I started this trip by going to Cape Algulhas, the southern tip of Africa and right at the end of this week I reached Nordkapp (North Cape) Norway and now feel this journey is complete; a south - north of the Africa/Europe/Asia landmass to go with the east - west of the Russia to UK trip. For those interested this journey has so far covered 33,000 kilometres and taken 192 days compared with the 27,000 kilometres and 145 days of that first trip.
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| Haven't got the tree shirts, but did get patches for my jacket |
I was surprised by how elated I felt when I got to Nordkapp, much more than when I reached the top of Africa. I was on a huge high when I arrived. I forget how goal orientated I am and it caught me out when I got there and suddenly realised that I'd achieved all that I'd set out to do on this trip (that is all except the critical last step of getting home safely).
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| Nordkapp - latitude 72 degrees north (Cape Agulhas is 38 degrees south) |
I arrived at Nordkapp at 8pm on one of the first nights of the midnight sun so I camped there and lay in my tent watching the sun come down but never dip below the horizon with the light so strong you have no trouble reading. I was also extremely lucky with the weather, a comparatively mild 5 degrees at night and cloudless sky to enhance the experience.
1am and the sun is just starting to rise again
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| Scenery approaching Nordkapp |
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| And more scenery |
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| Reindeer just free range - with a about as much road intelligence as the averge sheep |
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| Prices in Norway are scary. This typical burger works out at $13 (or £7) and another $2 for cheese. |
The part of the week before Nordkapp was a bit of a blur of travel, bit more rushed than the earlier months of the trip but I knew this was going to be the case - from Druskininku, Lithuania where I started the week it was a whirl of Latvia then Estonia then ferry to Finland followed by 1600 kms riding pretty much straight north, crossing the Artic Circle on the way. Part of the rush was because the weather was dry and the forecast was for it to change to rain the following week.
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The Artic Circle crossing point has been turned into a tourist trap where you buy your Santa themed everything. Fortunately it was closed when I passed.
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| Starting to get cold- that's ice on the water |
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| Latvia had some great gravel roads - it was wonderful to be back off tar for awhile. |
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| Did the plan change? - we have the railway bridge, but nothing but a 10 metre drop each end. |
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| Lithuania was full of beautiful little villages glowing in the spring sunshine |
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