Tromsø Diary: Part 8

I took the trekking party to the end of the road in Tromsdalen in two groups. This took rather longer than I had anticipated and hence made me late for a meeting with Zhenya, one of the two people we are liasing with, so that she could show me where to return the room keys to and where to register so as to get a temporary UiTø username for net access via my iBook.
I managed to get all the red tape out of the way by midday (though I will have to collect my user details on Monday) so came back to base for lunch.
This afternoon, as the brighter weather looked as though it was to the south west (i.e. the Atlantic coast), I decided to have the round-tour of the island originally planned as a minibus trip before we found out the cost of hiring a minibus.
In total, including lots of stops to take photographs and a long stay at Sommarøy, it took about four hours, mostly due to the very low speed limits that Norwegian roads have. The maximum speed is 50mph with much of the road under a 40mph restriction or far less for long stretches.
The weather was indeed far better on the coast with very broken cloud which became blue sky with clouds as time went by. By the time I’d got back to base Tromso had got the blue sky (and clouds) as well but it obviously hadn’t had for long as the roads were still wet. It’s flippin’ nippy out where-ever I was though. It was 10C with a biting south westerly wind. Next time I’m taking my wooly hat with me if I’m going to be walking outside the car!
This evening’s been quiet. Too quiet really. I think the two women who are staying here whilst they do a midwifery course have both gone back home for the weekend and the rest of the group are now spending their first night in the DNT huts. I imagine that they got pretty well soaked this morning and were glad to see the sun later in the day, even if it didn’t provide much in the way of warmth. I do hope that the hut is not full already and that they have all managed to cram themselves inside to get out of that wind and keep warm.
I’m pretty bored as there’s not much viewable on the telly except “The Simpsons” and an old episode of “Charmed” as I got dinner. The quality of the american imported shows has steadily decreased as the evening has worn on. I can’t wait until Monday when I get a net connection again. At least there will be one more diversion to be had.