Norwegian Scenic Route Havoysund

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Kokelv

   Kokelv is a hamlet on the shore of the Kvalsund, in Finnmark, and it is where the road to Havøysund begins its journey north to the Barents Sea. At nearly seventy-one degrees north, this is deep in the Arctic, and the landscape is open and treeless, with low hills, rocky shores and a sky that dominates everything. Hammerfest, the northernmost town in the world of any size, is about thirty-six kilometres away, and Rypefjord, the smaller port, is nearly the same distance, so fuel and supplies come from there. Kokelv has only a few buildings and a small harbour.

   Read the complete Kokelv write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Kokelv is where the day begins. Next is Snefjord.

2. 2. Snefjord

   Snefjord is a small settlement on a fjord of the same name in the far north of Finnmark, in a landscape that has more sky than land. At seventy degrees north, the trees have given up, and what is left is tundra, low birch scrub in the hollows, bare rock, lakes and long hills the colour of old rope. The road to Havøysund, the fishing village at the end of the peninsula, crosses this country and drops down to the fjords at intervals, and Snefjord is one of those places where you suddenly find water, boats and a handful of houses at the foot of the hills.

   Read the complete Snefjord write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Snefjord comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is Lillefjord.

3. 3. Lillefjord

   Lillefjord is a tiny village along the road to Havøysund, its houses lined up along a small fjord on the coast of Finnmark, with the Barents Sea out beyond. The name means little fjord, and it fits. The landscape around it is stark: bare hills, smooth rock scoured by ice, and a few fishing boats on the water. People have fished here for as long as anyone can say, and the village has a quiet, self-contained air, a place that does what it does and does not need to be noticed.

   Read the complete Lillefjord write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 59 km into the recorded legs you reach Lillefjord. Next is Havoysund.

4. 4. Havøysund

   Havøysund is a fishing village on an island at the very north of Norway, at about seventy-one degrees north, and the road that leads to it is one of the northernmost in Europe. About a thousand people live here, in colourful wooden houses around a busy harbour, and the settlement exists for fish: cod, haddock and king crab, which arrived in the Barents Sea after being introduced by the Soviet Union and is now a valuable catch. The village was burned to the ground in 1944 when German forces retreated, as the whole of Finnmark was, and it was rebuilt after the war in a plain, practical style.

   Read the complete Havoysund write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Havøysund closes the day.