Monday, 10 May 2010 00:00 Last Updated on Thursday, 20 May 2010 23:35 Written by Billy van Graan

Total Distance: 32350km

Today we did the very short drive of plus minus 40km to Nordkapp, the most northern point of Europe. After nearly six and a half months on the road and 32350km we finally made it. The short drive to Nordkapp was a spectacular drive to the finish through some of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever laid my eyes on. I reckon in summer it will still be nice but the snow is what really made it special for us. We might have missed a lot of Norway cutting back to Sweden to make it this far north but today I felt like it was worth it.

Before we headed towards North Cape we stopped at the supermarket to pick up some supplies. Nordkapp is not actually the most northern point although it is said to be. The most northern point can actually only be reached by foot by going the extra distance of 18km round trip. Of course we wanted to go to the MOST northern point so we stocked up on energy drinks and food for the long hike.



In Arnt's village where we stayed the snow was mostly gone and it was not as cold as it was 200km south so we didn't expect to find the whole island on the other side still covered in a very thick blanket of snow. It made all the other snow covered landscapes look less impressive when we saw how much snow there actually was. Some parts of the island were literally still covered in meters of snow.

When we arrived at Nordkapp we were relieved that because it was out of season we could just drive in without paying. Usually it is over R250 per person to enter and thus it is also known as the most northerly rip-off. What was even cooler is that there was hardly a person in sight. We decided to drive Yuki right to the iconic metal structure resembling the world on its axis so we could take some nice shots. When I was halfway to the structure I heard some dude calling and whistling to tell me to come back. I just ignored him and Claudine ran to him and asked him if we could take a quick couple of snaps since the bike was now already there. Luckily he agreed and Yuki could be in some of the shots as well.

We both had an Arctic beer to celebrate and we spent quite a while there just sitting around and looking over the ocean to the north imagining what it must be like at the North Pole. At Nordkapp you are actually closer to the North Pole than Oslo, the capital of Norway. After hanging around for a while we decided to go back to all the snow covered areas to look around and to see if it would actually be to walk to the most southern point.



When we go to the start of the walking trail it became very clear that we bought all our provisions earlier for nothing. There was no way we would be able to walk that distance in the amount of snow that was still on the ground. Check the pictures above where Claudine walks in the snow and where she stands at the information board covered by a small roof. That was meters from the road and the start. We could have tried to do the walk but Claudine didn't have any sunglasses on her and our feet would have been wet in minutes as well. After that we just drove round taking pictures and taking in the beautiful landscapes.

We went back to the supermarket to buy some pork chops to treat ourselves on making it to Nordkapp. In the evening we enjoyed chatting with Arnt again and he showed us all his very cool and very striking looking pants he enjoys wearing. He has only ever owned one pair of jeans I think because they are not so comfortable. The pants he wears have some very cool designs but don't always work so well when he has to have business meetings. I would have liked to chill out more and have more beers but tomorrow we will attempt our longest day of the trip yet. It will be an 1100km day all the way back to Umea in Sweden. Time is running out on my visa and if we still want to sell the bike and get out in time we need to get to Amsterdam as soon as possible.

Sunday, 09 May 2010 00:00 Written by Billy van Graan

Today was another wonderful day of riding through some of the most amazing scenery of the whole trip. I think for people that are from these countries it must be just more snow and ice and cold but for us it is something we never see and it was very special. From Muonio we went straight north towards Norway and the further north we went the less the trees became until we reached the Norwegian border and from there it was pretty a much treeless tundra landscape.

But before we got to the tundra like landscape we stopped at a shop near Muonio where we saw a sign that said you could buy a coffee and a doughnut for only 50 euro cents. In Scandinavia nothing is cheap so we had to have this. It also gave us a chance to sit inside and warm up a bit. The shop uses the coffee / doughnut deal to lure customers in to view all the interesting stuff they sell. The whole shop inside is scattered with all kinds of stuffed animals of the region and you can buy clothes and gloves the locals use made out of animal skins. See the one picture below of me with a pair of massive fluffy gloves.



In Norway we got to a town on the northern coast with the name Alta and the weather looked like it was going to rain but at least to the north east where we were heading it looked clear so we just kept on riding. 40km out of Alta the road went up a small pass and the whole world turned bright weight. Snow was still very thick and it is the whitest landscape I have ever seen. I was very glad the road was perfectly dry when everything else was covered in snow. This lasted for about 100km until you descend down to sea level again. We didn't have the address of our host near North Cape so we stopped at a tiny hotel to ask to use the internet. As we were sitting outside logging on from our laptop two elderly men approached us and asked about where we are from. When we told them about our trip they were so impressed that the one guy couldn't stop talking and taking photos. It was quite funny.

