Part 35 - Norkapp, Caribou and the Baltic Countries, 16 August 2019

Europe Blog Part 3 Nordkapp, Reindeer and the Baltic Countries

Beautiful Lofoten Archipelago sits well above the Arctic Circle in the Norwegian Sea. The chain of islands is interconnected by an elaborate series of bridges and causeways that eventually links it with the mainland further north. The air was chilly and windy, even during the warmest days of its brief summer. A ferry crossing beginning at Bodo was required to jump from mainland Norway to the southern tip of the island chain.

Before boarding in Bodo

Campite

Unknown Fjord

Lofoten Archipelago

Hiking on Lofoten Islands

Isabelle and I stopped just before opening time at the Viking Museum located somewhere in the middle of the Lofoten Archipelago. A full sized long house had been reconstructed on the hilltop where a modern farmer had uncovered numerous artefacts with the blade of his plough. The displays inside the long house reconstruction were literally brought to life by museum summer staff members, who role-played at various activities typical of Viking life a thousand years ago. On a previous motorcycle trip Isabelle and I had visited the reconstructed Viking long house at L’Anse aux Meadows, in Newfoundland. The two exhibits were remarkably similar. In Newfoundland too, animators in period costume added greatly to the impression made by the reconstructed long house. Clearly curators influence one another. Each reconstructed long house was in a remote place. I wonder how many people have actually visited both sites to note the similarities.

Elaborate bridges getting little use in remote areas

Tunnels everywhere, many multiple kilometers long, our average: 30 or more per day, 

Animator in the Longhouse

Dining/Meeting Room

Wouldn't have lasted long as a Viking

Two days of riding even further north brought Isabelle and I to Nordkapp Camping where it was downright cold. The campground was 30 kilometers from our goal; Nordkapp Monument, the furthest point north you can reach by road. We saw many reindeer on the tundra in those final days of riding and had dodged some of them on the road. In Patagonia it had been guanacos that we had dodged on the way to Ushuaia, the furthest point south you can reach by road. The final push to Nordkapp involved driving under the Arctic Ocean in a 7 kilometer long tunnel to the Island of Magaroya.

Sunset on Snowy Waterfall

Somewhere in Northern Norway

Motorcycle Club Mascot

Reindeer on the Tundra

Our campground on the tundra was situated in a protective valley at 71 degrees latitude. Despite the surrounding hills it was windy, cold and rainy when we arrived. We assembled our little tent inside a concrete field kitchen the campground provided then squeezed it out the door again. The inner tent was protected by the attached fly. This made it possible to keep the tent’s floor dry while bringing the whole unit outside. We staked it down against the howling wind.

Campground on the Tundra

The wind was strong but soon began to diminish. The rain also slowed and the prediction was for clearing skies after midnight. We planned to look for the midnight sun if things were clear enough. It was exciting to have almost reached Nordkapp. Each year, there exists only a tiny window of opportunity in high summer for a motorcycle camping trip that far into the north.  In the morning we hoped to reach our goal.

The Arctic Ocean

It was the 18^th of July when Isabelle and I arrived at Nordkapp, one month after setting out from England. An entrance ticket allowed 24 hours of access to the site. We saw some people with caravans, even a few with tents, who had camped there overnight. We paid the fee then rode into the huge parking lot, putting our kickstands out near two other motos. We started our visit viewing the introductory film in the theatre. Next we saw the underground Chapel, the Cave of Lights and the King’s View of the Barents Sea from the cliff. The first outdoor monuments we saw were the King Olaf Monolith and the Children’s Peace Medallions. Seven children chosen from every corner of the globe had been brought to the site for a week. Under the direction of a Norwegian artist, each child developed a design for a 3 meter high bronze medallion. The themes the children were given were cooperation, integration and sharing the planet.

Seen from Nordkapp

Display of indigenous birds near the Cave of Lights

Finally, we got to the Nordkapp Globe Monument. We couldn’t see a way to ride the motos to the monument from the parking lot so the bikes didn’t make it into the photo. People have been visiting that northern point since Norway’s King Olaf scratched his name into a rock face there in 1795. A visit to the souvenir shop completed our two hour stay at the site. On the way out of the area, we bought a necklace for Isabelle in a shop we had discovered at the roadside the previous day. The shop sold art made by Sami, local indigenous people. The necklace featured a large silver pendant in a stylized image of the midnight sun, a symbol that is often used to decorate Sami drums.

