Crasher goes North: Exploring Mageroya

Map of Day 9

With our obligatory photos taken, Alison was accosted by a crazy Italian cyclist who asked her to photograph him in front of the monument. He had ridden all the way from Sicily, following the route first taken by pilgrims hundreds of years ago. They would collect up some of the local seaweed ( which look like baseball sized onion bhaji's ) , walk to the Nordkapp and throw the balls into the sea to show their commitment to God.

There is now a fully mapped route from Sicily to the Nordkapp, called the E1 European long distance path which is a hint to the original. 

 I saw lots of cyclists during the trip. As a keen cyclist myself, I have nothing but respect for the commitment and mental strength it must take to travel like they do. It is a desolate place up here in the north.

With the photos taken we had a look around the rest of the site on our way back to the bikes. There was an interesting series of coin installations called "Children of the Earth". It must of been quite a privilege to have been chosen as one of the seven children.

Stuart and Alison went off the explore the café and tourist centre, and the rest of us had a look at the vast array of overland vehicles in the carpark.

There were lots of motorcycles including a Caponord from Finland. As it was posted on the forum that we would be arriving today, had the owner ridden up to meet us? We never did find out.

As well as the bikes there was a large array of overland expedition vehicles. These ranged from modified campervans and Landrovers, right up to mighty Unimogs and ex military trucks, which I have always had a soft spot for.

Back at the bikes we had been joined by another "fare dodger" from Holland on a BMW F800GS.

Finn, Mark and I waited a while for Stuart and Alison. They were obviously caught up in a whirlwind of tourist tat in the gift shop, so we left them to it.

There are a few small villages on the island of Mageroya. So we set off to explore. First stop was Skarsvag, a small busy fishing port. Finn spotted some reindeer feeding right next to the harbours edge. I imagine these must be the Nordic equivalent of salt marsh lamb.

Finn signaled for a coffee stop, and we found a café down at the end of the harbor. It was a café and b&b called the North Cape Experience that offered tourist trips of various sorts. Finn spotted the chalk board signs for the fish and crab specials and started salivating!  I was still feeling the after effects of our late night whisky exploites, so I just ordered a large coffee and freshly baked lingonberry muffin in my best Norwegian.

"Is that an English accent?" said the guy behind the counter. "Yes" I replied. " Hi, I'm Jonathan. I'm from Surrey mate. Where about are you guys from?"

Jonathan sailed into Skarsvag a few years ago after some time in the Seychelles. He fell in love with the place and never left. He married a stunning blond lady, who I was introduced to, and set up the café and tourist trip business. He was doing alright for himself. And, I had to admit I was more than a little bit jealous.

Jonathan showed Finn the huge tanks outside, where you could choose your dinner fresh from the sea. Seeing the size of some of the fish, you would need a lot of chips! The café was a nice place to be. It seemed to be a bit of a community centre for the villagers, who were coming and going after a bit of a chat with each other. There were some prints of old photos on the wall, showing what life was like years ago. It must of been hard, and very cut off from the rest of the world.

I could of sat there all day talking to Jonathan, but we said our goodbyes and rode on a bit further.

The next stop was Gjesvaer. The road to the village was bleak with very little vegetation growing through the rocky soil. It was a very rugged, manly landscape. Just before we entered the village the road took us through a bolder strewn valley before depositing us out into a simply breathtaking panorama of the whole village.

It was as if the Norwegian Tourist Board waited for unsuspecting tourists at the top of the hill. And, then BAM, slapped them across the face with an icy palm shouting " HOW'S THAT FOR A VIEW!"

The village was empty with tourists. A few locals were busy working at a fish processing factory. There were people tending their gardens , who waved hello as we rode by. It was my favorite part of the whole island.

Leaving Gjesvaer, we made our way back the way we had came. The main road was getting busier with tourist coaches and campervans, all heading for the Nordkapp. We had one more village to visit, which was situated down a narrow road a few kilometres from the hytte.

Kjelvik is the smallest of the villages. It has a tiny harbor crammed full of red and white fishing boats. They looked vibrant against the sombre backdrop of the mountains behind. There was very little else here other than an art gallery, which was closed for renovations.

We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the porch of our hytte, chatting, researching the next few days of the trip, and watching the world go by. All the passing motorcyclists waved, as motorcyclists do the world over. We even spotted a few of the motorcycles we had seen on our travels up through Scandinavia. It seems we all had the same destination, but took different routes.

Tourist busses were streaming past at regular intervals. Mark noticed that the people on the busses were looking at us as the passed by. So, we started waving at them too. We got a few waves back, but not from everyone. Finn said it was because they were shocked at the state of my undergarments hanging on the line!

It is a shame that most of the tourists that passed by would only go to the Nordkapp Centre, spend an hour or so looking around, and then head back to Alta again. The villages were the real star of Mageroya.

