The North Cape

[Popeye]

Vardo, famous for it's fort and witches.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vard%C3%B8hus_Fortress
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vard%C3%B8_witch_trials

Vardo is located on island reached by a tunnel. Everyone goes through this tunnel, 2890 metres, Norway's first such tunnel under the sea. We even saw very young children walking through.
As for the witches, maybe there is some connection between Pendle, (Pendle hill) and Vardo but I doubt it.
It was a very cold ride to Vardo and a strong headwind didn't help. The bikes were running well. Daily mileages varied but mostly between 200 to 250 miles a day. One day did see us doing 460 miles and filling the tanks 4 times in the day. Once I ran out of gas in a tunnel of which there are many in Norway. Grabbing hold of David's spare tyre (the one on the bike) he pulled me out of the tunnel to safety. I say safety, some of the big trucks are suicidal in the tunnels. If they had to stop in an emergency they would have no chance. Occasionally, reindeers sleep in the tunnels for extra warmth and out of the wind.



Vardo in the distance.



Local fire engine.



Vardo fort.



Not one shot has been fired in anger.




Tunnel length 2890 metres.

Next The Sami people.

[Newtsalad]

I have to do this. Love it. Sorry to leave such banal comments in the middle of such a wonderful thread, but we can clean it up if so desired at the end.
Just want you to know I'm enjoying it, and looking forward to more!

[Popeye]

No no! I'm happy to receive comments along the way. Can you fix the two broken links for me please?

[Newtsalad]

I think the links are now what you intended, if not please let us know. Cheers!

[Popeye]

Disaster number 1. On checking my food rations that I brought with me, all the beans had gone. Continental style breakfast from now on, i.e. not much. Should have brought a trailer. Beware, food is not cheap in Scandinavia especially when it is prepared for you.

We travelled south west to Karasjok.




The Sami culture is very strong in this area and I wanted to see for myself what remains of these originally nomadic people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_people

The Sami people have been around for about 2500 years and inhabited an area as large as Sweden covering mainly the northern part of Scandinavia and Russia. They have struggled most of the time to retain their identity. Even Norway with whom they had co-existed with for centuries tried to wipe out the Sami culture in the early 1900s. In the last war the German policy on retreating from Norway was to burn everything to the ground. Like so in Karasjok with one exception. The Church. The Church was the only building to remain standing.





Karasjok Church.



The Local knife shop.



David bought a knife which the owner of the shop commented "That size is for children"



Sumptuous cabin but at a price.



Or you rent the Sami style tent.



Garage for the dog sleds. If it looks a lot, that's because :-



This guy had over 60 dogs.



I wish I had a cabin like this.


We tried a cabin at this site at Lakselv. Very very basic. Really crap condition and unlike the normal standards in Norway. A little bit of maintenance on the bikes and preparation for our journey onwards to the Cape tomorrow.

The North Cape.

[Popeye]

And so to the Cape.



We hit the road at 6am. With no tent to pack up it was easy to have an early start.



Lots of drying fish.



The ferry to Mageroya.



Very Bleak and barren.



Honningsvag.

Why does everyone want to come here? This barren rock of an island at the top of Europe called Mageroya. We had to cross by ferry to get here but now there is a tunnel. When you arrive at journeys end there is a very polite young lady asking for the equivalent of £10 just for the privilege of parking.
We came here to see the Midnight sun (which you can see from anywhere in Northern Europe for a limited time period in the summer months) but we never saw the midday sun never mind the midnight sun.. It was cold, foggy with visibility down to about 40 meters and howling winds that had us riding the bikes leant over at angle of around 45°.
We took what pictures we could and had to rely on bought slides and postcards to provide us with something in the way of memories to show the folks back home.
People travel to the Cape utilizing all modes of transport. Bicycles, I saw a recumbent at one point, cars, motorcycles and we saw a farm tractor pulling a workman's caravan. This guy was from East Germany and apparently he made the journey every year. The most popular mode of transportation was camper van. The Norwegians dislike these mobile homes because they park anywhere and leave unwanted refuse on departing from their night halt.



It may as well as been the moon.



Just like the dales back home.



This is what we came to see.



We asked a German to take our picture with the Obelisk in the background. He missed the Obelisk.