Globe Monument

We had set off from Nordkapp at 11 am riding south east, away from the effects of the Arctic Ocean. We pulled up at a rest stop for lunch, spotting several campervans already parked there. There was open tundra all around the place but high surrounding hills provided wind protection. We began to set things up at a free picnic table. It was cold but the sun felt warm and strong even through five layers of clothing. A Polish man came over from his camper with two large bowls of soup in his hands. The soup was for us! It was delicious.

Yummy Soup

Polish Generosity

A lucky day for Isa's bike

We stopped for the night a little before the border with Finland, the temperature having climbed to almost 17 degrees. Mosquitos, the first of our trip, greeted us at the campsite and we used repellent for the first time. Europeans had warned us about clouds of pesky insects up north but we found them to be only a minor problem. After a few more days of riding southward the flies disappeared altogether.

Art installation in the Forest, can you spot Isa?

Tent Ceiling

Finland felt different from Norway. The roads were straight in the absence of mountains and speed limits were higher. Gone were the elegant bridges and extravagant tunnels. We saw many settlements of Sami people in Lapland. My bike was getting low on oil so I topped it up with some synthetic oil found in a fuel station. This was the first time the bike had used oil.

Arctic Circle Monument/Tepee in Lapland

It took five more days riding due south to reach the capital city of Finland, Helsinki. Reindeer were plentiful much of the way. Graceful animals, they were about the size of a caribou. The deer were a serious hazard for a motorcyclist; Finland’s forests gave them cover. The guanacos had been easier to spot on Patagonia’s open steppe. In Finland, reindeer seemed to be around every corner and behind every tree. Traffic was regularly forced to slow down and to pick its way through a crowd of deer on the road. Each day Isa or I had to make an emergency stop, testing our anti-lock brakes. The closest I came to a collision didn’t even involve braking. A large male reindeer ran up the steep embankment of a culvert on my right as I passed. I just missed him. There had been no time for me to react; it was the reindeer’s reaction that saved both our lives. He dug his front hoofs into the gravel and veered away from his planned road crossing. Isabelle slowed rapidly and swerved around him too. It took a few minutes for us both to settle down again.

Helsinki Metro

Day-time high temperatures changed from 7 in the north to 27 degrees by the time we reached our campground on the Baltic Coast. Prices also climbed as Helsinki’s “highest quality of life in the world” replaced the hinterland experience. The history of Finland’s capital city was to be illuminated by our walking-tour guide, Michael. Unfortunately, Michael’s hesitant speech habits and constant tangents detracted from the tour, our first disappointment in many walking tours. We did learn that Finland had enjoyed about 200 years of independence. Before that hunter-gathering, forestry and small scale subsistence farming were Finland’s main land uses. Finns had historically been dominated by Sweden and tended to copy that society’s infrastructure designs, social ways and conventions. Finland also had a hot and cold relationship with its neighbor, Russia. Finland had sided with Nazi Germany against Russia in WWII in a, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” kind of loose bond. Today, Finns see themselves today in a role as arbitrator between Russia and the west, pointing to the recent meeting in Helsinki between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On Helsinki's Central Plaza

Church

A 3 hour ferry to Tallinn, Estonia was aboard a large and luxurious ship. There was a magic show for the kids in the ballroom and individual entertainments in each of the ship’s other lounges and outdoor areas. We rode away from the ship in warm sunshine and soon arrived at our campground, located in an open field surrounded by farms. There was an army truck abandoned in the field next to the campground. Farmyard animals were literally eating around it. Estonia seemed less sophisticated than what we had seen in Scandinavia but it was also a lot less expensive. We enjoyed the 15 Euro camping fee and hoped the most expensive part of our trip was over.

Abandoned Truck

We needed to manage the number of permitted days we used inside Europe’s “Schengen Zone.” We had completed the theme of our first Europe trip - visiting Scandinavia, especially Norway. We planned to simply transit the Baltic countries and northern Europe. The UK was not a member of the Schengen Agreement. Crossing the English Channel would end our use of allotted days inside the Schengen zone but we still needed to stop in Riga for a few days. The BMW dealership in Riga, Latvia had quoted fair prices for what we needed. Both bikes were overdue for servicing and each one had little things wrong outside the scope of a normal servicing. It would take two days of riding to get to Riga from Tallinn. We planned to stay in Riga’s biker hotel, “Two Wheels” while the motos were serviced. I had read about it during research for the trip.

