From Ham­mer­fest to Hon­nings­våg

Hur­tig­ru­ten

Hammerfest The ship lea­ves Øks­fjord and the light chan­ges as dawn an­noun­ces the forth­com­ming day. The way through the fjord is of in­com­pa­ra­ble be­au­ty as the boat runs through the ab­so­lu­te­ly calm sea of the Sørøy­sund in the di­rec­ti­on of Ham­mer­fest. I en­joy the moun­tain sce­ne­ry whi­le tal­king to a ni­ce girl stu­dent at the rail. So this night goes by with­out slee­ping. This mor­ning I lea­ve the boat in the most nor­thern town of the world. He­re I am ab­le to at­tach MS Finnmarken, Hurtigruten a new chain and fix some of the tech­ni­cal pro­blems I had so far. Again there is nothing spe­ci­al about this town. It is not love­ly nor in­te­res­ting and I am ti­red of the si­gnposts that tell you how far it is to Ro­ma, Lon­don or Co­lo­gne. You won't find any on the­se pa­ges. I do know the di­stan­ces by now.

As I car­ry no alarm-clock I have to wait all night long for the boat. The ships of the Hur­tig­ru­ten re­ach each har­bour on the cost ex­act­ly twi­ce a day, one going north, the other south. The ships are ve­ry fast. It ta­kes less than 10 mi­nu­tes to stop, un­load goods and to put out to sea again. If you have a hea­vy bike you are lucky to get on board in ti­me.

a mourning at the polar sea Af­ter two days and nights with­out sleep I lay down on deck of the MS Ves­terålen. For three hours I sleep li­ke a log. The al­ways ri­sing sun of the north throws its light on a cargo-ves­sel in front of our fer­ry. On­ly a few mi­les are left to the is­land of Ma­gerø­ya whe­re the North Ca­pe is si­tua­ted.

Nordkapp Camping and youth hostel I check in­to the hos­tel of Hon­nings­våg. Hon­nings­våg is the main vil­la­ge of the is­land and about 30 km away from the ca­pe. I re­gard the stamp of the hos­tel as the most va­lua­ble stamp I've ever ga­the­red. I un­load the bike and pre­pa­re it for the last mi­les. I car­ry Nordkapp Camping and YH some tools, food, the tri­pod and the ca­me­ra and ta­ke off for the des­ti­na­ti­on this was all for: The North Ca­pe.