An unplanned stop in Finland

31/08/2025

The last day of August was the day we decided to slightly change our plans.

Which route to Kirkenes?

When we finished our visit to Polar Park we sat in the car park and looked at the maps to see where we wanted to go next. Our plan for this trip has always been to make it up to the Russian border and focus on the north of Norway. We’d had it in mind to just follow the E6 all the way and then follow a coastal route on the way back.

As we were now in the narrow part of Norway we were getting to the point where, if we carried on up the E6, we were going to end up re-tracing our steps on the way back. Paul suggested we just blast our way as far as possible now and then take our time coming back, which seemed like a reasonable plan.

When we put Kirkenes (the most north easterly town in Norway) into google maps it tried to send us via Finland, which had never been in our plan. So here we were, inspecting the maps and trying to work out whether this was really the best route or whether we were getting a google maps special.

After a bit of discussion and looking at street view we decided that we would go up to Alta on the E6 and then drive into Finland, head south and then east to cross the border at the Finnish village of Karigasniemi and then re-cross the border at Neiden. In theory this would shave 120km off the journey distance and maybe an hour or two of driving time depending on the quality of the roads. Finnish roads were a bit of an unknown quantity.

Lyngenfjord

As it was already mid afternoon I started looking for a stopover for the evening. We set the satnav for Alta but knew we probably wouldn’t make it. Paul made a request for somewhere he could do some fishing and I found a great location on the edge of Lyngenfjord overlooking the impressive glacier adorned peaks of the Lyngen Alps.

Views of the Lyngen Alps

It was just a layby on the edge of the road, but looked as though it would be quiet. The road was once the E6, but now the E6 goes through a tunnel and this old bit of road is mostly use by cyclists who are banned from the tunnel and have to go round the end of the peninsular. It can be used by cars too, but has now been blocked off so that it cant be used as a rat run.

Along this stretch of road were several parking spots and we pulled off in one facing out towards the sea and soaking up the amazing views. It may have been the best spot we’d found so far. Paul got his fishing stuff out and spent the evening fishing while I sat and read my book.

Fishing on the edge of the old E6

A Norwegian van and another British van pulled up in the space but there was plenty of the room to spread out. The Norwegians started a fire (of course) in their portable firepit and sat out in their chairs, also occasionally fishing from the rocks in front of their van. When we spotted a pod of porpoises swimming past it got us talking to the British couple as we all waited to try and snap some pictures. The problem with porpoises is that they aren’t showy like dolphins and all we saw was an occasional glimpse of their sleek black backs.

Driving into Finland

The following morning we were up early to get a long day of driving under our belts. We stopped in Alta briefly to do some shopping, forgetting that it was Sunday and very little would be open. We found a Kiwi which had a small section of the store open for Sunday trading. It was like walking into a village shop with narrow aisles crammed with a confusing but wide selection of goods. We managed to pick up the bits we wanted but it was a reminder to us that we should avoid shopping on the day of rest.

From Alta we drove south through a scenic rocky canyon. As we got further inland we were into forests, lakes and wide flat tundra. The roads were better than we expected, not all that wide but well paved and soooo quiet. We put the radio on and tried to relieve the monotony of the driving with a bit of music and reindeer spotting.

Reindeer in the forest

At one point we noticed that the time of our arrival on the sat nav had changed. We looked at each other perplexed and it took some time to realise that Finland is in a different time zone than Norway. They are on Eastern European time, which makes sense when you see how far east the country is. But also a little odd when we realised that we would leave the eastern side of Finland only to return to Western European time.

Overnight lakeside stop

After 550km we decided we’d had enough and looked for a parkup. We found a lakeside spot that looked ideal. To be honest most places round us couldn’t help being lakeside. But this one was close to the road so didn’t need any major deviations from our route.

We drove up a rough track to a large gravelly parking area and got out for a walk around. The main parking area had a few vans taking the flatter spaces but we found a spot further up the track which was in the trees and pretty flat. We moved our van up there for overnight. The track just looped around and joined the road again so it was going to be a simple exit in the morning.

We had a longer leg stretch by forging a path down to the lakeside through the undergrowth. There we saw some large hoof prints and wondered if they were reindeer or moose, we didn’t spot either and the prints look pretty similar so we’re still not sure. We didn’t see either.

Back to Norway

When we left the following morning we didn’t have far to go before we were crossing the border again and heading back into Norway. Immediately after the border the tarmac changed to gravel and we had slow progress as we navigated road works and potholes. Hopefully the road is being improved although maybe the low volume of traffic doesn’t justify a lot more.

That was our long journey through Finland complete and we were ready to start exploring Finnmark, the most northerly area of Norway.