| |
I left Sicily, the
southernmost part of Europe, on 15th July, determined, for the second
time, to arrive to the northernmost point of the european continent.
I left the sun and the suffocating hot of sicilian summer to meet the
clouds and the rain of the north...but I didn't expect to find all that
rain!
Well, the first part of my journey is a long silent ride where my only
company were my thoughts, I always like to think when I'm on my bike and
my summer travel is a period in which I dive deep into my soul to find
things that were forgotten since longtime...There are thoughts, states
of mind, images that are kicked off by the constant company of people,
and these periods of solitude and silence are for me the source of
reflection, meditation and improvement of my being...I put it down
philosophically, but that's quite it!
I have always vivid images from "Zen and the art of motorcycle
maintenance", Pirsig's masterpiece, that are a powerful stimulus to
search into the inner parts of myself...
So, thinking and riding, I arrived in Germany and there I found my
fellow, the companion that never left me till the end of my travel, a
wet company, I'd say....it was a heavy rain!
I chose the most terribly rainy summer of the century to go to Nordkapp,
but this wasn't enough to spoil my enthusiasm, I was happy and, all in
all, even dry under my rain garments!
Up, up, going north through the magic of Sweden, the silences of Finland
and Lapland, the frequent stops on the road in front of a reindeer that
seemed particularly fond of my motorcycle.
I was enjoying the rain of
Lapland, of course, when the first mountains announced the norwegian
border, invisible under the heavy storm. Norway, a wonderful country,
with those impressive landscapes, not flat as the finnish ones, but full
of lines going up in the blue of the sky, changing from grey to the
white of the snow, the dark green of forests, the same line going down
into the deeper blue of the sea....not a moment of rest, it's only
difficult to drive with the right attention, I have to look other things
than the road.
More reindeers, seagulls, strange birds, everything but people up there
on the road to Nordkapp...I think about Bach's "Jonathan Livingstone
seagull" and his flights, his incredible want for discovery and
improvement and I straighten my back while I'm riding, a wide smile on
my face, my right hand opens the throttle, I'm speeding up to one of my
goals!
Finally I'm there, I enter the perimeter of Nordkapp, that spot that was
a metaphysical goal, the point where man went to meet nature and to meet
his limits...That spot now has a touristic center and people directing
you in the parkings, and souvenir shops and waiters taking you expensive
glasses of champagne to celebrate the occasion.
People arriving on huge
coaches, campers, shouting and running around...nature is quite gone,
but I am there to meet nature and I try to shut off my ears the noise
and the talk.
I try to absorb the magic, the original magic of the place
by creating the silence around me, looking for a lonely corner in the
wind, looking far out on the sea, 300 meters below my feet and the
wheels of my bike. I wanted to do one thing and I did it, that's a part
of the meaning of this travel...
From now on I'll ride southward, there's only the sea separating me from
the North Pole and my bike can not walk on the water, as a man did some
two thousand years ago...but he was on feet!
Down then, following the winding line of the norwegian coast, riding 30
kilometers to proceed 10, on those incredible fjords that are one of the
greatest attractions of this country...
Next stop will be Andenes, a very small fishing town on the northern tip
of Vesteralen Islands, out on the Atlantic Ocean, a peculiar place, a
place where you can go out with a ship and see from a short distance
those huge, charming animals, the whales!
One day passes by in that unnaturally silent village, nobody in the
streets, only the screeches of seagulls, the real inhabitants of the
place.
I rent a cabin on the sea, half on land and half on poles that
keep the wooden building high on the sea water...I am there in the
night, but it's the night that isn't there!
The sun doesn't want to go
down, it remains up the horizon and continues to provide light, only
circling around and never diving in that sea that's the life of Norway...I'd
stay there, enchanted by the silence and the view, but the enormous
mosquitos, agressive as crocodiles, convince me that it's better to put
a door between me and them!
What a country! In Norway there's no night and you can't find a thing to
prevent the light to flood the room where you'd like to sleep in a
comfortable dark...In Norway it rains and snows all year long and you
can't find a garage or a covered parking lot in any place! What's the
meaning of all this? This is the unanswered question of this travel,
please help me in finding a suitable answer!
I wake up early (of course!), and I go out, to take a look at the sea. I
look on the water and I suddenly see a seal...a seal?
It's the first
time of my life I see one of them outside a zoo, I haven't enough time
to recover from the shock, after a quick look from a short distance the
seal dives and disappears, but I'm sure it smiled to me before going...
