Cycling to the Arctic Circle
Sławek Giebułtowicz’s passion is cycling – this time he reached Nordkapp
Holidays on a bike? Excitement assured! Sławek Giebułtowicz, head of the Supplies Department, has spent this year’s holidays on the Norwegian roads to Narvik – the magical edge of Europe – Nordkapp. He is our next person with a consistently pursued passion. Sławek in eight days has traveled 825 kilometers. Those who have experienced a biking trip to Nordkapp state that it is a difficult, demanding and challenging exercise, leading up the mountainous terrain with many climbs and constant struggles with unpredictable weather. Sławek points out that he himself does not treat this escapade in terms of achievement – “All the more so because I did not have to carry bike panniers on the bicycle frame,” he emphasized, adding that the heavier route, before Norway, was a corporate cycling trip to Zakopane.
Sławek for a few years now entrusts the organization of his holiday escapades to a company that sets up such experiences. He goes by bus, in a group of similar enthusiasts, with bicycles attached to the trunk. He has a campsite accommodation, meals and luggage transport organized. In a similar way, by bicycle, he has traveled during his previous escapades to Georgia, Switzerland or last year’s route: Via Claudia Augusta from Augsburg to Verona.
What has driven me here? – Sławek recalls his trip
The route from Narvik to Nordkapp leads through the national road E6 with average traffic mostly of campers but then after passing Alta, about 150 km before Nordkapp the traffic decreases almost to zero giving a sense of symbiosis with nature. – “The section from Narvik to Alta ran along a very jagged coastline, which I felt in my muscles, often I had to drive distances of 60 km in order to detour sections of 10 km in a straight line. Alternative roads were missing. Every reckless detour forced a drive back the same road or a dreadfully costly ferry crossing” – explains Sławek. The road from Alta to Nordkaap led through an endless plateau. Along the whole route he has experienced an amazing effect of white nights. Tunnel rides were also an attraction. Cape Nordkapp is located on the island of Magerøya connected to mainland by a submarine tunnel 6870 m long, which descends down to 212 m below the Barents Sea level. Inside the tunnel an icing appeared and the temperature did not exceed 4 degrees Celsius.
The cape itself is a majestic confluence of seas – to the right the Barents Sea, to the left – the Norwegian Sea. The Norwegian Sea is a part of the Atlantic Ocean, the Barents Sea is already the Arctic Ocean. “I was standing on the 300 m high cliff looking on that endless blue. Before me distant, only of 2100 km, north pole. It is closer than to Warsaw. What has driven me here? – Sławek recalls his trip.
Soon we will introduce you another person with passion!
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