Day 26: crossing the Polar circle
230 km and 3 h of train travelling
I am still not recovered, some paracetamol helps me to keep going today. Today i will cross the Polar circle by train, and make a first step in my train journey to Mo I Rana. As the train is not reaching Trondheim this weekend due to maintenance work of the railway.
Bodo station
Bodo station was build in 1961, and it feels like taking the train from the end of the world. Although it is the most northern station connected by a full Norwegian railway, it isn’t the most northern station in Norway. Which is Narvik station, which you reach via a famous sleeper train through Sweden.
Narvik is very often presented as the most northern railway station accessible for public, however it is not the truth. There is a passenger connection to Moermansk which is even more close to the pole. Industrial railways for freight go even further north. From Moermansk there is a line to Nikel. With a former connection to Kirkenes, a railway i crossed myself by bike this journey. However, the real record for the most northern station is for Karskaya (Russia). Dedicated for gas recovery by Gazprom, near an artic harbor. And in the past there were even riding trains on Svalbard for the mining companies. But that’s 40 years ago.
While waiting for the train doors to open, I am dreaming about other special train stations in the world which we could visit. Some inspiration for further blogs: https://www.raileurope.com/en/blog/most-remote-railway-stations-in-the-world
A lot of people are waiting for this train, which is running only twice a day. In Bodo half of the seats get filled. And i Learn why it was so difficult to find bike reservations for this train. In a corner of the restaurant wagon, there are only 3 spots to hang a bike. All 3 are taken for this trip.
Even on the train you can buy the famous Norwegian hot dogs which are always everywhere grilling.
Polar Circle
The Polar Circle is the latitude where at least one day a year when the center of the sun is continuously above the horizon and at least one day a year when it is always below the horizon – a polar day and a polar night.
And what i did not knew, is that this line is moving 14,5 m per year north wards. So, some day it will be crossing Bodo.
While my cycle trip was within the Artic circle. There aren’t that many options to make such a trip in the world when i look at the map. Probably, Norway is the most accessible one with the best infrastructure to do so. And thanks to the Gulf stream, this is also the warmest place in the world to cycle above the Polar circle. As indicated in red by the 10 c isotherm line for the warmest month of the year.
I started my trip in the most eastern part of the Artic region in Norway, the Russian border at Kirkenes. And cycled 2000 km to the most western point in the Artic region of Norway, Bodo area.
All the way I was in one and the same country. Even a just a part of the country. Although, while reflecting about the past days and the distance, i conclude it is the equivalent of biking from my hometown the Hague to places like Lissabon, Riga, Kiev and even Sicilia. Which feels all much further and crossing multiple countries. Which makes me dream again…
The train track is more a kind of cliffhanger the first 100 km, with a view deep in the valley where the road is following the river. When reaching the altitude of 680 both railway, road and river are coming together. And then there it is. The building marking the crossing of the Polar circle. In my imagination i felt a small bump.
Where are the travelbugs?
Before my cycle trip, we released some travel bugs in southern Norway during the camping trip with the family. As described in a earlier blogpost.
Curious where their journey brought them!
They both travelled together up North till exactly the Polar circle. Where a Finnish couple dropped them in the geocache of the Artic polar center. The center which I hoped to reach by bike before i got ill. As i was hoping to make a picture with one of them again.
As it seems that the Dutch labeled travel bug still is chilling on the Polar line. The Belgian labeled travel bug however, took a firm turn southwards and travelled in less than a week to Croatia where it still is.
Mo I Rana
A rather big city to the Nordic standards. I disembark smoothly with the help of the conductor. I booked a small apartment type of hotel in the city. Tomorrow afternoon i have to take the same train again.
A small evening cycle trip around the city made me aware that i will need some creativity to fill my day here tomorrow.
