The weather forecast is for about 10 days of rain so we might as well travel.
So far Norway's most patched road.
One of the reasons for not joining the EU is the concern that the farming would be lost to the bureaucracy of common agriculture policy.
We passed "The Big Troll" which looked closed and empty.
I guess trolls are frightening.
Its 2750 km and a bit more than 4 weeks since we walked part of the middle of Kungladen in Stora Sjfallet National Park.
About 90 km as the crow flies and only a bit more as the walkers walk.
We are also only 100 km west of Kiruna. We've described a big loop round the north of Sweden, Finland and Norway
It follows the Abisko River which flows through the Abisko canyon.
We'll walk as far as the base of the hill sticking out of Ali's right ear.
The park is in the rain shadow, so dry.
There's a small chair lift running up a hill on the other side of the river but (predictably) we avoided it.
Abisko was declared a national park around 1906 so the birds have had plenty of time to become used to people.
A flock of these followed us for a while. As long as their type of tree prevailed.
The old and new style of fishing hut.
We must have started our walk early. We passed 30-40 serious hikers all headed south.
One Swiss pair were on a 5 day hike that would take them in a loop west across the Norwegian border.
Today's batch of hikers arriving. And yesterday's leaving.
The first campsite is about an hour along the track which makes for an easy first day.
The rail line is the iron ore line from Kiruna to Narvik.
We had coordinates for a convenient car park a few km west of all the tourist facilities. So did lots of other motorhomers. Limited to 24 hours parking.
More than a car park it was Tornehamn, the next station and a former port on the lake Tornetrask.
The lake is 70 km long and was used for transport until the road was completed.
This is the view west from the old lighthouse site - a lighthouse on a lake!
This is the navvy cemetery. The rail line was apparently the last of the navvy built lines.
Most died of typhoid or diptheria. Most Norwegians. The cemetery was expanded a couple of times.
Anna was 22. Employed as a cook.
All welded.
No noise from the tracks so it was always a surprise when a train passed and we were always too slow with the camera.
We are just on the edge of the mountains. Noticeably wetter than Abisko a few km to the east.
This style of building was repeated at several stations.
Not sure of its purpose it was a little away from the track.
We've decided to head to Lofoten, the string of islands to the west.
We've passed a few memorials for the battle of Narvik in 1940. There are six in the area.
We are near Bjornfell Station on Kuberg Plateau. Site of major battles.
We think the plateau would have been bleak in winter.
The Norwegians claim their victory at Narvik as the first defeat of the Nazis during WWII. The monument diplomatically describes their surprise when the Allies later withdrew.
We can reach all but the last two islands of Lofoten by road, a mixture of bridges and tunnels.
We also saw a group of hikers head off up this track but were too slow to ask where it led. And asleep when they returned.
The weather is holding.
We've noticed fewer motorhomes this morning.
Either our imagination or the large number of Norwegians were just on weekend trips and are now all back at work since its Monday.
Or maybe they know something we don't!
Its as windswept and wet as it looks. We suspect we'll be alone tonight! And we don't expect to be doing any walking tomorrow. We are looking towards Hadselfjorden and the open sea.
We expected a large sign and a big car park for Moysalen National Park.
This car park has a view. The one for the track into the park is a couple of km east. Its at N 68.4654, E 15.4412
We nearly missed the small sign hidden in the trees after consulting two maps, the gps, and simply working out where the valleys and rivers were.
Totally useless statistic .... the angle of the hill on the right is 55 degrees from the horizontal.