Rallarveien - The Navvy Road

In the fair, wild nature, the navvy road winds down from the mountains to the fjord. In the deserted valley you can walk in a beautiful scenery, while traces from the navvy time emerge.

Cultural and historical walk

In 1902 the Ofotbanen railway was finished, and until then migrant workers called navvies, ruled the areas of the valley and fjord.

Close to Katterat Station there are remnants of foundations from the houses the navvies lived in at the end of the eigteenth century. You can also see the remains of an old cable car inwhich they used to transport building materials and supplies in.

Originally the navvy road was the main traffic artery during the construction period of the Ofotbanen railway. Today the road is reopened for cultural and historical walks in the area.

Rombaksbotn

In Rombaksbotn a small community for the navvies grew, with about 500 inhabitants at the most. Here you could find shops, hairdressers, barbershop, a soda factory and hotels. It was also said that they even had a "pleasure house."

After the major flood in 1959 most houses were torn away.

Every summer, in the end of June, there is a folk festival in Rombaksbotn. This is an organized tour from Narvik to Rombaksbotn where the town's population and people from the areas gather up and take the historical walk to Rombaksbotn. The day is filled with amazing nature, events, music, games, a World Championship in throwing iron ore lumps, culture and maybe even a surprize or two.

Taking the tour

The navvy road stretches all the way from Abisko in Sweden to Rombaksbotn. We recommend the train from Narvik to either Katterat or Bjørnfjell Station and the navvy road down to Rombaksbotn. From Katterat it is about 6 kilometers to walk.

In the summertime it is possible to take the boat from Rombaksbotn and back to Narvik.

In 1997 the area was awarded as Norways Recreation Area.