At the Tallinn campground we met and had a great conversation with a salty old gentleman riding a Honda C90 scooter. He camped beside us in the open field. He had lived in Tallinn as a boy, during Soviet times. He was fulfilling a romantic desire to see Estonia’s capital again before he died. It was plain to see it was an important journey for him.

In Latvia we once again experienced lane sharing by cars on the highways. Isabelle called them, “Mexican passes” because we first encountered them in Mexico. As part of the manoeuvre, vehicles moving in both directions kept to their right, even putting a wheel onto the paved shoulder. Cars passed others while straddling the centre line of the road. It was a bit frightening at first but everyone’s cooperation made it a relatively safe practice.

Two Wheels was in a suburb of Riga, across the river from the beautiful and historic Old Town. Remnants of Soviet administration practices in Riga had resulted in a patchwork of urban renewal and decay. The trouble in “micro-districts”, we would call them suburbs, lay with ambiguity surrounding responsibility for and ownership of buildings and exterior areas. Soviet collectivised ownership and central planning ideas had been well intended but ambitious city plans were mostly left uncompleted. As a result, rows and rows of run-down bland and identical blocks of flats were surrounded by weedy open spaces punctuated by crumbling parking lots and walkways.

Zeppelin Hangars in Riga

Indoor Market in Riga

We enjoyed low prices in grocery stores and markets. Restaurant prices were low too, even in the tourist zones. There were lots of tourists in the old city the day we went. In addition to the city centre, we visited the huge market situated in five old Zeppelin hangars beside the river.

Church Ceiling in Riga

Chance Listening to dress rehearsal of Four Seasons for Violin and Organ

The Baltic nations had been rolled over first in an eastward direction by German tanks, trucks and troops. USSR reversed the flow a few years later as it pushed German forces westward, out of Russia’s homeland. Beside the market we visited the Jewish Ghetto from WWII. Displays in restored sections of the ghetto told us about the appalling conditions there and about Nazi mass exterminations of Riga’s Jews in the forests surrounding the city. When the Soviets arrived, liberating Latvia from the Germans, they never left. Latvians were not truly free until the breakup of the Soviet Union, forty-five years later.

Next was Lithuania where farms were of a larger scale and more mechanized than what we had seen in Latvia. Fields full of healthy crops alternated with extensive wood lots. We rode to the Hill of Crosses. Police officers directed us to parking areas in the open fields surrounding the site. Lithuania hadn’t figured out how to handle huge increases in visitors to the site since Pope John Paul II brought legitimacy to it by saying Mass there. The Hill of Crosses popped up in the late 1800’s as an unofficial, unregulated site for private memorials. The Soviets objected to any religious symbols and bulldozed the place twice but locals re-erected things overnight each time. Lithuanians were fervent Catholics who stubbornly wanted to preserve their culture.

Hill of Crosses

The first thing that impressed us in Poland was the proliferation of factories, large cities and huge, fully mechanized farms. Compared with the developing Baltic nations, Poland’s economy seemed on fire. Hurried people moved about on the roads. Many disobeyed speed limits and displayed impatience with slower drivers. Transport trucks filled the roads at high speeds and high noise levels. Riding was much more stressful and tiring for us in Poland than it had been throughout the scenic and pastoral regions of Scandinavia and the Baltic States.

We learned much on two guided walking tours in Warsaw. Yes, we were supposed to be simply transiting back to the UK. And yes, we vowed to return, making northeastern Europe the theme of a three month trip in the near future but we just couldn’t resist stopping briefly in Poland’s historic Capitol. We were truly shocked regarding the scale of devastation brought to Poland by Nazi Germany. We learned that Hitler ordered, “Take no prisoners” and that Warsaw was razed to the ground as an example to the world after the failed Warsaw uprising of 1944.

Marching on the New Guard

Warsaw

In 1944, Russian troops lay outside Warsaw, poised to liberate it from German occupation. Poles didn’t want liberation on Russia’s terms. They wanted to negotiate from a position of strength. That strength, they thought could be gained through rising up, throwing the Nazis out of Warsaw before the Russians arrived. It didn’t work. The USSR waited out the conflict between the Nazis and Poles, thus letting the two sides thin each other down to make the job of clearing out the Germans less dangerous. The Soviet delay also ensured a weak bargaining position for the Poles regarding Soviet “liberation.” The tragic result of such bravery by the Poles was 200,000 more dead and the city being leveled in reprisal by the still occupying, greatly reinforced Germans.

