A Perfect Day
Summer has come to the Arctic! This is what our thermometer showed yesterday at around noon – in the shade…
We drove to the north of Kvaløya, to the end of a dirtroad, and started walking along the coast from there. There are still some patches of snow left, though they are disappearing very quickly now. Paul tried to protect his shoes from getting wet, and walked barefoot over the snow! After about 45 minutes, we reached a beautiful white beach with clear azure blue water – beautiful 🙂
Of course, beautiful places like this don’t go unnoticed and someone had built a cabin here. I think Paul was ready to buy it 😀 We spent some time suntanning on the beach, enjoying the views. Paul was tempted to go for a swim, but one toe in the water, and you remember you are in the Arctic and not the tropics – the water is so cold it hurts!
After our break on the beach, we had to walk back quite quickly, as we were meeting friends back in town for a BBQ. The original plan was Telegrafbukta, but we weren’t the only ones with that idea – it was extremely crowded there. It was easy to avoid the crowds though, just move a bit further along and you find empty beaches. We had our BBQ next to a small lighthouse, and Paul climbed on it to take this photo 🙂 A flock of birds kept flying by…
The clouds were beautiful too! We stayed there for several hours, watching one of the last sunsets for a while – from tomorrow, we’ll have midnight sun.
There were several people out in kayaks, enjoying the calm water and warm weather.
What a perfect day!! Unfortunately, I had to cycle to work for a night shift right after our BBQ, but I can’t complain after such a wonderful day 🙂
8 thoughts on “A Perfect Day”
Such great pictures! 😀 Especially those sunset pictures, just amazing!
It’s funny that you’ve had such warm weather in May in northern Norway. Here in south-east England it’s still like early spring, about 12-13 degrees by day. I’m not complaining though. I like it cool.
How’s it going in your job?
I love reading about the arrival of summer where you are, because we are experiencing the same here. The air has been so warm (mid 70s), but you still don’t want to go swimming!
I love this time of year.
I love your photos. Stunning!
Susan in Alaska
Gaaf Hanneke! Ik kom een keer bij je op vakantie! :-)En is dat jullie huis op die eerste foto?
@Ben, thanks! It was very unusual to have such warm weather this early in the year, it broke all the records. And now we’re back to the more normal 10 degrees (and rain 🙁 )
The job is going well, I work independently now and I really like it – though I am not always so keen on the irregular hours.
@Susan, thanks! I am always comparing with your photos as well 😀 I love this time of year, we started having the midnight sun yesterday and it just gives me so much energy. I’m waiting for the last bit of snow to melt so I can start climbing mountains on foot instead of on ski’s 🙂
Have a wonderful time in California, looking forward to seeing the pictures!
@Eva, haha, kom maar langs hoor. Maar ik moet je wel teleurstellen, want dat huis in de foto is niet van ons 😛 Het staat wel al heel lang leeg, dus je kunt er best logeren 😀 De foto is genomen vanuit onze keuken, dat huis staat dus zeg maar in onze achtertuin. Dit is ons bescheiden rijtjeshuis: http://images.hanneketravels.net/Huis4.jpg
We hebben wel 3 slaapkamers, dus er is plek voor je hele familie 😀
Thank you for your fantastic writing and awesome photo of northern lights. I loved to read about your Russia trip.
I came across your blog because I am planning an August trip to the far north from my sunny & warm south (Portugal :-)), But I am in need of some advice. I know that it must be annoying to have scrapping tourists around our blogs, so please forgive me and press the delete key if I am bothering you. But, anyway, here it is: I am considering to travel to Bodo, Tromso and Kirkenes, and travel back to Bergen by the costal Hurtigruten. I was considering to take the train up to Bodo and from there travel north using a rented car or by plane. I would prefer to rent a car and drive north, but one way rentals are quite expensive. Do you think that it is worth it? Or should I drive around Bodo and Tromsoe and use connecting flights? Thanks for any advice (or for deleting this spam, if you do not feel up to).
Rgds,
— fernando
Hoi Hanneke en Paul,
Ik stuitte op jullie weblog via mijn eigen statistieken – zag daar ineens dat jullie doorlinken, wat leuk! Bedankt daarvoor, en ik ga zeker verder lezen en kijken naar jullie avonturen!
Groet,
Johan
@Fernando, thanks a lot for your message! I don’t find it annoying at all to get questions from tourists, no worries!
Your trip sounds amazing! Whether a one way rental car is worth it depends a bit on what you would like to see. Personally I would prefer to have a car, as you have so much more freedom and cities here are quite small. Bodø to Kirkenes is also quite a long drive, but if you have time for it, I’m sure it will be a great experience! If you want to save some money, you could take a tent and camp – in Norway you can camp anywhere and you can find some fantastic spots like that 🙂 If you have limited time, renting a car in each city could be a great solution as well.
If you’d like, I’ll get in touch with you through the email address you provided and give you some more ideas?
@Johan, Graag gedaan 🙂 Ik kreeg de link van je website laatst van Sanne – erg mooie site en fantastische foto’s!
Groetjes, Hanneke
Hanneke, thank you very much for your warm answer, support and offer for more ideas. In the mean time, my travel plans had to change due to some problems finding a compatible Hurtigruten schedule (this is why I did not read your answer sooner). My plans moved somewhat more to the west and I’ll tour Scotland. But the Norway coast in on high priority in my “to do list” and I have bookmarked your blog. Probably I will came back look for your advice next year! Thanks a lot and keep on your great reporting on that long and beautiful street.
Rgds,
— fernando
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