Day 16 – 5 Jul, West of Mierojavri town to Kautokeino

(17.5 km, total 381.5 km, 4h10 , 0830 to 1240)

I had a great nights sleep and was packed in record time thinking of Pizza for lunch.

Breakfast

Slug making itself at home on my tent footprint

The trail continued under the power lines for a short while before emerging onto a vehicle track which I turned left onto. This lead to a building with climbing holds on the walls and there was someone asleep on a picnic table beside the building. I didn’t wake them as I went past but their gear indicated that they were a thru hiker. They were pretty brave sleeping in the open with no mosquito net as the insects were very bad in that area, though they were snuggled well down in their sleeping bag with no skin exposed.

The trail led a short way from the building to a river crossing but as the main road was only 20 meters away with a dry feet crossing I choose to walk to the road, cross the river and the walk back to the track. The track briefly wnt to following markings through the trees, then under powerlines before joining a vehicle track.

The vehicle track went parallel too the main road, veering away for a few km then back.

Interesting insect itching a ride

Mosquitos biting while I am walking

For a few hundred meters I was on the main road to cross over beside a dam that had wooden barriers.

Then there was a quad bike track beside the main road and I followed that. The map showed a trail that started across the road but I never found it. The quad bike track did change to the other side of the road but when I explored down a track too the right I could not find the trail marked on the map so I continued on the quad bike track all the way into town.

The track veered to the left just before town and walked through an area of houses. I was impressed with the wide variety of machinery at most of the houses, many of which I could not recognise the use of. Then it was back onto the main road for the final few hundred meters to get to town with many service stations, a cafe which was unfortunately closed and a large supermarket.

Then a gap before the other part of town. I had marked on my map where Google Maps had said there was a Pizza and Grill restaurant but despite wandering through the tiny town I could not find it. I was so disappointed as I had been craving pizza.
I went into a Coop which I thought was a supermarket but was actually a hardware store that also sold some camping supplies and household supplies. This was also the post office and after my experience in Olderfjord I decided too see if my package was here, instead of the Motel where I had addressed it to. It was so I picked up the heavy resupply parcel and continued out of town, across a bridge and there was the supermarket. It was a large supermarket with good supplies so I brought lunch. They also had free coffee so I helped myself. It was really good, whether this was because I hadn’t had coffee for a while or it really was good is irrelevant.

Lower part oof Kautokeino

Now it was an 800 meter walk to the accommodation. I was there well before check in time but my cabin was ready so I was able to check in. I had gone for the luxury version of cabin which had a toilet and shower in it. I was glad I had because I wanted too rest my feet to allow my blister to heal and the other cabins had a long (50 meter) walk too the toilets. My cabin was right beside a little lake and had a kitchenette, toilet, shower couch and bed.

My Cabin

I dumped my pack and then headed back to reception to get some sheets and towel.
In reception there was a guy sitting at the tables and he asked if I was a hiker. We sat talking for ages and it turns out he was also doing Norge Pa Langs. He was a Norwegian called Jonas Sletten. He had started earlier than me and was doing shorter distances because of his huge pack which was around 20kg. It was great talking about the trail. Brendan the Australian had left the motel the day before and Jonas was going to leave but was not feeling well so took an extra day. He would be leaving tomorrow which was my rest day but given his distances it was likely I would catch him up.
We went back to my cabin and I showed him my gear and then went to look at his gear. He didn’t have a lot more than I did, it was just his stuff was much heavier. He was also walking in long boots which were needed due to the weight of his pack.
We then went to the supermarket to buy dinners as the Motel/Camping Ground did not have food.
Finally I was in my cabin and had a shower which was fantastic with excellent pressure and nice and hot. I went too the kitchen and cooked my frozen pizza from the supermarket. It tasted so good and disappeared very quickly. There was a young German couple there who had converted a van into a campervan and were travelling with their dog. They were interesting too talk to. There was also a Dutch Man who was travelling around. He was planning on doing some hiking.
After dinner I started sorting through my photos and videos. At 2000 I went too the large Sami Tent (looks like an Native American Tepee) where everyone gathered for coffee. It was neat, there was a fire in the centre with benches covered in reindeer skin around the fire and branches and leaves on the floor. Over the fire was a coffee pot and free coffee.

There was a mixture of Norwegians,, Germans a Frenchman who was cycle touring and me, once again winning the prize for being person from furthest away.
Initially I sat there as the Germans all spoke too each other in German and the Norwegians in Norwegian but then the conversation shifted to English as the common language and it turned into an entertaining evening and I left at 23330, a very late night for me being more used to hiker timings of bed by 2100.
I couldn’t sleep, probably because of the strong coffee so I read for a while.

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