Poles suffered unimaginably in the war with Germany. Political prisoners were sent to their deaths in concentration camps. Randomly selected civilians were shot in the streets as reprisal against actions by the Resistance. Hundreds of thousands, mostly civilians, were killed during The Uprising and Warsaw had been leveled. Liquidation camps with names like Auschwitz and Treblinka were built inside Poland where, along with millions of others, almost all of Poland’s Jews were exterminated.

Old Town Warsaw was completely reconstructed after the war using Soviet central planning. The undertaking was completed between 1952 and 1955 using original styles of architecture. Nationalization of all properties, economies-of-scale and virtual conscription of labour made the task possible. Many buildings were reconstructed in near perfect imitation of the original ones.

Reconstruction

Warsaw Street Scene Built in 1950's

Near Perfect Imitation of Original Buildings

We rode to a beautiful campsite located 20 kilometers from Auschwitz. It was pleasant and clean. It was also the cheapest lodging of the trip so far at 1/5^th the price we paid in Warsaw. We used it as a base camp for a visit to the concentration camp.

Camp Gate: "Work Will Set You Free"

Inside Auschwitz

Originally a Polish Military Garrison

We visited both Auschwitz and Birkenau, taking a day long guided tour. We learned that the facilities had been built for the express purpose of efficiently killing and disposing of large numbers of humans. The killings began with adults suffering from mental and physical disabilities. The victims grew to include large numbers of Poles, Roma/Gypsies, Soviet prisoners of War and other ethnic groups but mainly it was European Jews who were killed. Auschwitz and Birkenau alone exterminated more than a million Jews. Earlier, German High Command found that soldiers involved in the bloodbath of mass shootings suffered mental shock. Gassing methods developed and used in the camps spared soldiers who were doing the killing from seeing the moment of their victims’ deaths. Inmate slave labour accomplished the tasks of body disposal and other camp services.

Inscription inside garrison jail

Plaque on the tour

Housing for Labourers in Birkenau

Gate into Birkenau

Several more days of riding brought us across Germany and into Luxemburg. During that time, we found ourselves thinking and talking about what we had seen in the Baltics and especially in Poland. Isabelle and I began slow overland travel with the aim of connecting with and learning about people we would meet along the way. We hoped travel would allow us a better understand of humanity. Instead, the depth of our ignorance was slowly exposed. We were left with far more questions than answers. We saw monuments, plaques and sculptures; heard stories and music that told of terrible loss. Cruelty, domination and violence driven by feelings of superiority, expectations of entitlement or just plain greed were the histories of all the regions we visited.

In those days of riding we remained a little stunned by what we had seen. We wondered how it all started. How could a person from a highly developed and sophisticated culture be radicalized to accept and to project extreme hatred and violence? Running a place like Auschwitz required the cooperation of thousands of immediate staff and an accepted ideology of hatred in the larger population. Could any person in the street have become a productive staff member at Auschwitz? Looking at a person walking in the street, at another playing with her children in a campground or chatting with still another in a coffee shop convinces one of that person’s pragmatism and good manners. People appear pleasant and kind. They love their children. What lies beneath? What would it take to radicalize them? Can anyone be radicalized? At what point does hatred become a self-feeding chain reaction?

We heard the air-raid sirens sounding at 5 pm on the first of August. Everywhere Poles stopped what they were doing and stood still to mark the anniversary of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. Europe’s twentieth century had been filled with collective hatred and brutality, violence on a massive scale. In that moment at the beginning of August, the sirens spoke of remembrance and Polish pride. Ordinary Poles, who lost so much in World War Two, had acted when at their lowest point. It seemed, at least at that instant, resistance to hatred and oppression was actually possible.

Monument to the Warsaw Uprising showing optimism at the start...

and ultimately defeat

Memorial of Resistance in Warsaw

Part 34 - Lands of Vikings, 16 July 2019

Europe Blog Part 2

The bike wouldn’t start. It was the same sound as before, “Ticka.” We tried a push start but the rear wheel just skidded, no matter which gear I used. I tried a ‘battery reset’ by disconnecting, pausing and reconnecting the negative lead. It worked, the bike ran normally. Maybe the ignition was wet. It had happen each time after several days of riding in the rain. I vowed to get it looked at by a dealer.

Our presentations went well. There were lots of questions and people seemed to appreciate all the photos and stories. The Adventure Bike TV games were fun. It was inspiring to rub shoulders with over four hundred enthusiastic people. Some were seasoned travellers and some attended sessions to get inspired and prepared for their first big trip. We met many people, including Phil and Catherine from near Dover, Timothy from Dinglem, Ireland. We received invitations to stay with people all over the British Isles.

