hello dear friends
i spent today's rainy day in the bulli and once again devoted myself to describing the latest events, today you can read about my night at the north cape, new bulli challenges and the finnish north.
have lots of fun reading!
7/31/22 - 8/6/22
i wake up well rested in the parking lot on the road to the north, the reindeer from last night are still on the small peninsula and after a small porridge breakfast i make my way to honningsvåg, the last place before the next important destination of this trip, the north cape .
However, today is also the last day to get the project for the university ready and I'm trying for quite a while to reach Leander, who doesn't seem to have fully returned to work mode due to the weekend celebrations.
i finalize my part of the project in the shell gas station in the small town and then forward everything to him by e-mail, with the request to add his part and then finally send it off.
on my map i see that on the island on which the north cape is located, there is another small peninsula, the tip of which is about 1.5 km further north than the part used for tourism. there is also an approximately 8 km long hiking trail that leads to the last tip of this peninsula and i decide to hike there.
the way to the parking lot, from which the hiking trail starts, is quite steep and the bulli makes a wonderful figure, finally we reach the small asphalted square and i pack my backpack while i cook a large portion of rice.
around 8 p.m. i start running and the path turns out to be quite rocky, it goes about 250m downhill and finally i reach a wonderful little bay with a great view of the cliffs, you can just see the observatory on the rocks.
i walk to the tip of the peninsula and meet other reindeer and rabbits that feel very comfortable here among all the gulls.
for the sunset i found a cozy hollow in the rocks, which also protects me from the wind and i look at the increasingly reddish horizon, beyond which only the arctic will come, this is where europe ends. because it is such a beautiful, clear evening, i can also see many other fjords and peninsulas, which stretch their stony masses towards the calm atlantic to the south-west of here.
when around 23.30 the sun has set behind the horizon, i watch the gulls in fascination, how skilfully they use the thermals of the high rock faces to keep circling and ascending without flapping their wings, start high above me then towards the sea, probably for fishing. the hustle and bustle of these birds has something pleasantly calming about it and so i doze off for a moment, only to be woken up about half an hour later by the rising sun.
the way back turns out to be a bit more challenging, because now you have to climb the vertical meters back to the parking lot. but apart from two very steep episodes, it's a comfortable walk and i get back to the parking lot and bulli around 5.
now it's time to sleep comfortably and i'm only woken up from time to time by the noices in the parking lot when new people arrive or leave.
when it is around 5 p.m. i follow the winding road down the mountains to the campsite a few kilometers before honnigsvåg, because a friend of the family, olli, the partner of one of my mother’s colleagues, is also in the region and we have agreed to meet here .
he is also traveling alone, was in finland for a few days and wants to go to the north cape, then discover the north of sweden, before he takes the ferry back to germany.
but first i enjoy a wonderfully warm 6 minute shower and wash my dirty pots, then we crack open a beer and cook a good portion of gnocci, which we eat on the campsite, which unfortunately is completely foggy. we talk a lot about the roads in front of us and behind us, it finally gets a little too cold for us and we walk to the comfortably heated kitchen of the campsite for a small game of backgammon. after the second beer we go to sleep.
when i woke up, the coffee is almost ready and olli and i quickly enjoy a pot of porridge before he drives off in the direction of kapp and i follow the coastal road through the many tunnels, while a wonderful summer sun shines through the windows and i hear beautiful ones music, when a glance at the display of the bullis makes me a bit worried again. it seems as if the coolant is a bit too warm again.
so i drive to a parking lot next to a visitor center in olderfjörd and disassemble the bed to have a closer look at the engine compartment, maybe it's just a little thing...
Lo and behold, it's really just a tiny crack, but in the main hose of the cooling system, so I quickly google what to do in such a case, to patch the leak up to the next workshop about 60km away. a guide reveals that the torn area can be closed with superglue and then wrapped with stabilizing tape. unfortunately i don't have the right adhesive tape or superglue, so i go on the search and ask around in the parking lot and in the souvenir shop, where they actually found a small tube of glue in a drawer. in the parking lot, a motorcyclist from estonia hands me some tape and when everything is wrapped, i start the bulli to vent it again and everything seems to be sealed.
however, since this cannot be a long-term solution, i drive to the yard of a workshop in lakselv and repair the hose more professionally with the help of an employee, we insert a piece of plastic pipe and seal the hose transitions with metal hose clamps. here, too, it's time to release the trapped air again. after about an hour and I roll away, 150€ poorer, with the firm decision that this will be my last visit to the workshop for the time being.
the work seems to have paid off, because i can keep going south without any further problems, pass the finnish border and look for a nice place to sleep by a remote lake. Unfortunately, the way there leads through the forest on non-asphalted roads, but that's not the first time, I think to myself and drive self-confidently along the bumpy path until it suddenly gets quite muddy and I get stuck right behind a big stone.
Motivated, I go to work and collect sticks and shrubbery to give the tires the necessary grip again...
