Lapland in Winter
Tromsø - Lyngen Fjord - Alta

[back to the overview]

23^th of February 2002
Car trip, day 2: Tromsø - Lyngen-fjord - Alta

Forenoon we made again a walk through the old town of Tromsø and as yesterday night we where enthused by the old wooden houses and the life in the streets.

We continued our journey to the North not on the main road (the E6), but on the street through the Lyngen peninsula with two ferry passages. On the ferries we had enough time to enjoy the fantastic scenery of the Lyngen Alps.

At Olderdalen we "met" again the E6 (Trans-European road No. 6) which we would follow until the North Cape. This part of the E6 is certainly one of the nicest, with deep insights into the Norwegian fjord scenery.

Suddenly a boom blockaded the road and so we stood in the beginning darkness somewhere in the nowhere at the E6. We decided to wait, because we knew that such barriers are quite normal in the winterly Norway ... maybe an avalanche has to been removed? The only irritating thing was, that there was no note or time table at the boom, when this road section will be opened.

After a short time a bus came and the bus driver told us, that indeed an avalanche blocked the road and in a half hour the road would be opened for the last time at this day.

30 minutes later a huge snow plough and a car of the road maintenance came and with the snow plough in front of us and the maintenance car at the end we crossed the dangerous road section.

After we crossed the avalanche, the bus passed us and was driving like crazy on the icy roads to Alta. We tried not to loose the bus, because we didn't know the winding road. At 8 o'clock we arrived at Alta, where we rented a hytter (hut) at the next camp ground.

The lady of the campground said also, that we had look in even getting to Alta, because yesterday all roads to Alta were closed because of snowfall and wind.