All creatures great and small.

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Saturday
The sun is shining! After doing the regular checks on Dream Catcher Les thinks that we have a slow puncture, we will have to keep a check on it. I washed our walking clothes and hung them inside the back, with the heater on they will dry, but it looks like 'Widow Twanky's laundry'. Oh no it doesn't! Oh yes it does! We're on the road heading to Tromso, we've decided to take a couple of ferries to cut out some miles on roads that we drove up here on. We stopped to fill with water and empty the waste, Les checked the tyre, it was down again! He put more air into it.The scenery looks very green and lush after the barren view of the last few days every so often there are waterfalls tumbling down the cliffs at the side of the road, they pass under the road through big pipes before tumbling down the other side into the fjord. Around lunchtime we stopped to get fuel, it's quite cheap today. In Norway the fuel prices change daily, sometimes twice daily, Joe and Janette told us Tuesday afternoon was often the cheapest, but this week it seems to have been cheaper all week. Les checked the tyre again, it's definitely got a slow puncture. He asked at the garage if there was somewhere open to get it repaired, the man said that he could have done it, but he's the only one at the garage today and that we probably wouldn't find anywhere open today. It's lunchtime, so we ate and then set off again, it's raining and there is a problem with the wipers, they won't switch off! (It never rains but it pours) So we are enduring the awful wiper squeak, as the rain is light and not lubricating the wipers enough. We were surprised to see the French couple from Vaeroy driving North, there was lots of waving and flashing as we passed them. At the next petrol station we stopped and put more air in to the tyre, there is a tyre garage here too, but it's closed. Les asks in the shop if there is any where open, they say there's a place over the road that we could try. We drove around the building, it all looked closed, but then I noticed a light on and someone inside. Les knocked on the door and a couple of young lads aged around 16 answered. Les asked them if they could help and they did. The garage wasn't open, the two lads were working on what we think were their own vehicles. The wheel was soon off and in the workshop, but it's not a puncture, there is a small hole in the steel rim. The lad offered to weld it for us. First he scraped the steel with a knife to clean it up, did the weld but it didn't hold, he tried a second time, still not holding, Les suggested that he let the pressure out of the tyre, which he did, he then cleaned the metal some more and the weld held this time. The wheel back on and Les offered to,pay with a card, the lad was reluctant to take it and asked for cash. Les only had 200NK, around £20 he was happy with that and so were we. It was now after 5 o'clock, so we drove back a few kilometres to where we had camped on Tuesday, the place with the other collie. Whilst I walked Logan, Les repaired the wipers. It's a wet miserable evening outside, we watched a couple of episodes of The Good Life before bed. Sunday.It's still wet out there, we should make it to Tromso today, where the forecast is still rain! It's a day of drive a bit, catch a ferry, drive a bit, catch another ferry, drive some more. Taking the ferries saves driving an awful lot of miles around fjords, it's also nice to see the scenery from the water. As we queued for one of the ferries we were parked next to a tour bus, it had wifi on board, well I don't mind if I share it too. On our last big trip we got very good at using the wifi that's available on city busses and sometimes outside cafes, they often use the name of the establishment as the password! We arrived in Tromso mid afternoon, we have been here before on our last visit to Norway, it was February and we enjoyed some of the many winter activities on offer here. We find a parking place, where we can also stay the night, there are a lot of other campers here. After putting on our wet weather gear, we went out for a walk around. We recognise some of the places we had been to on our last visit. The rain had eased a bit so we walked across the gracefully curving bridge to the Cathedral. A strange white tent shaped building, with the end wall made of stained glass, we only looked through the windows as we had Logan with us.We returned the way we had come over the bridge and walked back to Dream Catcher.We spent the evening chilling out with a can of expensive Norwegian beer and watching MASH. Monday.You can only park free at this spot until 8.00am, then you have to pay 20NK (£2) per hour. Les paid for one hour whilst we got ready to leave. We're heading for Andenes today, another day of driving, then ferry etc. As we leave Tromso, we entered the tunnel network that runs under the city. Doris of course couldn't navigate for us underground, but fortunately after navigating three underground junctions we had made the correct turnings to get us on the road we needed. It seems very bizarre having a roundabout in the middle of a tunnel. The first part of the drive is supposed to be very picturesque, we can only imagine what it would look like as there is low cloud and rain again