Day 479: North to Alta

Long day of driving today, almost seven hours worth! We left Gallivare where we'd stayed in a cabin (essential for the heat and shelter), and drove north. Funnily enough, we had to cross over briefly into Finland for about an hour before crossing then into Norway. No checks at either border, naturally, just a bump in the road and a few signs informing of local rules (eg lights on in daytime).

Alta is a medium sized town of about 10,000 people, one of the furthest north in the entire world. This is as far north as we'll get too - we considered heading the extra 120km to Nordkapp (North Cape) and the northern-most point in Europe, but decided it wasn't worth the extra 3 hours of driving.

Found ourselves a decent campground and took a cabin - small but reasonably priced. The cabins without bathrooms tend to be quite cheap - I think we're paying about 25 euros per night. Didn't do much in the evening other than quickly visit the supermarket for supplies, and a brief drive around the town. Some nice views from the port area!

The scenery picked up almost immediately after we left Sweden and Finland - both are quite flat and heavily forested, whereas Norway is extremely rugged and mountainous.Read more