The long Arctic morning began with the ship sailing through the majestic Tysfjorden, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and dotted with numerous clusters of colourful houses too small to even be described as villages. Gradually, these settlements became fewer and fewer as the sides of the fjord began to steepen and rise up, leading us to its end.
Here we found the forests of the national park leading up the valley. On the shore there was a small Sami community, which made its living from logging in the surrounding woodland. We went ashore and hiked alongside the river in the sun, towards the base of a waterfall that cascaded down the mountainside at a shallow angle. One group of hikers encountered a group of three reindeer following the river. The trees and heathland were resonating with the songs of birds. Many of us took to the water in kayaks to explore the cliff sides with more independence, with shorebirds such as oystercatchers and the occasional whimbrel flying between the boats.
We returned to the ship for lunch, which was served on the sundeck due to the warm, clear weather. The anchor was lifted, and we sailed back out through Tysfjorden, now transformed with the new light of the afternoon.
We disembarked by Zodiac once more in the late afternoon for a brief landing at Leiknes. This site features some of the earliest rock art in northern Europe, with numerous depictions of animals formed from polished lines in the rock. These images most likely date to the mesolithic, representing the thoughts of the first groups to recolonize the area 9,000 years ago, following the end of the ice age. In the low light of the evening, the lines show up against the bare rock. We then return to the ship to unwind and discuss the new things we have seen today, on this ever-varied expedition.
