Four people's luggage had been placed in my daughter's new Ford Galaxy. It was 7.40am on Sunday, 2nd September, when my husband, Mike, my old school friend, Hazel, my daughter, Anna, and I climbed aboard and set off for Manchester Airport en route to Tromso, in Northern Norway. Our e-tickets and passports were in our hand luggage and we had booked car parking space in Terminal 3 car park online. We were due to leave from Terminal 1 at 11.25.
Everything ran smoothly till we were driving from one level to another, searching for a space in the multi-storey car park. Suddenly, there was a horrible grating sound, as the luggage box on the roof of the car scraped against the wooden beams of the roof, on the slope from one storey to the next. There followed many anxious minutes as Anna tried to steer the car to the least damaging point. Finally, we found a space and parked. Having unloaded the luggage and piled it on to two trolleys, we headed towards our departure terminal, and tried not to worry too much about the damage to the luggage box, hoping that this would be the only unforeseen hitch of a much-looked-forward-to break.
We each had a 20-kilo baggage allowance, so we pre-weighed each bag and redistributed excess weight. Going through security, I set the alarm bells ringing and was subjected to a close X-Ray scrutiny. The metal in my replacement knee joint had triggered the alarm. Our flight departed on time. We were travelling Super Economy with SAS, and enjoyed a comfortable flight to Oslo. There we had a wait of several hours before boarding our SAS Braathans flight to Tromso, in the far north of Norway. These words, inscribed on the outside of the plane, greeted us as we entered:
Some travel in their minds.
Some travel in their hearts.
Welcome to the third choice.
Most of my journeys have been of the first two types. This time, however, we were travelling to Northern Lapland to spend a week in the Finnish part of the last area of Lapland waiting to be developed for tourism. Anna's husband, Pasi, was meeting us at the airport in his people-carrier. He wasn't yet there when we landed, so we sat and waited in the arrivals lounge, Anna keeping track of his progress through that indispensable modern invention, the mobile phone.
What we hadn't provided for was the fact that Norway's currency is the Kroner. None of us had any, and we needed to eat and drink, both in Oslo and in Tromso. By paying in sterling or in euro we lost out heavily. A cup of coffee cost something like 10 euro! As we moaned about this, while waiting for Pasi in Tromso, an attractive young woman, who was sitting nearby, looked up and said, 'the exchange rate is giving us the equivalent in euro and in sterling'. We knew then that we should have bought our kroners in Britain! Even so, prices seem high in Norway.
The young lady then carried on talking to us, and we discovered that she is a Professor of Haematology in Tromso University. I remarked that in my day professors tended to be distant, elderly men, not attractive young women like her! She said its more or less the same today! Having always been intensely interested in people, I accepted this little episode as an unexpected bonus.
Tromso is a small airport, so we could see Pasi, as he drove to the arrivals door to pick us up. With our luggage aboard we set off for Koppangen, in the Lyngen Alps, for an overnight stay in a log cabin built on stilts out over a fjord. We had driven on to a ferry to cross one stretch of water to Svensby, to shorten the journey.
Our accommodation, a typical Scandinavian log cabin, provided us with everything we needed. Koppangen, situated on the western side of Lyngen Fjord, is mainly a fishing area and there were two boats moored for anyone who wanted to spend time fishing. In a large shed nearby, fish, including halibut, cod and catfish, hung from the ceiling, open to the air as they dried.
Next morning we woke up to an awesome silence and to a wonderful view of the water and the mountains all around. Gradually, birds appeared - seagulls, Arctic tern, skua, and others flying about and landing on the boats or roofs or water, while respecting the peaceful atmosphere.
After breakfast we set out on foot to visit some land on the side of a hill, overlooking the fjord. Anna and Pasi have purchased this strip in order to expand their business which offers wilderness travel to individuals and companies. We climbed across the hill over rough scrubland that was covered in birch trees and berries such as lingonberries, whortleberries, cranberries, bilberries, blueberries and so on. There were still lots ready to be picked and eaten, delicious freshly gathered fruit for free. It was exciting, plodding through the tangled undergrowth, imagining how it will be transformed, and picturing the house and separate sauna and other buildings that will be erected on the site. The main attraction of the area at present is the absolute peace and silence and unspoilt beauty of the wilderness.
Soon it was time to set out on the long journey to our destination, Enontekio in Finland. The scenery along the way was spectacular, with the trees already decked in their golden autumn colours, dwarf and fell birch, rowan, and bog whortleberry. We stopped to admire a bright red expanse of alpine bearberry. At one stage we drove through a long, seemingly endless tunnel through a mountain, just as we were to do many times a month later in the Austrian Alps. Pasi pointed out an island that was formerly the training ground for NATO troops.
