Day 13 - Nordkapp

I slept in a 'Hytte', a small cabin which is a damn sight warmer and drier than a tent. When I asked for a tent space last night, the guy behind the desk gave me the key to a hut for the same price. What a guy. I unpacked and emptied the water out of the panniers and started to dry everything.

This morning, everything was different again. Blue skies and sunshine. I set off at the crack of 11 again and took my time today. The sun was out, it was 18 degrees. Life was very good. I decided on a bit of culture and went a Unesco World Heritage site at Alta which has a lot of rock carvings dating from 6000BC to 4700BC. These things are just carved into the hillside and were only uncovered in about 1970. The mozzies soon put paid to my interest though and I got going again very quickly.


For a couple of days now, I have been seeing these warning signs about Elk and Reindeer and have not been too concerned. A bit like the boy who cried wolf too often. I got a rude awakening today when I rounded a tight right hander to meet the pointy end of a Reindeer not 5 meters away. Stupid animal didn't budge, just looked am me. I ended up on the other side of the road and thankfully there was nobody else there at the time.

About 15 minutes later, I came across this group refusing to get out of the road. The seem to like the roads for some reason and especially tunnels. You dont want to run into one of these buggers. They are not that big, being about the size of a good sized calf but the sharp end would do you some real damage. Elk on the other hand are massive and terminal. Not seen any of them, thankfully.

Arrived at Nordkapp and pitched the tent on on the cliff-top with a fabulous view of....not much, just a lot of sea to the north and cliffs to the east & west. I am now 4000 km from London, it is 1am and I am sitting in sunshine on a cliff-top with hundreds of others looking at the sun not going down. Seems kind of crazy. At least we are able to see the sun. The spanish barman told me that he has only seen the sun a few times since June.

Here is what I saw & sorry I buggered the exposure. It was bright & sunny...honest!


Route 248 miles/7:49 hrs


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