Tomorrow we start making our way south, along the west coast.

Here is part 7 of my vlog:

Crasher goes North: I've made it!

Thursday 23rd July 2015

I woke from my whisky induced deep sleep to be greeted by a barrage of warm hearted abuse from my fellow housemates. Apparently, as soon as my head hit the pillow last night, I started snoring. Loudly. Yet again, I didn't hear a thing!

We have a lazy day today. After all on the kilometres we have all traveled, we deserve it. Mark checks the weather forecast on his phone. It is going to be a nice day. But, he also notices the sunrise and sunset times are blank. We are truly in the land where the sun never sets.

I have been busy since breakfast. I have done a load of laundry, and adorned the washing line outside our hytte with my smalls.

I have also uploaded the footage and photos I have taken of the trip so far to my hard-drive, and also to my cloud storage. I am making full use of the free Wi-Fi. I don't know when and if it will be available, so I make use of it when I have it.

I have also charged up all of my gadgets ready for todays filming. I am getting excited at the prospect of actually making it to the Nordkapp. I know there is nothing there other than a money grabbing tourist attraction. But, this trip has been 2 years in the planning. And, I have been researching the possibility of making the trip since my early twenties when I read about the Nordkapp in an old travel magazine in a doctor's waiting room.

When I was led in bed this morning, I noticed something I didn't see the night before. On the slats of the bed above, travellers from all over the world who had stayed in the hytte before have written messages. There were messages from Scandinavia, Italy, Holland, Latvia, Russia, everywhere. I wrote a message and also left a sticker.

So if you are ever staying in hytte number 4 at Nordkapp Camping see if the message is still there, and leave one of your own.

Finn, Mark and I went for a ride into Honningsvag to fuel up for todays ride, and also have a quick look around. We had all ditched our panniers back at the hytte. My bike felt weird. It was back to being a supersports bike rather than the supertanker I had ridden all week.

We found Stuart at the garage behind the service station. He had borrowed some tools so that he could adjust his chain.

Honningvag is an industrial city ( declared a city even though it has less than 5,000 inhabitants) and specializes in two main industries. There are not only visual clues to these, but the two aromas that hit you are the biggest clues of all. Oil refineries and storage tanks greet you as you enter the town. These provide a refueling stop for large cruise ships during the summer, and fishing boats and oil platform supply ships the rest of the time.

The other smell is slightly more pungent. Huge drying racks full of stockfish have been constructed, looking like a macabre scene from a fisherman's tall tale.

 After a look round the city, we rode back to the hytte to meet up with Stuart, who had gone back to collect Alison.

The E69 to the Nordkapp is reported as being less of an epic ride and more of a boring necessity. But, I loved it. The landscape is barren with huge scars of dark granite rock that are constantly weather beaten by the harsh conditions being this far north.

 

The flashing headlights of approaching traffic indicated Rudolf and friends must be nearby. And, sure enough just up the road there they were.

Approaching the Nordkapp we had a decision to make. We chose, or more precisely Mark chose not to pay the entrance fee to the carpark. There is no actual requirement to pay to enter the site as it is public land. Paying entitles you to a few extras such as viewing a film in the cinema. But, we were here just to cross off a place on our bucket lists.

We parked up at the bottom of the entrance road, I stuck a sticker on the signpost, and we walked across the cliff top towards the globe monument. Mark stood on the edge of the cliffs, and posed for a manly photo.

This was as close as he was prepare to get. A true adventurer!

As we got near the monument there were more of the stone cairns made by travelers.

Once at the monument we took it in turns to take photos. I stuck a sticker on it. The monument gets covered in stickers which are jet washed off at regular intervals. But, mine was there. I have photographic evidence! Finn asked me to take one of him using his super-dooper camera. I thought I had taken it. But, when he reviewed the photos later it turns out I hadn't. Sorry Finn. We then asked a German couple if they would be kind enough to take a group shot of all of us.

I did get one of Finn using my camera

Crasher goes North: Straight to the top

Map of Day 8

Wednesday 22nd July 2015

After camping every night so far, it felt strange to wake up in a proper bed inside the nice warm hytte. I had slept well, as had the others. According to Mark, Finn and I were have a snore off, to see who was the loudest. Finn and I didn't hear a thing, so we deny it ever happened!

It did feel strange going to sleep while it was still light outside. This was the view from my bedroom window at ten past midnight! Luckily all the windows had blackout curtains.

Notice the heavy duty mosquito netting. The little devils had feasted on my juicy offerings during the night. I had been bitten on the top of my foot, in between the thumb and fore-finger on my right hand, and more annoyingly on the top of my left ear. This last one made taking my helmet off a painful affair which would annoy me for days to come.

