Ia.1    Section North Cape - Knivskjellodden   17 km

The day before I had flown from Hamburg to Honningsvåg. The flight consisted of three planes and a total of four stops including a 6.5 hours waiting time at Tromsø. This gave me enough time ti visit the town. I arrived at Honnigsvåg one hour short of midnight. The only other passenger who disembarked here was picked up by car. Luckily they offered me a ride to the hostel in town. As it is summer and I am north of the Arctic Circle the sun was shining at this hour.

Early in the morning I went to the local gaz station to buy rödsprit the Scandinavian variety of denatured alcohol for my stove and a lighter. Before lunch I took the local bus for a ride to North Cape. In the beginning the sun was shining. The nearer we came to North Cape the more clouds came up. Shortly before arriving we were inside the clouds. The day before the sun had been shining all day long. After walking around in the clouds and taking the obligatory photos I had lunch. Then I walked the narrow road with plenty of traffic back to the parking space for the trail to Knivskjellodden. Most of this hike was still in the clouds with very limited vision. Here I got out of the clouds.

The trail to the end of Knivskjellodden which is about 1.5 km further north than North Cape was easy to hike. Obviously many hikers want to reach this point. From there I had a good view of North Cape. Only the top of it was in the clouds. From here there is no more land all the way to the Northpole. Near the water I set up my tarp for the night. For sleeping I needed eye shades as it was bright all night long. Only starting end of July the sun will go down for the night and later 24 hours.

Start or end of E1 at North Cape.

Northcape in the clouds

Wet trail to northern point Knivskjellodden (razor clam)

Trail to really northern point

View from monument at Knivskjellodden towards North Cape which is hidden in the clouds

View from Knivsklellodden towards North Pole