Unfortunately, even after 2 hours, there is no improvement in the situation in sight and the mosquitoes are biting me quite thoroughly. I realize that I won't be able to free the bulli on my own initiative, sleeping here is also an unthinkable alternative because of the bugs and so I collect biscuits, tobacco and a water bottle, from the chaos inside the van, and hike the forest path back to the street. it's slowly approaching 9 p.m. and i have little hope of finding anyone that weekday who will stop for me and help me pull out the bulli with his car, but i still want to try it, i feel uncomfortably helpless.
i walk and walk until after about 5 km i come across a kind of barn with a few cars and houses, and in the one window you can actually see two young people cooking.
at the door i tell them both about my misery and they are actually willing to help me out.
with the combined strength of the bulli and their old toyota, after a few attempts we succeed in doing what i couldn't do on my own and the bulli ends up back on the dry part of the forest path. extremely happy i say goodbye to both of them and drive back a bit to a wider part of the road and park. the hiking backpack is quickly packed with sleeping bag, insulating mat and mosquito net and i trudge on the forest path until i reach a wonderful lavuu.
it's a kind of wind shelter, with an eco toilet and a fireplace, just as i light the fire and cook my soup, the sun disappears on the horizon. i spend the evening, with a bottle of malbec, on the phone with maria.
somehow yesterday evening the whole bottle found its way into my cup and then into my mouth and i start this beautiful sunny day with a real hangover. the way back to the car isn't far and i leave the forest with squeaky tires, but drive only a few hundred meters to a rest area and get a good night's sleep here in the midday sun. I spend the rest of the afternoon organizing my next days, reading a lot and continuing to write the travel report. when the hangover subsides and just before i drive on i call peter, annika and marco, who finished their internship a few days ago and have arrived back in eberswalde, they are accordingly happy. i get to my camp for the night after about a two-hour drive south of a large reservoir, almost directly on the beach, but unfortunately it's already trickling here again and after a brisk round of pasta with pesto i went to bed quite early.
unfortunately the rain didn't stop the next morning either, so after waking up i had a long, leisurely breakfast in the bulli, before i thoroughly cleaned my cookware and drove the bulli in the direction of sodankylä around noon. this small town seemed to me to be a wonderful opportunity to fill up the tank again and also to buy more pasta and bread supplies.
at the last gas station before leaving the town i was able to use the wifi for a few hours and finished the last bolg entry and uploaded it. I also looked at a few hikes that I would like to do in the next few days, because I ordered a few spare parts for the bulli and dear ada will bring them to Finland at the beginning of next week, from where she will hopefully send them to me by post. it is now necessary to spend the next few days in the vicinity and therefore also to arrange things nicely.
since i didn't really feel like driving much further i looked for a relaxed place to sleep about 20km outside of town at a bend in the river. on the way there, however, the temperature display shows me an increase again and when i arrive at the small parking lot, i look directly at the engine again and see the continuing problem.
the plastic pipe used, pierced the hose from the inside and caused a new leak. annoying. it seems as if the hose has now finally reached the end of its life, probably understandable after more than 30 years, but not exactly suitable when you are in the finnish pampa and no suitable spare parts can be found nationwide. in the hope that the replacement will arrive at ada in time before she starts her trip, i cobble the hose back together by pushing the clamp a little further onto the hose and cutting off a small piece. then air-release again and lo and behold, it seems to be tight for now...
However, since this is absolutely not a solution that inspires confidence, I will drive back to Sodankylä tomorrow, for better or worse, and try to find something in the hardware store with which I can solve this problem at least for the next 200 km.
here in this small parking lot there is a fire pit and a kind of cozy log cabin style barbecue hut. the fire is on quickly and while i'm wondering whether all these problems were foreseeable, janni calls me. we chat for a nice while and he gets my mind off things, my optimism returns and after reading a few chapters, i snuggle up in the blankets and fall asleep.
I also prepare today's breakfast, including coffee, on the rekindled fire and then read for a while before I tidy everything up, get new firewood ready and head towards the city. my temporary repair seems to have been successful and i roll into the parking lot of the hardware store without any further problems. unfortunately, this one is not very well equipped and i end up with a couple of sewage pipes, which at least have the right diameter, with enough teflon tape, gaffa and believe that it will definitely work until the new hose reaches me. I also saw this sweetheart on one shelf and took it with me right away.
hoping i don't have to use the new equipment right away, i set off again and follow the country roads to luosto. this place is at the northern end of a national park that i plan to explore a bit. but first i talked to lena for a while and reported on my recent experiences. around 6 p.m. i started walking, through dense spruce forests and an impressive moor landscape, until i realized that unfortunately i hadn’t packed any water.
here in nature it's not really a problem anywhere, because there is always running water somewhere, but that was brackish moor water here, which I didn't just want to drink. when i reached a cozy rest hut, a small path led to a flowing stream. here i surprisingly found a small hunting knife with a leather sheath and then boiled the water over the fire before enjoying a cup of tea and a pack of instant noodles.
the further way led me out of the moor and through an impressive forest, until after a climb I finally reached an amethyst mine, which unfortunately had already closed due to the late hour, but definitely has to be quite a tourist magnet. at least they had a canister of drinking water here, standing on the terrace and i rested for a while in the setting sun, until i hiked back to the bulli and ended the day with a beer and an extended snack, happy about the new knife. after the sun has set in the shimmering red clouds, it gets dark, actually a normal nocturnal state, as i haven't experienced a satisfying darkness for several weeks.
i spend the whole of today's saturday in the parking lot on the edge of the national park, it's quiet here and i devote myself to various tasks that have been postponed for a long time. phone-calls, writing, tiding up and reading. it's also raining again and i enjoy the splashing of the drops on the roof of the van with the tailgate open. so the day continues with a little nap and before I know it it's evening again and I'm craving a portion of spaghetti. then I fall asleep.
thank you very much for taking the time to read, hugging you from afar and happily saying:
see you soon
love
pauli
previous posts of the scandinavia trip:
scandinavia 1 ger
scandinavia 1 eng
scandinavia 2 ger
scandinavia 2 eng
scandinavia 3 ger
scandinavia 3 eng
scandinavia 4 ger
scandinavia 4 eng