Just got back from an excellent road trip to Nordkapp, Norway. This trip was much better than the Stockholm trip, and with the addition companion of the Koreans, I must say I TRULY enjoyed myself. Initial fears of driving on the left hand side did not even trouble me, so how worse could you expect the trip to be?
We set off at around 1pm from the town supermarket, went through Finland and into Norway where we made our 1st night stop in Alta at around 12am. Amazingly, there was no checkpoint when we entered both Finland and Norway, and we just drove across the national borders. *Damn it, thought I could update my collections of international immigration stamps on my new passport. ARGH!!*
Anyway, along the way, it started snowing!! YES!! The snowing season has started. It was Vincent’s first close-up encounter with the snow. Haha. Snow was not the best part of the journey to Nordkapp, this was the best… …
We caught the Aurora halfway through the journey!! It was excellent, much better than the ones I took from my room. No light disturbances from the street lamps, pitch dark and just with the Aurora dancing across the whole sky, right above you. Totally mesmerised by the Northern Lights. How perfect it would have been if my dear was with me at that point of time. I bet I will never get to see such a wonderful Aurora again.
We spent our first night sleeping in the car. Initially the car was really warm and comfortable to sleep, till the fact that everyone got lazy to take our their sleeping bag. But after 3 hours, things started to get worse. Coldness was setting in and I started trembling in the driver’s seat. No matter how I tried to curl myself up to keep myself warm, and find a good position to sleep, the trembling did not seem to stop. Endured the cold till around 530am when the cold was unbearable, we decided to set off earlier to Nordkapp.
Settled into Nordkapp camping site at around 9am, where we spent our next 2 nights in a bungalow. Highly recommended camp site to visit if you are visiting Nordkapp. The service provided was first-rate. We had 9 people with us and she allowed us to stay in the 6-men bungalow (the biggest). If not we would either have to sleep in the car again, or spend more to stay in 2 bungalows. She was friendly and gave us access to the barbecue place and fire starters for free.
– Small but cosy bungalow –
Visited North Cape after lunch, the most northern part of Europe that is accessible by car. Breathtaking sceneries, and I shall let the pictures describe them all.
– The horizon –
Third day was a hike up the mountains behind the camping site. The last time I did a hike was back in 2002, on Mount Ophir with my ODAC. It was a totally different hike. In Mount Ophir, you have trials to follow, but here everything is covered with snow and we had to figure our own way up the mountain. Tiring but satisfying.
At some point along the way, we almost had our whole leg sink into snow because the snow was freshed and not compact enough. Our shoes ended up soaking with snow, and our feet got really cold and started to hurt. It was so bad that Alan couldn’t walk and on the way back, he tried to roll down at points where the slope was gentle. Hahaha. Luckily, none of us got frost-bitten.
– This is for you, my dear –
Spend the following day driving back to Luleå and the weather was bad towards the evening. Fog was getting thicker and the visibility of the road was decreasing that we nearly knocked into a pack of reindeers. Other than that no major hiccups throughout the whole journey.
Don’t know when we will have such a trip again, but I must say I had plenty of fun throughout this trip and I really thank everyone who was with me on this trip. If not for you guys, I would not have enjoyed so much in Nordkapp.
Another short trip has just ended and it’s time to study because examination is in 2 weeks time. My next trip will probably be touring France and Switzerland with my dear on 24 Nov, 38 more days to go!! YAHOO~
Memories for Life 