Introduction
At the end of 2002, I had an idea for going on a walk in the north of Norway, north of the Arctic circle. At the time I didn't know where but I knew I wanted my walk to be easily accessible from an airport. I've been to Norway a few time before and I've used car, coach and rail travel to get to the start of my walk. Previously I thought that land transportation was the cheapest mode of travel around Norway, it was thus a bit of a shock when I read the prices for journeys done by Nor-Way bussexpressen last year.

So I investigated travel by plane and to my pleasant suprise, it wasn't that expensive so long as I booked far enough ahead in advance. So I found out which airports had direct connections to Oslo and I had a shortlist of 4 cities - Bodø, Tromsø, Bardufoss & Harstad-Narvik. Decisions decisions! I had to make a choice, but without maps (which cost a lot), I needed more information and so I turned to consult the most unlikely sources of information - Microsoft Flight Simulator!

This product alone was pretty useless, but combined with another product called Lago Terramesh I had elevation datapoints on a 'mesh' that has a resolution of about 100m between each datapoint. It enabled me to do some virtual sightseeing, it's superb - uncannily accurate and it covers the whole of western Europe for about £30! So after extensive sightseeing, I settled on a ticket to Bodø. So it was with delight when I bought my airline tickets from British Airways and SAS that my travel cost came to less than £300!

I still hadn't settled on my exact walk, I had ideas from my virtual sightseeing but it was the discovery of Statens Kartverks online mapping resource that I was able to fine tune my route planning for free and find out which maps I needed to buy. So, with maps bought, insurance arranged & bus times looked up, I was ready to go - read on!

Friday 4th July
The night before I was packed, I stepped outside my flat, closed the door and from that moment I knew I wouldn't see my bed for another two weeks. That felt daunting, but the only way for me was forwards - through time via some superb experiences back to my bed and routine life. I caught a late train to Manchester Airport and stayed overnight at the airport getting only some intermittent sleep. Now I like planes, I develop them for a living so it was nice to feel the thrill of the engines spooling up ready for take off. And then I was off to wonderland!

Lurfjelltinden seen from Børvatnet

Looking north from the lower slopes of the Børvasstindene

I had three hours of patience to excercise at Oslo Gardermoen Airport before taking my Braathens flight north to Bodø. I've been here before, I was out of my BA plane and checked in for my SAS (Braathens) flight in less than 15 minutes - I could probably walk through this airport with my eyes shut! And so I boarded my plane and headed off north to Bodø.

Coming into approach at Bodø I was amazed at the scenery below, the Svartisen icecap - the third largest in Norway was clearly in view. In fact the visibility was amazing - absolutely no haze with the haze layer below the summits. Having done a virtual tour here before, I could recognise the mountains I saw. I landed in Bodø on schedule at 14.30 and so my main task switched to buying bread, cheese and gas before boarding my 15.15 bus for the last bit to get to the start of my walk. I was amazed I caught it - sweat dripping off my forehead - had one minute to go.

My first mountain to climb was a summit on the Børvasstindene group of hills - dominating the view from Bodø. On our way the bus passed over a bridge at Saltstraumen, looking down at the water I noticed lots of turbulent whirlpools and a strong current. Later I discovered that it was home to the world's strongest maelstrom! So it was at 4.30pm that I was dropped off at the road junction leading to the iny hamlet of Børelva.

Off I walked along the track to the lake of Børvatnet where I striked off the path to head up the lower slopes of Børtinden. The weather was cool with a brisk breeze and solid sunshine. I couldn't have asked for a better start as I walked up the superb rock slabs to my first campsite at the lake of nedre-Tindvatnet. After a long day, I slept very very well feeling very satisfied...

Saturday 5th July
... but at 5am the sun made it's presence felt as it said 'wake up, wake up'! The breeze had gone and it was getting rather warm in my tent and so I roused myself to porridge & soup before heading off up the mountain leaving my tent behind. The cloud was licking the slopes just below the summit of Børtinden but was thickening up all the time to the extent that is was now overcast as I reached the saddle on the ridge and quickly becoming covered in cloud.

The weather remained dry as I plodded up the ridge where it narrowed considerably throwing out an easy rockstep. Beyond the rockstep the ridge narrow dramatically but was still easy - though on a seamless smooth slab. I could hear the roaring river far below the steep vertical cliffs and that caused trepidation. Rather than carry on, to see how far I could get, I succumbed to defeat and turned back without reaching the summit.

Børvasstindene seen from
the slopes below Lurfjellet

I got back to the tent and felt a little defeated and so it was with that that I shouldered my full pack (about 25kg) and headed southwards cross country to the main tourist path. I had also planned to climb Lurfjelltinden but that was covered in thickeding cloud and so I opted to take a path to the east of Lurfjelltinden. I met a couple staying in a mountain hut (Lurfjellhytta) and we chatted before continuing in the same direction as each other. Soon with their lighter packs, they sped off far enough ahead for me to be alone again.

