A 2800 km road trip around northern-most Europe

September 24, 2019

In my last post I left you in a far-flung corner of northern Finland as 15 students, Peter, Benny and I prepared to continue our journey northwards up into the tundra of the Varanger peninsular (NE Norway). Since then, I have spent another 10 days flitting between Norway, Finland and Sweden, taking in vast palaeoglacial landscapes and becoming well accustomed to minibus driving along the way.

Peter and the students coring a permafrost palsar

Many of the days consisted of 300-500 km drives, stopping off at various geologically/climatically important sites as we went along. These included large glacial moraines (mounds of sediment formed at the end of a glacier), permafrost palsars (evidence of frozen ground), Precambrian tillites (glacial deposits from an ice age over 600 million years ago) and an archaeological open-air museum with stone age structures. My job was mainly just to drive and keep the group together on our many hikes but on one evening I gave a quick lecture on marine geophysics and on the final day I took the lead on explaining the formation of Veiki moraines (a landform only found in northern Sweden).

An elusive cloudberry...delicious!

We had a bit of a rest from the driving with a 3-day stay in Berlevåg, a tiny town on the very northern coast of Norway, well above the tree line, surrounded by stunning fjords and flat-topped mountains: a prime spot for palaeoglacial studies! We spent our days there hiking 15-20 km over to Tanafjord or along raised beaches, including some extremely steep scrambles up and down narrow valleys, which was greeted by much huffing and puffing from many of the students. Our second hike over the tops ended with an absolute treat back down at the beach. As a group of us readied ourselves for a chilly dip in the Barents Sea’s frigid waters, a local appeared and pointed out a pod of about 10 orcas (killer whales) swimming ~200 m from the shore, incredible! Once the orcas had retreated a little way from the beach, we took the plunge; it was an extremely quick swim accompanied by much squealing but left us all feeling exhilarated. Being the driver, I was able to make full use of the heated seat on the 15-minute journey back to our accommodation.

Raised beaches by Tanafjord

Most of the trip we were staying in research stations (similar to where I stay during my field work) and a few hotels/lodges but in Berlevåg the students were camping. One of the perks of being ‘staff’ was that I got my own private room in the adjacent lodge and use of Peter and Benny’s kitchen rather than the crowded communal one downstairs. The camping was all well and good until our final night there when the heavens opened and a few of the students ended up sleeping in large puddles. The rain also meant a shortened hike on our last day and we instead paid a visit to the local museum where we learnt the history of Berlevåg and the work that went into constructing its impressive breakwaters.

It was time to return southwards, so we set off on the long drive back to Finland via some breath-

If you have good eyes you might be able to spot orcas!

taking views and ever-increasing quantities of trees and colour. Once across the border, we all made good use of Finland’s much more student friendly alcohol prices and stocked up on beers for our last few days. Kevo research station, where we were staying for a couple of nights, provided the perfect backdrop for an evening drink down by the lake. On the first night, this had to wait until a little later in the evening as I thought it probably wasn’t a great idea to drink before giving a lecture; my thoughts were jumbled as it was after 7 hours behind the wheel!

From Kevo we popped back across to Norway to take a look at some prominent moraines. On the way back, the border control guard seemed somewhat perplexed when he asked me where I’d been, and I started muttering about Younger Dryas moraines and palaeoglacial sediments; he obviously thought I was harmless though and waved me along back into Finland.

Our final night was spent down on the Swedish border, near Muonio, in some comparatively luxury accommodation with a splendid buffet of salmon and salads. Next morning it was time to finally return to the bustle of Luleå, stopping off at the wonderfully named Korpilombolo for a proper Swedish reindeer stew along the way.

I’m now back in Stockholm, settling back into a regular routine with sports classes starting up again,

Swedish lessons beginning tomorrow, a few parties, fika and a spot of work slotted in between. Having been a little apprehensive about this northern excursion and the many hours of driving involved I am now incredibly glad I got the opportunity to teach on this trip and would thoroughly recommend a visit to the very north of mainland Europe if you ever get the chance.