There's decent wind at night. And it rains. By the morning wind has got
loose a tent pole and it's pretty cramped inside.
I decide that weather
is unsuitable for lighting a fire and pack my stuff in tent as much as
possible. It's not possible to pack the tent while sitting inside.
Outside are cloud and fog and wind. Norwegian weather shows me everything it has to offer. I wouldn't complain about monotonous sunshine.
I've waken up with enough extra time so that even when moving really slow I should get over rocks and cliffs to Karlebotn on time and from there to Varangerbotn to catch the bus.
Scrambling north continues. First part of today's walk goes along an almost vertical cliff above the river that still does not want to disappear anywhere. Anyway, being either of the two rivers that this could be, I don't have to swim over it. It's about 7-8 km to Karlebotn. The main thing is not to fall into a midget's hole or something. Finally cliffs to the north end and my way continues by the river between twisted birches. Twining between trees was something I hadn't done yet.
About 4 km before the coast I can smell sea. I have to go until Arctic Sea and turn left. I reach the road from the back yard of a house about 3 km east of Karlebotn. Luckily no-one is there to ask where I came from. Otherwise I should answer from Finland and that would make the Finns look rather strange. But to miss the target only by 3 km if you start hundred kilometers away is a nice try for the first time. I discover that I've reached 100 km when I rest next the road before Karlebotn. It goes much faster along paved road. Total distance to Karlebotn was 103 km.
Summary about the trail: Finns are anytime better with waymarks and in hiking. Because the Norwegians, come on - to choose yellow paint when there's a lot of the same color moss around, really. But landscape was cool, very varied. Beautiful. Lot of birds and animals. Wild place.
Karlebotn is a tiny village. Colorful houses, some new, some abandoned. White church (if it is a church). Sea. Wind. Not much people. No sign also from the centuries-old market.
6 km to Varangerbotn. There's a motorway and no point to hitchhike. Cars whiz past without slowing down. Soles feel like they were full of needles and so I make maybe 6-7 stops during this 6 km. Crossed pins on the map in Varangerbotn should symbolize a café. Most of the way I motivate myself with thoughts what I'm going to order there.
In Varangerbotn at last. One and half hour until bus. I take coffee, water (horrid thirst) and a sandwich. There's not much else anyway (actually there is but I see it only later). The lady is kind and tells me to have more coffee. I unpack, put my phone to charge and find internet.
Bus does not come. I switch on my phone and suddenly realize that time zone might have changed due to being in Norway. Hopefully they are back in time. Oslo is west of Tallinn. It takes a long while to find network. Yes, luckily I'm there one hour too early, not one hour too late. For change I go to the Italian restaurant in front of the bus station. When I step in, two waiters are standing and waiting. Coffee? Yes, of course. If I wish to pay then one of them announces that it's on the house. Why? You're a traveler. Oh, I see. He asks me where I come from. Estonia, super, Tallinn, he lifts thumbs up. Inquires if I'm on foot or with bicycle and tells about crazy people he has already seen. He jokes with every customer while I enjoy civilization. Chair. Table. Music. Electricity. People.
After one hour or at 17:05 local time I go outside again. 17:08 comes a bus that has "Tana Bru" written on it. Not logical. The driver says in pure Norwegian that he just came from Vadsø and another bus is coming 17:40. More waiting. It starts to rain. Looking at the surrounding dark clouds there springs up a plan. Not to camp next to the car in Hamningberg but to sleep in a house. In a hotel. I looked up something in Vadsø just in case. And then, why Vadsø, then better in Vardø. It will be closer to Hamningberg tomorrow. Bus comes at last, with a few passangers. After a while there's a girl standing next to the road and she wants to go a place that the driver has not heard of. Searches from a list quite some time. Then there's suddenly smell of smoke in the bus. The driver stops, runs somewhere in the back of the bus and starts yelling at somebody. A voice answers him from underground. Ok, someone is smoking in the toilet. Driver tells him to stop it. But what if someone uses the toilet the way it's meant for, is the bus full of that smell then?