The last 100km is all done right on the edge of the coast with one or two tunnels as well. North Cape actually sits on an island and the last tunnel of 6km goes under the sea. We were relieved to arrive at our host (Arnt) who lives in a very small village (only seven permanent residents) because we made it all the way without any snow or rain.



Arnt lives alone in an old house in this small village and works in Honningsvåg the biggest town on the island. He likes the colder weather and dislikes cities and crowded places and that is why his village, which is pretty much at the end of the world suites him just fine. Arnt is a very friendly guy and interesting to talk to. I find him fascinating mostly for the fact that he can live where he does because it just feels far away from everything. He cooked us some fish his neighbor caught for dinner (we loved it) and we drank a couple of beers. This far north it stays light all the time. The last two photos above was taken in Arnt's village at 11:10PM.

Tomorrow we will reach the northern most point of Europe. Nordkapp here we come!!!

Saturday, 08 May 2010 00:00 Last Updated on Thursday, 20 May 2010 23:36 Written by Billy van Graan

Today was a magical day of riding and one I won't forget in a long time. I have been getting a little bit bored and agitated with waiting but today I felt a bit of spark again. Riding north past Lulea was still very much the same as the rest of Sweden but when we crossed over the Arctic Circle (even a bit before) everything changed. The snow was still thick everywhere on the ground except for the road and most of the rivers were still frozen solid.



It was cold and my fingers even went numb through my new expensive gloves but the scenery kept me distracted and at least the sun was shining all the time. This northern part of Sweden and Finland is also known as Lapland and is the place where reindeer out number people and it is also claimed to be the home of Santa Claus. Not so long after we crossed the Arctic Circle everything began to change. The forest floor was still covered in a thick layer of now and the reindeer began to appear on the road much more often. These reindeer aren't the most intelligent animals alive. When they just stand and stare at you till you very close to them and then they just run in any direction. A lot of the times they run away from you in the opposite direction which means they stay on the road. You drive behind them but they just keep on running down the road instead of running off the road into the forest.



We stayed in a tiny town in Finland called Muonio. It was the most expensive place to sleep yet on the trip at 55 Euros for the night but it was a nice room and it was just too cold to camp with our -2C sleeping bags and summer tent. We walked around Muonio and realized that it was already nearly 10 but it was still completely light outside. Muonio was also still covered in snow and in some peoples gardens the snow was still over a meter thick. Tomorrow will be another 500km day up to North Cape. Well actually 35km south of North Cape where we will stay with a CouchSurfer in a very small village.

Friday, 07 May 2010 00:00 Last Updated on Wednesday, 19 May 2010 12:03 Written by Billy van Graan

The ride up the coast from Sundsvall to Umea was a short and again very cold. At some stages it was snowing quite hard but only for short distances so it was still safe to drive in. We didn't stop too much because we wanted to get in Umea and get warm again.

In Umea we stayed with Maria and Armando. Maria and Armando met in Ecuador and has been together for five and a half year. Maria is from Sweden (and looks very Swedish) and Armando is from Mexico. They are both studying at the moment at university and stay in a house near the edge of town. Staying with them was really nice because they are so laid back, easy going and friendly. We enjoyed chatting with them and hearing about the places they travelled and worked. Armando sometimes goes to Switzerland in the summer to work on a farm, a hemp farm. He showed us pictures of the massive amounts of plants they the farm grows and it was really interesting that such a place would be in Switzerland. If you a stoner that would be the perfect place for you to apply for a job.



Armando and Maria cooked for us a couple of times and on the last night we had a braai. Armando received some Elk (almost like a moose) meat from Maria's farther and we cut it up into steaks and cooked it over the coals. I watched the Bulls / Crusaders game from my laptop over steaming and for a moment with the braai going and a beer in my hand and the rugby on it almost felt like a weekend at home. The elk meat turned out to be really nice and tasty and we had a good time. The weather looks good for the next 2 days and since we can’t manage to get a couch in the next town north (Lulea) we decided to take a chance and head to Muonio in Finland inside the Artic Circle. It would be a long ride (600km) in the cold but if the weather can stay clear for a couple of days make North Cape in 2 days hard riding and then back down again.

