All the way to Nordkapp

07/09/2025

I apologise in advance for the rant below. Feel free to skip the first section if pedantry is not for you. There is some more positive content further down the page.

The most northerly point in Europe?

Nordkapp is a well known destination for road-trippers to Norway. It is widely thought of as being the most northerly point in Norway, but it really made me feel pedantic. It’s not the most northerly point in Norway, not even the most northerly point in mainland Norway, that accolade goes to a spot on the Nordkinn peninsula called Kinarodden. Nordkapp – the North Cape – was named by seafarers who were looking for a recognisable navigation point. They didn’t care about it being the most northerly point of anything, they just wanted a highly visible landmark, and the soaring cliffs at Nordkapp fitted the bill.

But I will concede that Nordkapp is the furthest point north that can be reached by road from southern Europe and so is probably deserving of a place in the road trippers bucket list. Just not the one that people often think.

Some people then get properly conned – this one really frustrates me – and walk to Knivsskjelodden. It’s a headland that can be seen from Nordkapp and is just a little further north. Please, please, please. Don’t believe you are walking to any special point here. It is not the most northerly point on mainland Europe – it’s on the island of Magerøya and there are plenty of islands further north than this. And it’s still further south than Kinarodden anyway. Walk here if you fancy a walk across the wonderful northern landscape. Just don’t think you’re ‘bagging’ anything.

Silfa Canyon

After leaving Kjøllefjord on the Saturday afternoon we drove south to make our way to the next of the northern Norway peninsulas.

A signpost reminded me of a location I’d pinned but had completely forgotten about – Silfar Canyon. I quickly asked Paul to pull over. He grumbled a little at the late notice but gamely drove up the dirt track to the parking.

The walk to the canyon isn’t far. There are plenty of other walking trails in the area but we had a rugby match to watch so this was going to be a quick trek to the canyon’s edge  We looked down into the turquoise water and across at the limestone cliffs. It was pretty impressive. Even Paul agreed it was worth stopping for. We walked along the edge for a few meters just to see a couple of different vantage points and had to hold back from venturing further down the path.

Back at the van we thought we might stop here to watch the rugby but the reception was quite poor, so we continued further south until we had a decent signal. This happily coincided with a rest area next to a large pebble beach where we pulled up and got the laptop out for an evening of watching the Red Roses.

A bit of a rip off

The following morning we drove up to Nordkapp. It was a pleasant drive on good roads. Wide panoramic views across the arctic scenery, many reindeer, vast flocks of sea birds and more vans and cars than we’ve seen for ages.

We arrived at Nordkapp knowing that overnight parking is no longer allowed. A fire earlier in the year made the landowners nervous and so there is a 5 hour maximum stay and no overnighting. We have been to Lands End (on foot) and John O’Groats (in the van) so we are not immune to the lure of a ‘most something’ point. And of course businesses see that draw as an opportunity to make money. That is fair enough.

The car park has entrance barriers and a booth manned by a real life person who explained to us that the cost of parking was 150 NOK, then we also had to pay 15 NOK for each person. She squinted into the van as if suspicious we were smuggling extra people in. We decided we were committed so paid the price, after all we were only going to be here once. The fact that the car park was manned was highly unusual, most of the parking spots we’ve been to in Norway have been pay by app or machine and operated on a trust basis. Not here.

Once we’d braved the scrum to take the obligatory photo at the globe, we thought we might explore the souvenir shop. But in order to get into the souvenir shop (or even just the toilets) we would have to pay more. The entrance to the building has turnstiles where you have to swipe a ticket that costs 350 NOK. Nothing that was in the building enticed me to pay that money. We’d taken the photo, we were off.

Skårsvag, an antidote to Nordkapp

Just south from Nordkapp, still on the island of Magerøya, is the pretty fishing village of Skårsvag. There was a walk here that I wanted to do so we found ourselves a free parking space and set off for a short stroll.

Skarsvag

Up over the headland to the north of the village is Kirkeporten, which literally means ‘the church gate’. It’s a small rock arch through which one can see and take a photo of Nordkapp. We weren’t fussed about the photo but thought the walk sounded both short and scenic. From our parking spot by the harbour we had to walk back through the village and then take a grassy path up and back down to the rock arch. A few people were there taking selfies so we took a quick snap and moved on.

As sometimes happens, we spotted a path and decided to see if it would take us further along the headland. It did, in a pleasing rocky, heather clad sort of way we meandered along a faint path that skirted the coast and then proceeded up to the top of the headland.

We found a marked path on the ridge of the headland and followed it to a small cairn at the end. Then turned around and followed this path back. We had a close encounter with some reindeer here. A local herd that is known to wander through the streets of the village. We sat and watched, even managing a few photos as they nonchalantly munched on grass and ignored us.

A perfect overnight

We considered staying overnight in Skarsvåg but there was nothing to suggest that it was normal for motorhomes to stay and it was very close to people’s houses so we headed south while I looked on Park4Night for another spot.

The abandoned ferry terminal at Kåfjord looked like a good spot. We didn’t realise it’s history at the time, it was just a large flat car park next to the fjord. But it became apparent after we drove past the old ticket booths and saw the waiting room and cafe buildings. A notice board that explained that the bridge would be commissioned in June 1999 with a toll and the toll would be charged for 15 years to recoup some of the costs of the bridge. The toll would be approximately the same cost as the ferry.

It seemed a little sad that this harbour had been left to slowly rot away. It felt as though nothing had been dismantled and nature was being left to take it’s course. In many ways it reminded me of Orkney where the cost of removing old materials its more than it’s worth and land is in sufficient supply to allow things to just stay where they were left. On a positive note it looked as though one of the buildings was being renovated.

Abandoned ferry terminal

We were treated to a glorious sunset here and in the evening gloaming we saw an otter making it’s way between the stones of the breakwater, heading out for it’s evening forage.

To top off our evening the aurora made it’s first appearance for us, materialising late at night,  slinking it’s way across the indigo sky.

Nordkapp may have frustrated us, but the trip to Nordkapp gifted us with some amazing sights that we wont forget.