North of Alta, Langfjordveien, Finnmark, Norway
Zagan the motorhome’s weird and wonderful life continues, as he sits a little bemused with the sun shining on his nose, listening to Norge FM, his windows granting a 270 degree view of mountain and fjord. We’re parked in a lay bye alongside the E6 (N70.05689, E22.45145), forced temporarily north by stubborn hills and cliffs on our way south. The voices on the radio sound like they’re rapidly switching between German and Dutch, meaning we can make out roughly one word in fifty. Our Three Internet access has, finally, gone a bit slow, but it’s still working even here, which is nearly, beautifully, nowhere.
Free camping at Langfjordveien, Arctic Norway
Free camping at Langfjordveien, Arctic Norway
Today, we decided, would be an even easier day than usual. The long-drop loo provided at the last parking area was made use of (we’ve a SOG unit on Zagan, so no chemicals which might mess with some of these off-grid facilities). After a wander along the Alta River, spying on fishermen in narrow boats flinging fly for salmon and cursing ourselves for not having the balls to pick the fat mushrooms, we headed off. The canyon and rock art museum both shamelessly bypassed, I even persuaded Ju we could live without spuds for another 24 hours avoiding a detour to a supermarket.
“Look at this one, it looks really tasty…”
“This one’s massive, I wonder if you can eat ’em?”
“Dunno, we should get a book?”
“Hmmm, if we had a book, would you trust yourself not to pick something which killed us?”…”Ah, nope!”
The road turned north, then turned to gravel. Huh? What’s going on?! Norway’s oil bonanza which started in the late 60’s kicked off a massive road improvement programme, and my tiny brain assumed it was all but done with. Nah, the E6, the only road south from here without a million-mile detour via Sweden or taking a ferry outta here, is being widened or routed through new tunnels being blasted through solid rock. We bounced along at 50kph admiring the views, pulling in as soon as we could to let past one of many Norwegian motorhomes.
E6 north-west of Alta
Stacks of free-camping spots in the Norwiegen Arctic
Only an hour or so later we pulled in here. A lay bye might sound like a bit of a rough place to kip, but the lay byes up here are no ordinary lay byes. They’re Arctic Norwegian lay byes, probably the best lay byes in the world (I know, that would work better in Denmark!). The road alongside us is silent, one car an hour. The sun’s sinking, warming my back, behind me, but won’t set for another week. The hills rise impatient, just allowing enough flat land for the road before thrusting upwards. Snow lies in pockets on the north face of distant mountains, glimpses of what’s to come.
More furry antlers barring the route out of Alta.
Fabulous views on the E6
The mild pressure to get north has gone, and we’re feeling giddy with its lifting. I once told a bemused French teacher in night classes Ju and I took after a day in the office that my ‘maddest dream was to be free’. Well, my maddest dream’s come true. We are free! Yeah baby!
Cheers, Jay
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Hey guys, they are/were working on this E6 every 10km all the way to Trondheim, at least they were until the summer holidays kicked in, once you get down here you will see what I mean. One word in fifty sounds almost fluent 😃. (Sitting at Bodo ferry terminal for the ,00:45 link to The Lofotens. Free…yeah baby!😃 The lucky few.
Enjoy the islands, can’t wait to get down there too. See you shortly, somewhere! Cheers, Jay
Must feel good to be free, certainly in Arctic Norway!!
Mmmm mushrooms, but you need the skills of Ray Mears to risk it!
Just missed you at Nordkapp, now you’ve passed us, by. We stopped at Hammerfest, about to head for Alta.
Have fun.
Oooooh, we’re slowing down now so I reckon you’ll catch us up shortly, maybe see you on the Lofotens!?
Dear Our Tour… you owe me a load of money!!!! You made me go and put down a deposit on a Hymer B544. We pick it up when we return from our French Hols (in a Car). Your Blogs and Youtubes convinced me about the B544. We just couldn’t find a more spacious-feeling layout on similar 6.5m chassis. It’s lovely and I WANT IT NOW. See you on the road at some point maybe.