Twenty-seventh day

North Cape - Honningsvåg

35km

16 km/h average speed

Mainly dry, sometimes even the sun came out, cold and occasionally very windy

Almost stormy during the day, tailwind when we were riding, no wind at all

It's been a long time since a day started like this. Not a single drop on the tent. When I opened my eyes at half past seven and went out to pee, it was a beautiful morning atmosphere. The sun was coming through between low-hanging clouds on the horizon and painting light spots on the sea. Blue sky was visible from time to time. Yay, the weather forecast was right and the rain finally stopped. Since we didn't plan to cycle back until 1am, we had all the time in the world. I used it and went back to bed for an hour. After a hearty breakfast, we went to the tourist center, hung out there, ate, surfed the internet, kept watching the changing weather conditions, took some photos of the Cape Globe in the sun, amused ourselves with tourists, wandered around a bit, relaxed a lot. In the early afternoon, I went back to the tent and dozed off a bit, but I couldn't fall asleep properly because the wind had increased too much and was shaking the tent too violently. It had also changed from north to west and was now hitting the tent broadside. We had actually planned to sleep for a few hours in the afternoon and in the evening, as we wouldn't have time to do so at night, but instead we took down the tents. I was too worried that a tarp would tear or a pole would bend. So back to the tourist town. We kept meeting people who were interested in our bikes and asked us about our trip. We also met other bike tourists, but not many.

The closer it got to midnight, the more people came. At exactly 12 o'clock, maybe 400-500 people were staring at the midnight sun. It appeared from time to time through gaps in the clouds on the horizon. The atmosphere was really very special. But just a few minutes after 12, the first people left the viewing area. As if the sun had suddenly become uninteresting. But it was probably more due to the schedule. Many tourists were wearing blue Hurtigruten jackets. Shortly before midnight, the people are brought to the Cape in many buses, they get to see the sun (if they are lucky like today) and then it's back again.

Just before one o'clock, we were the last ones at the Cape with a few motorcyclists and a few tourists. Since the wind had calmed down again, I took some aerial photos and climbed up the globe. Then it was time to say goodbye to the North Cape and ride back to Honningsvåg. The atmosphere was strange but beautiful. It was half past one and still not dark. Of course not. But since the sun was so close to the horizon and also behind clouds, we rode through a slightly twilight-like atmosphere. There was nothing going on. We met a few cars and a handful of motorcyclists, but other than that, everything was lonely, quiet and deserted. Although it was bright, it felt like nature was asleep.

Just before Honningsvåg, we passed our campsite from two days ago again and spontaneously decided to use the kitchen. At half past three, each of us cooked a big pot of noodles (ok, mine was not big but huge (I really need to get used to normal portions again)), then we cleaned up and three quarters of an hour after we had appeared, we were gone again.

In Honningsvåg, the Hurtigruten arrived half an hour late, but otherwise there were no problems. However, the fatigue was noticeable. Although the sun was shining and we were riding through a beautiful landscape, Daniel and I soon fell asleep. Then it was time to say goodbye. Daniel got off in Havøysund and now wants to cycle another 80 km to the south. I'm lying on deck and getting a little cold in the shade, but now I'm going to take a nap. Hopefully, I'll feel more energetic afterwards and can enjoy the ride more.