We park the motorcycle where the trek starts, we talk to other motorcyclists that camped just there.
They did both north capes, real and fake, and definitely recommend the trek to Knivskjelodden. They saw reindeers on the way and we might see seals if we make it to the very end... Isa is enchanted and ready to go. Miji loads the track on the GPS. Wait, there is something wrong... it says 18km round trip... and just as Miji realizes that, a cold arctic breeze starts to blow. No problem, we are prepared. We put on our Odlo-underwear and Sherpa-jackets and start to walk.
Landscape is beautiful, there is these white rocks everywhere, but also snow... cool. Isa takes pics, we say hello to other happy trekkers, we don't feel the cold, everything is just perfect... until Miji checks the GPS: we've been trekking for 2 hours and there are still 15 km to go! No worries, we continue... landscape keeps distracting us.
Still 5 km to get to the tip... reindeers are cute...
There are 2 kms left to reach Knivskjelodden, we see the fake Nordkapp to our right, it really looks like we are going further than it. We are almost at sea level now. It's getting warmer so we can take our jackets off. Isa recalls that the last half-marathon she ran was a bit longer, so this should be no problem (14 years ago :-O ).
1.4km to go. Now we are at the same latitude as the fake Nordkapp, the big rocks on our path are flat but go downwards from left to right and that makes the path harder to walk. Even experienced Dahus would find it difficult.
900m to go - where is this damn geographical north?! It's been hours that we are ahead of the fake one, we see it behind us; but we still need to walk. Earth continues forever... will it ever end?
400m to go. What about just stopping here and going back, it's far north anyways...and nobody will know...
100m to go. Yeah, we are almost there...
We reach the landmark. Finally! but we need to go all the way to the end to see the promised seals - seals that, in the meantime, probably also thought it was too far north over there because when we reach the end of the ground, there are simply none.
We are exhausted, we sit there for a while, take some pics, and just admire the waves of both Norwegian and Barents seas hitting the rocks of the north cape.
15:00, it starts to chill, time to go back. Oups! We still need to walk 9km back to the motorcycle. We speed up a bit but the more we speed up the more the temperature drops. The sun is long gone, hidden behind the fog of those low, low clouds that have formed.
16:00, Miji realizes that for some reason his hands and face have swollen ??? Dr. Penny Selina has never seen this condition before, she remains perplex and proposes a dip in the cold lake... Miji refuses and would prefer dying by indefinite swelling. As a last resort, the doctor asks Miji to walk holding his hands up, and seeing that he cannot grab things anymore, he complies and does as the doctor says. He is now walking like an arctic prisoner...
There are still 4km to go. Brrrr. It's cold in here. We are going so fast (Miji holding hands up) that we even pass other trekkers...
17:30, we are close, this was all flat when we started, we should see the parking and the motorcycle by now, where is it! There are just reindeers!! There! Ufff finally! We did it! We are so cold that we cannot move... Little by little, with our fingers still stiff, we start to dress up.
Miji literally wears all the stuff he has brought and is still freezing. He cannot put the gloves on because his hands are swollen! He rips one glove forcing the hand inside. We leave the arctic parking as fast as we can and ride to the closest cafe (25km away) to warm up and retrieve the feeling in our limbs.
It's already 19:30, we are alive, and warm, but now we need to attack 250km to reach our next destination: Alta.
Ahhh, Its sooo nice to ride a motorcycle, just give gas to advance... mmm... and the sun is back, mmmmm... and the landscape is again astonishing... We don't feel those 250km and seem to reach Alta in no time; but we are nevertheless very happy to reach our destination.
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