Hitch hiking to Nordkapp

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chrisredmore
chrisredmore

Hey everyone!

I plan to hitch-hike from Tromso to Nordkapp mid june this year, we'll be camping along the way. I'll be leaving a maximum of seven days to do this (although assume it will take considerably less) as I'll be getting a flight back from Alta straight after.

Does anyone have any experience of

a) hitch-hiking this route (is it possible/ likely to be stuck somewhere for days for example)
b) Camping in this area mid june- is there anything to be aware of, eg. no good places to camp, freezing temperatures at night etc.

I've done a reasonable amount of research but maybe I've missed something important...

Cheers,

Chris

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seatofourpants
seatofourpants

Hi!

I've done the northern half of that route twice, but in my own car. One of the problems I had was, believe it or not, to find a flat enough space to pitch my tent! :) Nature up there is truly beautiful and dramatical though - it's a place I'd love to re-visit again.

Of course it is a very extreme environment, and the weather can get outright hairy up there. As a hitchhiker I'm sure you know about the dangers of finding yourself stranded somewhere in bad weather, but I can't stress enough just how windy it can be up there. At one place, I had trouble standing upright in the gusts of wind.

I guess my advice would be to play it fairly conservative, and keep a budget to sleep in a cabin at times if you have to (called 'hytte', not too expensive, at least by Norwegian standards), don't travel late unless you have a reliable ride and trust your instincts. :)

Good luck!

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rjsol
rjsol

I'd say hitch-hiking is not easy in Norway. Not for two persons. You would travel with heavy backpacks, which may keep drivers from stopping. On the other hand, it might be easier for a tourist than anyone else.
Weather might be anything, as said, and in June snow will not have fully melted yet.
Camping site cabins would be okay, see visitnorway.com for info.
http://www.visitnorway.com/en/Stories/Where-to-stay/Camping-and-caravanning-in-Norway/

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chrisredmore
chrisredmore

Got back from the trip a week ago, it was awesome! The scenery there is incredible.

For the benefit of anyone reading this thread and thinking of doing a similar journey, it was easy to hitch-hike the whole time (longest we waited was two hours and normally we didn't have to wait very long at all, even though we were two men with backpacks)

It was really easy finding somewhere to camp, in June the weather is good, not too cold and not much wind. Hardly any mosquitoes.

I did a video of the trip if you're interested in what it's like up hitch-hiking and the like up there:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=83897B36E097B391

My advice: get yourself over there asap!

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iviehoff
iviehoff

in June the weather is good, not too cold and not much wind. Hardly any mosquitoes.

You mean, the weather can be good. The truth is you were very lucky.

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