Rescheduled due to predicted snowfall

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

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“The man seems to be interested in our Terra,” I say, pointing out of the window. “Yes, he’s taking photos of us,” Tanja confirms, now also looking outside. “I’ll go outside. Maybe I can help him,” I say, take another sip of tea and leave the Terra. “That’s a great vehicle you’ve got there. Is that a four-wheel drive?” the man asks in a friendly manner. “Yes, you can go almost anywhere with it,” I reply. “Too bad there’s no Daily 4×4 in Norway.” “What? That can’t be.” “Yes, we can only buy the normal Daily, but not a 4×4. As we have a lot of snow and ice, that would be just the right commercial vehicle for me as a tradesman.” “Would you like to take a look inside?” “Oh, I’d love to. That’s really nice of you,” he says happily. An hour and a half later, the Norwegian says goodbye to us. “If you want to go to the North Cape, you should hurry. It’s going to snow soon. Take care of yourself.” “Let’s do it.” “I wish you a safe journey at all times,” he calls, gets into his van and speeds off.

We also pack up, check as usual that all the hatches and windows are closed and drive back over the bridge to Sortland, a town where the inhabitants live mainly from fishing and processing the fish. “It was crazy how it lit up last night,” Tanja is still thrilled. “A fantastic combination of artificial lighting and aurora. In terms of the Northern Lights, yesterday evening was definitely the highlight of our trip.” “And only because we arrived too late.” “Too late for refueling and yet at exactly the right time for the natural spectacle,” I say. A few kilometers further on we reach the LPG filling station. “Where else are they going at this time of year?” the gas station attendant asks. “We’re on our way to the island of Senja and the North Cape,” I reply. “North Cape? You’d better hurry. The weather forecast has announced snow. I hope you have snow chains with you?” “We don’t, but our vehicle is a four-wheeler. It should be able to cope with the winter.” “If it’s really snowing, it’s not easy to make progress even with chains. It depends on how the snow clearing services get through. Whether they have four-wheel drive or not, they’d better hurry,” he advises us.

“I think the gas station attendant knows what he’s talking about,” says Tanja as we leave the gas station. “Maybe he’s just panicking a bit,” I reply. “I don’t know. What do you think about going straight to the North Cape and only visiting the island of Senja on the way back?” “You mean we should go straight from here to the Cape?” “Why not?” “Hm, the handyman this morning also talked about the coming winter. Maybe you’re right. As we’ve learned in recent years, there are no coincidences and sometimes it makes sense to listen to the locals. I’ll check how far it is to the North Cape in a minute,” I say, typing the data into the sat nav. “Okay, only 856 km to go. According to the sat nav, we’ll be there in 12 hours. If everything goes smoothly, we’ll reach the North Cape the day after tomorrow evening.” “North Cape here we come!” shouts Tanja, to which Ajaci howls like a wolf. “Ha, ha, ha. Apparently he can’t wait to reach the northernmost point in Europe by road,” I say. “Just like his master, he’s a real adventurer,” Tanja replies with a grin. Once again we cross the Sortland Bridge and leave Langøya, Norway’s third largest island…