Tromso day 3

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I'm not sure I have ever seen so many endless clouds before. In the roughly 3 days I have been in Tromso I have barely seen a bit of blue sky during the day, or a star at night. I had been hoping to get a good sight of the northern lights at some point, but with skies like this I'd have more chance of seeing the pope at a nightclub.

That said, in daylight, or what passes for it during the winter in northern Norway, Tromso seems to have a very picturesque setting. It is surrounded by white hills scattered with dark trees. I imagine it must be great in March and April when the weather is clearer.

Last night I fought off the boredom by walking north through town and crossing the bridge to the Arctic Cathedral. It is a fantastic walk, if not a bit blustery halfway across the bridge with no shelter. The cathedral itself looks incredible and very state of the art, looking like an upturned V from the front.

I'm now at Tromso airport waiting for the flight to Longyearbyen. While this part of the trip is only for about 24 hours it is the one part of it which I've really been looking forward to. It is so far out of the way and so far north that I can't help but feel it is a bit special as a destination. It also helps me kid myself that I some sort of quasi explorer, at least one who flies everywhere, stays in nice warm hotels and who doesn't actually suffer any hardship during my trips. I'm sure Ranulph Fiennes would be proud!

Longyearbyen could so easily end up being a disappointment though. With the constant darkness the landscape will barely be visible, there are no tours being run which I can go on, and I can't leave Longyearbyen alone without both a skidoo and a high powered rifle, so I won't be leaving Longyearbyen. Add to that the fact that the likely extensive cloud cover will block the views of any Aurora, and it could be a damp squib. However, I will still have been able to travel further north than anyone else I know, and I find that very exciting.

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