Reaching the Polar Circle
The highest pass of the whole trip
|
The winds have vanished and I have no difficulties
to get on. After days of indifference I suddenly realize what I did when
I started in Bonn. I get the magic and the temptation of an enterprise
like that. I pass the border to Norway and soon afterwards I look down
on the ugly village of Mo I Rana, still 25 miles away, 600 meters below
on the coast of the polar sea.
What a feeling: After 21 days and 2100km
the bike  leans
against the wall of the hostel. And for the first time I realize that the
target of my journey is not out of reach. So I don't rest very much. I
buy some food, wash my clothes and try in vain to find a new front pack.
The old one, that carried tools and the map, has broken wings.
*
The next morning I have to climb up towards the arctic
circle at 707 m, the highest point of the whole journey. Compared
to the Col de le Bonette
or Col Agnel this is rediculous.
But that time, with a ratio of 42:28 teeth, it is a fierce fight. However,
after 80 kilometers I have the chance to take a really spectacular
photo at a spectacular monument. There are no trees any more at a level
like that and the «Nordlandbahn» meets the road.
 The
road was built by the german invaders in the 1940th and it is
said that there is one body lying underneath each meter of tared surface,
most of them soldiers from Yugoslavia. A monument reminds the tourist of
that unhonest period of german history.
*
The descend towards the coast is of great beauty. There are rocks, cascades
and by and by the forest reappears. After 130 km I put up
my tent in the woods, as it is too far to the coast on a day like that... |
|
Polar Circle
leans
against the wall of the hostel. And for the first time I realize that the
target of my journey is not out of reach. So I don't rest very much. I
buy some food, wash my clothes and try in vain to find a new front pack.
The old one, that carried tools and the map, has broken wings.
The
road was built by the german invaders in the 1940th and it is
said that there is one body lying underneath each meter of tared surface,
most of them soldiers from Yugoslavia. A monument reminds the tourist of
that unhonest period of german history.
