Nordmannvik Circular Hike

The last of our hikes in Norway’s Lyngen Alps! We had found this hike in the Lyngenfjord Hiking Guide and it promised to be through ‘open and easy terrain’… hmmm

We took the ferry to Olderdalen and drove for 10 minutes alongside Lyngen fjord to the start of the hike at Nordmannvik.

The car park wasn’t too easy to spot but it was along the E6 near the bridge. Ours were the only two cars parked there all day and we didn’t have to pay for parking this time.

The weather was overcast but at least it wasn’t raining. The first part of the walk was easy as the trail took us up a grassy slope.

Then we passed some Christmas trees.

We looked behind to see panoramic views of the Lyngen Alps starting to open up.

There was an abundance of colourful wild flowers throughout the walk.

Passing through ferns.

We stopped for our flasks of coffee and a snack at ‘the Church Rock’ which was just past the above fabulous fjord view.

Meadow Pipit’s were nesting at the top of Church Rock and were not too impressed with us being there!

We continued through the valley and this was where the ‘fun’ started…

The trek took us through boggy uneven terrain which, while pretty to look at, was like walking across several km’s of a massive rockery with no path to follow.

We had several streams and many boggy brooks to cross and jump over.

Before long water had soaked through our boots and they became waterlogged.

We continued squelching our way through the soft and spongy ground while trying to avoid falling down holes and tripping over rocks hidden beneath the foliage.

As mentioned, there was no obvious path so we continued with the river to our left in the general direction of where we thought the bridge, our half way point would be.

At last! We came to the bridge over the river at a place called Gaukenes. This was half way as the rest of the walk continued down the other side of the river and back towards the cars.

At the half way point, close to the bridge we came across an empty cabin. We sat here on the decking where we ate our packed lunch.

After lunch we had a boulder field to deal with. This was the mild version!

Still unable to find a path we continued across more streams and bumpy, soggy ground.

But the sun appeared!

We found we had climbed to higher ground above the river but made an assumption the path might be next to the river so we made our way down next to the river.

We had been trekking through this terrain for several hours and did not see a single other person. Still crossing streams, bogs and trying not to twist our ankles in hidden dips and holes.

After a while we came across another empty cabin where we stopped again.

From the cabin we continued to scramble along the rough terrain which was steep at times.

We made our way down the steep bank again and eventually found the path close to the river. It even had pallets across the streams which felt like luxury.

Eventually we crossed another bridge over a river and were back to near civilisation with a farmers track.

We had to walk for about 1000 m along the road to get back to the cars.

We drove back to Olderdalen and got the ferry back to our holiday house in Lyngseidet where we spent our final evening in the Lyngen Alps before driving back to Tromso the following morning.

Walk summary

We walked around 8 – 9 miles today in 4 hours excluding lunch and break stops. This was surprising as it was slow going over the boggy terrain and especially the steep section.

Trip summary

As this is our final Norway post this is a short reflection of our overall trip. With the mix of a night in the capital city of Oslo, staying in Tromso high up in the Arctic Circle, 24 hours of daylight, walking in an ice cave and standing on a cairn at the intersection of 3 countries, this was a wonderful range of experiences.

Sharing these experiences with our lovely friends made this trip even more enjoyable. And a special thanks to Russell who suggested this trip and did most of the organising.

Finally, the panoramic vistas didn’t end in Tromso… we had magnificent views of Norway’s dramatic coastline and fjords from the plane on our way home.