today. The first ferry takes us to Senja, Norways second largest island, again it is supposed to be full of natural beauty, but unless the weather improves I'm not sure how much we'll see. We just missed our ferry and the next one isn't for a few hours, so time to have lunch and read a book. It's very breezy on the quay side and it soon gets chilly Dream Catcher can be very draughty, the design team need to do some work in that area. The ferry which was only half full with a mixture of motorbikes, cycles, cars and campers, served hot walffles, which smelt and looked delicious, if we hadn't recently eaten lunch I might have been tempted. We arrived at Senja Island, we could do with getting rid of toilet waste and filling with water, not long into the drive we found a service point, unfortunately it was locked up, but we filled with water from the hose outside, at a picnic site overlooking a lovely golden beach we spotted toilets, Les investigated to see if he could empty there, not suitable! On we drove in the persistent rain, another toilet at the road side, Les investigated this one, it's the 'drop style' perfect for the job. We continued passing beautiful tumbling waterfalls passing over massive boulders which were draped with thick moss, bilberry and heather. As we climbed up over a pass the lake at the top was still partially frozen, dropping down the other side we passed through some quite narrow tunnels, we were relieved not to have met any traffic coming the other way. At the entrance to the tunnels on Senja there are warning lights that cyclists switch on to warn others that they are in the tunnel, there was also a supply of hi-vis jackets to wear and then deposit at the other end. In many places cyclists are not allowed in the tunnels, they usually have an alternative route around or over the hills. By 5.30pm we were close to Gryllefjord where we catch the ferry, the last one today is at 7.00pm, shall we catch that one or wait until morning? We decide to wait until tomorrow and found a place to stay at the side of the fjord. Tuesday. We arrived at Gryllefjord in plenty of time for the ferry, we have a walk up through the the village, but there's not much to see other than the ferry coming in, we had better get back to Dream Catcher! In the next line there is a chap with a lovely smile and teeth like an Osmond brother, on a trials bike, he's from Germany, he starts to chat about his journey, he's been up to Nordkapp, crossing from Finland over an old track, he's told us he had been up to his sump in snow, we're not sure if it was his own sump or the bikes! He asked us if we knew the times of the ferry from Moskenes to Bodo, we said there were plenty each day. Once on the ferry we stayed on the deck as there is a chance of seeing Wales on this crossing, but also the sun is shining and the views are beautiful. An hour and three quarters later and we arrived at Andenes but no whales spotted. We found a place to park on the quayside and had lunch. We then walked into the small town to book a whale watching trip and a puffin watching trip. We found the booking offices and booked a puffin trip for tomorrow, there was room on a whales watching trip leaving at 4.00, with a tour of the museum before hand which was about to begin. Les dashed back to Dream Catcher to put Logan in and we joined the tour. The museum was very interesting and gave us lots of information about whales. In a separate building there was a skeleton of a Sperm Whale that had grounded in Andenes harbour in the 90's, it was huge.At 4 O'clock we excitedly boarded the boat, there was the usual safety briefing, a supply of thick overalls and blankets for anyone who was cold, and a constant supply of hot drinks and biscuits. The sea was quite rough and a few people were feeling unwell. The boat tracks the whales using underwater microphones, following the clicks they make as they are hunting, It's a very effective way to find them. After about an hour the crew said we would have to go out further, about another 20 minutes and to be patient. Then there it was, the spout of water from the blowhole. We saw it several times and then it dived. The crew said they could hear the Sperm Whale clicking and played the clicking to us through the speakers. When the clicks get closer together it's chasing its prey, usually giant squid in these waters. When the clicks stop it means the whale has eaten and it will resurface for air. We all watch and then there it is again, very close to us. It's an amazing sight, it's difficult to tell how big it is because all you can see is along its back up to the small fin, the tail is below the sea. The crew then shouted that it was going to dive, as it started to dive again. Now you get to see the rear part of its body and then it's enormous tail as that lifts out of the water. A great photo not to be missed! We tracked this whale by its clicks twice more, seeing it resurface and then dive. It stayed under the water, hunting for between 10 and 20 minutes, but they can stay under for much longer. It was then time to go back, the boat headed back to shore, we were fed soup and a roll on the way, most welcome to warm us up, but we're also feeling hungry, we've been at sea over 3 hrs. We are both overjoyed at seeing these beautiful animals.

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