Rather an ugly eyesore here - the summit of in-Hompen had a huge phone mast on top complete with 'death slide' power cables spanning a huge arc to some pylons near my path. A little further I found a camp by a stream well above the lake of Gjømmervatnet. The stream here went into a series of caves - I assumed the rock to be limestone. After some bright interludes in the afternoon, the cloud finally thickened enough to give some showery light rain for the night. At least I wasn't going to be roasted by the sun! From here I could survey all the peaks to be visited for the rest of my walk - a daunting sight!

Sunday 6th July
It was finally at 8am that I concluded that I may as well get walking. The showers continued into the morning but none of them were heavy - all were well scattered and not prolonged at all. I continued heading south towards the Saltfjellet national park along the tourist path. The tree line was higher here than at the coast and I noticed mosquitos for the first time this trip. The path got back up to a moorland plateau were the mountains to the west revealed themselves. These snowy mountains seemed to be rainy all day today whilst I seemed to get away with just occasional showers and a decent amount of bright weather.

Lurfjellet seen from the south

Örfjellet seen from the north

The route today wasn't all that eventful, it crossed one road on a saddle and went over innumerable bumps and turns on the plateau. Once the path licked the tree line and it was here that the mosquitos came out to annoy me enough to notice them. Ahead to the south, the mountains to do become all the larger as I got nearer.

I camped near to a lake just on the tree line at 592m and got under canvas just as a heavy shower arrived - just in time. Not a nice night though - I was camped on a steep slope at an angle meaning I always had to fight against sliding to the bottom and side of my tent all night.

Monday 7th July
I got up at my usual prescribe time of 6am. The wind had turned from North Westerly to southerly and the cloudy as generally more overcast. I wanted to climb a nearby mountain called Ramsgjeltinden but the slopes looked a bit iffy on the map. Seeing it with my own eyes and it was formiddably steep so I left it and carried on southwards.

The western snowy hills before the rain

The north side of Nordre Bjöllåvatnet

The western snowy hills after the rain

I arrived at a large lake - Nordre Bjöllåvatnet that sat in a large valley. There were some people camping by the hut (Bjellåvasstua). But as I got closer I noticed they had a cloud of mosquitos plaguing them, one sniff of me and I was attacked too! So after a brief chat, I was on my way - and so were the mozzies! I walked round the north end of the end and struck up slopes to gain a flat plain north of Örfjellet. Here there was a huge river, it wasn't such a friendly river as it was big and fast flowing with barren rocky banks. It was certainly a winter river and could imagine that during May when the snow melts en masse that it swells enourmously.

The broad valley to the south of my campsite

Evening sun with Ramsgjeltinden on the right

The western snowy hills at midnight

I reached my camp at 12pm, the western mountains were now being licked with rain nd so it was up with my tent after my short walk where I had an afternoon lie in while the rain passed over. The rain cleared completely by 7pm leaving very clear skies. I should have continued walking that evening as the weather was simply absolutely brilliant. I had a clear view to the north horizon so I got up just before midnight and saw the sun - unforgettable!

Tuesday 8th July
I was now going to head south past Örfjellet to another cluster of mountains. The skies were clear and I was confident about climbing a couple of summits today so off I went heading off track into the wide basin beneath Örfjellet. It was a wintry valley, the lower lake was partially covered with ice floes whilst the upper lake near the saddle was completely covered. Now my original plan was to climb Örfjellet from here but it appeared very steep - an easier route involved a long diversion back north again.

Örfjellet seen to the south of my campsite

Looking back north along the valley I walked up

Örfjellet seen after crossing the saddle to the southern hills

So I had the plan of climbing the lesser peak of Skavlen to the west of the Saddle. This I would have done if it weren't for the fact that the clear blue skies were suddenly looking very threatening from the south with a strong cold wind as well. So I decided to act with caution and omit the other summit of Addjektind that was on my bagging list.

A note about this route, sometimes I come across damp mossy patches up here. By and large they are fine to walk on but occasionally my foot sinks through and re-emerges covered in thick gloopy ginger mud - how horrible! My next valley (Kjemåbekken) was quite boggy and had one or two mud pools beneath deceptively dry moss. It was with some relief when I regained the path and headed east towards the E6.

I got to my next camp 4km short of the E6 where the path crossed a big river. The weather was certainly set for a change now that grey cloud was massing in the south. I spent the afternoon examining my 14 year old 1:100,000 Saltfjellet map. To my astonishment it represented the E6 as a soft surfaced road. Now this didn't sound right - the main artery connecting the whole of Norway together a soft road? Surely not! As it turned out, the E6 was tarmaced - so it's had a bit of an upgrade since the map revision.

One thing I take with me that's useful is my phone. My dad sends me text messages advising me of the weather forecast from ecmwf.int and met.no. This is useful as it gives me an insight as to how the weather will develop and so helps me with my planning. In return I text him the progress of my walk whenever possible and so this helps him understand where I am if he should ever need call out emergency services.

The rain arrived later that afternoon and fell non-stop till late morning next day. Now I had done two-half days worth of walking and was starting to feel restless, I had so far climbed no summits which was a little depressing for me. I was now at my southernmost point of the walk - 20km north of the Arctic Circle.