The last kilometres to the North Cape! Through Tromsø, past reindeer…
The next morning it continued by ferry! From Botnhamn to Brensholmen we crossed the Norwegian Sea. Off the island of Senja and back to the mainland. From the ferry I could already see the rain far in the distance. A big cloud hung between the mountains! The sky was grey. I prepared for the rain and switched from my summer gloves to my waterproof winter gloves.
My next destination was Tromsø! But I hadn’t planned much there! It was also a Sunday. So I rode once through the city, to the nearest open supermarket. From Tromsø to the North Cape, by the way, it’s now only 661 kilometres too! Since I’d already been on the road for three and a half months by now, I finally wanted to arrive. The North Cape had been my goal for so long! So I prepared for two full days of riding. At the supermarket I stocked up on my rice supply. Since I was unsure whether at the North Cape there’d be a chance to wash my pot and pan after cooking, or whether there’d even be running water nearby at all, I bought Uncle Ben’s ready rice from the pouch. The advantage: you only need a small sip of water to heat the rice. And then you only have to wash the pot and a spoon. Since I’d by now also filled my little three-litre fuel canister with petrol, I had to be more sparing with my drinking water. Since I only had two 1.5-litre bottles left. The petrol-station coverage up to the North Cape is supposed to be good, I’ve heard. But it’s also often written that, to be safe, you should top up again at every station. My little fuel canister gave me a bit more security there. On stretches where petrol stations are, or were, further apart, I always keep a close eye on my remaining range. I get about 350 kilometres out of a tank here in Norway. So I usually stop briefly at a remaining range of 175 kilometres and check where the next station is. That way, in an emergency, I can at least ride back to the last station, should no more come up in the next few kilometres! But since the North Cape is a popular tourist spot and not the middle of Mongolia, it should work out fine! Through Tromsø it then went, as I said, straight on:
Unfortunately it then started raining a bit. But I still rode on to cover a few more kilometres. After the second ferry crossing I rode past a sign: „Hytte 10 €“. Below it a phone number. I was sure that couldn’t be any good. A hytte, or rather a bed, in Norway for 10 € isn’t possible… I thought. Shortly after, I was standing in front of several small terraced cabins. All built in ’85, as I found out afterwards. I called the number and shortly after a woman came out of a neighbouring house. She showed me one of the cabins, the bathroom and a small kitchen. I still didn’t trust the whole thing. For 10 € it was really amazing. Looking back at blog entry one in Copenhagen: eight-bed dorm, 21 € without a kitchen. But yes! 10 € for a night. I just wondered why, and she answered that her father had built these cabins back in the day and she now offers them so cheaply simply to help travellers. He travelled a lot himself and wanted to give something back. I moved into my little cabin! I should also mention that I was the only one there. All the other cabins were empty. But the condition for the 10 € was that if anyone else comes, I have to share the cabin. I firmly assumed no one else would come! I settled in and occupied all the beds for now. Aired everything out and re-folded it all. There was a small heater too. At first it smelled a bit burnt, but afterwards it was fine. After a while there was a knock at the door and the woman came back. She introduced me to a man who had obviously also booked a bed. I don’t remember his name, but he was travelling by bike. Since it had by now started raining harder, the cabin was, I think, his salvation today. He told me he’d cycled from France to the North Cape. Now he was on his way back home. I’d already seen many cyclists, and over time a few questions had piled up on the subject of camping, food and enduring the weather. How far do you actually cycle here per day? „About 100 km“. But he was also a more experienced bikepacker. His tour last year went from France to Istanbul. On that tour he had a big problem with the heat! He just couldn’t keep up with drinking and always got calf cramps at night. Even magnesium didn’t help back then, he told me. Now here in Norway there’s more water than you need. So my first question was: how do you protect yourself from the rain?! „Actually, you can’t at all“, he laughed. „At some point the water’s everywhere. You just mustn’t stop, otherwise it gets cold. And at some point you’re just riding. It doesn’t matter whether it goes up, down, left or right. You just keep pedalling.“ We talked for a long time, but I quickly realised that for a bike trip to the North Cape you definitely have to be mentally set up differently. I’m also constantly outdoors, sleep in a tent and have often had cold feet too. But when I’m hungry, I just pop to the supermarket. When it rains too hard, I just ride on to the next town, to accommodation. Without worrying about whether it goes over mountains or how far it actually is. In any case, I now knew that everyone who travels by bike — like here, to the North Cape — is really hardcore! In the bathroom his clothes dried on a tie-down strap overnight. The little old heater gave it everything! But the next morning the things still weren’t dry… but since he had no other choice and it was already raining a bit again anyway, he just put them back on. I was then really quite glad when I climbed into my laminated, windproof motorcycle suit with its inner lining, switched on my heated grips and rode off. My goal was the North Cape; whether I’d reach it today, I didn’t know. It was about 435 kilometres. On the German Autobahn, no Problem! But in Norway, in light rain and where you can and may ride a maximum of only 80 km/h, that’s damned far. So I just set off, like every morning. This time, though, not with the goal of just pitching my tent somewhere, but at the northernmost point of Europe! So it went north on the E6. The landscape gradually got flatter and plainer. Fewer houses and people, more land. The weather was quite ok! A bit of rain now and then. Otherwise I made good progress. It was just simply far! In the afternoon I only stopped briefly under some canopy for a quick snack!
Then I was off again! By now it was possible to reach the North Cape today! Again and again I stopped at the petrol stations to top up. Because the gaps were becoming noticeably bigger. Still doable, but bigger. At some point you then get onto the E69. That’s the road that leads all the way onto the island to the North Cape. But my sat-nav then also reported traffic delays due to construction work… let’s see if it still works out… Then at last came a sign that I was on the right road! The North Cape Tunnel. It connects the mainland with the island. It goes steeply down and back up the mountain again! In the middle of the tunnel I suddenly had to think of the French cyclist again! Because it dawned on me that he, and everyone else who wants to go to the North Cape, has to go through here. Shortly after, I then saw two cycle travellers who were probably riding back up in the very lowest gear in the tunnel. And as if that wasn’t all, I actually also saw someone on foot with a big backpack! Once I was out of the tunnel again, the landscape was different once more! It was so barren and flat that you could simply ride „cross-country“. Of course I wasn’t going to pass that up:
Onward…
Shortly before Honningsvåg it was: only 129 km to go!
After a good seven and a half hours on the bike, I’ll manage that too! I should add that in the last two hours I kept having to stop, because there were increasingly reindeer on the road. Or because others stopped to take photos of them. The reindeer didn’t bother the cars at all and walked on quite relaxed on the tarmac. It just looked a bit off motor-wise: with their big, clunky hooves they walked a little like on ice, or as if they’d only just learned to walk. Roughly like when you go back to the ice rink on skates for the first time after a two-year break. Still, it was great to see these animals! In Honningsvåg I then stopped again at the Rema 1000 for a little snack! I also refilled my water bottles again! On we went! The construction site — or sites — announced earlier came up. Large parts of the road were being renewed. Once again I was glad to be travelling on the right motorbike! The people in the cars got shaken up quite a bit!
The last kilometres really dragged on like an eternity! And in between it kept raining a bit too! I rode past many cycle travellers. They really had my greatest respect! There were also many motorcyclists on the road! Since it was half past seven in the evening by now, and I’d thus now been riding for about nine hours, I was hugely looking forward to finally arriving.
