So let’s start with saying that I forgot to say that Tromso
claims to be the most Northerly City in the world. So then it was further north
to Hammerfest which claims to be the most Northerly Town over 10000 and have
the most northerly university in the world. It’s important to us Brits is that
the town is the land fall for the huge natural gas fields of the Norwegian seas
and from here much of the UK’s gas supplies are sent by undersea pipeline
directly to us. It is also home of the well know and “Ancient”(1963 ancient?)
Polar Bear Society of which I am now a lifelong member. What the young lady
does with the bone from a whale’s penis upon becoming a member, and the
conversation beforehand, are available over a pint one quiet evening when you
want a laugh! Again a lovely setting for the town but built in the usual
Norwegian “ugly” style. The journey up to Nordkapp is stunning! Unfortunately I
travelled the road in a raging snow storm with force 125 winds, so saw very
little on the way up (I did on the way down). I decided to stop in the small
Port of Honningveg and to my surprise The Queen Victoria was in Dock, she’s magnificent!
Nordkapp claims to be the most northerly point in Europe at latitude 71.10.21.
Unfortunately Knivskjelodden is at 71.11.08 about 1.5kms further north, but you
have to walk there which is about a 18km hike. So let’s just say that Nordkapp
is the further north you can go by road, because it is actually on a island,
reached by a 6.8km by 212m deep tunnel, so it is not actually the most
northerly part of mainland Europe that fall to where I am writing this blog to
a place just north of Gamvik called Slettnes at 71.05.071. So now that’s all
clear I can now go outside take a few more pictures of tonight’s midnight sun
before heading south to the most northerly point in the EU which is about 5
hours drive south of here in Finland!