Rain was forecast for the next two weeks in the UK. There had already been reports of flooding throughout the south of England. We decided to cross back over the Channel where the weather was more favorable.

A House Near the Mill House in Woolstone

We stopped into Cotswold BMW on the way to Woolstone. The Service department offered little help, saying it was probably water in the switch. They were swamped with business and couldn’t look at it for at least a week. The bike had behaved normally for several days in a row. We simply carried on to Woolstone.

The Map of Woolstone

The White Horse Inn in Woolstone served us a tasty lunch. We asked our server about the Mill House but she said she was not from around there. She did show me a hand drawn map of the village. I photographed it. Isabelle and I set off on foot to find the place. It wasn’t long before I was looking at the front of a house that looked familiar but wasn’t shaped quite right.

The Mill House and Front Garden

We met the Gardener who was named Louis. He walked over to his pick-up truck where Isabelle and I were standing. His gait was as gentle as his voice. I introduced myself and asked, “I wonder if you could help me please. I’m looking for the Mill House.”

“Well that’s it right there,” Louis answered, pointing at the red brick building.

“I thought it might be. I lived in the Millhouse for two years as a small boy. My memory of it is not completely clear. The house looks different, was there an addition put on it?”

Louis asked, “When were you here?” He looked quite interested in my story.

“It was from 1962 until ’64,” I answered.

“That part on the right was added in the 70’s. If you look closely the brick doesn’t quite match.”

“Yes, I see that. Is there a pond at the back?”

“Yes.”

“And does the stream that drains it run along the far side of the house?” I was getting pretty excited. This had to be it!

“Yes, there is a little trail that leads up that side of the house to the pond at the back.”

“This must be it then! That lower section of the house, in the middle there, was the mill room. The water could be diverted to flow through there to drive the wheel.”

The Mill House

Louis said, “The owners kept the old millstone and installed it along the walkway as a paving stone, I’ll show you.” Louis led us toward the left corner of the house, over to the path. He pointed out the old mill stone along the way and led us up to the pond at the back of the house. Ancient, foggy memories struck in succession as we walked. It was a strange experience.

The Mill Pond

Louis was almost as thrilled as I was upon identifying the Mill House. I complimented him on his work in the garden. It was truly wonderful. I took photos and we chatted about the garden some more until it was time to go. It was a happy visit; even the sun came out for it.

The ferry to Dunkirk was interesting because of Dunkirk’s extensive harbour. It was hard to imagine the stress and suffering the 400,000 trapped troops, literally with their backs to the sea, must have felt as they awaited evacuation. Sixty thousand didn’t make it off the beaches and harbour in May and June of 1941. They were either killed or captured by the 800,000 German troops. We rode into Belgium to an expensive campsite. We were learning how to cope with the damp and cold.

Summer arrived the next morning and the temperature rose to 27degrees. Trucks and traffic jams, even in the countryside, filled our day as we rode north through Holland. We found an excellent campground near Eindhoven that operated as a corporate retreat training centre. The atmosphere was great. The internet was first rate and I downloaded lots of Google off-line maps.

German roads were near perfect, the rest stops immaculate. Isabelle described a roadside restaurant as worthy of a Date Night. The sun shone all day. A Dutch motorcyclist approached us saying, “You are world travellers, aren’t you?” He was very interested in our travel story. It was the first time someone had approached us with curiosity. In South America this happened almost every time we stopped. In Colombia and Argentina people stuck their heads out of car windows at red lights asking, “Where are you from? Is Canada always cold and snowy? How fast will it go?” Then they shouted, “Suerte! Buen Viaje!” The sun set later than it had for us the previous night, 10:30 and began to rise at 4am.

We crossed from Germany into Denmark and landed in Middlefart, Denmark at camping time. Danish people seemed happy and calm. They smiled and didn’t sound angry when they spoke. We met Pierre from Paris on a Honda 500 street bike. He was a young man, 28 years old, riding the same loop as us but he planned to do it in a quarter of the time. Isa and I had a nice walk on the shores of the Baltic Sea. It was a relief to be away from the few severe seeming, impatient people we had encountered that day.

Isabelle got up at 3:30 and saw the sun beginning to rise. On the opposite horizon she saw a half moon that brightly lit the whole sky. Just at that a moment a shooting star grabbed her attention. She looked around for the Northern Lights just in case that moment was going to be perfectly magical.

