0341 Tana Bru Norway to Kaamanen Finland

28^th Aug 2015

The Russian border, then Hey Ho to Lappland !

An excellent and quiet night in our little camping spot beside the foot of the Tanafjorden.  The wind blew fairly strongly all night, but the temperature didn’t seem so cold when we woke up – Probably partly explained by the fairly heavy cloud cover that did look like giving us some rain !  So we packed up while we ate our breakfast just to be on the safe side, and then set off down the last leg of our journey north, to Kirkenes.

Kirkeness has very little to offer – Even the guide books say that !!  Kirkenes is as far east as Cairo, further east than most of Finland, a mere 15 kms from the border with Russia, and the end of the line for the Hurtigruten coastal ferry.  Quote “This tiny, nondescript place, anticlimactic for many, has a distinct frontier feel.”  It survives on short excursions, taken mostly by Hurtigruten passengers – King crabbing, fjord tours, dog sled tours (in winter), quad bike rides, or visiting the Russian border.  The only one that appealed to me was the dog sledding, but as there is no snow at the moment, we had to pass on that !!  I swear I will do it one day ! 

Driving towards Kirkenes the scenery suddenly changes from fairly green and farming land to barren rock with no trees or vegetation at all – Quite daunting.   After Tana Bur the road to Kirkenes dips to the south of the big Varangerfjorden, and there are a few small fishing villages along the side of the fjord.  You pass a military zone with signs in Norwegian and Russian, and then a turning to Murmansk, not far to the east of here.  Entering Kirkenes, there is a fountain in a lake, and then you drop down into the town.  Once there, it is kind of difficult to work out where the centre actually is – There just seem to be roads going all over the place.  We went through the docks, through a housing estate, and eventually parked near what looked like a pedestrian mall, and went for a walk.  After 100 yards we turned round – Nothing interesting and most were closed.  No people wandering around either.  We then went down to what looked like a shopping mall – And found a few more people and a few more shops, but nothing too exciting.  Except a big area where there was excellent wifi and chairs to sit in – So we did !!

When we went out a while later, the sun was shining again !  The same thing happened in Hammerfest – We need to go indoors more, then the sun comes out !  We wandered through a few more shops and streets, and then headed out of town.  We saw yet another Hurtigruten ferry tied up at the wharf – This time the NordNorge – We have now seen 4 of the 11 ships.  It might be fun to come up on one of these ferry’s from Bergen during the winter……….

We also saw some of the not so smart looking local (Russian ?) fishing boats that looked as though they had a hard life !   Also LOTS of crab pots stacked up – Presumably for the King Crabs ?  Then it was out and heading back west beside the Varangerfjorden again, but this time with the sun shining a bit more – It really makes a massive difference when the sun is out.  About 15 kms out of town we turned left on a smaller road heading south into Finland – But were suddenly saw a sign telling us that this point was the end of the border traffic zone for Area Residents – Were we on the road to Finland as we thought, or had we strayed onto some road that would eventually lead us to Siberia ?  After a brief discussion we decided to risk the wrath of Russian Border Guards if we were on the wrong road, and carried on, shortly coming to a Customs office beside the road.  Although others were driving past, I decided to check whether I was on the right road – And the Customs Officer smiled and said I was on the right road, and unless I had committed and crimes in Norway, I was free to continue. I decided not to mention the unpaid parking ticket from Oslo, or the many automatic toll road cameras I had passed underneath in the past 4 weeks, and scuttled out, jumped in my car, and headed across the cattle grid to Finland.

As an aside, I am still totally mystified by the customs situation in the EU, especially as it pertains to vehicles.  When I entered the UK from S America, I filled out a form on line that was ONLY for the UK, but then gave me 6 months for the car to remain in the EU. It said that if I left the EU I had to surrender this form and the temporary import permit. I did this in Norway as that is outside the EU, but when crossing back into the EU, I was not asked for anything – So no one would know where my car is, or how long it has been here.  Will they stop me when I enter the UK from France in a month’s time ?  And with no border restrictions in the EU (or even into Norway which is outside the EU) I can see how easy it is for people to move between countries – No one would have a clue where we are !  As long as you are not actually stopped for committing a crime (parking tickets excepted !!) then I don’t see how anyone can find you.   Most odd.

Once in Finland, there were lots of pine trees, lots of lakes, and lots of reindeer – One almost totally white one along with white antlers !  There were even a couple lying on a sandy beach in the evening sun !!  We started looking for a camp site, and there were several almost ideal ones right beside the road on the edges of the lakes, but they weren’t quite “right”.  Eventually we found a quiet little campground down on the edge of a lake and decided to stop there for the night.  Windy, and quite cool, but once we had the tent up, we were well protected and warm for the night.  

Photos are here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0341TannaBruToKaamenen?authkey=Gv1sRgCLSR-Mqorbf3HA

https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0341TannaBruToKaamenen?authkey=Gv1sRgCLSR-Mqorbf3HA