A good nights sleep and time to get up and eat breakfast. I have opted for the latest time for breakfast, that was a mistake. I should know that I wake up early on holidays. So after I took a free bicycle from the hotel and found some geocaches I could finally start the day in a good way.
Breakfast was a normal Norwegian hotel breakfast. You get wat you need to start the day.
My car was standing where I left it, without any ticket, so the receptionist was right. My plan today is to drive towards Grense Jakobselv, along the Russian border.
Kirkenes is close to the Russian and Finnish border. At the moment I can’t cross to Finland and Russian needs a visa. But who wants to go there at the moment? I drove to the Storskog border crossing (of course there is a cache there), but there was not much more to see.
Did I mention that the weather is great today? No clouds and 25 degrees. Love it.
Now a turn to the left. After some kilometers you get to a sign that tells you that you are in a special military-border area with all kinds of restrictions. Now drone flying, no crossing the small river, no communication with the other side etc. Just read in the newspaper that a woman who had the hand on the wrong side of the border got a fine of 800 Euros. No thanks!
The road becomes smaller and less maintained. At one place the road is directly at the river, Russia only 2,5 meters away. A popular photo spot. And a sign that says that you are not allowed to pee towards Russia… must be disrespectful.
There are some cottages out here. Not much mobile service. This is the end of the World – or at least of Norway.
Closer to the end of the road I stop at King Oscar II chapel. A stone church from 1869. Since there are no permanent residents in the area, the church is used by the military and for weddings etc. A nice small church in the middle of nowhere. Why have people moved here in the first place at that time?
The chapel 
The graveyard 
Nice pov
Just around the corner, the road ends at a parking area directly at a beach. And not a bad one (I don’t want to know the water temperature…). Quite some people here. Camping in the dunes, sunbathing at the beach. With few people living in the area, this must be the “secret” spot.
After not finding the cache at Norway’s end, I take the tour back towards Kirkenes. One more cache directly at the border fence to Russia. Watchtowers on both sides. No smuggling today. 🙂
Border river 
Border river 
Russia 
Norway 
Across the plateau
In Kirkenes and not to late in the day, a swimming tour is on the list. An hour in an OK pool, with a nice sauna (they know how to do this in the north). Since I have a long drive planned tomorrow I get dinner at the gas station (not many restaurants in a small town) and do some grocery shopping to make sandwiches for the drive.