Blogging at 22:30 on Saturday 3rd August from intended overnighting spot N 68.66945°, E 17.68163° / http://maps.google.com/maps?q=loc:68.66945%2C17.68163
Last night's camp gave up a really close white-tailed eagle sighting first thing this morning, plus another redstart. No-one should ever take such things as white-tailed eagles nonchalantly flying past their motorhome under 20 metres away for granted.
Hot!... in a word. Today's been an absolute scorcher, really. Who would think that at a latitude of almost 69 degrees north it would be shorts and T-shirt weather from getting up to going to bed? We've seen 26 Deg C on the truck today. Given where we are, that was most unexpected.
Wow!... in a second word. As we've bumbled yet further north the landscapes have - remarkably - become even more spellbindingly dramatic. As a bonus, the increasingly infamous E6 has also become somewhat quieter, and rather less of an enforced conveyor belt of missed opportunities. We're still seeing huge numbers of tourists, but fewer than before, and the same is true of traffic generally. The 'turn-off' for the much-vaunted Lofoten Islands seems to be a significant one in terms of gringo flow.
I can't do justice to the majesty of landscapes we've encountered today but they are (and we quite unusually agree on this) even more spectacular and dramatic than anything to be found in fjordland. It's also considerably easier to find good, solitary overnighting spots hereabouts.
It would seem the secret is out: a decent tip might be to forget fighting through the hordes in fjordland and the hamster-wheel procession of the E6. Instead, head north through Sweden and pop into Norway somewhere around Bodø, continue north from there and prepare to be wowed in a more relaxed kind of way.
Getting back to the unfathomable heat. The warmth of the day lent itself to knocking off something I've wanted to do since we were last at high latitudes: a non-wetsuit sea-swim north of the Arctic circle. Tick! I only managed about a hundred metres of freestyle and it was menacingly cold but it's now a thing done (pic). Emma braved a full plunge, too. There was a lot of cheek-puffing fuss and not a little blasphemy. And some big swear words.
The spot we're now at / intending to sleep has been very good for sea birds and waders, and also (less expectedly) for passerines. As well as more of the same species we've already spotted on the trip, there have been greenfinches and yellowhammers, too. These were a bit of a surprise as I'd not realised they ranged this far north.
The spot's also given up sightings of huge fish jumping out of the sea and a very close sighting of a small group of porpoise. Emma-the-Compulsive also did a bike-training session from here. I just couldn't be bothered.
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