Sea and sky are painted with different grey-blue colors, at the other side stretches Varanger peninsula. In the middle of it are small colorful houses, some with grass-roof, looking like sanctuaries in the foggy weather. The wish to steam myself in hot shower gets stronger.
Some trouble in Vadsø to find Europcar where someone was supposed to meet me after business hours. The phone number on the printout talks Norwegian, no exact address written anywhere. Finally I ask in a supermarket nearby. The office of Europcar is located in Varanger Auto AS car shop. I hadn't figured that out on my own. On the door there's a Europcar sticker. I'm there 50 minutes too early. It looks deserted and hopeless. On the parking ground are new cars and some cars with number plates. The smallest car with a number plate is a Nissan Micra. Good, so it's not Toyota Aygo but the 'similar'.
After I've put up my computer a van arrives. A woman gets off and asks it I'm waiting for a car, if I'm very cold and if it was me who called her. She just started to do yoga. Fulfills a form fast, praises Tallinn. First time she visited Tallinn with friends, next time took her children. Everybody liked it, they resided in old town. Inquires about mu plans and permits me to use the car as long as I want the next day, as long as it's back before 8:00 AM the day after tomorrow. No extra fee. Cool. Car rental in Norway for one day costs as much as for a week in Spain anyway.
Drive north continues, this time along a straight road. On the right foams Arctic Sea, on the left stretches greenery. The sea is partly turquoise blue despite the weather. Beautiful. In addition to reindeer also sheep run around. They even have a special traffic sign 'sheep on the road', picturing a sheep with a young one.
Access to Vardø is through a 3 km long tunnel. Before entering it a small yellow airplane lands next to me. The town seems nice, I have to take a closer look tomorrow. Now I just drive ahead and find Vardø Hotel. They have a room but kitchen is closed already. Maybe the establishment next door is still open. So I go there right away, without taking a shower. It is open. Behind the counter and in the kitchen is only one young woman, hustling and sweating. Even french fries taste good. Bruce Springsteen sings about a river. And I see all those rivers again that I've met the past few days, starting with the one that I climbed along this morning, all those I walked through or drank from, until the one which I crossed in a boat. Again, how it really was or what I saw THERE is not possible to describe.
Outside are cloud and fog and wind. Norwegian weather shows me everything it has to offer. I wouldn't complain about monotonous sunshine.
I've waken up with enough extra time so that even when moving really slow I should get over rocks and cliffs to Karlebotn on time and from there to Varangerbotn to catch the bus.
Scrambling north continues. First part of today's walk goes along an almost vertical cliff above the river that still does not want to disappear anywhere. Anyway, being either of the two rivers that this could be, I don't have to swim over it. It's about 7-8 km to Karlebotn. The main thing is not to fall into a midget's hole or something. Finally cliffs to the north end and my way continues by the river between twisted birches. Twining between trees was something I hadn't done yet.
About 4 km before the coast I can smell sea. I have to go until Arctic Sea and turn left. I reach the road from the back yard of a house about 3 km east of Karlebotn. Luckily no-one is there to ask where I came from. Otherwise I should answer from Finland and that would make the Finns look rather strange. But to miss the target only by 3 km if you start hundred kilometers away is a nice try for the first time. I discover that I've reached 100 km when I rest next the road before Karlebotn. It goes much faster along paved road. Total distance to Karlebotn was 103 km.
Summary about the trail: Finns are anytime better with waymarks and in hiking. Because the Norwegians, come on - to choose yellow paint when there's a lot of the same color moss around, really. But landscape was cool, very varied. Beautiful. Lot of birds and animals. Wild place.
Karlebotn is a tiny village. Colorful houses, some new, some abandoned. White church (if it is a church). Sea. Wind. Not much people. No sign also from the centuries-old market.
6 km to Varangerbotn. There's a motorway and no point to hitchhike. Cars whiz past without slowing down. Soles feel like they were full of needles and so I make maybe 6-7 stops during this 6 km. Crossed pins on the map in Varangerbotn should symbolize a café. Most of the way I motivate myself with thoughts what I'm going to order there.
