North Cape Archives - Plug Me In

26 July 201626 July 2016 by Wiebe

Day 132 & 133 | Going south from the North Cape

Day 132 | Sunday July 24

On the edge of the North Cape I woke up. When I opened my tent I had an amazing view over a sea of clouds and enjoyed this sight for a while. Andrei, the hitchhiker who I met yesterday wanted to go to a camping 20 kilometers from the Cape and I offered him a ride. I still was doubting what to do. My car was charged only till 40% so I couldn’t get that far, especially in this parts as it’s very mountainous.

I dropped of Andrei and next to the camping was a Scandic hotel, I stayed at them earlier in Bodo. After 2 nights of camping and no shower I could use some comfort (I feel a bit spoiled to say this, my friend Andrei had no shower for a week) and tried my luck at the hotel. They were enthusiastic like always but were fully booked. Luckily there was a room with a broken shower (coincidence?) and I could take that one. I was happy to take it and took an ice cold shower, which felt pretty good! Thank you Scandic Nordkapp!

I worked a lot today, wrote my blog, prepared a press-release with Meltwater and send some emails. I didn’t had breakfast or lunch today and because the hotel already offered me a room and breakfast I didn’t want to ask them for a dinner so I boiled a soup with my gas ring in the bathroom. I had some canned soup left which I got from Karin in Heverlee in the second week of this trip.

Day 133 | Monday July 25

I was woken up by the alarm at 10 o’clock, shit! I though I set it at 8 but probably pressed the wrong button. The breakfast was till 10 so I rushed there to get one.

For today I had not really a plan yet. My goal now is to reach Helsinki and I don’t have much pluggers yet in the northern and middle parts of Finland. So I just started driving south. At 20% I reached Lakselv were they had a public 220v charger. With the Smart Charge app from Meshcrafts I found out they had a Type 2 charger in Karasjok and that was about 70 kilometers away. When I had 50% I started driving there. 50% could be enough to drive 70 kilometers but there were some mountains and I quickly lost range. When I was 20km from Karasjok away I had only 8% and had to look for an alternative. The road was long and deserted but at 3% I passed an house. I saw that there were people at home, knocked on the door and asked them for a plug. It were 2 young guys from Lithuania, really nice guys and it was ok to charge. When I told them my story they even offered me to come for dinner with them. They were working in this house as carpenters and stayed here in the house for a few weeks until it’s finished. They are 2 brothers from 25 & 27 who both have a wife and children. The oldest brother Mantas just had his first child just 4 weeks ago and saw him only 1 time. With the money they earn here they supply their families back home. Everyday the people I met are so different and the stories they share unique. I learned a lot so far.

Now I had enough power to reach Karasjok. I was charged with food too so I just needed a place to stay. At camping Karacamp they were willing to offer me a camping place and I could power the remaining of the car at the toilet unit! Great stuff.

Pictures of today

In the mist of North Cape

Scandic Nordkapp Hotel

The house near Karatsjov were I stranded

Under construction

The nice guys who helped me

Welcome to the camping

Sleep tight.

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24 July 201624 July 2016 by Wiebe

Day 131 | Above the North Cape

Day 131 | Saturday July 23

Spoiler alert: today was fucking great!

So I woke up in my caravan and started driving towards the North Cape, which has been my goal since Oslo 4 weeks ago. It was a 240km drive and impossible to reach on one charge but I was very surprised that I could drive 207 kilometers to Honningsvag, with the mountains here that is really an achievement.

In Honningsvag was not much to do, it’s kind of the last stop before the North Cape so lots of tourists go to the supermarket and fill their cars with supplies. I had to fill my car with juice, which wasn’t easy. With SmartCharge I found that there was a public charger in town but it didn’t work with my car. At an industrial area I was lucky to find a normal plug and charged for about 5 hours, during the wait I wandered around the town and talked to some locals.

Around 6 I started driving, the road to the Cape was stunning. Long stretched flats with hundreds of reindeers, like the Santa could touch down here any minute.
It was going up hill a lot, the cape is a peninsula of 300 meters high. The last kilometers I was afraid that I wouldn’t make it but got to the ticketbox with 4% left. I was surprised that there was a ticketbox but you could have guessed it, the entrance is free for electric car drivers!

When I explored the area on Google Maps I thought it was a small village with many shops but actually there was just a visitors center for tourists, and as I had to charge my car here that was my only possibility. Luckily they were very friendly and I could charge the car at the back of the compound.

About the North Cape: it’s symbolic the most norther part of Europe. That’s what I read everywhere and I have no idea what this actually means?! How can a place that’s not the most norther place in Europe (It’s not even the most northern place in Norway and big parts of Russia are more northern too) be the symbolic most northern city? Even when it’s an island and not mainland. It must have been a very creative city marketeer who came up with this idea.

I didn’t expect much of this place as I thought it was just a milestone for many travellers to go to ‘the most northern place in Europe’ so I was positively shocked by the beauty of the North Cape. Especially because you can see the midnight sun in full here. I saw it in Bodo till 11.30 but now I could see it all night long! Weird and beautiful.

Now one of my highlights this trip: I flew in a helicopter over the North Cape!
I got in touch with 2 people who work at HeliTours. With my experiences the last weeks I am starting to feel more free in asking people for a favor, of course a heli flight would be the top of the cherry. I explained them what I was doing and asked them the question. They told me that if there would be a drop-out it might be possible to fly along. After 2 hours I received a phone call “we’ve got a spot left!” Wow!
I had never flown in a helicopter before and it has been a dream for a long time and it finally came true. And the good thing: I was flying exactly at midnight so I could witness the midnight sun from even closer. It’s really a great experience to fly over the mountains, fjords and sea and be above the clouds. I took some great pictures and will upload a movie later on. Thanks again HeliTours!

After the flight I wanted to take some more pictures of the midnight sun and from me above the clouds. I met Andrei, a guy from Romania and together we walked around the Cape to find some nice places to get good shots. We stayed up a long time because I wanted to get a picture from me with the car in front of the globe, that is the iconic statue which symbolizes the most northern point. It was only at 3.30 in the morning that most people were gone and we had time to take the shots, very happy with the end-result.

https://www.facebook.com/PlugMeIn/photos/a.357717747770627.1073741829.211949022347501/514254508783616/?type=3&theater

Then I went to bed. I set up the tent very close to the edge of the cape. It was only the second time that I slept in here and the first time was in heavy rain. Now the sun was shining and I could hear the wind hitting my tent, which made me fall asleep within minutes.

Today was really one of the highlights of the trip, totally unexpected. Maybe because the past few days were a bit shit I start to appreciate moments like these more. What will happen tomorrow?

Pictures of today