Viaggio in moto sino a raggiungere Nordkapp (Capo Nord) in Norvegia. Km percorsi circa 12.000 in 15 giorni. Il viaggio è stato pianificato a lungo prima della partenza e dopo aver stabilito il tabellino di marcia siamo partiti senza prenotare alcun albergo. Il nostro spirito era l'avventura e quindi abbiamo deciso di cercare un posto per dormire di volta in volta. Spesa totale a persona comprensiva di tutto (vitto, alloggio, souvenirs, carburante e autostrade) circa 2.500 euro.
We leave at 21:00 on June 29, 2007 from Pontremoli and arrive in Berlin at 18:00 the following day. A stage that is nothing short of exhausting but at the same time adventurous. It took us longer than we had planned, due to tiredness we stopped several times but in the end we reached our destination after covering 1226 km. In Berlin we stayed at the Holiday Inn Hotel located in the old East Berlin.
Visit to the most significant monuments of Berlin and then we head to Rostock to board for Denmark.
A very demanding stage that took us about 800 km through wonderful forests and lakes. In the evening we treated ourselves to a nice walk through the Swedish capital, finishing with a nice local beer.
A stage of about 640 km through the forests of Sweden. Wonderful and unspoiled landscapes. In the evening we slept at a campground, specifically Camping First, and we tried out the equipment we had brought along.
Sleeping in a tent at the campsite was truly difficult because of the light; in fact, being by now close to the Arctic Circle, it is practically always daylight. After vain attempts, at 4:00 in the morning we decide to set off again. Today's destination is Rovaniemi in Finland, Santa Claus's city, which rises exactly on the Arctic Circle in Lapland. Today's leg involves about 500 km of road. Around 4:00 pm we arrive at our destination; we are very tired, but the beauty of the landscape repays us for the effort. We visit the Santa Claus Village, where by chance we meet a young couple, Franco and Sabrina, originally from Monti di Licciana Nardi (MS), on their honeymoon aboard a CBR1000, and we immediately become friends with them. In the evening we treated ourselves to dinner in a very nice restaurant in the city centre. We tasted reindeer meat for the first time... very good...
may Santa Claus forgive us...
We leave Rovaniemi heading towards our new destination. We have crossed the Arctic Circle and are in the "Land of the Midnight Sun." Our goal is to get as close as possible to North Cape, but we have the bright idea of making a small detour of about 100 km to go to the border with Russia. Once we reach Ivalo, we turn right and set course for Virtaniemi. Caught up in the excitement, we do not realise that Virtaniemi is only a secondary military border crossing; in fact, after travelling about 50 km of unpaved road in the heart of the Lapland forest, we arrive at the border with Russia. We were warmly welcomed by the soldiers, complete with Kalashnikovs. Prudence advised us to "beat a retreat," to use military jargon, and get back on the road to Norway. We arrive at the hotel in Lakselv around 11:00 pm.
The day is very beautiful; we have a very hearty breakfast and then set off to visit Hammerfest, a city recommended to us by our friend BATTOLINI Gian Paolo, who had already made this trip some time before. Located at latitude 70° 39' 48" N, the small Norwegian town claims to be the northernmost city in the world, although the same title is claimed by two other settlements: Honningsvåg, also in Norway, and Barrow, in Alaska. The validity of these claims depends mainly on the definition of city one is willing to accept: Hammerfest is in fact the northernmost human settlement with more than 5,000 inhabitants in the world, as well as being the oldest settlement in northern Norway. (source Wikipedia) In the evening we reach Honningsvåg, check into the hotel, and after dinner we go to visit North Cape.
We are extremely excited; we are one step from our destination, about to fulfil every motorcyclist's dream.
We leave North Cape with melancholy in our hearts and head south towards the Lofoten Islands. We spend the night (so to speak) outdoors on the Balsfjord, where we manage to admire a beautiful midnight sun, something we had not managed the previous evening from the North Cape cliff due to the bad weather. On the morning of 8 July we arrive at Bjerkvik in the Lofoten Islands. We pitch the tent on a meadow and sleep for a few hours. In the afternoon we take the ferry that brings us back to the mainland; thus begins the slow return home, crossing the Arctic Circle once again.
9 JULY 2007 - Mo I Rana - Trondheim - 476 km
10 JULY 2007 - Trondheim - Oslo 493 km
The landscape is fantastic; however, these legs feel a bit monotonous to us... by now the landscape is always the same, with the fjords that never end and all seem alike.
11 - 12 JULY 2007 - Oslo (Norway) - Amsterdam (Netherlands) - 1350 km
We left Oslo at 7:00 in the morning on the 11th and drove until 10:30 the following day, when we arrived in Amsterdam. An exhausting leg that kept us going for 28 consecutive hours without being able to rest, all of it under an incredible downpour. In Amsterdam we decided to take two days to relax.
14 - 15 JULY 2007 - Amsterdam (Netherlands) - Pontremoli (Italy) - 1267 km
We arrived back in Pontremoli at 4:30 am on Sunday 15 July 2007, after travelling about 12,000 km and touching 11 countries in Europe.
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