On the 2nd of August 2003 at 6 a.m. I pushed the KTM out of the garage in Järpås, just outside Lidköping. Three months earlier I pushed my Africa Twin in to this garage after our African trip. I felt slightly out of shape when I started, but I was still determined to get as far north as possible today. The weather was gray and you could tell the rain wasn't far away. After a couple of miles I started freezing, but I had decided not to stop until it was time to refuel. The refuelling took place in Orsa, about 400 kilometers later. After I had filled the tank, I thought I'd enjoy my breakfast (which I had brought from home). Unfortunately I only managed to eat half of my sandwich before I felt the first rain drops. Bummer. Time to put that rain wear on! I use Gore-Tex clothing, but it takes a while for it to dry and I don't want to start the next day with wet clothes. Rain wear also helps a frozen man like me to keep warm. In a steady downpour I soon reached the planned destination for today, Östersund. I had now ridden about 700 kilometers, but everything felt good so I continued. Another 450 kilometers later I reached Arvidsjaur. I decided to look for a place to spend the night, but couldn't find one so I rode another 150 kilometers to Jokkmokk, just north of the arctic circle. Here I managed to find an excellent youth hostel and shortly after 9 p.m. I sat in the sauna and enjoyed life. It felt good not to have collided with any of the deer that run around on the roads up here. I must admit that all those kilometers on a heavily vibrating bike left both my hands and rear end aching. Click on the images to enlarge. I started day two by spending a couple of hours in "Àjtte", Jokkmokk's famous "Swedish Mountain and Sami museum", which was way too little time in this very interesting place. If you ever come to Jokkmokk, make sure to visit this museum. I continued my trip north towards Karesuando through the fantastic "Laponia". It's Lappland's world inheritance which covers a 9400 km2 area in the mountains of Norrbotten. The woods have been cultivated by nomad hunters and reindeer keepers for ages. Once in Karesuando I payed the tourist information centre a visit. I knew that "Treriksröset" (the place where the borders of Norway, Sweden and Finland meet) was somewhere nearby, so I went in to get some information. I was told that it was located 115 kilometers up north through Finland, and the last ferry was leaving in 45 minutes. I had only eaten breakfast at the time and was quite hungry, but the staff at the tourist information told me that there was a restaurant at Treriksröset, so I think it's safe to say that the KTM had to work quite hard for a while. 43 minutes later I arrived at the ferry in Kilpisjärvi. They were just about to leave, but when they saw me coming they were kind enough to wait. I parked the bike, brought my bag and stepped on the boat, a bit stressed up but still happy for making it there in time. After a 45 minute boat trip we approached Koltaluoka, which by the way is an old sami camp. I asked the captain where the restaurant was and when the ferry would head back to mainland. - Restaurant? There's no such thing here, and the boat will return tomorrow morning, the captain answered. Ok, I must have misunderstood the staff at the tourist information centre in Karesuando. Now I was facing a night in the open, and the tent was one of the things I had decided not to bring in order to travel as light as possible. Sleeping outside wasn't too much of a problem, but I was rather hungry. Anyway, I started walking the three kilometers to the famous "Treriksröset", the norternmost place in Sweden. This is where the Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish borders meet, and it's marked with a mound of stones. Not much to see really, but still fun to have been there. I now started preparing for the night and hung my mosquito net from a tree and rolled out my sleeping mat and the sleeping bag in the grass. I went down to the lake to try and satisfy my hunger with some water. Fairly satisfied I went to bed under the tree and admired the stars for a while before falling asleep. I slept surprisingly well throughout the night. At about nine in the morning I reached the harbour where I was going to meet the boat, but there was no boat there. It turned out that it would take a while before it came. By lunch time my patience had run out and after a couple of phone calls i got hold of the number to the harbour in Kilpisjärvi to hear what they were up to. They informed me that the boat broke down that morning and that they would come as soon as they could. At about three in the afternoon a happy Finn came by in a small motor-boat. He laughed and asked if I really had been over on the island without both food and tent. The captain from yesterday had apparently spread the word. Well, what could I say? Click on the images to enlarge. Pretty soon I was back in Kilpisjärvi and to my relief I found the bike where I parked it the day before. I headed for the nearest gas station and bought a couple of sandwiches. Very tasty! After me and the bike had both been refuelled, we set course for "Alta" in the north of Norway, a trip of about 320 kilometers. The road leading there was fantastically beautiful and I had to stop time and again to admire the view. This is a road that I warmly recommend to all bikers, and people in cars too for that matter. When I reached Alta I found a youth hostel and shared a room with a couple of older guys. I asked them if any of them snored, but no, they certainly did not. Sure enough, a while later I woke up as one of them was doing his best to wake up everyone north of the polar circle with his snoring. I was "slightly" irritated as I usually get when people snore when I try to sleep. I went up and gave the guy a gentle kick. He woke up and wondered what I was doing. - You're snoring, I said. - What, me? Nah, I don't snore. - Oh, sure. You think I get up in the middle of the night and kick old guys just because I think it's fun, I wondered. I tried to sleep a couple of hours but gave up at 5 o'clock in the morning and headed for North Cape. It was 230 winding kilometers with lots of reindeer. I only met a couple of cars in the whole distance, so I could drive like I wanted. The last few kilometers were incredibly beautiful, and once in North Cape I realized why so many people talk about it. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. I was lucky - the sky was clear blue and the sight was perfect. The area is otherwise known to be misty and rainy. I rode the bike all the way to the edge (where only pedestrians are allowed) and took some photos. It only took a couple of minutes before the attendants showed up, but that was ok, I had alreay taken the photos I wanted. All that was left now was the trip home through Norway and Finland, Silja Line's ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm and then another 350 kilometers to my own bed. But first I visited a friend in Överkalix and we went to Jyväskylä in Finland and watched the Finnish Rally. We ate an incredibly tasty moose fillet and rounded the evening off with a sauna and some cold Lapin Kultas (great beer). Life has its great moments! Click on the images to enlarge. The total distance travelled was about 6000 kilometers. Johan