Saturday February 22 : we spent the night at the B&B Hôtel Orly Rungis to avoid an early wake-up call. We had breakfast at the hotel at 5:00 am and then set off for Parkinéo, where we left our car. The shuttle takes us to Orly 3 airport, where we meet up with our friends Étienne, Stéphane, Anne and Sophie. We check in at the kiosks to pick up our baggage tags, then drop them off at the Transavia counter. We take the bus to the plane. Late take-off at 8:45 (instead of 8:20). After a 3-hour flight, we arrive in Tromso at 11:50 am. The sky is overcast and the temperature 7°. A welcome change from last year's -20°! David and Stéphane take the cars to Hertz and Alamo.
We couldn't get a mini-bus because they were sold out when we booked. Direction Tromso for a pizza lunch at 12:45 pm. Then we stock up on groceries. Around 2:30 pm, we drive to our lodging on the island of Ringvassoya. It takes us 1:30. There's snow everywhere, but the roads are very clear. It's very isolated on an island that's not very touristy. We arrive at the rental house in Mikkelvik Brygge around 4 pm. There are several rental houses on the edge of the fjord, with a pontoon, spa and sauna.
Fishing and boat trips are available. Right next door, there's a small port with a ferry. The house is large.
We settle into our rooms. It starts to get dark around 5:00 pm.
Sunday February 23 : departure at 9:30 am for a tour of the pontoon.
Around 10 am, we take the cars for a visit. It's a bit sunny and quite windy, 8°C.
We drive to lake Skogsfjordvatnet. At 10 km long, it's Norway's largest island lake. It lies 20 meters above sea level. It's frozen you'd almost want to go skating on it!
We continue on the Fv302 road.
A little further along the road, we stop because we see a nice little spot with a wooden bridge over a river. It's below the road, and we descend into the snow, sinking down to our calves.
We make quite a few photo stops, we're not moving fast ! Then we head east to Dafjord. There's a salmon factory and a few houses, but not much of interest.
At 2 pm, we head off to Hansnes to the Direktor'n Bistro for French fries and hot chocolate. We continue along this road to a cul de sac with photo stops overlooking the fjord.
Back on the road,
we arrive home around 4:30 pm.
Monday February 24 : we set off at 9:30 am under overcast skies and 6°C. We take a look at the end of the road from our house : there's a cemetery and then a row of red houses. We spot a good spot for the aurora.
The village is very small.
Another road leads to Dyrsfjord : 2 rental houses and fishermen's buildings. Not much to see. We take the Fv302 road back to Tromso to go around the island to the west.
The water reflects beautifully.
Before the tunnel, we turn off towards Skarsfjord. There's not much to see either
and at the end of the cul de sac, there's a hydroelectric power station. The scenery along the way is not bad
and we come across some reindeer. It's 2:10 pm when we set off again in the opposite direction.
We arrive home around 4:45 pm. Around 9 pm, we try an aurora outing on the pontoon, but it's nothing but green mush.
Tuesday February 25 : departure for Tromso at 8:20 am. Almost clear skies and 7°.
Around 10 am, we pass Kaldfjord. Short photo stop at Ersfjordbotn viewpoint.
There are more tourists here than on our wild island ! We head for Grotfjord. We take photos from the viewpoint above
then down to the bottom of the fjord.
It's as beautiful as ever. We head for Tromvik. We stop at a small beach reminiscent of the tropics, with its turquoise waters.
In Tromvik, we see a fish landing.
We stop at the Bryggejentene café for hot chocolate and cakes. Then we fill up with petrol and groceries. We're back home by 5:30 pm. We have dinner and around 8 pm, we head for the little red huts at the end of our street. There's a bit of auroral activity, but it's not crazy as some would say.
We get home at 10:30 pm and barely 10 minutes later, the owner of the rental property comes to warn us that there are auroras. We rush out to watch them from the road. Here, it's much better, it's KP3. Green, pink and red, it's so beautiful.
Wednesday February 26 : departure at 8:20 am. Big blue sky this morning, but it's only 4°. We're off to visit Tromso. We start at 10 am with the cable car to Fjellheisen. It's gone up since last time : 540 Nok per person and parking is charged according to time spent. There are quite a few people in the queue. At the top, the icy snow is extremely slippery and we left our crampons in the car, which came in handy ! The view is great.
Then we'll revisit the Arctic Cathedral and its pretty stained-glass window. The price has gone up too : 80 Nok.
We leave the cars in the parking lot and walk across the bridge to the town center. We get a good whiff of exhaust fumes ! Where's the clean air from our isolated fjord ? We stroll along the pedestrian street, which is quite nice,
to Tromso Cathedral with its green roof. Too bad it's closed.
We stop for lunch at the Egon restaurant at 1:45 pm. We retrace our steps, passing by the port while shopping for souvenirs.
Then we cross the polluted bridge again ! We've walked 8 km ! Great effort ! We get home around 5:45 pm.
Thursday, February 27 : we go to the little port next to our house to take the ferry to the island of Rebbenesoya at 10:30 am. In the end, the ferry doesn't leave until 12:00. Not easy to find the right times! We return home and take the opportunity to make the pancake batter and salted butter caramel for this evening. We return to the ferry at 11:45 am.
The crossing takes 15 minutes. The island has only two roads, one to the south and west, and a fork to the north and then west. So we follow the main road westwards. Photo stops at red huts,
drying fish
and... a herd of reindeer.
It keeps us busy for a while ! We feel like we're on a safari, taking photos of the cars as we go.
They're domesticated reindeer because they're not afraid, and one of them has a bell around his neck. It must be the leader !
We roll
to Skogvik, then at the end of the road to Måsvikvegen, which is in a cul de sac. We take a short walk up a hill and the view is superb.
Given the number of stops we've made, we don't have time to take the second route, as the return ferry is at 3:30 pm.
We arrive home at 4:15 pm just to taste the crepes. At 7 pm, the general alarm goes off : auroras in sight! We set up on the roadside above our cottage. Beautiful activity of varying intensity (KP4-5), with green, red and even violet, and a lot of movement at times.
Magnificent. Magical ! It lasts until around 11 pm.
Friday February 28 : Departure at 9:15 am for Kvaloysletta Island and Lyfjord. Overcast 4°. We arrive in Lyfjord at 11:30 am, a dead end.
We then head for the small village of Skulsfjord.
A few photo stops...
and we're off
to reach the village of Kvaloyvagen on the other side of the island. It's a small fishing village, but there's not much to see.
We go to the mini-market for a hot chocolate. And we're off at 2:45 pm, because we're obviously not welcome!
We saw several of them ! We stop to take photos of the sunset over lake Skogsfjordvatnet.
It's partly unfrozen. Back home around 4:45 pm. Another green evening around 7:30 pm. There are some nice shapes but it doesn't last long.
Back home by 9:15 pm. Luggage packed as we leave tomorrow.
Saturday March 1st : departure for the airport at 8:40 am. We arrive at the airport around 10:15 am. We return the car. Then it's a mess to drop off the luggage. We say goodbye to Stéphane and Étienne, who are staying for another week with other friends of theirs whom we'll meet on arrival. We buy sandwiches and eat them at the gate. We take off late at 1:20 pm (instead of 12:50 pm) after the plane has been de-iced. We land at Orly at 5:10 pm. Baggage claim a bit long. We phone Parkineo and ask them to pick us up. We pick up our car and head home around 7:30 pm.
In the end, Tromso is only 6 hours from home!
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