Top of Europe in WINTER, NORDKAPP | Extreme Winter Vanlife
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- čas přidán 23. 03. 2022
- This is the end of continental Europe, north cape or Nordkapp. I took my self built campervan during the winter to the most northerly point in mainland Europe in Norways far north.  epic coastal road driving and a incredible winter adventure complete 
After the extremely eventful night before it’s time to finish the goal of the trip to reach Nordkapp on the E69 with its stunning coastal roads. I am aware that there is an additional walk you can do to get to the extreme most northerly point from the monument however in winter I didn’t have the time
The last 13 km for safety reasons during winter have to be done in scheduled convoys. Where I joined a bunch of other vehicles ranging from overland rigs, motorhomes and teslas.
Taking your own private vehicle and getting in line for the morning convoy means you get to the monument around an hour and a half before the tourist buses arrive.
Now that the main objective is complete his time to figure out what to do next.
Check out my cold weather & winter van life upgrade videos to see what changes I made to the van for this trip.
#snowcamping #wintervanlife #Mispronouncedadventures
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We’ve really enjoyed this series. It’s something we’ll never do in the middle of winter so nice to see it from the comfort of our sofa. Funny too when you said Alexa was plAying music, ours thought you were talking to her! She’s not too bright.
Glad you’re enjoying the series. Alexa definitely has her moments!
That is something we are probably not going to be able to do so many thanks for showing us that journey ❤️
Glad you enjoyed the journey. It’s definitely not the easiest place in the world to reach during the winter but during the summer it will be a completely different experience
Make sure to stop in Aalesund/Ålesund if you gonna follow the coast! Beatiful little city and close to the atlantic road
Thank you very much I make a note of that!
Nice one mate..so good to see folks up there in the bleak winter as opposed to the hordes of fair weather tourists in summer..😄 A proper adventure!
Always love the snow and cold myself but I can imagine it will be packed in the summer. After the tourist coaches arrived it was pretty rammed. But I could imagine those tourist coaches can’t physically run every day in the winter
This has got to be one of the best winter adventures road trips, something I was thinking of doing, these vlogs had made me think twice without proper preparations, thank so much Alex 👊👊
It certainly an incredible adventure. But documenting it I wanted to show how much preparation is required
Alex the intrepid explorer sitting on the top of Europe looking down on creation great stuff love it.
Thank you very much! It was a bit chilly to sit around and stay there for long!
Brilliant one Alex, what an experience being top of Europe. Wonderful variation of motorhomes. Well done bud, looking forward to watching you heading down the Norwegian coast. All the best and safe travels 👍
Thank you very much. The variety of vehicles and their owners was great fun to experience
It didn't take long for me to establish that your a madman epic videos and fair play doing it on your own look forward to more
Thank you very much! I get called a madman a lot in the comments recently :) more videos so come!
Absolutely stunning scenery. Thanks for sharing Alex
The scenery is amazing up there and thank you very much for watching
Did you get to chat with any of the locals. Some very interesting characters in Hammerfest 🤪got to do a summer one and do battle with the bugs. Give me snow and ice any day
I think the road to hammerfest was closed that day. I didn’t chat to many locals for this part but I did chat to a lot of the other drivers getting up to Nordkapp that day.
Stunning scenery, fabulous adventure
Scenery is amazing
another awesome video Alex the scenery is absolutely amazing
Thank you very much. The driving is stunning up there
Well done Alex loved every moment👍👍👍
Glad you enjoyed the Adventure more videos to come
What a stunning end to an epic trip! Some crazy roads and beautiful scenery. Really enjoyed following this journey, looking forward to seeing where you get to next! Keep the awsome videos coming bud, stay safe 👍🏼
Definitely not the end of the trip just the original goal complete, more to come
Finally got to see it, Damn YT not notifying me🙄 Videos make sense now.
Glad you made it fella, certainly a special feeling about reaching that far North under your own steam. More so in Winter.
Safe journey home👍
Such an amazing place to reach! I definitely look forward to going back.
Epic adventure Alex. Great to see you and the Yeti get to the top of Europe. Im currently catching up on your van build series. Great stuff mate.
Thank you for joining along with the adventure! Enjoy the build series
What an achievement. Brilliant video
Thank you very much!
That was a brilliant video Alex and well worth the drama from your last vlog .
Glad you enjoyed it! It was worth the effort!
wow 👌
Cheers!
Another epic video 👍
Enjoy the arctic series!
