Day 18 - Alta to the North Cape and back to Alta

I need to change the name for this area from the Land of the Midnight Sun to the Land of an Arm and a Leg! I don't think any of us have had a bill as large as we had for the evening meal last night. Yes, it included drinks before the meal, but the cost of the food was horrendous. I really do wonder how the Norwegians can afford to live when everything is so expensive.

Now, back to today's great drive to the farthest point from London on our Baltic trip, the North Cape of Norway. At over 71 degrees north, you cannot drive further north anywhere else in the world, on a made-up road.

I got up early and took this photo of all five cars lined up in the hotel car park and Alta Fjord in the background. Yes, I know there are six cars in the photo but one car belongs to another guest at the hotel.

I then went outside to take some photos of our hotel and of the stunning views over Alta Fjord and the mountains beyond.

As we were driving to the Cape and back to Alta in one day, while the others were all staying for two nights in Honninsvag before catching the ferry to Tromso, we left the hotel before them. Soon we were into the most wonderful region of snow-covered mountains. It was a fantastic drive.

 

With virtually no other cars on the road, we quickly covered the 100 kms before reaching the sea again. The road then followed the coast of the North Cape peninsular and we went past small fishing communities who had these large wooden racks for drying fish.

At one point we saw an eagle being chased by another bird and, as it flew overhead, I managed to take a few long-range shots, on maximum zoom. This is the best of the bunch.

Near the Cape, you have to go through a tunnel cut into the rock. It dives under the fjord to a depth of over 200 metres and is nearly 7 kms in length. We then went past the town of Honningsvag and drove the final 30 kms to the North Cape, arriving at about 11.30am.

I drove the car just north of the car park, as far as I could, and Wendy took this photo of the Garmin SatNav showing our position as 71 degrees 10.186 minutes north.

Below is the photo we took of our position when we were in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in August 2009. Prudhoe Bay is the farthest point north you can drive in the Americas. As the Garmin photos show, Prudhoe Bay is one degree south of the North Cape.

The wind was blowing quite hard and it felt much colder than the 6 degrees showing on the car thermometer. We walked to the globe placed by the edge of the Cape cliffs.

The sign showing the latitude and longitude position of the North Cape.

Peter set up his camera to take a group shot of us by the globe.

Shortly afterwards, the rest of the group turned up and we arranged the cars in an arc. Peter then took this photo of the crews standing by their cars. A wonderful record of us reaching the North Cape safely. We all felt really proud of our achievement, especially those like Ahmad, who had overcome such terrible problems to get here.

Peter and me by my trusty Landcruiser. I think it must be one of the few cars to have reached the farthest north and farthest south points on the globe: the North Cape of Norway and Ushuaia, Argentina.

We then went into the visitor centre and Peter, who had brought lemon vodka with him from Vienna, poured out a glass for each of us to toast our success. It was a fitting way to celebrate the ending of the first half of the Baltic drive.

From left to right: Ahmad in woollen hat, DeeAnne holding on to a Norwegian Troll, me and Reza.

We spent a couple of hours at the Cape before starting the drive back to Alta, via a quick visit to Honningsvag. As we were leaving the North Cape centre, we saw the Children of the World monument, which is made up of seven round stones, designed by children, and a statue of a woman and a child.

The drive back to Alta was very uneventful but with the weather much better and the sun occasionally coming out, it was another wonderful drive. At one point, we saw what we thought was a pod of killer whales quite close to the shore. Unfortunately the only good pictures we managed to take were video and not still photos. If I can take a still from the video I will post it later.

We reached Alta at about 5pm and returned to our hotel. In the evening we had a Chinese meal in the centre of the town. Tomorrow we drive to Tromso for a two night stay and will meet up with the others in two days' time.

I am very relieved we have all managed to reach this point of the tour safely. Now, all I can hope for is that I am saying the same thing at the end of the second half when we return to London in just over two weeks' time.