And it's time to go on the ship, the great moment has come!
The ship leaves the harbour on a flat sea...but the sea is flat only in
the harbour, and this is an unpleasant discovery that I do after a
little while! I usually resist very well to seasickness, but this time
is terrible, the little ship (a bit more than a fishing boat) goes up
and down on the waves and my stomach wants to be free...it doesn't
matter if it's empty! But I am deaf to this request and I begin to eat
and drink...if I have to throw up, it will be for good! Shortly, I
anticipate the final, I won't bow my head to the disease and I will end
my six (!) hours on the moving ship in triumph, with all things still
closed into my stomach!
After a while a cry from the crew signals the presence of the whale
between the waves...I look and I finally see it! I'm excited, really
excited!
The ships manoeuver slowly to get closer to the animal and I
can hear the sound of its breathing, water sprinkling from his "nose".
I'm speechless, it's too wonderful a moment to be wasted by words...The
whale stays some minutes, then gently curves its back and dives, with a
soft movement that doesn't cause a single wave...The tail is like the
smile of the whale, it's the last thing I see of it, then the water
covers again that spot, again waves and birds are all I can see through
the wind and the fog...
We circle for hours out on that stretch of ocean and we can observe
three more whales, with the same huge dimensions, the same pacific
behaviour, the same majestic grace...When i come back I'm really happy:
I've actually been in a few meters from a whale...and I won over
seasickness!
I leave Andenes the same evening to go down to the Lofoten Islands, a
wonderful place, where the light sketches sharp edges and neat shapes.
Little towns, postcards of great beauty, are what I can admire in my
ride...fishing boats in the harbours, water perfectly still and
reflecting the villages like a giant mirror...It's a difficult ride, I
don't want to miss anything of the views on the road, but I want to
remain alive, too!
Near Svolvaer, the most important town of Lofoten, the sun shines and
the sea is shouting at me to come and have a swim...i am tempted, but I
am sicilian, I don't know if I can cope with this water...Well, the
colour of the sea is quite tropical, I go!
A lot of people is swimming, some children play with a ball into the
water, some are stretched on the beach to get tanned...the view is what
I needed to take the final decision: I run into the water...and I freeze!
I stop there, like stoned because of the temperature...My face is
probably a show of its own, people are staring at me, quite amazed, then
laughing silently, then laughing out loud!
A minute passes by and, when I feel like moving again, I explain to my
public where I am from and that's enough to grow in ther esteem to the
level of HERO! From the warm waters of Sicily to the melting ice of
Lofoten, what a shock! They're laughing again, but this time with me!
Just another moment, then I can dive among the shouts of all my new
friends! Great time! I really had fun!
On the bike again, my iron-horse was becoming nervous, he wanted to go
on! Then off we go, riding south on the Lofoten, with wonderful views
and small villages and still water...unreal colours surging from behind
a turn on the road make me breathless, but The road isn't wide enough to
stop and take pictures of this magic.
The best images are kept in my
mind, as always...pics are only a poor medium that I'll use to stimulate
my memories in coming at the surface, along with all the feelings that
were with me, that were me in that moment...
Sleeping in fishmen's houses, called "rorbu", is a wonderful experience.
There, right on the sea, if you're able to forget the clouds of
mosquitos looking for your blood, you can communicate with the very
heart of nature. In the sunny silence of the arctic night, you feel like
being alone in what usually is a (relatively) noisy world, nobody's
talking and even the waves are quiet...I was there and I felt like being
in peace with all mankind...this mix of night and day together, this
silence...those mosquitos! Better to go to sleep!
Down, along the coast, towns, villages and cities...Mo i Rana, Trondheim,
Oslo.
In my opinion villages are better than towns that are better than
cities: life is calmer and I prefer to associate Norway with smaller
towns and silence and woods...
But Trondheim and Oslo are beautiful, life is sparkling and you can feel
that you are in the middle of Europe, even if you're geographically on
the outskirts of the continent. From Oslo to Denmark and Germany is a
short step and in Germany I feel already at home!
The bike is humming a pleasant musical note and I think that I can make
it to Alcamo without the aid of the ship, riding down the crowded
highways taking to the sunny south of Italy and to my town.
I ride from
Milan to Alcamo all in once, it's another way of being in communion with
my bike...we do it in 18 hours and we're tired when we arrive...but
there's a wonderful sunny day and a blue warm sea waiting for me!
I'm at
home again!
Marcello I.
Sono un
Viaggiatore. |
|