Finally you arrived, so nice to see. I was there one summer (well, kind of summer), but it's 35 years ago !!
Got there eventually. I think I would quite like to visit in summer
Epic 👍
Thank you it certainly is up there
Well Done Alex, mission accomplished 👍👍
Cheers!
I would have been s.....g myself in that storm, great video Alex, watching it from our sofa 7oc tonight from The Wild Atlantic Way in Clonakilty...safe travels in the ❄️❄️ Con & Mary
Enjoy the wild Atlantic Way! I’d love to do that myself one day.
Yes the storm definitely gave me an exciting evening! 🤣 as an understatement
@@MispronouncedAdventures if you check out last video of Lost in transit CZcamsrs video, that's our part of the world, stunning I must say.
We will hold you to that taught, when you do get here whenever, you can charge up, laundry up and have a pint of the black stuff while your here 🤣🤣
Great vid 😁 glad you made it. Hair was fine, te he. Look forward to the next one 😁
I’m glad I made it as well! Thank you and the hair comment for some reason I realise I say it in a couple of the upcoming videos
Really enjoyed that
Those tyres are amazing
What an amazing trip and it seems taxi drivers are the same world over
Lots more videos to come. The tyres have great up here.
And yes. Taxi drivers are the same world over
Watched earlier. mate, such an epic adventure and not jealous one little bit!
Thank you very much mate! We will have winter adventures!
Really enjoying the content. Keep it up
Thank you! More to come!
I really enjoyed your video. 🤩 ⭐️
Thanks for Sharing! 👍🏼
Greetings from Albania. 🇦🇱
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video again ironically we arrived at Nordkapp just before midnight to see the midnight sun after having wall to wall sunshine all day in July.
Then the temperature dropped below zero and the cloud and mist came in we couldn't even see the water........that's the North 😄
I would love to visit in the summer time as well a completely different and strange experience from the winter one!
Good video, enjoyed 😉
Thank you!
Burrrrrrr looks cool mate, beautiful country views mate and you sleep on the work top ! .... maybe a hammock dude , nice transit Ford van
Amazing views in that part of the world, . Hardly the worktop, it’s a fold down super king sized mattress
Wicked mate !!
It certainly is up there
Beautiful place. I was there in summer when the sun does not set. epic. Take your time going south as there are so many wonderful places to see.
Yeah I definitely thought the summer would’ve been equally as great experience just different
@@MispronouncedAdventures 100% behind you on that one. If you have time the north atlantic road is great. visit Hell, The lofoten islands and the trolls staircase. You may have guessed i love this part or europe
Loving this series. However, all these timelapses on snowy roads bring out the backseat driver in me. I'm like wooah, slow down! 😬
Some of the icy conditions I was going pretty slow, needed to speed it up to make the footage bearable 😂
Nice place to be.
Some parts of the road (or most of) make me think Mad Max through a snow desert.
It’s incredible up there and I would definitely go again another winter
thank you :)
Thank you for watching!
Well done Alex,you finally got there,thoroughly enjoyed your journey up there,some stunning scenery.👌Safe travels buddy👍
Thank you very much! It’s been an amazing journey and lots to see on the way sound
@@MispronouncedAdventures I look forward to my CZcams notifications😄headphones on and watch something I find interesting unlike most of the drab on TV..!!
Thank you! Glad you find my stuff interesting! And better then most TV!
@@MispronouncedAdventures Defo buddy,I also watch a Dutch lorry driver,William de Zeeuw,he does a lot of work in Norway,All year round and some of his blogs show how bad the winters can be up there.
Good stuff....pretty scary having your van blown around....glad you're safe and on to the next adventure !!!
Yes it was definitely quite the different experience! I’m glad I made it as well!
@@MispronouncedAdventures how the Recirc shower going...how do you find best to use it i.e products etc..we went with body size wet wipes to clean then hot shower with no products...
@@houseinavan194 still finding out great at the minute using natural bar soap which does require the filters to get changed every month or so so I could definitely see the advantage of washing yourself first and enjoying a long hot shower to rinse without product
The thing that blew my mind was the "garage"-gate in the opening of each tunnel.
I was driving there in the early 1990´ties with a roadtrain of 50 tons and no stud-tires, I had snow-chains with me.
In one hill the gate was so slow I barely got in without driving thru it. (You can see the gate @15.09)
Gates were always open when I was there but I guess in more severe weather they open and close for vehicles?
