North Cape 2009

We are extremely fortunate that we had 3 months available this year, due to our work being seasonal. We made the most of our time and spent the majority of it in Norway, the first trip was to take Sanna to Stud out there, the second was a skiing trip with our two sons and the third was a month long adventure to North Cape with Sugar and Sandoy.

We started our journey to North Cape late February, we had taken a great deal of care preparing our motorhome for the extreme weather conditions and ensuring Sandoy and Sugar had all their travel documents in order. Many of our friends said we were a little crazy to try to reach North Cape in winter, but we had time on our side and we both love the snow and skiing and wanted to avoid the tourists. Many of the things we saw and experienced on this trip simply wouldn't have been possible in the summer months. I do have to admit to having one or two challenging moments due to the weather and road conditions, when we did doubt our decision to do the trip!

Our friend, Stein, who lives in Oslo, had suggested that we visit two of his friends, who run a hotel on the island of Senja, Hamn i Senja. It was certainly worth the visit, Anne Kari and Gerd were warm and welcoming, we planned on staying one night but two nights later we were still there. The island is beautiful, with mountains and lakes, a miniature Norway. The hotel itself is something special, built on a piece of land jutting out in the sea with a lighthouse and old boat turned into a jacuzzi (which we declined the offer to use one evening at minus 10 degrees outside!). We first saw the northern lights here.

Some of our favourite Aurora pictures, we were fortunate enough to see it on many evenings, these were taken at Lakselv. The light streaked from one side of the sky to the other, swirling high above us

One of the highlights of our trip was the Polar Zoo, We're not big fans of zoos, but the animals here were kept in enormous enclosures, as close to their natural habitat as possible,  and cared for exceptionally well. The animals in the zoo are all indigenous to Norway. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to enter the wolf enclosure and spend a good hour with them and their keeper, not for the feint hearted as one or two wolf fights broke out and one tried to drag me down a hill by my boot, but a great experience we'll always remember

Some of the views from Northern Norway

We saw many reindeer on our journey and learned a great deal about the life of the Sámi people, we were extremely touched by them. Above is a Lavvu, a Sámi tent.

Alta Ice Hotel - the Northernmost ice hotel in the world

Sugar and Sandoy were a joy to travel with as usual. They are both happy and relaxed and love their walks (although Sugar isn't too keen on deep snow). They have all they need in the motorhome and travel in comfort. Without them by our side our holiday wouldn't have been complete

We did many things on this trip, including learning a new skill, cross country skiing! We walked each day with Sugar and Sandoy, met some fascinating people and visited many new and interesting places.

We saw a great deal of wildlife along the road, including a wolverine, an artic hare, reindeer, elk, seals and porpoise.

We drove over 6000 miles and the temperature varied from 0 to -22

Our return journey took us through Finland and part of Sweden, we stopped off at Enontekio and Jukkasjavi.

Our holiday included meeting Nina and Dag 'Nordlibakkens', one of the most northern Norwegian Forest Cat breeders and their lovely cats and Wenche 'Av Moltemyr' and her very busy and very gorgeous kitten, Zimone. Thanks to all for your time and hospitality

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