North Cape

North Cape

                                                 

Iconic globe and author at the North Cape.

The sky was red to the east but there was low cloud on the horizon. There was clear blue sky above us, the sun was rising and it was only 7am, but it was not to last. We were a long way north and east of our starting point in Bergen. Being so much far further east, dawn was almost as hour earlier but being so much further east and north, it got dark more than an hour earlier.

We sailed into a bank of fog. There was the dark sea, the wake of our ship and fog with snow flakes being blown around visible as they were blown across the windows and illuminated by the lights indoors. There was no land to see, no rising sun and no blue sky, just fog, snow and the sea.

The sky cleared as the storm blew over and we could see the wind turbines which are situated just south of our next port of Havoysund. The scenery was very different when the fog had thinned. We were now above the treelike and looking at the shore, where up to now there had been tree, now there were none to be seen.

 

There was a small island to navigate around with its marker on top, a white column with a red top, with another view of the wind turbines in the background...

...and then we moored at the wharf for just ten minutes to deliver some cargo and then we set off for

Honningsvåg on the island of Magerøya, 

                                        
And then it was across some open sea and into the sound between the mainland and the island of Magerøya. The name comes from the Sami language, the people who inhabit this area who have their own language, customs and culture. The name means barren in Sami.

They traditionally raise reindeer in the far north but of the 50,000 in Norway, only 5% make a living from reindeer. There are also 20,000 Sami in Sweden, 10,000 in Finland and 2,000 in Russia.

Magerøya is used for summer grazing of reindeer. At the end of the season, the reindeer need to be transferred back to the mainland. The reindeer herder will tie a rope to the lead reindeer and by boat will pull him into the water and the rest will follow. Reindeer can swim and after fattening up themselves all summer, they are able to swim the 1.8 kilometres at the narrowest point between the island and the mainland. Other more modern options are available such as using boats, something like a landing craft, or herding them through the tunnel, so motorists and cyclist must be careful.

We landed at Honningsvåg, transferred to coaches and settled back for the 45 minute journey to Nordkapp, North Cape. This is the most northerly point of mainland Europe and a visitor centre has been built there.

There appears to be a single storey building but there are three below ground levels including a large cinema which shows films ar regular intervals on Arctic life.

Beyond the visitor centre is the globe, created out of a late work of steel slats to represent the latitudes and longitudes of the world, another much recognised symbol of the area.

Me next to the globe...

...and in front of it.

There is a monument erected by KingOscar II in 1873 to show how far north Norway extends. It is a simple red granite column with an inscription. 

                                                  

On the other side of the visitor centre is the Barn av Jordan, Children of the Earth. Seven children from all over the world worked with the sculptor to create a disc each of their views with the sub-title of the art installation being A Symbol of Cooperation, Friendship, Hope and Joy. There is also a bronze statue of a women with a hand on the shoulder of a child. 

That tiny speck in the centre of the photo is the visitor centre from a distance.

A nearer view of the structure.