The weather was less than co-operative all weekend, and there have now been thirty-one solid days of rain in Troms county. The runoff from the mountains was of an extraordinary magnitude for this time of year.

There was a funny cartoon in the weekend paper that made mention of the upcoming European solar eclipse. The word Norwegians use for a solar eclipse actually translates directly as ''darkening of the sun.'' The two gentlemen in the cartoon are sitting next to eachother in the pouring rain on a park bench, presumably in Tromsø. One says to the other, ''There's going to be a darkening of the sun? You don't say! That's been happening in Tromsø for a month now!''

The rain didn't keep us from exploring the island in four-wheel drive style. Here, breakers crash behind the rocks on the south side of Vanna. Vanna translates most literally to ''Water Island,'' but apparantly that's a bit of a misnomer. It's original name was most likely ''Varna,'' which means ''The Protection.''

Martin spent some time on Friday night explaining some of the history of Northern Norway to me. The Norwegians have always been - and still are - a sea-faring people. On the banks north of these islands, explorers have recently discovered one of the oil deposits that are now fueling Norway's economy.

Whether it's oil or fish, the Norsk and their economy are tied to the sea. It's no wonder, then, that Tromsø, Alta and most of the Northern Norwegian cities developed where and how they have: shielded by islands that provide ''The Protection'' and thus facilitate safe boat traffic, and close to the Scandinavian mainland.

The chain of islands through this region allows a boat like the Hurtigruten (literally ''Fast Route'') to travel along the coast without being exposed to the open ocean. As Karen put it, it's as if the islands were designed perfectly for boat traffic.

Before the late 1700s, the islands to the north of Tromsøya - like Vanna - held the majority of the population. Then, 205 years ago, a priest in Tromsø convinced the King of Denmark that Tromsø should become a center of commerce for the region. Since then, Tromsø has been steadily growing, but only recently was it connected to the rest of Norway's road network. Until the middle of the twentieth century, the sea remained the only way to get to Tromsø and northern Norway.

Here, an eagle soars over the water just outside of the hytte. Martin had spotted the bird earlier in the day through a powerful set of binoculars. We also spotted a heron and several other impressive birds.

We stopped for a while at this beach north of the hytte. Tromsø is almost seventy degrees north of the equator. At this point, our latitude was some 70 degrees and 10 minutes north. It was raining - and, according to the thermometer in the car, the air temperature was less than nine degrees Celsius. Did we go swimming? Nei, takk!

But even without the swimming, just the walk along the beach and the sound of the waves lapping up on the shore was cathartic.

We drove as far north as we could, over a causeway, and out to this point: the northernmost point on the earth I've ever seen. This photo looks northward over the open ocean towards the town of Longyearbyen on Svalbard, a small Norwegian island that's 80 degrees north of the equator.

After a healthy sleep-in on Sunday, we helped our neighbours lift this old boat onto their trailer. Eight of us thought we might try lifting the boat to no avail. We ended up using a hand-cranked winch that slowly dragged the boat up onto the trailer.

It turns out that the boat is about to be retired as a ''play-boat'' for the kids. After I'd helped with my good deed of the day, I scooted back to the house for a brunch of bread and brown cheese.

Thus fueled, Karen, John Markus and I began an ascent up the mountain behind the hytte. Here are Karen and John Markus on the first ridge.

The hytte looked beautiful from up on the mountain. Just after I took this picture, the clouds snuck up on us again and we got drenched. When the rain finally let up, we decided to do some more relaxed trekking northward along the ridge.

We were rewarded with this beautiful vista looking north torwards the end of the world - and, beyond the end of the world, Canada. I'll be there soon enough.

My thanks to Martin, John Markus and Karen for such a memorable weekend. There's nothing like being Canuck-napped for a weekend's rest in a mountain hytte!