The start in Norway - From the North Cape to Kautokeino

After the ferry ride from Frederikshavn to Oslo, I finally arrived in Norway and spent another half day in the capital before my flight to Alta to the far north.

I arrived late in the evening and originally wanted to take the first bus directly to the North Cape in the morning.

What I didn't know was that the airport closes at night and I had to get out. So I spent the first night in my sleeping bag on a bench in front of the door, which was actually quite bearable. But the nights after that in the tent should be more restful.

However, my gas cartridge, which I had ordered online earlier, did not arrive until the following morning, so I missed the only bus of the day, but eventually hitchhiked to my destination.

A traveler gave me a ride for the over 300 km and we talked the whole way.

Arrived at the North Cape, the weather had moved a bit and the visibility was quite limited. In addition, a freezing wind went, which took away any body heat within a very short time. After a few photos, I quickly went on my way to escape the wind. Already in the evening of the same day it got much better.

I set up my first night's camp just before the Nordkaptunnel. I had to get used to the fact that it didn't get dark at night for a while. The first two days were still polar days, on which the sun doesn't set at all.

Early in the morning the following day I passed the Nordkaptunnel. The tunnel, about 6 km long, runs under the sea and is the only connection to the mainland. While walking in the tunnel was not so bad, since there was at least a sidewalk, the car noise was very challenging. Even though there wasn't much traffic, every vehicle announced itself quite a while before and then roared past me getting louder and louder. Buses in particular were so deafeningly loud that you could think a jet was taking off next to you.

Then the path led directly into the wild nature and from here the markings, on which one was now dependent, became rare, the paths swampy and the terrain clearly more difficult to walk on. I realized very quickly that my pace here would be completely different than in recent weeks and I would therefore also have to ration the food well.

The landscape shortly after the tunnel

But the landscape made up for all that by shining with beautiful panoramas and colors.

The next day started with an approximately two-hour part over a very windy and exposed hill range. I froze throughout and hoped with every top of a hill that it would now go downhill, but unfortunately it did not for a very long time. Also my batteries did not like the cold wind and so the camera and GoPro were completely empty within a few minutes in the morning. My cell phone was fortunately spared.

In the course of the day, the sun came out and it was quickly warm.

I met very few hikers overall on the trail, on one day no one at all.

Even a few days before I reached Masi, the first place that had a small supermarket, my anticipation was growing.

One day I got lost in the swamps for almost an hour because there were no more markings and the drawing of the paths on the maps did not match the actual paths. So I walked cross-country by compass in the hope that I would cross the path again at some point. Instead of that I saw after a while a fence on a hill and suspected from a distance markings there. Hoping for the best, I walked in this direction and then actually found the way again.

Wet feet are the order of the day

About two days before I reached Masi, a plague of mosquitoes began to drive me forward. For every time I stopped, hundreds of mosquitoes pounced on me.

And then, after seven days, I finally got to the first supermarket. It is an indescribable feeling and suddenly everything else becomes unimportant. All that counts is shelter, warmth, health, water and food. Everything else is suddenly luxury and you are happy like a little child about things like a dry tent in the morning, sun rays, a warm shower or clean clothes.

Overjoyed, I bought food for the next two days, which I would still need to Kautokeino, and even found an outlet to charge my powerbank a little.

In the morning there was such a dense fog on the hill that I could hardly see the markings and almost lost the way. After about two hours, however, it cleared up and the sun came out. In the afternoon, I then accidentally followed a wrong path and went about 5 km in the wrong direction on a mountain, but it was also very beautiful and offered a wonderful view and so the detour was not quite so bad.

Night camp just before Kautokeino

And then the next morning I reached Kautokeino and plundered first of all the supermarket, before I showed up at the campground, where the somewhat puzzled owner already let me in, although it was only ten o'clock in the morning.

While I then lay in the tent and relaxed pretty much the whole day in continuous rain, I planned the stages for the upcoming time. Because a quick run to a supermarket would be something that should be no possibility for the next couple of weeks.