At the North Cape there was a sign with the inscription: “The TOP of the World”. After 1000 nautical miles on the sailing ship Pachamama, Noé and Dario covered the last 250 km by bike (1). Up to this northern TOP, it was time to take eDNA samples (2), the ongoing construction of the TOPtoTOP Artic Base (3) and Noé’s confirmation (4). Here are some impressions in pictures:

(1) Noé received a bicycle for his confirmation. Together with Dario, he rode to the North Cape in 3 days.
At this high northern latitude, the sun is still high in the sky at midnight and you can cycle as long as you like.

Last Friday the 21st of June they were able to stay overnight in Alta with our friends Lars and Inger.

On Saturday the weather was sunny and warm, so the reindeer looked for old snowfields to cool down. Our campsite on a peninsula at the beginning of the Olderfjord was very idyllic.

We thought it would be more or less flat. That was a mistake: when we arrived in Honningsvag on Sunday, the last town before the North Cape, we had already covered 110 km that day. Then it was another 35 km up and down and then we were at the famous monument on the North Cape with a huge parking lot full of motorhomes in front of it. As rain and cold were in the air, we cycled the 35 km back again and after the last day’s stage of 180 km we got a berth on Willy’s King Crab fishing boat at 2 a.m. before boarding the Hurtigruten to Skjervoy at 6 a.m., where our friend Dag served us a delicious meal before we returned to Lyngseidet on Tuesday.

(2) eDNA sampling with Ueli and Jeremy on board while Alegra turned 13. On her birthday it was blowing at over 100 km/h and we couldn’t leave the boat all day at the anchorage in Akkarvik at 70 degrees north:

(2) In Lyngseidet, Ueli and Jeremy went home and Robert with his two kids Julia and Nero joined us for some family adventure. Later Fredy and Annemarie visited us and we went hiking:

Caspar joined us soon after and together with him, we continued building the TOPtoTOP Arctic Base. The aim is to build a veranda and a stable roof on the shed for the 3S solar panels. Like the house, the shed is a listed building, so we couldn’t demolish it, which meant we had to raise the entire shed by around 30 cm to repair the dry stone foundation. Fortunately, Caspar has bear strength:

In the evenings the kids were training for the Topper World Championships 2024 or went fishing with Caspar:

(3) Noé’s confirmation took place on Saturday, May 25, 2024 in Lyngseidet. Afterwards, more than 20 people went on board to the island of Åroya, where we camped and celebrated. On Sunday evening, many friends came by our Arctic Base. We were all very happy to see Andri and Salina again and it was hard to say goodbye on Monday:

Last notes: Just before schools went into summer holidays, Dario performed in a circus. Soon we are again in very remote places taking water samples with Pachamama and cannot be reached.