This morning we drove the road to Nordkapp, and what as spectacular road it was. Narrow, clinging to the side of one mountain after another that bounded Fjord after Fjord, Some 14 km of tunnels, the longest of which at 7 km actually went under the ocean to join the mainland to the island of Mageroya (where the town of Nordkapp is located).

We of course have been headed towards Nordkapp (North Cape in English) almost since we picked up the truck in Antwerp in June. There was just no way we could come to Norway without going to the Northern most point in Europe. However a little while back we read in our trusty guide book that there was a more northerly point called Knivskjellodden (not an easy name) that could be accessed from the road just south of Nordkapp. The problem for us oldies is that the only access is via an 18km walking track. So a few days back we decided we would try this walking track. But not without some concern as to whether our legs, feet and will power were up to it.

So after the splendor of the drive we pulled into the Knivskijellodden parking lot about 1:30pm and started getting our "stuff" ready for what we estimated would be a walk of between 6 - 8 hours.

We knew within the first 200 yards that this was going to be a hike that we would feel for many days after. The track was just the foot marks of previous walkers, no track preparation, and the ground was very rocky making footing difficult (not good for Nina's bad feet). However we pressed on and started to notice that the track seemed steadily descending and it dawned on us that the return journey would be pretty much all up hill.

In the last stretch of the walk there was a steep descent to the ocean shore then a section following the coast around a headland until we finally saw the a large marker with the little shelter for the log book nearby. The outward journey had taken us only 2.5 hours and we were pretty pleased with ourselves. The marker told us we were at N 71° 11" 08'.

We sat at the marker with an Italian family, snacked and rested for a while before beginning the return.

On the return we passed a number of walking parties going towards the point. I guess that's the value of 24 hour daylight, you can start a 6 hour walk at 8:00pm.

We were tired and foot sore by the time we got back to our very welcome home on wheels. Nina had a rum and coke, I had a beer, some anti-inflammatories and pain killers. Then we both fell asleep.

Obviously our camping spot for the night was the parking lot.