17 - 20 July : Helsinki - Nordkapp

17 July
Up Early(ish), Our Chinese companions cooked breakfast - "grain" porridge, was pretty good. After that we all rode together to Bike Team for our 10;00 appointments. Our new companion on the R1200GSA needed to have his wheels balanced as he'd had new tyres fitted in Russia and they didn't feel good. Cost him about €68. Our oil changes weren't cheap, about €180 each and Scott's tyres were €385.  Next oil change will be in Germany at Michi's.  After about 3 hours we were ready to move on.
We returned to camp, went shopping for lunch and dinner. I also got some socks as my boots weren't as comfortable as I'd expected. Tonight I'm cooking - Fajitas Whoop!
But first take a short trip into Helsinki.  We all travelled into the City centre together, Us and Wan and Jan. We had a bit of a walk around the town square and the fish markets (closed), then back to camp for Fajitas and Chinese Hot-pot accompanied by plenty of the amber nectar.

Fish market (closed)

Not a numberplate you see everyday!

18 July
Up around 06:00, breakie then broke camp, Left around 09:00.
First we rode East - direction Russia (or is it the USSR?) Then turned North just before the border for fuel. At the fuel stop, we were bailed up by a Finnish fuel-delivery-driver. A very excitable guy who wanted to know who we were, where were heading, what we were doing and he wanted to give us some advice on what to see. His english was pretty good and he gave us some diamond advice and, despite taking us off our chosen route, we did check out the sights he recommended.
Following the Truck-driver's directions we found ourselves on a small, windy, single road running along a lake - Beautiful. Also, on his itinerary we got to see the largest, wooden church (Kerimäki) IN THE WORLD! Awesome stuff!  Our companions weren't really interested in Churches but not everything is for everyone, right?
Then it was back to the 6 and North to Kajaani. The first camp we wanted to check into failed, it was now a golf course. So, off to the second at Ristjärvi. Tomorrow we would have about 1000km + to reach Nordkapp.
Wan thought he had a problem with his bike, R1200GSA. We had an impromptu stop at the side of the road, an insect had found it's way into my sleeve and I had to stop in a hurry, get off the bike, strip, I'm sure the others thought I'd lost my mind. Taking advantage of the stop Wan got me to test-ride his bike, he thought there might be a problem with the shaft or final-drive. I test rode, no problem.  I really think the problem was the tyres, some tyres change as thew wear-in and the vibration changes, I guess that's what he was noticing. But with reassurance, he was happy.  In the evening we cooked together and hit the sack.

Quick stop

Largest Wooden church in the world

Santa's secret

Sunset, or was it sunrise?

19 July
Up early, and left Ristjärvi around 08:40, was a good riding day about 1006 km.  Lots of breaks today, every 2-3 hours. Lunch was at a servo - Finnish buffet for all.
Riding over the border Finland/Norway we noticed a dramatic change in the landscape,  infrastructure and almost immediately the temperature dropped. We had been having days up to 41°. Unfortunately, only the right heated grip worked on my bike, a very strange feeling. So my left thumb froze, especially with the 4 tunnels we were to travel through. We also came across plenty or reindeer.
Just before entering the last tunnel, we all stopped and donned our rain gear - it was that cold. The tunnel was about 7km but with about a 9% gradient both down and back up, but we all had fun. We arrived at the Camp - Nordkapp at around midnight, set-up our camp, cooked Hot-pot, had some beers then bed.






20 July
Up around 10:00. Showered and then Breakie courtesy Scott then...
MOZZIES everywhere. It was either windy or the mozzies, you couldn't win.
Rode to Nordkapp with Scott and Wan. We had a coffee and then checked out the Nordkapp. Got some photos, saw the museum, stickers, patches and lunch.
Then return to camp, but first Petrol in preparation for tomorrow's ride.
I also to change some old notes I had on me, unfortunately the bank was closed and I had about 300Kr that weren't accepted anymore...Bugger.
Back to camp, We washed the bikes and had a good look-over to make sure everything looked good and there were no obvious problems. Oil, grease, tyre pressure, plan our route from Nordkapp - Gibraltar with Scott, maps and GPS.
Scott was a bit nervous about the ride tomorrow, I am confident.

I had a bit of a chat with the campsite manager and was able to change my money, apparently just that day they'd received an email from the bank of Norway saying that the notes were still legal tender, whoop!
Cooked dinner with the guys and we'll have a sleep-in tomorrow...

A walk around Nordkapp, Could not believe the weather

A Thai temple at Nordkapp?

Bit of history