The road continued north, crossing Helgelandsbrua (the Helgeland Bridge), which made possible in five minutes what would otherwise involve an hour-long detour. Mountains, snow-capped until well into summer, rose all around. Although I had not yet entered the Arctic, the road meandered across high plateaus denuded of trees, evoking the Arctic in all but geography. Then it descended to the shores of lakes and harbours and fjords. Water was everywhere.