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Was it due to my sticky unwashed body in the hot tent? Was it the light from the midnight sun? Was it the cuckoo that kept calling all through the night? I suspect it was the excitement of going to Tromsø that kept me awake, resulting in my early departure. I was there in Tromsø in the middle of winter when the sun doesn’t rise, people slide in the street on the slippery ice, and I froze on the bridge with the mighty winds. It was a place of deep clear blue skies, caught in a 3 hour twilight before all falls again into darkness.

This time I set off from Senja in shorts, worked up a sweat on some hills, and was glad that the tunnels were cooler.
I set off at 4:45. The day started cloudy and a bit overcast. This may have detracted from the views, which seemed more spectacular yesterday.

Early morning on Senja

Early morning on Senja

It was a trip of tunnels which were quite fun. At that hour there was not a soul on the road, and I passed without problems through the tunnels.

Tunnel on Senja

I was at Botnhamn in time for the first ferry at 8. I realised I was tired. I had slept 2 hours, and it was a hot day (relatively speaking). I wanted to get my bike checked and buy a little cooker and pot for my forays across the Finmarkse Widde, and I really couldn’t imagine passing Tromsø without staying. I booked my hotel while on the ferry, and then all was set.

I had expected more civilisation near to Tromsø. The ferry set me off into empty nature like what I had left on Senja. Fjords, windy roads, a few houses, but no shops. No filling with water in a shop today. Yesterday my first wild camping. Today my first wild water. It was quite tasty.

The scenery, although still rough, was not as rough as Senja. Everything seemed a tone lower, even though I had some nice mountains and steep climbs.

Kvaløya

I got a lump in my throat arriving in Tromsø. It was such a lovely winter trip. I recognised it all, but saw it in a different ‘light’.

I wasn’t able to use the tunnel, as a cyclist. The cycle up and down the local hill in Tromsø was a killer on the heat, when all I was ready for was a shower and a lay down.

I am now the proud owner of a gas cooker and pot. North Cape, here we come!!

At our old hotel in Tromsø

Post script: after a four hour early evening sleep I was ready to go out. The weather was OK, so I went to the top of the hill opposite Tromsø with the cable car like I did in the winter. Alexis and Volker were staying in the camping ground and I went to collect them. Alexis came with me to the cable car.

The light at the top is magic, just like in the winter. A sunset light with an orange in the sky. The only difference is that this is midnight and not midday. Also, the sun is in a different part of the sky. The mountains to the north are more highlighted, and the mountains in the south are delegated to the dimness.

Tromsø just before midnight

And the sun came out at midnight

Crossing the bridge back to the centre, the mountains to the south had a morning hue, even though it was 1:30 am. I will be needing the curtains to sleep. Seeing morning images is confusing my body.