Over the kalfjell to Berlevåg
This article is part of the series “2018-03: Varanger peninsula”.
Day 38 of my winter journey 2018
The Varanger Peninsula has many inhabited places at the coast, but you cannot take the car and drive around the whole island, not even in summer. There are three roads:
- The E 75 to Vardø via Vadsø. In summer you can continue to Hamningberg, but this place has been depopulated since 1964 though some houses are used as summer cottages.
- The 890 to Berlevåg via Kongsfjord. In summer you can continue to Store Molvik, but there are only summer cottages.
- The 890 and 891 to Båtsfjord.
We explored the towns connected by the E 75 so far. Yesterday however we left the Varanger Peninsula, visited the Sea Sami Collections in Byluft and spent the night in Seida near Tana. Today we continued our trip and entered the Varanger Peninsula again, this time using the 890 to Berlevåg.
A local in Ekkerøy had warned us about this road, which leads about the kalfjell – the bare mountains above the treeline. The weather conditions can be severe and the road can be closed anytime due to bad weather or only accessible by kolonnekjøring, which means that you drive in a guided convoy led by a snowplough. Mostly it’s not snow that is the problem, but strong winds, that can create impassable snowdrifts within minutes.
The weather today however was fine and we didn’t have any difficulties in crossing the kalfjell. The road is really exposed to the elements and I can imagine that the very same road will be completely impassable in stormy conditions.
There is however another possibility to travel from one place to another: using the Hurtigruten ships, that connect Berlevåg, Båtsfjord, Vardø and Vadsø on their way from Bergen to Kirkenes.