June 2 - Sommaroy & Gratfjord, Tromso Area

Another day of hardship … bright sunshine and shirt-sleeve temperatures. We had a good breakfast at the hotel, then headed south around the end of Tromso Island and over towards the airport. On the way, we saw dozens of kayakers from the local club getting ready to launch onto the calm waters of Sandnessundet (west side of Tromso). Our destination was Sommaroy on the island of Kvaloya. Here there were wonderful sandy beaches made up mostly of broken shells, and lots of summer hyttes along the shorelines. With the great weather, it seemed that everyone was out to their hyttes, opening them up and airing things out. There were also many people camping or picnicking along the shores. As we drove through some passes, we saw diehards getting their packs ready to climb upwards to do some skiing.

We eventually ended up at Gratfjord via Tromvik. Here, we dozed in the sun, and simply enjoyed the quiet, and the mountain - fjord scenery.

Many of the areas around the fjord shores are used for subsistence farming, and hyttes. It seems that everyone must have a hytte, and this is where they head for quiet times with family during weekends and holidays. The hyttes are neat and well maintained. Some appear to be very old, while others are quite new. There are lots of small boats, but the focus is clearly on recreation, i.e., there is no inshore fishery and the type of boats that normally go with this kind of fishing. When you see a fishing boat, it is a large trawler, capable of going a long way offshore for extended periods. One thing that is not clear to us is where everyone works, and at what, to support the kind of rural housing that we’ve seen all along the coast. We’ll have to ask.