23rd July. Well, here we are: Nordkapp, the iconic European touring destination. We know we’re at 71° North plus a bit. But where, actually is the kapp bit? It seems the problem with Nordkapp is that it’s a 300m high cliff. Warm land, cold sea… so yup, it’s under this cloud somewhere, as are we. The extensive flat, stoney area is full of people, especially motorcyclists røyking, wandering around saying “where is it?” in a multitude of tongues.

The more numerous folk who have sensibly travelled in motorhomes, are inside them, probably drinking, waiting for the sun to break through. They’re not inside the commodious cafe/museum/shop building, because, like the motorcyclists, they will be charged £25 each to enter, and it’s “røyking forbudt”. There’s a lot of bicycles, too. But the actual cyclists are inside because, commendably, hikers and cyclists are free. And don’t, by and large, royk. The other reason they’re inside is it’s blowing a hooley, and blooming cold, and they’ve just climbed 300m. A nice tourist took our murky picture at the monument.

But we dun it! It does feel like a diminished achievement compared to this cyclist from Milan, and these other long haulers from Belgium (…wistful moment…), but we dun it: It’s taken us 5 weeks, and about 5,850 km/3635 miles. Rather indirect and explorey miles.

Two days later, we hiked to the roadless point that is actually the northernmost point. A much nicer day, and, this place, Knivskjellodden, slopes gently into the sea, so we lunch at maybe 20m, in clear blue sky. We can see Nordkapp, hurrah! The poor folks at the visitor centre can’t see us though, because the top of it is inside a cloud. Rather beautifully. We think Nordkapp is the leftmost bit of land.

To be fair, we did then pop in briefly at the top, and the clouds did break at odd moments. So we got a new photo.

And Clare found a rainbow.

Except… did I write “actually the northernmost point”? Ah, well, of what though? Trophy or not, Nordkapp and Knivskjellodden are actually on an island. It’s not, therefore, the northernmost point of the European mainland. And the island of Svalbard (Spitzbergen) is hundreds of km offshore, to the north. But, you can’t ride, or walk, to Svalbard. Nordkapp, then, is the most northerly point of Europe you can get to by road.

So, another quest required: Ride a day east to Slettnes, the most northerly point of the european mainland that you can get to by road. From there it’s an 2 night hike to Cape Nordkinn, the most northerly point of the european mainland. But we’re not set up for that, and settled for a short potter. Here’s the trophy shot of me (Gid) having a chilly dip in the Arctic Ocean, with Slettnes Fyr in the background. While I was drying in the sun, a minke whale came by just offshore. A memorable day.

We’ve taken longer than most motorcyclists to get here, but explored a lot. Our thanks, anyways, for the great advice from Norwegian and other motorcyclists and occasionally non motorcyclists we met along the way. Especially Froda, and we hope you got your other rubbish home safely.

Onwards – east, and then south, aiming, roughly, for Helinski.