Copenhagen

The road into Copenhagen was excellent. The girl at the campground reception desk was very helpful. She spoke in perfect English and said she was planning to visit Canada for a year on a working visa. She recommended a half day walk that included the main park in Copenhagen. Besides trees, lakes and a family of elephants we saw the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra rehearsing on an outdoor stage. There were plenty of families already there but the real show was scheduled to begin at 9 pm. We had arrived on the day that the birth of Saint John the Baptist was celebrated in many parts of the world. Like we had seen many times in South America, Catholic and local traditions had been combined. In the Danish case at that juncture, a witch burning combined with fertility traditions to banish bad luck and welcome good fortune. The witch was only an effigy but it would be cheered on by hundreds of families that night. A real witch hadn’t been burned in Denmark for quite a long time. Before that, at least one thousand of them met their end in flames at the stake.

Just an Effigy This Time

We saw Danes walking and riding bicycles, smiling and laughing on a Sunday afternoon. Danes we saw that day seemed to be less inclined to be grumpy, rigid rule followers than a few of their southern neighbors had been. They also seem to be happier. Half of them walk or cycle to work. They have a very high GDP per capita ratio and a similarly high life expectancy. They are said to be some of the happiest people in the world despite very long and dark winters. Bragging rights for top national happiness rates get regularly passed around between Denmark, Norway and Canada.

We rented bicycles on our second day in Copenhagen. A forty minute ride into the city centre got us to the meeting place for the walking tour. We saw the old port with its picturesque and classic Copenhagen scenes. Thousands of tourists moved about what used to be a dangerous port full of pirates and prostitutes. 

The new Opera House resembled the stern of a ship on the harbor front. The Marble Church was circular and smaller inside than expected. One felt confined yet somehow comforted within it. Up from its circular base rose curved marble walls that supported a marble dome above. We saw the famous statue of Hans Christian Anderson’s, The Little Mermaid next to the harbor. In Anderson’s story the mermaid doesn’t get the Prince. He has a country to run so he lives happily ever after with a sensible wife while the mermaid commits suicide in despair.

We learned much on our tour about Danish society and modern history. Their economy and philosophies are much like those of Canada even though there are only 6 million Danes compared with Canada’s population of 37 million. People are encouraged to walk, bike or take transit by a 150% tax on all cars. Copenhagen hopes to be a carbon neutral city by 2024. They have a constitutional democratic monarchy. King Christian managed to save the lives of almost all of Denmark’s 7000 Jews during the Nazi occupation. Toward the end of the war Danish resistance to the occupation grew. About three thousand Danes lost their lives through fighting in the resistance or in the military. We saw the Tivoli Gardens which inspired Walt Disney in the creation of his theme parks.

A couple of days later we rented a nice little apartment outside Stockholm, Sweden through Airbnb. We took the train into the city centre. We met our Guide, Mathew along with an English tourist couple at the Royal Palace. Mathew asked us if we had heard about the rivalry that still exists between Denmark and Sweden. Ikea named its furniture pieces after Swedish cities. Toilet brushes and door mats, bearing names in Danish, are the only exceptions to this naming practice. 

Old Stockholm City

Guard at the Royal Palace

Mathew told us about the “Bloodbath” inflicted on the Sweden’s elite by King Charles of Denmark. Charles occupied Stockholm for two years. He gave a party for Stockholm’s Royals and aristocrats, much like the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones (possibly the inspiration?). When everyone was good and drunk Charles brought them one by one into the plaza for the removal of their heads. Blood was said to have flowed from the plaza into the surrounding neighborhoods.

Old Stockholm

New Stockholm, the Subway

Safety First

George, later Saint George to the Swedes, was not at the party. He escaped Stockholm, gathered an army and returned to drive Charles out of the Swedish capital. Our guide Mathew showed us a statue of Saint George on horseback slaying the dragon that was King Charles to free the princess that was Stockholm. Officially neutral during the Second World War, Sweden continued to trade steel with the Nazi’s and ball bearings with Great Britain for profit. 

St. George Slays the Dragon in Stockholm

Today was Mum’s 90^th birthday. Isabelle and I had a nice long video chat with her.

