I don’t do selfies, maybe my arms aren’t long enough or something, but the never look any good. I think like dancing, you either have it or you don’t. (And I don’t, obviously). However, today I found this cheeky chap with the same hat as me, we just had to have our picture taken together!

Everywhere is closed here, because the season has finished. That includes hotels, restaurants, the lot. It’s quite difficult to find lunch, but I’ve been lucky getting lunch AND WiFi the past two days. I waited 5 minutes for a car to pass, but the roads are deserted – so no one to take my picture. Only one thing for it…..

Selfie!!

Despite the first 200km being a re-run of yesterday, the weather was blue skies and sunny. The scenery was spectacular and because I was facing the other way, I saw things I missed yesterday. The headwind was biting cold, but worth it. Just have a look at this pano!

One thing I wasn’t expecting were the many tunnels in Norway’s extreme north. On the map it looks like there’s a road running along the coast, with a crossing between islands which I assumed to be a bridge.

Wrong! The road is coastal yes, but there are 4 stretches where the sea cliffs are vertical, so the Norwegian navigators tunneled through them. The tunnels are impressive because in many cases they’ve kept the natural rock at the sides. No smooth concrete walls, but jagged edges reminding you exactly where you are.

The longest tunnel is nearly 7km and runs under the sea. 3km downhill, 1 on the level and then 3km uphill! There are emergency phone every kilometre, and signs telling you the distance to each end of the tunnel. It’s harsh to be critical of such great engineering, but the lighting is dismal guys – I even had to stop and take my shades off!!

Riding over the top of the big ones to Nordkapp. Fierce winds!

…. And my shadow if you look closely!

I’m about to post a couple of scenery pics from the ride. Anyone fancy living here?

I’m sure there’s a good description of what these represent in the interactive visitor centre.

Unfortunately it was closed, so your guess is as good as mine. Ideas anyone?

Even the little boy statue seemed to like my bike, or maybe he was pointing out that I’m not supposed to park there?

The nice thing about the KLR is that you can ride it just about anywhere. For example, up steep embankments around closed ticket kiosks and down the other side into the car park.

The nice thing about closed tourist attractions is that you don’t have to pay to get in 😉 It also means you can get away with things you couldn’t normally do when they’re open – like park right in front of the visitor centre and take a photo. (See photo!).

As the sign says, the latitude of this location is 71°10’21” North. They’re just numbers, the same as any other parallel, but the significance here is that this is the most northerly point in Europe. (That you can drive to. Technically you could climb down the cliff to the beach/sea).

In the previous photo the bike is parked next to the original monument, laid on July 2nd 1837 by King Oscar II. There’s an inscription on the monument which reads:

“Not as a transitory adornment, but as a solemn sign that the kingdom of Norway reaches hither, therefore I have erected this monument at the outermost point of the North”.

The path to this monument was clearly pedestrian and not for vehicles. In all I can surmise that Nordkapp is pretty good, especially when it’s closed!