North Cape Tour Part 7

#7 North Cape Tour | We celebrate the reunion, explore Tromsø and spend the night by the sea

Half past nine in the morning in Norway, I'm fresh and rested on the bike again.

The situation is as follows, my two buddies Hermann and Ernst are on their way back from the Lofoten Islands and now drive in the direction of Tromsø. I'm at half past nine in Mo i Rana and have about 700 kilometers ahead of me to Tromsø, where we want to meet somewhere before Tromsø if everything goes smoothly.
My first experience should be the Crossing the Arctic Circle be, a photo on the Arctic Circle is a must. It's only 90 kilometers from Mo i Rana, the E6 is a good road, but it takes me 1 1/2 hours with a stop for fuel.

In Norway it all goes a little slower, you should take that into account in your Tour planning Bear in mind that if you drive too fast here, the police will ask you to pay. You will be fined €300 for speeding at 20 km/h and €900 for speeding at 50 km/h. A precautionary glance at the Catalog of fines can do no harm.

Shortly after Mo i Rana comes a Motorcycle Museum, I completely overlooked it, but Hermann and Ernst looked in there and were thrilled that someone at the end of the world had put together such an interesting museum. You can find the address at the bottom of the Google Map if anyone would like to take a look here.

The Arctic Circle Classic Museum and the Arctic Circle Polar Circle are interesting spots in Norway

The area slowly becomes more spacious and less mountainous. Norway has many beautiful facets and offers a lot of visual variety.
The weather is no fun again, I couldn't get my clothes really dry and now I'm out in the rain again.

Now we cross the Arctic Circle, the border to the Arctic

Suddenly I see the dome of the Arctic Circle Center. Arriving here on a Harley is a cool feeling, even if it's cold. It's a fascinating place, the center has an interesting history, the area is part of a nature reserve called Svartisen and is one of the largest mountain ranges in Norway. The Arctic Circle Center is like an island in the middle of this protected area.

I've taken enough photos and it's just before midday, so I have to continue on towards Tromsø. After 260 kilometers I arrive at the ferry dock in Bognes, which was shortly before 5 p.m., time is running out and Hermann and Ernst are a few hundred kilometers ahead of me. My next destination is the Harley-Davidson dealer North Norway. They have a store in Bjørkåsen and I really need a T-shirt from them. However, I have to put the pressure on now, as it closes early.

Harley-Davidson Nord-Norge is a must-see

It goes well, a good half hour later I'm at his place and he was even waiting, he knew I was coming, that was really cool of him. But who suddenly pulls up? Sepp, the Swiss on his Harley-Davidson Heritage, We had already met once beforehand at the ferry. As you can imagine, we drank a lot of coffee again and everyone shared their experiences of the tour. After 1 1/2 hours we continued, there was also good news from Hermann and Ernst, they had found a new home near Setermoen rented a hut at Bardu Camping and are waiting for me there.

According to the navigation system, that's a 2-hour drive for 140 kilometers. I continue on the E10, unfortunately the weather is getting worse and worse and the route is never-ending. The problem is solved, I don't have the exact address of the hut, only Ernst's WhatsApp location.

Unfortunately, that doesn't quite work and now I've driven 100 kilometers too far. Now I'm really annoyed, it's clear that something is wrong here. The two technical dyslexics now have to find out where they actually are. And lo and behold, if you ask the owner of the huts where he lives, you get the right address. Now it's 100 kilometers back again.

We are traveling together again in Norway

And finally I've arrived, it's just before midnight. Once again, I'm completely flat and wet, at times I feel like I'm running with the Harley through the car wash. The Cabin was already cool and the heating was on, I didn't feel like camping tonight either. Our plan now was to sleep first, we were all exhausted and the next morning we would drive together to Tromsø, where we would go to the next and last Harley-Davidson dealer in Norway, which must be visited.

Our breakfast and snow-covered mountains again

Good morning, the sun is back and shining directly into our hut. That was the moment when our washing line had to be used, we're all in full swing and happy to be together again. The timing worked out after all.

Now we get everything out for breakfast, we are super equipped, the further north you go, the harder it is to find a classic bakery store like the ones you can find on every corner here. So it's a good idea to have everything with you. At 10:00 a.m. we continue our relaxed journey to Tromsø to Harley Dealer, That's only 160 kilometers, but you can't do it in under 2 hours. The route is really cool, the countryside becomes noticeably more barren and we keep driving along the North Sea coast.

