Adventure Ponies

Time to catch up

It’s been a little while since my last post. I looked at preparation for our trip to Nordkapp. Since then I’ve been on the road, with a schedule that allowed me to write notes, make short reels and - most importantly - enjoy and discover the places I was visiting. I had no time to post.

Now though, I am sitting in my cabin on board the Hurtigruten ferry Richard With, sailing back from Kirkenes to Bergen. The sea is flat calm, not a single wave; I’m looking out onto land that has not changed for millennia. Steep cliffs, jagged arêtes, rounded and stumpy summits, a carpet of dark green vegetation covering the slopes down to the shore. In between some bluffs a spill of scree slides motionlessly to the water’s edge. There is a dark mascara line on the lighter rocks of the littoral, the high tide mark. Higher on the slopes, but sometimes leading down a gully to almost kiss the water is the shock of white snow, still gleaming despite tomorrow being Midsummer’s Day. For this is northern Norway and I am at 70 degrees of latitude, only a short distance south of Nordkapp.

The air is warm and the sun is still making an occasional appearance from behind a layer of cloud. It’s pleasant enough to spend time in the outside hot tub on deck, watching the beautiful landscape slip past and contemplating all that has been these last few weeks.

This is the 20th day that Ralph and I have been travelling since leaving the Midlands. When I gingerly eased my Honda motorcycle onto the car deck of the ship at Kirkenes the cumulative distance I’d ridden was 5,257 kilometres. There is still much more adventure to come, but for now I’m letting the captain take the strain and am enjoying a break from the daily routine of riding. It’s a relaxed and stately pace of travel, the Hurtigruten service, and seeing the small, isolated coastal hamlets and towns from the water is a reminder of how large a country Norway really is.

Those 5,000 clicks have taken us to a place - Nordkapp - where we were further north than every single person in Europe, but also to Kirkenes, as far east as Cairo. Troms and Finnmark are counties of superlatives. We’ve been to Hammerfest, The World’s Most Northerly (TWMN) town; Tromso, TWMN city; and of course to Macks, TWMN brewery. We’ve even circumnavigated TWMN subterranean roundabout, which is a double first.

In truth, though, I miss the predictability of setting off each morning on the bike, full of anticipation of the day ahead. To put on the slightly mal-fragrant gear, the boots that could benefit from a good airing, to go through the rituals of checking everything is in its rightful place and that nothing has been left behind in yet another strange bedroom - all that has the simple attraction of reductive mundanity. The world, our world, in our panniers ready to move at the turn of a key.

Later this week, Saturday, the routine will resume in Bergen, as our trip back home starts on the road not sea. Until then, it’s time to take advantage of a wider and healthier diet than polster (sausage) and burger (burger) than we’ve veered towards so far.

Our trip is proving to be a voyage of discovery - of places, of ourselves and of a wanderlust that has taken root in a new and exciting way.

Over the coming days I’ll be posting about the epic journey to Nordkapp on my Honda NT1100 and Ralph’s BMW RS1250. It’s not about the bikes but they have got us this far, and, as long as they’re still safely strapped down on the car deck, they’ll get us home again.

I would be posting lots of the incredible pictures and reels I’ve made so far, but the maritime internet connection barely supports writing so they’ll have to wait until dry land.