Wednesday, 05 May 2010 00:00 Last Updated on Thursday, 20 May 2010 23:37 Written by Billy van Graan

We decided to skip the whole coast area of Norway (very disappointed about this) and head back across to the Swedish east coast where weather seemed to be a bit better than in Norway. It was still cold but most importantly it wasn't snowing. After a week of sitting and waiting we needed to move again. Anywhere. Plus my visa was starting to run out of time.

It was a long and cold 550km ride but also a beautiful one. And for the first time we could really get a feel for how many trees there are in Sweden. In sections of the forests everything was still frozen and iced and even though I had special covers for my hands and I ducked tape closed every possible whole that would let air in I still had to stop every 100km because some of my fingers went completely numb. Otherwise the weather was good and it didn't rain or snow all the way.



In Sundsvall we stayed with Peter and Karin in their very beautiful flat with stunning view of Sundsvall. Peter and Karin both work in radio and will get married later this year. In Sundsvall we just walked around the town center and looked around for a new pair of gloves for me because my normal bike gloves just won't cut it if we go even more north and into the Arctic Circle. We found a pair and they cost a small fortune but hopefully they keep me warm.

We also walked around in the forest on the hill on the edge of town and then one night joined Karin for a while at her choir practice.

Sunday, 02 May 2010 23:01 Last Updated on Wednesday, 19 May 2010 10:20 Written by Claudine du Plessis

We arrived at Ingeborg's house, close to Lillehammer, early in the afternoon from Oslo. Ingeborg owns a wooden house with a beautiful view of Mjøsa, Norway's largest lake (the photo of the lake is the view from her living room window). The lake was almost completely frozen when we arrived, with only some sections around the edges that had started to melt.

Ingeborg lives with her younger sister Andrea and they were both very friendly and welcoming. We ended up staying at their place for an entire week, for two reasons. Number one of course, because we really liked it there. Secondly, we were once again at a loss with what to do with the weather. Our plan was to continue northward in Norway, but the weather forecasts kept looking very unpleasant in that direction. The North Cape, our final destination, lies north east from Lillehammer, so finally we decided it would be the smartest to go east into Sweden first and then north along the Baltic ocean, where the weather seemed to be much better.

We didn't do too much there except go down to the lake and break the ice with sticks (it was a good way to vent our frustrations about the weather) and visit the giant ski jump in Lillehammer. The jump was used in the Winter Olympics in 1994, which was hosted by Norway. It is a bit scary to stand at the top of the ski jump and imagine going down there with a speed of 120km/h and fly through the air for a 100m (the record jump for that site is 139m).

We had some delicious meals, Ingeborg cooked for us twice, Mexican tacos and also Indian food. Her parents also invited us along to eat pizza with them at their house.  Her mother told us about a bike rally on the first of May that starts in Hammar and is apprently a very big thing for bikers around here to celebrate the start of spring and the "biking season". That Sunday morning we joined the rally, together with almost 1000 other bikers on all kinds of motorbikes. As the weather started getting rainier, wetter and colder, we started wondering why on earth we thought it was a good idea? We do long distance biking almost every day and riding around in the rain with frozen feet and hands is no longer our idea of a fun day out.

Another thing we managed to do while in Lillehammer, is sort out Yuki's loose steering problem. We took him to a bike shop where they tightened the steering wheel bolt. Apparently it was very loose. We asked the guy there if he didn't think we would need a new bolt (after so many kilometers), but he said it was still fine.

It was so nice and comfortable staying with Ingeborg and Andrea, we were little sad to leave. They told us a lot about Norweigian culture (the photo of the girl with the teapot is Andrea wearing her traditional dress, the bunad) and many other interesting things about Norway. Also, we spent a lot of time with their two cats, they were really cute! It almost felt like our home for a week. 

Thursday, 08 April 2010 17:03 Last Updated on Monday, 07 June 2010 10:24 Written by Claudine du Plessis

We left Switzerland and the comfort and luxury of my Grandmamma's with heavy hearts on Thursday morning. Upon entering Germany from Switzerland, the difference between the two countries is subtle, but immediately noticeable. If you can compare Switzerland to a neat old man dressed in his Sunday best, then Germany is this man that has come home from church, breathed out, loosened his button and opened a beer. Everything is still pretty and neat, but just a little bit more relaxed and not quite as perfect as Switzerland.  

In Freibourg, Germany, we stopped to purchase new Green Card Insurance. If you've been reading our posts, you may remember that we last purchased this on entering the Turkish border, but that they only gave us 15 days. So, our insurance was expired for a while now, but although it is compulsory to have this when driving through the EU, we couldn't find it anywhere else. Fabienne and my uncle Beat even asked around for us in Switzerland, but there you have to buy a full year's insurance which costs a fortune. Luckily, we could get another month's insurance hassle-free here in Germany.