After the usual morning routine we packed up. I sat on the porch listening to the sound of the river while I waited for the others. Now there were more of us, it took a while to round everyone up.

Today we were heading to Nordkapp Camping. This would be our base while we had a rest day to visit the Nordkapp Centre, and explore the rest of the area. The day began with the usual straight tree lined roads. Well, I only got about 500 metres. I had forgotten to put my earplugs in!

Stuart took the lead, engaged throttle position two, and disappeared towards the horizon with Alison locked against the topbox. Once he realised the rest of us were on a touring holiday, he calmed down a little and we soon caught up again. There was not much chance of getting lost through, as there was only the one road heading in our direction.

There was even less traffic this far north. The roads were straight lines between the scattering of villages and towns. It was still trees in every direction as far as I could see. But, the trees were getting smaller the further we travelled. The road surface was fairly good apart from a series of joining strips across the road every 100mtrs. I felt every one of these strips for the 60 or so kilometres we were on the main E8. Then luckily we had to turn off onto the 956 and the 93 which would take us to Alta.

This area was even more sparsely populated. We would see other traffic maybe every forty minutes or so. It must be a harsh life up here in the winter. Or at any time of the year for that matter.

We crossed into Norway at the old border crossing just past Leppajarvi, passing through the green channel, of course. I turned around and applied a sticker to the Norway sign, as many other travelers had done.

It was getting colder and a little overcast. Stuart pulled over so Alison could put on her overjacket to keep the wind off her. We all had the same idea, and followed suit. I also felt the need to water a nearby tree.

Unfortunately, Stuart had stopped in a mosquito infested area. The things were buzzing around all over the place. We all looked ridiculous swatting at them, like extras in a B-movie. It was time to get going again, quickly.

As we approached Alta the road followed a river valley. The road curved its way along the river bank and provided some much needed corners.

 
Before descending into a twisting, narrow gorge. I was now leading the group, and was having more than a little fun. So much so that I scared a couple of  Swedish bikers who hadn't seen me coming.

As we arrived in Alta at a T-junction where we joined the E6, in front of us was a view of Altafjord surrounded by snowcapped mountains. The scenery was beginning to get much better after days of nothing but forest.

I also spotted the first signs for the Nordkapp. It was still a long way off, but at least we were on the right road. We had not had a morning coffee stop, as we had not passed a café on our route this morning. I was ready to stop, so I spotted a café and pulled over. It was nearly 1pm, so we had lunch.

I had a huge burger and chips, washed down with a bottle of coke and a coffee.

Finn had the " dish of the day", which was a lamb chop and mixed vegetables. Mark, Stuart and Alison also had burgers of various sorts. They were not used to stopping for lunch. They would have breakfast and an evening meal, and only eat garage snacks when they stopped for fuel throughout the day. Finn told them they needed to be educated in the ways of the Scandinavian traveler. Coffee stops and plenty of them!

The road out of Alta followed the shore line of the fjord, before climbing up to a plateau. The road was arrow straight right through this stunning scene of absolutely nothingness. There was a big angry looking sky overhead which added to the visual drama.

At Porsangen the road comes to a junction. Right will take you east towards Murmansk and the Russian border. We were headed left on the E69 towards Honningsvag and Mageroya, the island where the Nordkapp is located. The traffic started to increase slightly, with an ever increasing amount of campervans, motorhomes, and tourist coaches. But, it was still nothing like the traffic you get in the UK.

The E69 followed the coast from here to Honningvag. The views out over the sea were amazing. The water a rich azure blue, and dead calm.

The road also has a series of tunnels. Some of these are dark and gloomy. The Nordkapp Tunnel is the longest and links the island of Mageroya to the mainland.

There are signs of civilization too. Little collections of red painted cottages congregated on any flat piece of land found along this rugged coast.

I stop to take photographs along the way. I catch up with the others at a scenic viewpoint. Fellow travelers have built little stone cairns to bring them good luck.

It was only a short ride from the viewpoint to Nordkapp Camping. I had a small 2-3 berth hytte booked for the two nights. Finn and Mark would share with me. Stuart and Alison had already arranged to share with another couple (Sloth and Diablo from the Caponord forum ), who were travelling up at their own pace.

The very attractive young lady on reception joked about the three of us sharing a "small"  hytte. She suggested we must be "very close friends", as they are usually stayed in by couples. We all had a good joke about it. But, in reality there was plenty of room. Mark volunteered to sleep on the floor, as he had a plush airbed. Finn took the top bunk, and I had the lower bunk.

We relaxed that evening talking and joking about the days events. Mark produced a bottle of whisky he had picked up on his way up through Eastern Europe. It certainly helped the conversation flow. But, I think there might be a few sore heads in the morning!

Here is the next episode of my vlog: