sector or service industries.

Talking of fish, we passed some fish drying racks by the side of the road. Fish, primarily cod, are cleaned and split and then hung out on the racks to dry. The nets keep the birds off. Once the fish has lost about 80% of their original wet weight, they are known as stockfish and can be used in a variety of culinary ways, bacalao being one of them. It's very popular in Italy and Portugal and these countries import a lot of the produce from this area.