Trig point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Cape,_Norway




This monument also has seven smaller stones all designed by children of the world as a symbol of peace.



Inside the tourist center.



Behind me is a panoramic window overlooking the Atlantic.



I've been there.

The following are pictures I prepared earlier. or should I say, "this is what it should have looked like".





We wanted to stay longer but we had to push on and camped at Kafford, a small village on the road to Hammerfest.

Hammerfest

[Leiba]

This is fascinating. I wish I'd been able to do some thing like that when I was younger.

[Popeye]

The road to Hammerfest was not to be an easy one.



Our camp site was fair and there we met a couple from France. The man introduced himself and asked could I open a jar for him. he was 76 and his wife was 74. They were traveling and sleeping in a Lada estate. Initially when they left France they were camping but some rotten bastards in Germany stole all their camping gear. Many would have returned home but they had bought new sleeping bags, cooker etc and a piece of plastic to form a lean to. They had been all round Scandinavia and were enjoying every minute of it.
At Kvalsund we passed a school and David suggested that since we were raising money for Childline, how about some pictures from a Norwegian school. We called in and introduced ourselves to the school principal. They were delighted that we had stopped by. The children responded by singing several Norwegian songs for us. We gave rides for them in the playground.



The School.







Throughout the trip I had led the way. Ha, I had the map. After leaving the school I saw a view that I liked and stopped to take a picture. I told David to continue and I'll catch him up. I took my picture.



I wasn't prepared for what I saw next. There was a small tailback of stationary traffic and immediately I knew David was at the front.





When I arrived at the scene, an ambulance had already been dispatched from Hammerfest but I quickly ascertained the extent of Davids injuries and cancelled the ambulance. A doctors car took David to a clinic in nearby Kvalsund. A refuse truck took David's bike to the tip, No No sorry to the recycling center and their mechanic and me straightened David's bike whilst the doctor patched up David. He suffered just a badly grazed elbow. Reindeers are not like sheep. When startled they literarily jump in any direction. Cars do not appear to unnerve them but they don't like bikes. The bike was straight but suffered from a broken screen, front indicator, front mudguard and bent footrest. The screen was salvaged albeit 2 inches shorter and the mudguard pop riveted back together using plastic from the skip. Footrest straightened and good to go. The Reindeer? Very dead and removed from the scene very quickly.



At the recycling center.

We never reached Hammerfest but stayed another night at Kafford. David needed to rest and visit the Doctor the next day. The lady Doctor was so attractive she could have taken his arm off and he wouldn't have noticed. He said it's the first time a young woman had taken his trousers off in years.



Back to normal the following day. Almost.



Daft as ever.

Hammerfest continued.

[Popeye]

We managed to make it into Hammerfest the following day. The weather doesn't look to bad but from here all the way to Bergen there was almost constant drizzle and poor visibility. David was feeling a little better but drugged with medication.



Hammerfest.



The Catholic Church in Hammerfest.



Hammerfest.



The E6. The most boring road I know.





Some of the views going south.



Campsite at Burford.



Beer and Schnapps with some Germans.



This was about 11:30 at night. I'm not quite sure. Hic!

Narvik.

[Popeye]

Continued south towards Narvik.

Taking the next picture I noticed David feeling a little worse for wear. The medication he was on was not strong enough to reduce the pain. So we had more frequent stops. Normally we only stopped when we needed gas but whenever there was an opportunity to have a break I took it.



On the E6.



Ditto.



Fill up yet again but what a view.

Arriving at Narvik, I asked David if he wanted to explore this town with quite a history attached to it but he preferred to move on and set up camp.



Narvik center.



Another fill up and we met these guys returning from a rally in the south.



Note the Axe. I wonder what Mr Plod would say if this was in the UK.

We camped or should I say cabined, at Storjord very close to the Arctic Circle. The campsite was aptly named The Polar Circle Campsite. A cabin was what David needed and with a good shower and a bed he felt much better the next day.



A reasonably priced Cabin.

The next morning we continued to the Arctic Circle. I had to roust some Germans away from the small Obelisk in order to take our picture of the bikes. The Germans had taken their pictures and left the bikes and gone looking for souvenirs.




The Arctic Circle Norwegian side.

Trondheim & the Fjords.