Congratulations Alex...rather you than me .. looking forward to seeing your return journey 😀
Plenty more to do before the return
@@MispronouncedAdventures r
Congrats. Last summer I had to pay 700NOK , 70€, for parking and entrance fee to the center..
Yeah looking into it seems that it doesn’t cost in the winter. But €70 is a bit steep even for the summer!
Oh wow the road is soo icy
More snow than ice
Have you or are you visiting Alta? Its a great town/city.
I popped into Alta both coming and going from Nordkapp, went to go have a look around their museum as well but I think they were closed on that day
What an achievement.
Thank you very much!
Again, thanks for sharing your adventures. You have inspired me to get a van to convert. We went yesterday and bought one and speaking to the garage owner from where we bought it from mentioned something interesting. I had said I have seen a few van builds and I follow someone on CZcams. The owner said you might have seen someone who bought a van from us who converted it and is travelling around Norway, Sweden etc. I said that sounds like Alex and he said yes that's him, he bought the van from us!
It was from Ruffords Garage in Newark.
That’s brilliant! Yes that is where I bought my van from! There service was brilliant from them when I was buying the van
Glad you have found the videos inspiring and you got yourself a van. All the best on your conversion and future travels
@@MispronouncedAdventures Yes definitely looking forward to picking it up soon.
Hi Alex@@MispronouncedAdventures do you live in Newark or in this area??? we live not far from it, would be nice t meet and have a chat...
Afraid not, I have to travel about three hours from Scotland at that time to get to the garage
I did the same as you with the 2 Victron 15amp DC changers. I have a 190ah alternator and ran this for 6 months I’m now on my 2nd alternator. The cost £328.73 per. You will be fine due to the cold weather you’re in. I have been in hot location France/Spain/Africa. It’s just a heads up if you later plan to go to hotter locations. What i do now is turn one on all the time and the second when i am moving to help cool the alternator. I have been enjoying your video, good job.
Yeah I’ve got a video coming out in a few weeks regarding the dual 30amp DCDC install.
My van got a 220A alternator, the sort of research I came across showed that 60A aux loads should be on 180A minimum same with looking at the Ford transit MK8 upfitters manual for recommendations on different auxiliary Amp loads. additionally the second one is mostly for winter time use. On my dashboard I have a switch which will depending on its position will run one, two or none. As even in springtime I often have easily enough solar.
Sorry to hear that yours died! My previous van over my time having it killed two alternators and I didn’t have any electrics running off it
Sorry but you hurt my feelings a little. Northern Norway is not in EU nor Europe.. he he ,..Great video Great journey . good to see you up here at the top
Sorry, I know it’s not. that was a slip of the tongue. I know Norway is not part of the EU, but Is in Schengen and geographically Europe.
I presume I meant Schengen OR Europe in this situation and not EU
@@MispronouncedAdventures No worries .he he . Greetings from Lappland Scandinavia
My plan is to go may/june 2022 to the northcape with my 1965 Unimog 404 :) Im driving from Amsterdam :) awesome video! Not sure If I would do it in the winter with my cabrio Unimog :) haha
Thank you! Your unimog looks great! There will be plenty of sunlight when you’re up there at that time of year!
Great vlog. Thank you.
Just wondering if it would have helped in the conditions you parked if you'd have deflated your tyres to a low pressure while you overnighted.
glad you like it. I know very much the principal you are thinking about. I’m not sure if it would of helped the night before given the power of the wind
How do you keep your water tanks from freezing up ,and is your heating truma,?Great video
My water tanks are kept in internal. The ones I used on this trip were kept in a cabinet connected to the diesel heater area so they were always kept warm.
As for heating, I use a Chinese 5kw diesel heater with a afterburner controller for an incredibly useful thermostat and carry an entire set of spares as a unit
Fantastic achievement to reach Nordcapp Alex 👌 what tyre pressure are you running at when you're on snow/ ice ? And when the roads are snow free are you increasing the pressure?
Looking forward to following you down the west coast to Lofoten islands and beyond it,s on my list to visit there 🤩⛰️🇧🇻👌
Thank you very much.
As for PSI I’ve been running the stock for the van 49psi on front & 65psi. Grip has been fine, in the conditions when I’ve had less grip just on sheet ice I don’t think change the PSI would of helped that much, probably only studs in those occasions. Some of the slushy road conditions lowing the psi might of helped but I never tried.
Still a few more videos to come!
A better tip is to go in the summer.
That would be no where near as enjoyable personally in the summer and super busy too
Musikken fra Ostriv.