Tromsø welcomes us with the best sunshine and we enjoy it at the harbor

We first drive to the harbor in Tromsø, where we have lunch and enjoy the view of the harbor. Robua Pub an, it's a cool place, very nice service and they're not really into food, but they managed to put a mega family pizza on the table for us.

We are in seventh heaven, the sun is shining, sitting outside with a view of a Hurtigruten mail boat and the best food. We can do the boat trip in 10 years' time, but we still want to do it the hard way with a fishing rod, tent and cabin. Before dinner, we had already decided to add some culture to our plans in Tromsø.

Tromsø has a Polar Museum at Harbor. The museum is well worth a visit as it shows how hostile life was in the past north of the Polar has been. What it meant to embark on a dangerous expedition and to survive it, or how big an erect polar bear really is when it stands in front of you.

We are now through, fully prepared for the North Cape we still need T-shirts from the Harley Davidson dealer in Tromsø, so let's go.

Norway even offers a traffic circle in the tunnel in Tromsø

On the way to the dealer we experience something curious, I have the feeling that Norway is half-tunneled anyway, but that they even have a traffic circle in the tunnel, I think that's pretty cool. I'm amazed, the Navigation from the Harley suddenly shows me a Traffic circle with several exits, I thought it was going crazy. But no, it actually exists in Tromsø.

Thanks to the navigation system, we also find the dealer. We are a little surprised to see that the whole store was open, but there was no salesman nearby. The guys here are completely relaxed, he was gone for a moment. They also sell jet ski snow here, but these are really crazy things. Here at the top of the North you have to be flexible as a dealer and need several pillars. A customer drives up in his car, gets out and just lets him go, nobody is interested in that here and the sun is shining today, in Germany the thought alone is punishable by law.

High up in the north we meet a Swiss man on his Panhead

An old, rather rusty Harley is standing around here, I've never seen anything like it, at least not to this extent. We have our T-shirts and are just about to leave when the Heinz from the Eastern Switzerland on his Panhead at the dealer's, he and his wife have just come from the North Cape and he has just arrived at the Softail his Lady have the service done. His Panhead has everything it needs and runs like butter!

He has traveled the same route before 30 years and wants to share it with 60 again with a Star frame pull through, but without service vehicle, he said, alluding to Marcus Walz something. And the fact that he Swiss Sepp with his Harley-Davidson Heritage from yesterday and met him was no surprise. In any case Heinz just like Sepp a horny guy!

The sun warms our backs, so we enjoy the landscape on the way to TromsøIt's no use, we have to move on now, with the weather we are really lucky, the sun is on our backs, in front of us we can already see snow-covered mountains the landscape changed again colossally. We now drive to Lyngseidet to the next Ferry, which is supposed to take us to Olderdalen cross over. The ferry crossing takes about 50 minutes, so we quickly lose some time and it's clear to us that we're just going to cross over and then look for a place to camp.

And again we get to know an extraordinary guy, a young guy from America, his dreadlocks almost reach the ground. He is a Globetrotter and in Norway as a hitchhiker, he keeps his head above water with simple jobs, in the United States he had a job as a graphic designer, but that couldn't keep him and it seems to be working out.

We camp right by the sea in Olderdalen

In Olderdalen It's already around 8 p.m. when we arrive, so it's time to find a place to spend the night. A small camp sign appears in front of us, so we take a look. Perfect, it says Artic Lyngen Sjøcamp and offers us a place to pitch our tent right by the sea, a bathroom and toilet, drinks supply and a place for a small fire.

Even Wifi we have here, the only thing missing is a whale surfacing in the sea in front of us. Reason enough for us to start a livestream on Facebook and chat a little about our tour. The guy from Campsite welcomes us again and again with his home-brewed bear schnapps and welcomes us in Olderdalen Welcome several times, what can I say, the evening is really nice and fun, and when his supplies run out, we all fall into our sleeping bags, totally relaxed and excited about the beautiful day. Outside we hear the Sea rustle and now Good night!

accommodations:

Bardu camping & turistsenter AS, Idrettsveien 2, 9360 Bardu, Norway

Artic Lyngen Sjøcamp 

Many thanks for the kind support of our tour partners, Visit Norway, Color Line, The Rokker Company and the Tallink Silja Line. 

On the Google Map you can see the places we visited and our route.