Still riding north on my way to Nordkapp, I have stopped for a couple of nights in the little town of Porjus. Famous for a whole host of reasons most noticeably the resting place of Easy Elsie, the massive hydro station, and during the winter… an active sight for northern light spotting. I am lucky enough to be staying the self catering lodges owned by Patricia Cowern, the renown nature and northern lights photographer – the images below are Patricia’s – you can view her work and make a booking via Arctic Colour. Also worth a visit is the Laponia Shop a great opportunity to see traditional Sámi crafts and meet Asbjorn and his parents.
Author Archives: Gary
Glacial Erratics or Reindeer?
Riding north on the E45 this afternoon south of Jokkmokk, I glimpsed something white in the eastern forest fringes. The trouble with these northern glacial fields are that the glacial erratics can look like animals, but this was different, so I did a quick turnaround and slowly retraced my steps and I was privileged enough to witness for maybe five minutes, a startling white reindeer and two darker females grazing on the forest floor and eyeing me up with interest. In a few months time, the native Sámi people will gather these reindeers for slaughter. The white reindeer is more often selected for slaughter since they are said to be weaker and an easier prey for predators – I prefer the old adage that says that seeing the white reindeer means luck… after all I have at least another 6000km to ride.
Beast of Burden
Why ride a bike… the connection to place, to the land, the wind, the sun, stars, the moon… it sounds romantic, but it’s true – the visceral experience of motion, of moving through time on some amazing machine – a few cars touch on it, but not too many compared to motorcycles. I always felt that any motorcycle journey was special – Antoine Predock
