Ducks Fly Over Nordland

A Duck Trip to Arctic Europe

In 1993, we had an excellent excuse for a trip to Nordkapp, the northernmost point of Europe. The 10th World Meeting of 2CV friends was held in Nurmes in eastern Finland. After making 3500 kilometers to get to Nurmes, another 1200 to reach Nordkapp was a piece of cake. The overall length of the trip was enormous, much more than we expected. We planned to do around 9000 kilometers but we ended up with more than 12000. Those arctic regions are simply wonderful; we felt an irresistible urge to just drive wherever we possibly could imagine.

The first part from our home to Stockholm was nothing special. Getting there in the shortest possible time was the only goal. The real fun started on the ferry from Stockholm to Turku in Finland. It was an overnight sailing and we naturally overslept in the morning. When we woke up, there were no guests around, only the staff were cleaning the ship's cabins. So we rushed to the lower deck. All the others were already sitting in their cars with engines started. Quickly! Get in! Start the engine! DRIVE! Finland, here we come. The nice and polite border officers welcomed us. I guess they were getting a bit tired of all these 2CVs.

Turku was our first meeting point. In a sports park close to the town, we found a gathering point. The place was packed with friends, even those that we have never met before. A funny episode happened: a Slovenian guy approached us as soon as I stopped the car and greeted kindly (in Slovenian): "Hey, what's up? How was your trip?" But after a few days abroad, not talking much with other persons, just driving, and with the guy being from the other part of our country and speaking different accent, his welcome sounded very foreign to me, so I asked him back (in English): "Excuse me, I don't understand. Do you speak English?" The guy got very confused and stepped around the car to see the license plate. To an even larger confusion, it was a Slovenian license plate. After a while, the misunderstanding was clarified.

Most of the duckers joined the organized Raid towards Nurmes. The Raid was very attractive, covering some of the best spots in the Finnish Lake District and also a place named Pistohiekka, where the 1st World Meeting of 2CVers took place back in 1975. But we did not participate in Raid. We went to Helsinki instead and then to the north towards Lahti and the Lake District.

Besides a lot of rain that was constantly trading places with sunshine, the Lake District also gave us some unforgettable scenes of true wild nature. Some of the best spots in my opinion were a beautiful Punkaharju ridge between two lakes and a famous hill Koli. The ridge at Punkaharju (picture!) is several kilometers long and the water in the lakes is excellent for swimming. Koli on the other hand is one of the rare hills in the Lake District. The area is quite flat and if you are just driving around through forests and around lakes, you do not get a feel how the area really looks like. But from a hill like Koli you can see clearly that there is probably more water than dry land. Koli was a sacred place way back in the old days and the views from the top were excellent. Another highly recommendable attraction here was the lovely town named Savonlinna.

After a few great and wet days in the Lake District, we finally arrived to Nurmes. The 2CV gang at its best! We found the Slovenian friends - their tents were neatly grouped together to form a camp inside a camp. Besides drinking all night, singing and messing around, the Slovenians had a task to complete. As the organizers of the next world meeting in 1995, we had to convince as many 2CVers as possible to attend our meeting. This was not an easy job. Like the majority of Europeans, many 2CVers were not exactly familiar with what Slovenia was after proclaiming independence in 1991. A lot of people were firmly convinced that we had a civil war going on there and they decided accordingly not to come to our meeting. "Are you nuts, I'm not coming to your meeting!" - "Why not?" - "Why not?! There's a war going on!" - "Now where did you hear that?" - "It's on the TV every evening! Yesterday Sarajevo was bombed!" - "Sarajevo is two countries away from Slovenia." - "Oh yeah? Then what's in between?" - "Croatia." - "I knew it! I knew it! I also heard yesterday that Croatian parts were attacked!" - "I am trying to tell you patiently that we live in a different country. There are borders between all these countries and you need a passport to cross the borders. And it is safe in Slovenia. No war going on, nothing like that. People are dying because of ordinary reasons like car accidents and cancer." - "Oh yeah? Tell me then which side are you on? For Serbs or for Croats?" After having a couple of similar conversations, I somehow lost my enthusiasm about further explanations.

Of course, we did not have to go that far to deal with such problems. It happened to me also in Austria, which is our neighbouring country. On a computer fair in Vienna, my colleagues were asking questions about some equipment and obviously were giving buying signals. So the presenter asked us: "Which country did you say you were coming from?" - "We are from Slovenia." - "Oh... oh. That might be a bit of a problem. You see, I am not sure whether we are allowed to sell this equipment to war zone." One nasty thought came to my mind about the man and his knowledge, but of course, I didn't say it loud. Instead, a friend just explained nicely and politely to the man that his opinion was slightly wrong.

