My second week in Sørreisa flew by too quickly. I’m writing this from the Radisson Blu hotel in Tromsø, having made it back by the skin of my teeth yesterday. My original plan was to take the hurtigbåt (the fast boat) from Finnsnes, first thing in the morning. I decided instead to go on the second boat of the day, which left at two thirty in the afternoon. It set off fine and we were speeding north in the sound when it started to make a strange noise. We slowed down, then again, until we were barely moving. At this point, looking out of the window, I could see ice had begun to form. It’s been minus ten for much of the week, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, but usually, I think the shipping channel stays open. We were, perhaps, a bit near the shore as we were passing a fast boat going in the opposite direction. Anyway, I was relieved when we passed through it and speeded up again. There should have been two more boats today, at six forty-five and nine and Shirley tells me they were cancelled. Just as well I tend to travel early. Transport up here is relatively reliable, despite the weather, but winter travel can be unpredictable everywhere.

I woke up to snow on Tuesday morning. After the stormy weekend weather, it was a huge change. This is the view from Shirley’s window.

We went into Finnsnes later that morning, for Shirley’s physio-in-water class (I also attended these, way back when I was living in Brusand and it’s a great way to keep moving). After that, she and Kai treated me to lunch at Senjastua restaurant in Silsand – on Senja Island, over the sound from Finnsnes. To my delight, they had started serving Christmas food, so I had my first ribbe of the year, along with lamb sausage, red cabbage, prunes, potatoes and gravy.

The ribbe was perfect: rich, succulent meat with crispy crackling. The lamb sausage has a very distinctive flavour and the sweet tangyness of the red cabbage was the perfect contrast to the silky gravy.

It snowed all the way home and into the night but Konstantin, who I used to work with, made it round for an evening visit, bringing his new partner, Tatiana. It was lovely to see him and meet her. To my amazement, they invited me round for dinner the next day.

On Wednesday, for the first time since I’d arrived, I woke to clearing skies and a plunging temperature. It must have dropped more than ten degrees, from plus to minus five. Officially yesterday, there were still four and three quarter hours from sunrise to sunset, but the reality is that the mountains mean the sun is visible for a lot less than that. The light changes quickly, and as soon as the sun is below the horizon, the light is very blue, as you can see from these two photos, the first taken at eleven, when the sun is at its peak, the second at twelve twenty five, by which time, it had well and truly dipped behind Hjertind, the highest peak in the distance.

I had a lovely evening with Konstantin and Tatiana. As he drove me back, I could see faint glimpses of aurora and as I walked back up from the end of the road, just for a moment, the sky performed its magical dance for me.

I had a conversation with Melanie, my friend from Shetland, not that long ago. We discussed the fact that I’d only ever seen the Northern Lights in freezing conditions, with snow on the ground and she’d only ever seen them without snow. We’ve both gone far away from Penicuik, where we grew up. We both love the north. But our experiences are still quite different.

Anyway, I digress. Thursday disappeared in a flash and Friday was my day to travel to Tromsø. Today, all being well, I will be flying back to Manchester. If I’m lucky and the plane leaves on time, I may get some fabulous views of the islands and coast as I am leaving.

I will leave you with some photos from my evening in Tromsø. It is even more touristy than it was three years ago. The atmosphere feels like it has changed, but it’s still a beautiful place. I went into an Egon restaurant for dinner and had more ribbe. It wasn’t as perfectly roasted as at Senjastua, but was delicious nonetheless. I also had a glass of Juicy IPA, which could easily have been mistaken for a glass of butterbeer. Thanks to you all for reading and I hope you have a good week.