Norway: North Cape and back south again
We think we saved the best for last; as soon as we crossed into Norway we were blown away by the scenery. And the prices in the supermarket, but mainly the landscape. Don’t get us wrong, we have enjoyed our trip so far, but Norway has exactly what we like; wild rivers, rough coast line and mountains. Kevin even gave the highest praise a German can manage: “da kann man nicht meckern” (there is nothing to complain about).
The road to and from the North Cape
We entered Norway at the border town Karigasniemi and immediately got to know the Norwegian fickle weather. Cloud banks and blue skies succeeded each other rapidly and we got quite fast in taking our rain stuff off and on again. The pine trees, our companions for 1800 km in Finland, vanished, and left were scraggy birch trees. We turned north via Karasjok and past Lakslev we pitched our tent overlooking the fjord. Reindeer came sniffing around our tent in the night. The next day at Olderfjord we switched from the E6 to the E69 (nice), the one and only road leading north to the North Cape. The cliffs got higher and the road was busy with camper vans. People were excited to see us; ranging from thumbs up, applause to even being stopped, so they could give us a bottle of wine (with the advice to drink it cold, which was absolutely not a problem so far up north).
After our experiences with tunnels in Turkey, we got up early so we could deal with the 3 long tunnels (2 of 4+ km and 1 almost 7 km, with a 10% slope) relatively undisturbed. To our surprise, the Norwegians are super careful. Also the tunnels are easy, there is plenty of shoulder and emergency bays, which we used to get out of our plastic layer when we had to climb up from 250 m below sea level and got sweaty. Norway is very similar to Switzerland in our opinion; both countries are beautiful, rich and when the natives see a mountain, they get the urge to drill holes in them.
After the last town, Hönnigsvag, where we quickly stocked up on groceries (read: local Nutella and cookies), we made the last 30 km to the cape. A couple of rather bad-ass climbs and some drizzling rain later, we finally could see the entrance to our final goal. Sun broke through the clouds, and we have to admit we got a bit emotional. Even though we never originally planned to end up here.
Also, it’s quite an ego boost. A group of elderly German tourists were very impressed (“wie bitte? In der Türkei angefangen? Und sind das E-Bikes?”) and we are now on several pictures on phones of random strangers. On the other hand, we are by no means unique, we met several other bike tourers there. No matter how crazy your journey is, there is always someone topping it (by cycling from the south to the north cape, for instance).
Cyclists and hikers get in free, so that was a nice bonus. Apparently, this fact was also known by the camper people, as some of them parked on the last parking before the entrance, got their bikes of the back of the van and cycled the last 3 kilometers. We were not suprised to learn later that they were Dutchies.
We made a coffee, enjoyed the sunshine and warmed up inside, before heading out again. We could have camped there, but it was crowded, so we found a nice spot on the way back, and celebrated this milestone with the bottle of wine. Served at a perfectly cool temperature.
Back south!
So we cycled from the cape to Alta, where we stayed at a Warm Shower host living on a farm. His studio apartment was directly above the stable, so we watched a calf being born while having breakfast. There we 22 huskies, chickens and very cute kittens. The places you see!
We are basically on our way home now, but we take it easy. First of all, we did feel that reaching the North Cape was a deadline for us, mainly due to the weather. Now that the pressure is gone, we are going a bit slower. That is also determined by the weather, the last couple of days were cold and wet, so we spent more hours reading in our warm sleeping bags than in the saddle.
We visited the islands Senja and Andoya. You’ll have to believe us when we say they are very pretty, as it was impossible to take many pictures with our oversized gloves. Senja was hilly and wet, Andoya was luckily flat (although the wind and rain made it feel like being hosed down by a Kärcher high pressure washer).
Summer is officially over for us, and we made our way through rain showers, through tunnels (we love the system on Senja!) and along the fjords. This makes cycling very inefficient, but it’s a small price to pay for these views. Next up; Lofoten and south to Trondheim!