In Oslo, Norway we learned that university was free for all, regardless of nationality. The Nobel Peace prize is awarded annually in Oslo. North Sea oil and gas, discovered in 1969, bring tremendous wealth to the country of just 5.2 million people. Our guide, Christian from Spain was trying to make a go of it in Norway. He said that Norwegians seemed reluctant to give a job to a foreigner. He spoke of overt racism. We have seen few brown or black people throughout Scandinavia. Stockholm seemed to have the highest number.

The Oslo Opera House

Everything seemed modern and of the latest technology in Oslo. There were USB ports at each seat on public busses. Screens gave bus arrival predictions and other route information at each stop. The new opera house at the harbor-front was impressive. It was designed to resemble an iceberg rising from the sea. Norway’s government was spending huge amounts on infrastructure. Extensive and expensive tunnel and bridge-works can be found throughout the country. The government says it is saving for when the oil dries up, so far 165,000 Euros per person. Norway seems filled with wild spending, understandable when your wallet is big. One can only imagine the difficulty future generations will have when it comes time to adopt a more prudent expenditure pattern after decades of spending like we saw in Norway.

Village Churchyard

Waterfall on the Way to Bergen

Highland Hut

Highlands near Stavanger

The weather changed as we rode west from Oslo. The temperature dropped and it began to rain. The mountains in the middle of Norway were clouded and rugged. Though not very high the air was chilled to just 3 degrees at the highest elevations. At one point we took the old road and avoided a tunnel. Rugged, remote beauty was all around us for 20 kilometers. At the end of the following day a short ride after a ferry across a fjord brought us to Preikestolen Campground. It was expensive and spare but it was near the trailhead of the hike we had planned for the next day.

Cold and Tired in the Highlands

The Preikestolen hike rose steeply in a two hour climb. Our old bodies complained but continued to cooperate. The dramatic views over Lysebotnfjord were our reward. They truly stunning and were why we had come to Norway. It was cold and rainy for most of the hike but the sun came out at just the right moment – when we reached “Pulpit Rock”. It overlooked lengthy Lysebotnfjord almost a thousand meters below.

Lysebotnfjord

Preikestolen (Isa is in yellow poncho.)

On the third of July we saw much beautiful scenery but we ran into some bad luck. The day’s groceries were surprisingly expensive and the ferry to the “Little Trolltunga” hike would make us wait 6 hours. We decided to ride around the fjord instead but then we couldn’t find camping. We settled in the cold drizzle for a very expensive, cold place (figuratively and literally). The place had few services and they were not well cleaned. The day’s scores were: 26 tunnels, 2 suspension bridges and 1 ferry.

Elegant and Expensive

Impressive Infrastructure in the Hinterland

A good sleep brought back our good humour and the next campsite near Bergen was much better. More experience with camping location apps on the phone helped us to be choosier. There was a laundry room, a full kitchen, a TV room with couches and 4 tables and chairs! All this was inside, out of the rain. The next day’s riding was through picturesque little villages on skinny roads. The score was 26 tunnels, 5 suspension bridges and 1 ferry. The longest tunnel was over 8 kilometers long. It went deep under a fjord and up the other side.

Bergen

Bergen Harbour

We parked for free in a motorcycle parking area in the centre of Bergen. The huge chain and lock from England gave us peace of mind. The other bikes were not protected as well as ours and would likely be stolen first! We started our visit of Norway's second largest city with a ride up the Floibanen Funicular where we enjoyed a panoramic view of the harbour in the fjord. The Bryggen Medieval Village was a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a reconstruction of the crowded wooden tenements that would have been occupied by fishing boat laborers almost a thousand years ago.

Crowded Tenements

Privileged Space

We ate lunch at the famous fish market on Bergen’s wharf. The Bergenhus Fortress Museum had excellent displays of Norway’s military history. There was an entire section devoted to WW2 resistance efforts. Many Norwegians lost their lives gathering and sending information about occupying German troops to British authorities. UN Peace Keeping campaigns were also featured. An enthusiastic and proud curator greeted us at the door. He eagerly described the layout of the exhibits. His professionalism and pride reminded us of Marty Lane’s dedication to the GGFG Regimental Museum back home.

The New Packing System, Light and Nimble (Metal top boxes are empty. They are used to store helmets)

Near Alesund

On the Road to Geiranger

The ride from Bergen took us half way to Geiranger. The route was very interesting. It ran over high mountain passes and through valleys with fast flowing rivers. The day’s score was 30, 2, 1 and the longest tunnel was 5 kilometers. Tunnels 21 and 22 were a little unnerving. They had tight turns, no lights and were under renovation. Our campsite was idyllic beside a flowing river in the late evening sunlight. We stayed an extra day in that beautiful spot while prepared the first blog posting.