But let's not get too political here and let's leave the problems that the small and insignificant are facing. To go back to the Nurmes meeting, I hope that the Slovenian gang made a good impression on everyone. We were trying hard not to be unnoticed. I think we've made it. We had a very well accepted presentation of ourselves as the next organizer, in tug-of-war competition the grand finale match was between the two Slovenian teams (this picture shows the winning team), some other guys have also won some of the weird games and on the final night, there was a jam session on the stage with two of our guys playing guitar and bass.

After the meeting, the real adventure started. Next day, we reached Rovaniemi and the arctic circle. The land began to turn into a desolate tundra and the reindeers were a common sight. I have a great passion for such barren wastes. To me, that kind of landscape is beautiful. Lapland is totally unspoilt and very sparsely populated. It is one of the few remaining true wilderness areas in Europe. We met a lot of natives, the Sami people. I had this strange impression all the time that we were treated like: "Look, there are two more of these stupid tourists, let's sell them a few reindeer skins and horns and this will make them go away." I think it's not very pleasant if all you want to do is to live your life in your own way but are constantly being bothered and photographed by people from far away who come by in fancy cars, wear sunglasses and complain about the mosquitoes. So I guess Samis are right.

The next stop was the Inari Lake, one of the largest Finnish lakes. It is quite lonely up north, far away from the Lake District. It is unforgettable if you spend a night here and watch the sun at midnight and it is unforgettable because of all the mosquitoes (see, I'm already complaining). The more friendly creatures are hundreds of reindeers. They roam the roads freely so you need to drive carefully in order not to hit one. A crash with a reindeer might also be fatal to the driver and passengers. They are walking on high legs and their body comes right into the windshield; their weight is probably enough to squeeze you. At Inari, we were thinking very seriously not to stick to a planned route and to turn towards Kirkenes at the far northeast of Norway. But then we changed our minds and went towards Utsjoki instead. After a hundred kilometers of driving next to the Norway border, following the Tenojoki river, we entered Norway at Karigasniemi.

The big discovery was that Norway didn't seem to be as flat as Finland. In Finland, every hill seen was a celebration, except for the northern Lapland where a few snow-capped peaks could be noticed. But Norway..., shortly after crossing the border, the two cylinders of our Dyane really got a chance to warm up in order to climb to about 700 meters above the sea. That was nothing compared to what followed. Several thousand kilometers of constant climbing up to nearly 1000 meters and dropping down towards the fjords. But before that, the Nordkapp. On that day, we saw the sea for the first time after leaving Helsinki. It was a totally different sea. The Arctic Ocean, clear as a mirror and cold as ice. People say it is suitable for swimming after a few consecutive days of sunshine. I didn't get this impression.

On our way towards Nordkapp, shortly before we embarked the ferry to the Mageroya Island, we met a guy from Germany, who was just returning from Nordkapp. We were driving a duck and he was riding a bicycle. It's a long way from Germany to Nordkapp and back, especially with a bicycle. The guy was twenty years old, just finished high school and the military service. Before going to university, there was enough time to afford an adventure. Since immediatelly after our return back home I had to do the military service as well, we had something to talk about. The guy admitted that he was not planning to cycle all the way to Germany, just to the first train station. A relief? Not really, the trains do not go far to the north. There was still a lot of cycling to be done. Because I used to ride a bicycle a lot in the past I had a lot of understanding for him and a part of me secretly wished to be in his shoes. I still think this might be an excellent vacation and I hope to do it someday.

The ferry trip to the Mageroya island was pure magic. The place seemed like the end of the world. There were tiny isles reaching out of the sea with virtually no vegetation. And up ahead in the distance, the houses of Honningsvag were waiting. Honningsvag is a surprise: it looks like a town, not just a few houses spread around. In central Europe, it would probably be nothing special, but here, in the end of the world... We even noticed an American Car Club in the town. We just stopped for a short time to take a look at the town and then continued towards our destination. After a long climb to a higher elevation, we could see the shape of Mageroya. It's a big plateau with steep shores that drop vertically into the sea. That's how Nordkapp looks like. A vertical drop from more than 300 meters down to zero. Quite appropriate for the end of the world.

When we finally got there, we were amazed by the midnight sun in the direction towards the North Pole and we were a bit dissappointed because the place was really crowded. More than 200.000 people come to Nordkapp yearly. Many of them just to reach the northernmost point of Europe and some of them probably also for the place and the nature itself. They come with comfortable campers and those not willing to drive come with comfortable buses. Even though we didn't exactly come here with a bicycle, we felt that we were a bit different from all this crowd. And I did wish to be able to be here alone. A good chance might be a winter 2CV trip to the Nordkapp, organized each year. This also is an event that I hope to be a part of it someday.