The idea was to camp in the Black Forest, which according to many people is one of the world's most beautiful natural sights. Well, it was indeed beautiful, endless pine forest, with moss-covered floor stretching over the mountains and hills. The only thing that was not so wonderful for us was that as we climbed higher it got colder and you could still see quite a bit of ice on the ground here and there. Not the perfect camping weather, but also not that cold.  At the Titisee, a lake in the middle of the Black Forest, we started our search for a campsite and found one eventually (most of the campsites were still closed because of the season). We went for a "hike" through the forest and spent a chilly night camping.

Saturday, 24 April 2010 09:14 Last Updated on Wednesday, 19 May 2010 10:21 Written by Claudine du Plessis

Weather predictions have now started controlling our lives. To avoid getting caught in snowstorms and strong winds, we have to keep planning and replanning our route according to the forecasts. Earlier on, we decided to only spend only the minimum amount of time in Oslo (which is just another capital city) and spend most of our time in the beautiful Norweigan fjords. Unfortunately we had to change our plans.The road up north still looked too cold to our South African standards, so we decided to spend some time in Oslo, just waiting the weather out. We organized two different couchsurfing hosts, a guy called Anders for the first three nights and a woman called Gabbi for the next three.

From Gothenburg to Oslo was an easy ride and we arrived at our first host's place at 1 o'clock. Anders is an easygoing guy and together with his other German couchsurfers that were stuck in Oslo because of the volcanic ash from Iceland. We had a nice relaxing time at his place. I made us some pancakes (it was the right weather) and we watched a whole lot of movies. Anders draws really good pictures and the whole apartment is full of his sketches. He is not working or studying at the moment, just spending time at home doing, well, not too much except for hosting a lot of couchsurfers.

We received some news that made us reconsider our route all over again. Potential couchsurfers that we contacted in the western fjords came back to us and all of them advised us not to come because of the weather. They even send us photos with a lot of snow and ice in them. We had to face the facts - the fjords was not going to happen. We are too pushed for time, with the clock ticking on Billy's schengen visa and the best time to visit the fjords are in the summer mmer anyway. It was disappointing, because we had really been looking forward to the fjords, but we decided that we will just have to come back to Norway some other time and concentrate on reaching Nordkapp in time and in one piece now.

Another thing that made us worry was that Yuki's steering was still feeling loose and wobbly, worse than it had on our way to Gothenburg. There was definately something wrong there, but we had too much other stuff on our mind to really give this problem the attention it needed...

Our next hostess was Gabbi, a Maltese woman living in Norway. She had a busy schedule, but left her key at the local 7-11 and told us to make ourselves at home. She was also hosting another French couple, who were also stuck in Oslo because of the ash. They were quite anxious, because they had 6 children and jobs waiting for them at home. Gabby and her boyfriend had just returned from a trip to South Africa, which she really enjoyed and talked about a lot. I made everyone dinner and Gabby shared her bottle of South African wine with us.

The most impressive sight we saw in Oslo was the Fram Museum. It is built next to the harbour and contains the old Polar explorer ship, the Fram. The Fram sailed to the north pole (or very close), where it was stuck in the ice for three years, before it could sail back. We spent about 3 hours inside just reading all the interesting facts about the polar explorers, Nansen and Roald Ammundsen and the race to the north and south poles. The Fram also sailed to Antartica with Roald Ammundsen, who only told his crew where they were headed when they were already three days on the open sea. He became the first explorer to reach the very south of Antartica.

Gabbi invited us for dinner at her boyfriend, Ulle's place, Solli Brugge. Ulle is an artist and owner of art galleries. Solli Brugge was one of the biggest sawmills in Norway and Ulle's parents had restored it to resemble the way it would have looked all these years ago. It is beautiful and out in the countryside and all the galleries are built inside what used to be sheds or mills.



After reconsidering our route and spending a lot of time studying the weather predictions, we decided that the best decision would be to go to north east to Lillehammer and continue north through Norway from there.

Tuesday, 30 March 2010 00:17 Last Updated on Monday, 07 June 2010 10:23 Written by Claudine du Plessis

Venice, as one of the most touristic cities in Europe, was also very expensive. We could only afford to camp on the mainland. At the (also expensive) campsite we were the only people actually camping with a tent, the rest stayed in bungalows or motorhomes.  

