We woke up to a drizzly and overcast morning, which soon improved as we set off on the E6 heading North to Alta.   We had some beautiful fjord views. One part was almost bizarre. We climbed high up into a very snowy area with frozen lakes and avalanche fences to keep the snow off the road, but from the open tops we had the most fantastic views of blue skies, blue lakes and fjords, while we drove through rain and sleet.

We soon got to the huge Altafjord, and after passing lots of roadworks got to the smaller branch of the Tafjord. This is the small fjord where the Tirpitz hid protected by torpedo netting, and where she was attacked by midget submarines and by Allied bombers.  She was damaged but managed to limp to Tromso, where she was finally sunk by British bombers. The Scharnhorst also hid in the Altafjord
There is a small Tirpitz museum in the village.

The area around Tafjord was a copper mining area and the church there was built by the British company that ran the local mines.  This church was restored/ rebuilt after it was destroyed by the Germans. There is also a memorial to the British sailors who died in the midget sub raid.

When the Germans retreated from Northern Norway, under threat from the Soviets, they had a scorched earth policy and destroyed most of the towns. Most are now fairly soul-less , with 50's concrete buildings.
We went on to Alta, stopping at the Museum which has Northern Europe's largest collection of prehistoric rock carvings and art. it is a World Heritage Site.
Unlike the big show caves in Spain and France, the carvings at Alta are in the open air, spread for 2-3km along the shores of the fjord.  There is some controversy surrounding them as originally they were coloured red with iron oxide, which obviously faded, but in the past they were re-coloured.  Modern thinking is that this re-colouring should be removed.  However ,when you look at the photos you will see that the red carvings are much more striking and easier to identify.
We met another British couple in the museum carpark - Jude and Shaun from Sheffield. They have been away for almost a year and had just returned from Nordkapp. They told us you can stay for up to 48hrs in the Alta museum carpark and gave us a card with the password for the free wifi.

It was such a beautiful clear evening that we wrapped up and went for a walk at 11.30 and were able to enjoy the midnight sun, although there was a bit of cloud