Inspiration for Writing

A short ride brought us to Hjelle, Innvikfjorden campground. There was a tremendous view down the fjord from our tent. Paulius, a fellow moto-traveller, joined us setting up his tent near ours. We shared tea and our food while getting to know each other a little. Paulius is a Lithuanian who works in logistics (trucking) and has one child. His wife is expecting their second child in a few months. He let me try his Yamaha 660 Tenere.

Innvikfjorden 

We said goodbye to Paulius in the morning before he rode away. He was going in the same direction we were but he planned to stop in a different place that night.

Paulius

Geirangerfjord from Dalsnibba Mountain Plateau

Dalsnibba Mountain Plateau Lookout was fun to reach. Tight switchback turns reminded us a little of the roads we had ridden in South America. The big difference was the roads in Norway were beautifully paved and easy to ride. The lookdown view of Geirangerfjord took in the surrounding mountains as well as a cruise ship docked at the village of Geiranger. We had lunch in a quiet little restaurant I had read about. It too had spectacular look-down views into Geirangerfjord. The food was as excellent as the view was. We shared traditional waffles with strawberry jam and sour cream inside for desert.

View from the Restaurant

Geiranger Fjord Incongruity (Ship Surrounded by Mountains)

Geiranger Village

The afternoon’s ride took us along the famous “Trollsteigen” route. This iconic ride is on many riders’ European bucket lists. It really was a spectacular ride. We stopped countless times for photos. Stigfossen (falls) was unfortunately backlit by the time we got there so I was unable to bag a decent shot of it. We camped at Trollsteigen Resort, right beside Paulius again! That evening he and I chatted for a long time after Isabelle went to bed.

Herders' Huts in the Highlands

Trollstigen Route

Look Back from the Climb to Dalsnibba

Dalsnibba Greeter

Intersecting Glacial Valleys

Stigfossen (Falls)

Steig and Cecilia chatted with us at a picnic table over lunch the next day. Steig was born in Lofoten and had much good advice for us. The Lofoten Islands were the next big stop for us. The region laid several days ride north and required an expensive, 4 hour ferry to reach from the south. We enjoyed sunshine throughout that day.

On July 12^th we passed over the Arctic Circle. A stop at the “Arctic Circle Centre” was fun. We took photos and bought a sticker for the bike. The campground near Fauske had both panoramic and overlooking views of Skjerstadfjord. 

The ferry to the Lofoten Archipelago took four and a half hours and the crossing was smooth on the huge ship. We spent two wonderful days exploring the southern part of the islands. A hike overlooking the remote fishing village called Reine was made easier by the addition of stone steps. The Norwegian government had hired Nepalese Sherpas to construct a stone staircase up the steep slope. Impressive views of the village below were the reward for almost two hours of hiking to the top. It was worth every step.

Reine, Lofoten Islands

Reine

Harbour Detail

Far Off Village

Sherpa Staircase

My notes said one of the things to do on Lofoten’s islands was to try Stock fish Soup. It was our first meal after getting off the ferry and it was delicious. Everywhere on the islands were outdoor drying racks, some filled with hanging fish some empty. Fishing families went to Lofoten and gathered mostly codfish from the sea during the four moths of January until April. They processed then hung the fish on drying racks in the chilled air. The fish froze just enough to prevent them from spoiling. It slowly dried to become perfectly preserved without the use of salt. Birds left the drying fish alone, preferring fresh food.

Drying Stockfish (without salt)

Pick Me! Pick Me!

Lamp in Reine Restaurant

Throwing Entrails to the Birds

Ramberg Harbour

Low Tide Outside Ramberg Harbour

Midnight Bathroom Run in Ramberg

The Viking Museum was our last stop on Lofoten Archipelago. A huge longhouse had been constructed on a site where numerous Viking artefacts had been unearthed by a local farmer. Animators provided live demonstrations of Viking spinning, cooking and leatherwork.

Animator at Viking Museum: Leatherwork

Animator at Viking Museum: Spinning Thread

Animator at Viking Museum: Cooking

Who Let This Guy In?

We had visited Ushuaia, two years earlier in Argentinian Patagonia, the most southerly point reachable by road. The ride northward toward Nordkapp, the most northerly point reachable by road would become increasingly cold. Our window of opportunity to visit it on motorbikes was narrow. We had little time to lose.