Rachel’s Travels

The midnight sun is quite a phenomenon. I thought it would just be ‘Meh-it’s just the sun’. Actually I was surprised by how I felt different. More about that in a bit.

The midnattsoltrappa is a hike up a mountain consisting of 2,117 steps. The steps are wooden, good quality and fit in with the surroundings.

The walk took us around 2 hours, which including the 30 minute drive to the start of the hike took us right up to midnight.

It was hard going. After the first 300 steps I was keen to be at the top already! There were people going up and down all the time. Everyone we met said it was worth it so we kept on.

There are a number of places to stop and ‘admire the view’ (aka get your breath back).

Many of the steps were sponsored by named families or local businesses. Gratangen spa is one that came up frequently.

We had 300 steps to do at 11:45pm so decided to make sure we got therefor 12 midnight and we managed with minutes to spare!

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So basically, we had arrived in Gratangen that afternoon and sat in the sun until around 9pm. We had dinner and set off for the walk around 9.30pm.

The most surprising thing was how little I felt tired. We were not at all sleepy or despite the late hour. It felt like 6pm the entire time and had loads of energy – trust me I needed loads. What a massive effect the light has on our bodies!

It took us an hour to descend (big ouch) and we got home around 2am. Here’s a picture I took on the way at 1.26am:

It didn’t feel like 2am though! More like 8pm and almost time for bed.

Passing a man on the street at 1.30am we shared a big grin and a wave. I’m sure he knew where we’d been!

I was pretty knackered the next day – adjustment of sleep as well as sore calves. But glad I had done it. ☀️☀️☀️☀️