In Varangerbotn at last. One and half hour until bus. I take coffee, water (horrid thirst) and a sandwich. There's not much else anyway (actually there is but I see it only later). The lady is kind and tells me to have more coffee. I unpack, put my phone to charge and find internet.
Bus does not come. I switch on my phone and suddenly realize that time zone might have changed due to being in Norway. Hopefully they are back in time. Oslo is west of Tallinn. It takes a long while to find network. Yes, luckily I'm there one hour too early, not one hour too late. For change I go to the Italian restaurant in front of the bus station. When I step in, two waiters are standing and waiting. Coffee? Yes, of course. If I wish to pay then one of them announces that it's on the house. Why? You're a traveler. Oh, I see. He asks me where I come from. Estonia, super, Tallinn, he lifts thumbs up. Inquires if I'm on foot or with bicycle and tells about crazy people he has already seen. He jokes with every customer while I enjoy civilization. Chair. Table. Music. Electricity. People.
After one hour or at 17:05 local time I go outside again. 17:08 comes a bus that has "Tana Bru" written on it. Not logical. The driver says in pure Norwegian that he just came from Vadsø and another bus is coming 17:40. More waiting. It starts to rain. Looking at the surrounding dark clouds there springs up a plan. Not to camp next to the car in Hamningberg but to sleep in a house. In a hotel. I looked up something in Vadsø just in case. And then, why Vadsø, then better in Vardø. It will be closer to Hamningberg tomorrow. Bus comes at last, with a few passangers. After a while there's a girl standing next to the road and she wants to go a place that the driver has not heard of. Searches from a list quite some time. Then there's suddenly smell of smoke in the bus. The driver stops, runs somewhere in the back of the bus and starts yelling at somebody. A voice answers him from underground. Ok, someone is smoking in the toilet. Driver tells him to stop it. But what if someone uses the toilet the way it's meant for, is the bus full of that smell then?
Sea and sky are painted with different grey-blue colors, at the other side stretches Varanger peninsula. In the middle of it are small colorful houses, some with grass-roof, looking like sanctuaries in the foggy weather. The wish to steam myself in hot shower gets stronger.
Some trouble in Vadsø to find Europcar where someone was supposed to meet me after business hours. The phone number on the printout talks Norwegian, no exact address written anywhere. Finally I ask in a supermarket nearby. The office of Europcar is located in Varanger Auto AS car shop. I hadn't figured that out on my own. On the door there's a Europcar sticker. I'm there 50 minutes too early. It looks deserted and hopeless. On the parking ground are new cars and some cars with number plates. The smallest car with a number plate is a Nissan Micra. Good, so it's not Toyota Aygo but the 'similar'.
After I've put up my computer a van arrives. A woman gets off and asks it I'm waiting for a car, if I'm very cold and if it was me who called her. She just started to do yoga. Fulfills a form fast, praises Tallinn. First time she visited Tallinn with friends, next time took her children. Everybody liked it, they resided in old town. Inquires about mu plans and permits me to use the car as long as I want the next day, as long as it's back before 8:00 AM the day after tomorrow. No extra fee. Cool. Car rental in Norway for one day costs as much as for a week in Spain anyway.
Drive north continues, this time along a straight road. On the right foams Arctic Sea, on the left stretches greenery. The sea is partly turquoise blue despite the weather. Beautiful. In addition to reindeer also sheep run around. They even have a special traffic sign 'sheep on the road', picturing a sheep with a young one.
Access to Vardø is through a 3 km long tunnel. Before entering it a small yellow airplane lands next to me. The town seems nice, I have to take a closer look tomorrow. Now I just drive ahead and find Vardø Hotel. They have a room but kitchen is closed already. Maybe the establishment next door is still open. So I go there right away, without taking a shower. It is open. Behind the counter and in the kitchen is only one young woman, hustling and sweating. Even french fries taste good. Bruce Springsteen sings about a river. And I see all those rivers again that I've met the past few days, starting with the one that I climbed along this morning, all those I walked through or drank from, until the one which I crossed in a boat. Again, how it really was or what I saw THERE is not possible to describe.
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