After seeing some breathtaking vistas there, visiting some interesting events (like a movie of the Nordkapp throughout the four seasons) and avoiding some tourist traps, we were ready to hit the road towards Hammerfest. Hammerfest holds the title of being the northernmost town in the world. It is high above the arctic circle but the temperatures throughout the year are far from unpleasant. The Gulf stream is keeping the northern Norway unusually warm for this geographical position. Other regions that far north (like Greenland, Northwest Territorries, Alaska, Siberia) have killing weather conditions in winter. Of course, the influence of the Gulf stream can only be seen at the shore. A few kilometers inland, where the elevation also increases, the winter temperatures can be extremely low.

Hammerfest gives an impression of a real town, including a pedestrian zone, a fountain, an open air market and some other attributes. The traffic can even get congested occasionally. But it is quite a surprise if you take a look at the landscape surrounding the town. It's a desolate land with only the toughest vegetation that can survive here. It's a big contrast to a lively town.

After Hammerfest, we drove without stopping much all the way to the Lofoten islands. Once on the islands, the travelling is easy. They are connected with bridges and there is an underwater tunnel to the final one. The Lofoten seemed like a little paradise. The nature was beautiful, the mountains glorious and the sandy beaches inviting so I could easily forget about the cold water. The sheep with their peaceful face expressions gave their contribution to this overall happy atmosphere. This picture shows how summer nights on Lofoten look like and the next one shows a beautiful village of Henningvaer.

On our way to Lofoten, an interesting scene happened. We stopped by the road to have lunch. We noticed the two men already occupying their table and greeted them. After a while, they approached us and asked politely to borrow our spoons. "We forgot ours at home," they explained. A chat developed in a short time and we found out that they were from Karlstad in Sweden and that they were a catholic bishop and his assistant. Even though we've never been very religious, the bishop offered to give us a blessing to return safely back home and live a happy life. We did get back home in one piece and we do have a happy life, so if the blessing had anything to do with it, I thank again to both of them. We promised to send a letter once we're back home but we unfortunately lost their address before even getting back home. So if somebody from Karlstad in Sweden is ever reading these lines and if you happen to know a catholic bishop named Thomas Augustsson (I don't think there's more than one in Karlstad), please let him know about this: we might get in contact again.

One of the most unusual sights that I've seen was the Torghatten. This is a mountain with an enormous hole punched through it. The hole is clearly visible from a distance and it is very much different from the similar holes that we can see here in the Alps. Our holes are usually close to the mountain top and have been formed by a large rock that fell over a small saddle. But here, the hole runs straight through the middle of the mountain, like it really was punched into it. Of course, the locals have their own explanation of it: the giant trolls are responsible for it. The mountain really is a hat of a giant that was run through by an arrow (the hat, not the giant) an then turned to stone. Reasonable explanation, wouldn't you say?

We spent a night at the base and walked to the hole in the morning. We took a walk through the hole to the other side of the mountain and there was a breathtaking view across small islands towards the open sea. In order not to wake up any sleeping giants, we decided to rush down south towards Trondheim. The arctic circle was far behind at that point, although it was only a few days ago that we departed from the Lofoten.

The final part of the trip was perhaps the best. The landscape in southern Norway was not exactly as unique as the desolate arctic tundra, but we were driving among fabulous mountains, glaciers, rivers with gigantic waterfalls and cold lakes. It's too much to name all the names of the places here, but the Trollstigen needs to be mentioned. A beautiful climb from the valley uphill to the plateau and then down again.

Southern part of the country has some of the largest and most spectacular fjords. A look into the Geiranger fjord was well worth driving all those bends and ups and downs. Geiranger fjord is one of the major attractions here and it gets an enormous attention of tourists. It is a final part of a long sequence of fjords. If you take a boat trip into the fjord, you will be able to stare into the vertical walls that rise out of the sea and also see some magnificent waterfalls like the Seven Sisters.

After Geiranger, we drove to Briksdal at the end of a marvellous valley. At this spot, two things caught our attention. First, a lot of beautiful horses and second, a view towards the Jostedalsbreen, an enormous glacier.

After crossing the mighty Sognefjord, we continued our trip to the south, towards Stavanger and then to Oslo. We were more and more depressed but not because of the surrounding which was beautiful but because our vacation was coming to an inevitable end.

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