The mountains and fjords gave way to forests and lakes, as we left Norway and entered Finland. We stopped at a waterfall, and scrambled down over the rocks to the river below. Later, soon after crossing the border into Finland, we spotted a herd of reindeer close to the road. Stopping to get some pictures, we discovered a dead deer behind the wall and just then a herdsman drove up. Frightened that he might accuse us of hitting the deer, Pasi pointed it out to him, but he said he had already seen it. Spotting these animals was a treat and we learned to keep very still whenever we saw them over the days ahead, as they soon catch the scent on the breeze and bound off at speed into hiding. In the distance two stags seemed to be locking antlers. It was the season for that.
Our next stop was at Kilpisjarvi, a small alpine village near the border with northern Sweden which lay across the lake bearing the same name as the village. Here we enjoyed a meal in the nature centre, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, high above the Arctic Circle. We had intended to spend a few hours climbing Saana, the mountain that is sacred to the Sami folk, but we were all tired by this time and anxious to reach Hetta, where Anna and Pasi have their Lapland home. That climb is something I want to do next time we are in the area. Several hikers, Leki poles in hands, came in and went out, as we ate our meal.
Ours was no package holiday. It was designed by Anna, whose aim was to achieve the maximum benefit and enjoyment for each one of us. Pasi's parents were waiting for us in Hetta. Anna, at 36, was the youngest while I, at 79, was the oldest, so the whole weeks action would turn out to be a brilliant feat of organisation and planning. Every aspect was individually tailored. Anna ensured that the travelling to and from Hetta would be an enjoyable feature in itself. We chose early September, because the mosquitoes and midges were disappearing, while the berries were still plentiful, and the spectacular autumn colours were appearing. We had noticed some snow on the high peaks in the Lyngen Alps but where we were heading for would be a mixture of sunshine and rain, with the first frosts.
We finally turned in off the road, and there we spotted Anna's old yellow Peugeot car and read the number on the house, 211, that we had addressed letters to over the past two years, but this was our first visit to them since they moved there from Helsinki.
The following four days in Hetta passed quickly, and they are the subject of a separate story. Early in the afternoon of Friday, once everything was aboard the van, we set out on the homeward journey. We were facing a five-hour drive to Narvik, where we were to stay overnight in a chalet. This is a port opposite the Lofoten Islands, and within easy reach of the ferry that would take us next day from Harstad to Tromso.
The ferry was actually a cruise ship and we joined it for six hours. We sampled how the other half lives, joining the passengers who were on an 18-day luxury cruise of the fjords. Lunch was included and the lavish and delicious display of food was so tempting that we all made the most of it. The scenery all around was breath-takingly lovely. Anna and I spent about two hours sitting in the lounge, assessing the type of people we are, by working on psychological profiles, based on Jung's philosophy. It was fun, comparing how others saw us with how we saw ourselves. It was a wonderful opportunity to look inwards and examine our goals and achievements. Having a quiet time to relax and withdraw from our normally busy lives in such luxury added a new dimension. We wondered what the well-dressed elite thought of the seven intruders in their trekking boots and jackets!
After disembarking, we drove to the cabins by a river where we were to spend our last night. Then we went sight-seeing in Tromso. Our first visit was to the Arctic Cathedral, an example of ultra-modern architecture, absolutely plain and devoid of furnishings inside. Its triangular shape with huge cross dominates the city from a height.
A visit to the Polar Museum was the ultimate treat. Here we traced the history of polar exploration. Exhibitions explained the hunting and trapping of arctic foxes, polar bears, walrus, and seals. The history of Amundsen, and Nansen and the search for the North-West Passage and the inspiration of Franklin were all illustrated. We saw the skeleton of a young hunter in a grave and a stuffed polar bear and the recreation of a hunter's hut with sound and vision. The museum is housed in an old warehouse by the water's edge.
Next morning it was time to return to the airport for our flight to Oslo and from there to Copenhagen and then back to Manchester and the problem of driving the car out of the car park without causing much more damage to the luggage box. We had booked ourselves in at Tromso airport and chosen our seats at machines and then passed our luggage through, before proceeding to the security checkpoint. There were no long queues, no pushing and shoving, no hassle. SAS is a good airline to fly with.
Looking back on that magical week of activity in the wilderness area of Northern Lapland, I know that I, for one, had recaptured the wonder and awe of my childhood, as we enjoyed the great outdoors in all its natural beauty, the flora and fauna, and the purity of the air. There are many ways of reaching Hetta, but the route chosen by Anna gave us the maximum variety, and the journey itself was just as exciting as the rest of the holiday.