An expedition by motor-cycle to the most northly point of mainland Europe.
Land of the midnight sun
At latitude 71°10′21″ Nordkapp is as far north as it is possible to go without getting your feet wet. In the summer of 2002 Glyn Garland and myself set off on two motor-cycles to reach this landmark.
We timed our arrival to coincide with the summer solstice (the longest day of the year) so we would have the benefit of 24 hours daylight once we crossed the Artic Circle. Glyn is an old friend from my days in the Merchant Navy. We met at Nautical College and have remained friends ever since. Having sold my motor-cycles many years ago I was reliant on Glyn to provide the transport for this trip. As he collects motor-cycles for a hobby we had a choice of several. Glyn lent me his state-of-the-art BMW tourer and rode the much inferior Benelli 6 cylinder beast of 1970’s vintage.
The journey began from my home in Little Oakley which is conveniently close to the ferry port of Harwich (4 miles away). To make it more of an expedition we decided to take an indirect route to the cape. Crossing the North Sea to Holland we travelled up through Germany and Denmark to Sweden. My sister Vicki and her late husband Bernt live in Jönköping, situated on the southern shore of Lake Vättern. This provided an excuse to visit them and a handy stopping off point along the way.
From Jönköping we continued up the spine of Sweden to the top of the Baltic Sea where we crossed the border into Finland. Always travelling north we wound our way through the endless lakes that form a large proportion of central Finland before finally crossing the Arctic Circle near Rovaniemi. We had reached the land of the midnight sun. During our jouney north the period of darkness had been rapidly decreasing. Still it was strange to be somewhere where the sun never sets. It took a little while to get used to this concept especially after drinking several glasses of the strong local ale until the early hours of the morning to celebrate our arrival.
Onward and upward we continued through Lapland until we crossed the border into Norway. Finland was primarily a country of open plains with a myriad of lakes to break up the openness. Norway is much more mountainous. Another feature of Norway is the cost of everything. Sweden and Finland are not cheap but Norway is outrageously expensive. It took a little while for the financial shock-wave to settle as we headed for a place called, Kirkenes.
Cross here at your own peril
This is as far north and east as it is possible to go. North Norway sweeps round to the east to form what was the only direct land border with Russia during the cold-war. From here it is possible to see directly into mother Russian although there is no access allowed and no border crossings in the area. A small river makes the boundary between East and West and once this peters out only wooden stakes mark the limit of each country. There was no hint of activity on the Russian side, but many signs warning of the risk of straying across to the other side. All the same it was a strange experience as it always felt like someone somewhere was watching us.
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From the outpost of Kirkenes we headed back west to our final destination, Nordkapp. We timed our arrival so that we would be there on the longest day of the year. It really didn’t make a lot of difference as the sun never sets anyway this far north for a couple of months or so.
Having spent a day/night at Nordkapp we headed back south to catch the ferry home to the UK from Bergen. This time instead of open tundra and lakes we experienced the magic of the Norwegian fjord’s. A motorcycle trip of over 4,000 miles with some of the most varied and interesting scenery on offer in Europe is a journey worth taking.
