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24th
of February 2002
Car trip, day 3: North Cape - the northernmost point in Europe, you can
reach by car.
Before 9
o'clock in the morning be started our tour to the North Cape. Short after
we crossed lonesome highlands until we reached again the coast at the
village of Russenes. From there we drove along the narrow, winding road to Honningsvåg,
the main town of the island of Mageroya, on which the North Cape is
situated. Because of this fact, the North Cape is not the northernmost
point of Europe ... the North Cape is in fact not on the European mainland
and so the northernmost point of Europe is the Nordkinn, East of the North
Cape. And to your surprise, the North Cape is also not the northernmost
point of this island. The
Knivskjelodden peninsula is a little bit more
North than the "North Cape". I know that's all very confusing and I think
that's the reason, why everyone says, that the North Cape is the
northernmost point of Europe ;-)
OK ...
at the way to Mageroya we stood suddenly in front of a tunnel, which was
closed with a roll bar. We were still thinking what we had to do now, the
roll bar automatically opened and we could drive into the tunnel. At the
other end of the tunnel we had to play this game another time - time to
celebrate the Norwegian technology. We still don't why they make this, but
maybe it's against blizzards blowing through the tunnel or against animals
searching a warm place to sleep.
Behind
the tunnel we had to face the next barrier in form of a boom. Because of
snow drifts the road maintenance established a "Kolonnekjøring". This
means, that at fixed times a convoy can pass the dangerous road section
behind a snow plough. At the boom there is normally a time table and
really after some time a snow plough came, and we could continue our trip
to the North.
After a
while we reached the tunnel which connects the mainland with the island of Mageroya.
Since the Norwegians built this tunnel, you can really say, that the North
Cape is the northernmost point of Europe, reachable by car. Before there
was only a ferry connection to Mageroya. We paid the fee of 223 Norwegian
crowns (for one direction) and were now not anymore on the European
mainland.
The
street to Skarsvågen, the northernmost reachable place of Europe on this
day (by car) was a real challenge. In spite of our spike tires and our
Alpine driving experiences, we had big difficulties to reach this small
fishing village. Later some people told us, that this was the first day,
the road was open for one week! Before it was only possible to reach Skarsvågen
by snowmobile.
Arrived
at Skarsvågen,
we were looking for a possibility to go to the North Cape. Alois found a
man with a snow mobile and he asked him to bring us to the North Cape, in
order to avoid a long walk. For "only" 1000 NOK the owner of the fish
factory agreed.
After a
20 minute trip we reached the North Cape Centre, which was - to our
surprise - also open, because short before a bus of the Hurtigruten (a
famous Norwegian cruise) visited the Centre. So we had also the chance to
go for free into the North Cape Centre. But the most fascinating thing is
the North Cape cliff, which falls 300m vertical into the Norwegian Sea. So
we stood alone at this beautiful cliff and enjoyed the silence and in the
meantime whales were passing by in the sea below us. We reached our target
in visiting the North Cape in winter!
Back at Skarsvågen,
we drove as fast as possible to the convoy section, in order not to miss
the snow plough. Until Lakselv, the road was very winding, but after
Lakselv the road was getting more wider and more straight. So we drove
with 100km/h trough snow and ice to Karasjok, where we had reserved a
place in the youth hostel.
The
youth hostel was a real surprise. The owner (world champion in dog
sledding) was building every two years a small blockhouse in his forest
and rented this huts. I never slept in such a nice hut, where everything
is self made and for sure, I could have stayed there for many days, if I
would had been more time.
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