Northernmost road in the world

(Photos of the diary entry can be found at the end of the text).

Click here for the podcasts!




Link to the current itinerary

(For more posts click on one of the flags in the map)

I put the gear reduction in because of the large stones lying around here and the damp, soft ground. I drive up the Terra to the road at walking pace. To make sure we don’t touch down with the differential locks, Tanja stands outside to show me exactly how to drive the Terra through the terrain. “Stooop!” rattles through the walkie talkie’s small loudspeaker. “More to the right. Yes, that’s good. Now go on very slowly. That’s good. We’re over it.” Back on the E6, we continue north. As the road bends sharply to the south, the unusual cloud formation disappears for a brief moment in the wing mirror. “I hope we’ve outrun the storm.” “I hope so too, although it’s getting pretty dark ahead of us,” replies Tanja. “In Norway, the weather changes from valley to valley, from fjord to fjord. Who knows, maybe the North Cape will welcome us with sunshine,” I reply, steering through one of the many tunnels again. We are now on the large Porsanger peninsula, which has little traffic and is bordered by the Altafjord to the west and the Porsangerfjord to the east. “This way to Hammerfest,” says Tanja, pointing to a road sign. “Long considered the northernmost city in the world.” “Is it no longer?” “The towns or settlements of Honningsvåg, Longyearbyen and Spitsbergen are even further north. Nevertheless, Hammerfest continues to advertise itself as the northernmost city in the world to attract tourists. I don’t know if that’s true, but I read it yesterday while planning the route,” I reply. We leave Hammerfest on the left and meet the E69 20 kilometers further on. With a length of 123 km, it is the northernmost artery in the world with a connection to an international road network. Five tunnels with a total length of 15.5 km lie ahead of us before we reach the North Cape. For some time now, the landscape has given way to a rough, lichen-covered, largely treeless plateau. The water surface of numerous small lakes reflects the diminishing daylight. “There are reindeer!” Tanja’s call startles me. We immediately stop to watch the friendly but shy animals, which seem to be feeding happily by the roadside. “Oh, how cute they are. And what big antlers they’re wearing,” says Tanja happily, while I try to immortalize them with the camera. As we slowly drive on, they run across the black asphalt, jump over the crash barrier and hurry across the still green meadow to the shore of the North Sea. Suddenly the plateau is replaced by rocks and mountains. It looks as if a troll has painted dark stripes and blobs into the green, which is turning gray as winter approaches. To our right is the 123-kilometer-long Porsangerfjord. It is the longest fjord in northern Norway and the fourth longest fjord in Norway.

Since we left the E6 behind us, the road is mostly single-lane. “Damn tight here,” I say, concentrating hard so as not to sink the Terra Love into the adjacent North Sea on the winding coastal road. “We should look for a place to spend the night,” Tanja suggests, because the twilight is increasingly soaking up the brightness of the day and we would like to enjoy the drive along the picturesque and impressive coastal road in daylight. Only a few minutes pass when we find a place to spend the night by a rushing mountain stream just 100 km from the North Cape…