Honningsvaag - The North Cape - 27th August 2010

The day after departing Andalsnes was spent at sea due to the fact we were heading to the top of Norway to The North Cape, billed as the high light of the trip we were to see the Midnight Sun and the chance to stand as far north as we could in Europe without enrolling ourselves on a North Pole expedition! At one stage The North Cape was considered the most northern inhabited point of Europe.

Next stop, the North Pole

We were now deep into the Arctic Circle and much of the landscape we were going to see would be covered under a thick layer of snow and shrouded in darkness in the winter months. But we were visiting in August and the air was crisp and clear and the skies were bright blue.

We docked in the town of Honningsvaag, this is the point that many North Pole expeditions leave from and it also provides an ideal base for visiting The North Cape. We travelled by bus along an extremely varied landscape. There were no lush green trees or azure blue fjords that we had become accustomed to so far on our trip. Instead the landscape was barren, bearing the scars of the savage winters with many a reindeer roaming the flat grounds.

Interior of a traditional Sami home

This area of Norway, along with the northern parts of Sweden and Finland is home to the Sami, believed to be Europe's most northern inhabitants, they live off the land and are expert coastal fishermen, shepherds and most famously reindeer herders. We were lucky to come across a small settlement en route to The North Cape. Dressed in his traditional clothing we were invited into his authentic home and were even allowed to pet the reindeer (one of my trip highlights was all the reindeer!). I can still remember the feeling of total isolation and I can still hear the absolute peace and quiet, not a car or any other modern luxury insight. Further up the coast we arrived at The North Cape. There is a wonderful visitor centre with a truly amazing video which illustrates how the area looks and all the different wildlife that visit throughout the different seasons of the year.

After all the visitor attractions have been visited and the gift shop perused you step out behind the centre to the cliff edge. Perched on the top is a huge metal globe with a signpost underneath stating that you are at 71 degrees North. Despite the fact that there were many tourists around I felt absolutely alone, standing on the cliff edge staring out to sea knowing that there was absolutely nothing ahead of me but the deep blue ice cold Arctic Ocean is an amazing and very humbling experience. It also struck me how so very far away from home I was and it made me realise just how big the world is and what a tiny part of it we really are.

The North Cape from Arcadia

The Midnight Sun

Back on board ship we departed in the early evening, the sky was covered in thick cloud and there was rain in the air but as we sailed past the North Cape cliffs back towards civilization the clouds lifted and the sun shone down onto the metal globe making it gleam like a beacon. As the night wore on the light never faded. One half of the year sees the northern lights the other half the midnight sun, we were lucky to have the latter.



This trip was a once in a lifetime opportunity and my words and pictures cannot do it justice, it was simply breathtaking.