So sorry to break everyones illusions that the BFG KO2 are good in winter conditions. They are absolutely garbage, and should absolutely not be allowed for winter use in the arctic!
I have first hand experience of that, when i totaled my Ford Ranger a few years ago.
The reason the "mad" taxi driver was able to speed past you, was because like all of us up here, he was driving on proper nordic studded winter tires.
With proper winter tires (e.g. Nokian hakkapeliitta), it is pretty much like driving on dry summer roads, Even on wet slush and ice.
Anyone who claims BFG's are any good in the cold, have never used proper winter tires.
It is insanity that all foreigners are using those tires, and an absolute hazard to everyone around them!
BFG's are awesome for summer off road use, but pure madness for everything else.
Please stop giving bad advice.
Listen to us locals.
Greetings from 69° north, born and raised.
Sorry about all that negativity.
Love your videos! 😊
Sorry to hear you totalled your car a few years ago.
I say my BFGoodrich KO2’s work for me in van and that’s now from my three winters and probably 15,000 miles worth of driving in the northern nordics, which is considerably less than you since you live that far north, but you could probably agree that’s a reasonable understanding of how my vehicle handle in those conditions. I make the point of saying they work well for me and not just recommending because I’m a heavy RWD drive van. Which is going to have completely different handling characteristics to a front wheel drive van, a mid weight 4x4 or front and RWD cars. And whilst I am only a foreigner who comes up here the last few winters and not a local. the trend I see amongst the foreigners is usually the ones swapping tyres to studded winter tires are the front wheel drive van which traction issues due to weight distribution being wrong whilst many of the rear wheel drive vans don’t run into traction issues. You view that model tyre is garbage is valid for sure for you but have said that happened on a completely different type of vehicle which have very different handling characteristics, i’m sure there are a lot of other factors as well. The four vehicles I pulled out of ditches this winter were all using studded winter tyres.
The advice I got to keeping my A/T tyres was from some van driver locals / channels subscribers in the northern Nordics, who use studied winter tyres on their cars but a A/T on their RWD vans. I had intended in my first year to swap out to studs when I felt they were needed. Although I do specifically tend to stay in land where it’s colder and more compact snow roads then the coast of Norway where it’s milde and icer and avoid the end of spring and early autumn where I feel I would need studded tyres
@@MispronouncedAdventures I fully understand how you would believe that your tires are great, as they do have some merit in deep snow, and are far better than conventional continental winter tires.
And I have no doubt that you are an experienced driver that can handle your van in most conditions. But keep in mind that most are not great drivers, and you never know when you have to emergency brake.
Those tires have several glaring "faults" that make them plainly dangerous in the winter time in the arctic. The rubber compound is far to stiff in the cold and the siping is not up to snuff when it comes to creating friction on ice.
The big block lugs are also prone to packing up with snow, and thus causes loss of traction.
I'm saying this as a car enthusiast with many years in the automotive business.
I have also witnessed far to many fatal and non-fatal accidents caused by poor tires.
As I mentioned, I had a mishap with my pickup truck on these exact tires. I, like many others liked the "tough" look of them, and wanted my car to be "cool", even though everybody around me scolded me for putting other people in danger with those tires. For context, my truck was loaded to about the same weight as yours, so it is pretty much comparable. Also, I now own a Transit mobile home, so I have some experience. Albeit only for summer use with the family.
Studded winter tires are pretty much mandatory in the north.
There are some legislations that favor studless tires because of the enviromental impact studs have, but accident statistics keep them at bay up here.
Every year there are many serious accidents caused by foreigners unaccustomed to our windy and slippery roads, and I hate to lose more people to the winter roads.
You could have gone without most of those butt clenching moments in your travels if you had proper tires. For example when your van got blown about on the wet ice outside Honningsvåg.
And with better tires, you could have had an even more awesome adventure, though maybe not as eventful :p
True, studded tires give some people a false sense of security, so they take unnecessary risks, and thus wind up in a ditch, and not all tires are equal. But overall nothing can compare to proper nordic winter tires. If anything, use the studless Nokian's or something.
In my line of work I have gotten far to many customers wanting knobly tires for winter use because they have watched somebody on youtube raving about them.
but sadly, statistics don't lie.
I'm really sorry for being such a hardass on this topic, as I truly am a fan, and I really enjoy your videos. But after losing people close to me on winter roads, and being in my share of traffic accidents, I feel obliged to raise my voice on this.
