On to Nordkapp

Well, despite what I planned, I just kept pushing on to Nordkapp. My ride through northern Sweden was like deja vu. Had it not been for the fact I was well about the arctic circle, freezing my bum off and stopping constantly to let the raindeer pass, I would have thought I was in northern Michigan. Yes, the topography was that similar, though the trees got smaller the farther I got from the arctic cicle. Oddly though, they began to get larger, the closer I got to the arctic sea. Very strange.



Having been to Prudhoe Bay Alaska by bike, I wasn't sure what to expect going to Nordkapp. When I finally got there and I guess I thought it would be more 'arctic like'. To get to Prudhoe Bay you have a 400 mile dirt road that passes through the Brooks Range and then out on the arctic tundra, it is perhaps America's most remote road. To Nordkapp you have a paved road that weaves around a Norweigen Fjord. If it weren't so cold (5c) and rainy this morning I would have thought I was on just about any fjord in Norway. Beautiful yes, arctic no. Then when I finally got close to the top there was a 70 Kr. fee to continue and a 200 Kr. fee to enter the building up there. Beside the building were parked numerous tour buses with glassy eyed tourists wandering all over outside, not very arctic if you ask me. Once inside there was a large gift shop, an esspresso bar, a liquor bar and a lunch caffeteria. Yup, it was easy to get there and a tourist trap, lots of good size towns just south of it too.

Overall, it was a scenic and fun ride out to Nordkapp, but it was the 'polar' opposite of going to Pudhoe Bay. The good thing is that since it has a nice, smooth paved road, you can take any kind of bike up there without having to think about tires, shocks, or anything else for that matter.

One other note, there were also a lot of raindeer the last few days. They so different from the white tail back home it's amazing. They stand by or on the road all day long and are rarely spooked by cars. Usually they'll just stand right in the way of where you want to travel and look you the same way you look at them. At some point Doner and Cupid might decide to move and let you pass or you just figure out a way around them. They don't seem to care either way. Who knows, I might soon be seeing a jolly old fat guy saying HO HO HO. I'll know I've been on my own too long at that point:-)