66 degrees 30 minutes north.
We had parked in a great free Bobil parking area, some money had been spent in this location. It was in the site of an old quarry but the area was all level, there was a huge patch off cut grass in the middle and 7 hardstanding pitches for motorhomes. There were no service at all apart from a skip to deposit your rubbish. This is all that is needed, and it's high time that Scotland gets its act together and starts spending a bit of cash and putting in areas like this. The only thing wrong with his area was, in my opinion that there was no charge-it would surely be better to recoup a little of the money spent to perhaps fund another area somewhere nearby. The 7 pads were taken and it was a quiet night. There was loads of space around each van with a concrete table and chairs between each parking space and notably not a single piece of litter or old fire pit to be seen. There is definitely a different mentality here.
This was an expensive ferry 725Nok but to be fair it was much longer one, the journey to Jektvik takes about an hour. We have made a booboo on the ferries , you can buy a ferry pass/card which entitle's you to up to 40% off the ferry coast on some (not all) ferries. However this would have to have been done at home, the card is delivered to your home address. I had seen this before we left but the website is not easy to navigate, we were also not 100% we would make it here till the last minute. You preload the card with I think 5000NOK and your ferry costs are taken from the card as you use them. We would have saved money had we done this. We found a seat on the ferry and got stuck into our sandwiches. I was keen not to miss our crossing of the Artic Circle, there is a monument on a small peninsula which the ferry sails past and an announcement is made on the tannoy also. This little silver globe marks the artic circle at this point, We popped outside to see it and take the obligatory photographs, some people were popping little bottle of Champers, a bit over the top perhaps. Of course, once we passed this imaginary line the sea had turned to ice and we had to don our sealskin boots and jackets and get off the ferry and onto skidoo's..................NOT.
After the dishes were done done I got out the fishing rod and went down to the little jetty here as it looked good, I wanted to know what was lurking in the green glacial water. on my second cast and I hooked a very decent Cod, it seemed too easy so I put it back thinking I would get some more. I got lots of fish but all small, cod, haddock, saithe. Sea trout were jumping around me but no more big cod until bang.....a much better fish. A bit bigger than the first and this one was going to feed us tomorrow. This was not going back. Not sure if I have ever fished in such a stunning location, sure we have lovely bits in Scotland, but I am a mountain man. I am surrounded by glaciated mountains and in my element, and catching fish in their shadow is very special to me. A great end to a great day. I have just had a WhatsApp from our new friends, Bjorn, Ina and and their dog. They're holiday is coming to an end, but they have had a good time. The fishing for them has maybe not been quite as good as expected, but it just about being here in the natural environment. All good things have to come to an end as it will for us. However for us this is only night number 35 out of 79 so not even half way there yet. Many more adventure's await this little travelling family.
The weather had changed a bit and was overcast and a wee bit windy, it was still warm enough to sit outside for breakfast however, I always think if you can do it its a good idea, tomorrow it might be raining and also we spend a lot of the day in the van driving, so time outside and fresh air is good, the continentals seem much better at getting outside than we do for some reason. Also (hopefully), after today we will be within the Artic Circle a line that means we will no longer be wearing shorts and T-shirts but instead thermal base layers, heavy fleeces and duvet jackets, hats and gloves๐. We were on the road north before 10am and soon after stopped at a lay-by to check out "The best preserved German war bunker in the area".....this however turned out not to be the case as it is currently a building site, the carpark and museum are all being rebuilt and the bunkers and passages are all pitch dark so it wasn't quite what we expected to see. After an hour or so here we headed north, there are some stunning mountains around these parts that rise steeply from the mainland and also the small islands just offshore, some to a good height. Also, none of their summits look particularly easy to reach, and their connecting ridges difficult to say the least, perhaps on closer inspection they would be alright but I am not so sure. I stopped to take a few picture which are probably rather uninspiring as the weather wasn't at its best and this left us cutting it a little fine for the ferry at Kilboghamn, it was quite important we made this as the next one was about 2 hours 10 minutes later so Bessie was rallied around corners and wheel spun her way up and over a mountain pass, a set of roadworks and a red light looked to have thwarted her best efforts but when we finally got to the terminal the ferry was still there, it was actually running late, we had made it just. There was actually time for Joyce to very quickly rattle up a few sandwiches for us to eat on board.

The peaks that we were sailing past were dramatic and soon we were disembarking at Jetvik a tiny village that definitely is in a tough environment. I have no idea if these little communities get cut off in the winter but it is very isolated and rugged. I like to explore so we took a couple of little side roads to see the peaks and fjords from a different angle, this takes time of course. We passed a couple of wee sign posts showing access points into the mountains, it was tempting to go and climb one but not today the weather was not perfect. We carried on north around Tjongsfjorden and took a left which allowed us (according to the map) to do a little loop of a peninsula. this was great as it passed through quiet forested area and finally Joyce spotted our first elusive Elk. I had to continue and turn, sometimes a car can be so close to the back of the van that I cannot see it in the mirrors and jumping on the brakes to stop could spell disaster, I did get caught out a couple of weeks ago doing just that, fortunately the driver behind was on the ball and didn't run into us. We turned and sure enough in the woods, with 2 little calves was Mummy moose, much darker in colour than we expected with a huge set of ears. I got the camera out but by now she was already taking her babies deeper into the forest so I didn't get any picture. Never mind, hopefully now that we have seen on more will appear.
We carried on and up the road further to a point where it swung back inland, but it turned to a gravel track, I figured it would only be for a mile or two until we got to more house's but no, we were on the forested rally stage for the day and this continued for 8 or 10 miles. A few people in their gardens or tractors gave us some strange looks, I doubt we are the first or last to have taken this road however in out camper van. Never mind we made it and were at the next ferry terminal, this is a short hop and I think the girl did us a favour putting us through as 6 meters, anything above incurs a hefty price rise. We refuelled at Furoy and were en route to Glomfjord, however this passes a view point of the Engabreen glacier, it is pretty stunning and there's a big carpark there. The weather was looking much better so we couldn't imagine finding anywhere better so this is home for the night. We had tea, got tidied up and the boys off to bed early as they have had a couple of late nights.

A fantastic read from my favourite travelling family, awesome pics also! catching cod from the shore surrounded by mountains with glaciers superb ๐๐ I'm loving the adventure blog
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