I strongly advice everyone that intends to travel to the arctic to read up on local tire tests.
E.g. www.motor.no/tester/motors-store-test-av-vinterdekk-2023/255678
I'm sure it can be translated somehow.
There are massive differences on tires.
As a bonus, the test winners are normally cheaper than the BFG's ;)
Sorry for the long writeup.
Have an awesome evening, and keep up the good work! As I said, I enjoy your videos, and I wholeheartedly welcome all who come to enjoy our majestic landscape. Just do so as safely as possible.
Safe travels!
Cheers!
I think I’d be looking for department store now for some new pants 😳
It’s great thing about bringing your house with you, plenty of pants with me 😂
Would you go to Nordkapp? And if so in Winter for the darkness and snow or Summer for the mid night sun?
Winter time for sure
I live in Luleå, so not for the midnight sun, nor for the icy roads. Perhaps as a kind of geographical pilgrimage of sorts. But probably not. Still, enjoyed seeing you go there.
Next stop Cape Agulhas...
I’d love too with the funds and time. I’ve worked and travelled throughout Southern Africa
@@MispronouncedAdventures funds and time yup sounds like my restriction to travel.
Next time you in Cape Town give me a shout maybe time will allow coffee...
Hi Alex. Really enjoying your travels! I have driven to North Cape in summer but quite different. Is your van AWD?
Thank you for watching. It must be amazing and a completely different experience up there in the summer.
My van is RWD
@@MispronouncedAdventures thank you! Just completing a Sprinter FWD conversion and planning to return to North Cape this summer. Last time we went North through Norway and South through Finland. This year north through Sweden and south through Norway as we didn’t loiter much last time. Lofoten is fantastic - enjoy!
You’ll have a great trip! First time I went up via Sweden and down Finland. Sweden is lovely
Great video Alex! We have been watching your travels as are over there soon. As we are working whilst travelling what did you find worked best for data/internet coverage that far North please? Do you hotspot to mobile or use a mobile router? TIA 😊
Thank you for following along on the adventure.
Internet I think continually has been better than the UK speed wise . I’m using a EE data Sim in the vans router which has unlimited data and no cap ( this is one of the legacy EE data Sims before they change the EU roaming )
@@MispronouncedAdventures cheers for the quick reply Alex, much appreciated. Is your EE sim a contract one? We were hoping to stay away from getting tied into any contracts if possible. TIA 😊
@@leighfisher1702 yes it’s a contract.
@@MispronouncedAdventures thanks for all your help Alex. Safe travels 😃
What wheelbase is your transit ???
It’s a L3H3. Which is the longer wheel base ( 144” ) but short body
Couple things, did that erection just spit gravel all over your van? Does your windshield have wires embedded in it?
Yes! And I’m sure my paint work greatly appreciated being sprayed in gravel! 😂
And yes, my windscreen has wires embedded in it which is part of the heated windscreen elements. In recent videos It has caused me a few camera focus issues because the camera keeps focusing on the tiny wires and not whats outside
I've watched some of your videos; I'm striking Finland off my "must visit list" - it looks like a flat barren wasteland of boredom.
Finland is vast I’d admit as well the middle and south is flat and forest. But I had load of fun in northern Finland and few mountain top park ups
I’d be interested to know roughly what a trip like that would cost. That would make for an interesting video for anyone considering this type of expedition with fuel, ferries, tolls etc
That is the area I might consider. Actual food costs were pretty low, as only a few times did I eat out.
It might be better off I give the fuel aspect in litres used! Or MPG. As the fuel was almost 20 to 25% more expensive than the last I was there
Congrats on getting to the top of the world!
Time to leave Hoth. If only you had R2 to plot the course for you....
czcams.com/video/f009TGiIZp0/video.html
Star wars references aside. This is a song from the 1970s USA came to mind when you 'convoying' up to Nordkapp. It's a silly song and most have no idea what the truck driver language means. I think it came out about the same time is SW EP IV was released.
czcams.com/video/d9BWlGP_DJw/video.html
Thank you very much! It’s been an amazing experience getting to the top of the world in winter
Dyslexia sucks.
For sure in some areas, however having a brain which works in a different way to most people is definitely advantageous for problem-solving and many different areas. I wouldn’t change it the world.
nobody uses a citizen ban radios
I used them originally on a past trips to speak a friends in the convoy who also had them, but we found the range rubbish. But now sold that unit and just used a walkie-talkie.