After seeing warning signs for reindeer all through northern Finland, the first warning sign I saw in Norway was for . . . sheep.

I was surprised, and a little disappointed, by the scenery of northern Norway. It seemed a bit too verdant, too manicured. I was expecting something more 'arctic'; I didn't expect to find people growing potatoes in their back yard or farmers producing haylage.

I had my satnav set to allow unpaved roads, but soon switched that option off as it was sending me off down all sorts of tracks, and riding standing up on the pegs was almost impossible with the tank bag I have (that'll teach me to get BMW original luggage 😒).

Nothing much of note along the way, apart from ever-more attractive rivers. Wish I had my salmon gear with me!

And the first signs of Slartibartfast's handiwork - fjords! Nothing too spectacular, but quite a change from Finland, which gives the impression of being almost as flat as the Netherlands :-P.

Finally stopped for the night at a campsite at Stabbursdalen, complete with its own stretch of river. Day permits were "only" NOK 600, but you would really have to wade to fish effectively and needless to say I was not carrying my waders with me.

Managed to get my tent up and everything sorted in only 15 minutes or so (glad I practiced with the new tent before I set off) and crashed out early.

Sunday morning, and off to Nordkapp, bright and early. Almost no one else on the road - OK, so it was about 7 a.m. when I set off.

The scenery was still surprisingly "soft", but that changes as you exit the tunnel on to "Nordkapp island" - suddenly, it looks like the Arctic, and a howling gale adds to the impression. Suddenly, it is cold.

What a road! Twists and turns, endlessly. This is the best road up to this point.

Thanks to warnings from people on the Adventure Bike Rider forum, I asked for the "cheap" ticket (no film, no exhibition), which is not mentioned by the lass in the ticket booth. "Only" NOK 180, instead of NOK 260 for the full price ticket.

And I was lucky with the timing. There were only a handful of people there when I arrived, so I managed to get a relatively uncluttered selfie with the globe. But 15 minutes later it was mobbed.

Was it worth it? Not sure how you quantify that. Would I have been happier if I had spent the time and money on a fishing trip? Maybe, but Nordkapp would still be there, unfinished business. So, maybe a bit of an anticlimax, but I guess that is almost inevitable.

So, I'm heading south now for the first time since getting off the ferry at IJmuiden nearly a week ago. Many long miles ahead.

I decided to put a dent in those miles and pressed on to Alta, about 300 km down the road. Actually, I had planned to stop earlier but just couldn't find a campsite. Norway is funny - long tracts seem to be devoid of any facilities or services for tourists, yet at least half of the cars and camper vans had foreign plates. Where do these people sleep, eat?