Our first day in the city of bridges, canals, masks, glass art and ice cream we spent walking around and drinking in the atmosphere (drinking anything else there was too expensive). We got lost in the narrow alleys between the high and old buildings and sampled the delicious ice cream. In the Piazzo San Marco, is the famous Basilica di San Marco - a 400 year old cathedral. Inside and outside it is covered by sculptures and inside the mosaics, glittering gold, marble and amazing detail is too much to take in. We ended the day with an authentic Italian food at a restaurant.  





On the second day we started off with the Palazzo Ducale or Doge's Palace, which has so many works of art, including huge frescoes and painting after painting that after 3 hours, we still hadn't absorbed everything. Next, we saw the Ca'Rezzonico, a mansion that used to belong to the Rezzonico family. Once again we were bombarded by artwork after artwork. After an hour or two in there, we had become all "arted out" and just had to leave eventhough we only covered the first two stories of the four.  In between all the art-gazing, we also gourged ourselves on pizza slices and ice creams. I could easily have spent another week just visiting all the museums, but over the course of our trip, Billy had developed museum phobia and he declared that he doesn't want to see another museum for a very, verly long time.

The next morning we set of for Milan in clear, sunny weather. By midday, however, the day became dark and cloudy and the last hour or so on the road we spent in the pouring rain. At first we decided to camp, but by then we changed our minds and settled for a hostel where we could dry out.

Friday, 26 March 2010 14:21 Last Updated on Monday, 07 June 2010 10:23 Written by Claudine du Plessis

For the overnight ferry ride to Barri, Italy from Bar, Montenegro, we considered buying indoor seat tickets because the weather turned cloudy and rainy and it almost certainly would have been freezing cold outside on the deck. However, the ferry tickets were so expensive already, we decided to be tough and go for the deck. We needn't have worried, because all the passengers apparently were very rich and booked private cabins, there was only one other guy in the indoor seat cabin so we rolled out our mattresses on its floor and had a nice and warm night's sleep.

Arriving at Barri the next morning, we searched fruitlessly for a place to change our Turkish and Albanian change and then moved on north. We had been warned before by my parents and other people that Italians are crazy drivers, but compared to Cairo and Istanbul, they were very tame and organized. One thing about Italy did shock us though - the prices. When we stopped at a petrol garage and took a look at their snacks we were horrified, for example, they asked R45 for a plain little croissant and coffee! We realized that our days of cheap snacking were over and from now on we could only afford to cook our own supermarket purchased food.

When we stopped at a supermarket to stock up, we discovered Yuki's rear tyre looked really flat. Billy went off alone to inflate it (with my extra significant weight, we would be tempting fate) and we went searching for a campsite close to the coastal city of Pescara.  On our GPS, we had loaded hundreds of campsites for Italy, but unfortunately in the low season, most of them were closed. We finally found one that let us camp (for R150!) underneath a roof for the rain. Apparently, most campsites aren't allowed to take customers during the law season, perhaps they only have a license to be open for half a year.

The next morning, we discovered Yuki's tyre was flat again. We definitely had a slow puncture on our hands. We wanted to get his tyres changed in Italy anyway, but now we were forced to do it in a hurry. With some help, we managed to find a tyre garage in Pescara, which changed both tyres, balanced the wheels and cleaned the chain for a very reasonable price. With Yuki fitted out in his new shoes and the weather sunny again, we practically glided along Italy's expensively tolled highways.

That afternoon, after being turned away by one closed campsite again, we got lucky when the manager of the huge campsite Led Zepplin said we could camp there for free. We had one of the most beautiful camping spots yet, right next to the beach.




Finding a campsite the next day in the touristic area of Rimini wasn't that easy. Campsite after campsite turned us away and I still hadn't found a place from where I could contact my dad to wish him happy birthday. We finally arrived at another "closed for renovations" campsite, where an old German guy, Peter from Dresden, that worked there started talking to us. He apparently travels with his old VW minibus every year from Dresden to Italy, to work for his holiday and he was very chatty. The campsite didn't have running water, but he set us up with a big bag of water with a tap which he hung from a tree and buckets of water to flush the toilet with. He even cleaned the toilet cubicle for us. We then drove to the supermarket and to the petrol station to get fuel for our gas stove, where the petrol attendant started chatting to us. He was a very friendly guy from India and was maybe a bit lonely, because he was also very chatty. He even offered me his cellphone so we could phone my dad and I used it to send an SMS. Back at the campsite, the next morning, Peter arrived with a basket carrying a flask of real coffee, two mugs, milk and sugar. He then showed us his minibus and talked some more. He even gave us his address and told us to come and visit him in Germany. We camped for free once again.