Day 480: Double WHS in Alta

Today we got cracking on the reason we'd come to Alta in the first place - World Heritage sites. Alta is actually home to one and a bit sites! First up we went for the "bit", which is part of the Struve Geodetic Arc. It's literally just a survey point on top of a hill, but it was part of an important scientific project in the 19th century to determine the exact size and shape of the earth.

There's a line of 34 points stretching from the tip of Norway all the way south to Ukraine and the Black Sea (almost 3000km distant!), and a Russian astronomer took 40 years to triangulate his way between them. At the end he figured out the exact angle of compression at the poles, and that the circumference of the equator was about 3.4 million metres. Incredibly, the task was redone in the 90s with satellites and computers and he was only off by about 200 metres.

The trig point was at the top of a hill which seemed to be a popular hiking spot, so we set off with all the Norwegians in their hiking gear. It was about an hour and ten to the top, though we would've gone quicker without Schnitzel! Poor little guy was uncomfortable for part of it, and later had an explosion of diarrhea, thankfully not on the path (or in the car!!). But we made it up and back without much fuss.

Next stop for the afternoon was the Alta museum, home to rock art from 5000BC - 0AD. I say rock art, it's almost entirely carvings, many painted red as usual, but they were quite detailed and interesting. The accompanying guide pamphlet was very in depth and we had a good walk around for a couple of hours.

Tired, we headed back to our cabin where we had a nap then dinner then back to sleep!Read more