Europe’s Northernmost Point

We crossed the Arctic circle yesterday. 

Today Sue (my roommmate) and I set our alarms early so we could get up to watch as we passed Nordkapp (North Cape, Norway) from the north. According to my phone, we were at North 71 degrees 10.952 minutes, though it’s possible we were slightly north of that.

It was a beautiful, chilly (about 50F/10C before wind chill), mostly clear morning with some clouds in an otherwise rich blue sky. We passed lots of rock-covered mountains with sheer cliffs and beautiful geology between the numerous fjords we passed. Some mountains had green on them, and we even occasionally saw trees. We noticed a few fishing boats, some small communities with a few buildings (like Japan, it seems that any flat land in Norway is inhabited), and lots of birds (mostly but not only gulls). We spotted the metal globe atop Nordkapp and saw what appeared to be a garage built into the nearby hillside. 

After passing Nordkapp we spotted what appeared to be a “horn” coming out of the hillside. It turned out to be a rock, but it was quite noticeable. As we rounded the corner and headed southeast to the town of Honningsvåg we saw brightly colored buildings that were not built on stilts. The latter observation is in contract to Barrow (now Utquiavik), Alaska which is built on permafrost. Surprisingly, and apparently because of the Atlantic current, average winter temperatures tend to hover within a few degrees either way of freezing, even thought the area doesn’t see the sun for a few months each year. Since Honningsvåg is built on rocks and is comparatively warm stilts are not needed. 

Needless to say, there were lots of fishing boats in the area. We also spotted what appeared to be the front half of a boat without the back half. Clearly the back half was not missing at the boat moved appropriately, but it seemed strange. 

We boarded a bus to take us the 31km by road from Honningsvåg to Nordkapp. Along the way we drove along a fjord where the water looked positively tropical — gorgeous shades of aqua, light blue, jade green, and other colors we think of as belonging to the tropics. There was even a sandy beach that the (Danish) bus driver suggested was known locally as the Copacabana, though we saw no one in the water. We passed more rocks and green-covered mountains though much closer than we’d seen from the ship. Although the area is fairly dry, we saw many waterfalls, numerous patches of snow (though probably no glaciers), lakes and tarns. We also saw lots of reindeer — mostly white which wasn’t consistent with my memory from seeing reindeer in Finland 14 years ago though later acquired evidence that apparently the reindeer turn browner as fall approaches. We saw some Sami (indigenous Arctic people) campsites and a few other campsites. Apparently very few insects and no mosquitos here, which is quite different from other Arctic areas. 

Nordkapp was stunning. We were on a plateau above the water with fabulous views in all directions. As we moved away from the crowds it was positively and peacefully silent. It was both barren and rich with plants. Lots of rocks, presumably granite, definitely some vibrantly white quartz, and I’m not sure what else. Plant life was abundant though very close to the ground: several varieties of pink (moss campion), white (eight-petal mountain avens), yellow (marsh saxifrage and marsh marigold) and red (alpine azalea) flowers along with some that looked more like cactus and succulents than anything else. And of course plenty of lichens, including one I hadn’t seen before that looked like a smashed coffee bean inside a very faded orange rind. 

After exploring outside, I entered the exhibit area and watched a nice visual-only movie showing a year in the life of the region that depicted humans, animals, plants and the dramatic change in light from winter without daylight to summer’s midnight sun and back to darkness with the aurora. 

After the return bus trip I took a short walk in the town of Honningsvåg before deciding to return to the ship. I’d hoped to walk less today as I’ve got a sore calf, but somehow I ended up walking over 10,000 steps anyway. 

Now my northernmost cache finds are north of North 71 degrees 10 minutes (you didn’t think this entire entry would fail to mention caching?). But the bucket list item of visiting the northernmost place in Europe was the real treasure. And sharing it with friends made it even better.

It will be a few more days before we see the sun set again. 

Adding photos on July 8:

The first three are looking south(!) from the water. Zooming in on the second one will show the monument at the top of Nordkapp. The third shows the “horn” coming out of the mountain. 

This group of photos was taken on the way to Nordkapp. The first was from our verandah of the “half boat.” The second shows the tropical colors of the water. The third is of the sandy beach. The fourth shows an interesting house on a small island. The last one is of the first reindeer I was able to photograph. 

Now pictures from Nordkapp, starting with the iconic sculpture. A bit east (just past the first cache we found) is this beautiful inlet, with a nearby cairn. Further south (near the second cache we found) were views of snow and a fjord. And finally a nice statue and proof that I was indeed there.