Oslo - Every day of the year - and up to five times daily in summer - bus 211 departs for the end of the world.
The comfortable coach with a cheery driver sets off from the quayside at Honningsvag. This windswept settlement is one of dozens of ports of call for the Hurtigruten - the ferry that provides a lifeline for Norway's coastal communities.
For a journey taking less than an hour, the return fare of 590 kroner (about R1 000) to North Cape (Nordkapp) looks extreme even by Norwegian standards. Yet for the experience of covering the final 30 miles of the northernmost highway in Europe, it is a most rewarding ride. And the destination, where you discover one of the raw edges of the planet, makes the journey priceless.
The highway in question is the E69, whose final flourish on its arduous journey north is to traverse the island - Mageroya - that comprises the full stop at the top end of the Norwegian mainland. Purists will point out that Spitsbergen, several days' sail north from here, are also islands that are part of Norway and much closer to the North Pole. Others will say that counting Mageroya as the top of Europe's mainland is ridiculous, because it's an island - and the continent actually ends south-east from here at a place called Kinnarodden. But as the bus swerves giddily to clamber over the lunar-like hills, you will care not a jot. You are absurdly far north - closer to the North Pole than you are to Aberdeen. The sun is like a searchlight on the horizon, bringing this thrilling landscape to life.
Nordkapp, when it arrives, is preceded by a large car park. You wander into a cave-like atrium, filled with all manner of strange elements: a chapel, which I guess is understandable to give thanks for the beauty of the far north; and various pieces of Thai memorabilia; the King of Siam visited in 1907, and the top end of Norway has since become a regular call for adventurous travellers from Thailand. The inevitable souvenir shop sells the equally inevitable trolls, looking like the mischievous offspring of Santa Claus. But the wise traveller will spend only a few minutes in this subterranean miscellany, and as much time as possible teetering on the edge of the world.
The sun is like a searchlight on the horizon, bringing this thrilling landscape to life Nordkapp is a cliff 1 000 feet above the Arctic Ocean. The crumpled layers of rock, exposed at an awkward angle, tell the story of an onslaught of wind, snow and ice over the millennia as they slide, helpless towards the sea. A huge metal globe provides a focus for photography.
But equally compelling is a sculptural ensemble of a mother, child and an array of discs showing the faces and symbols of the nation at Europe's extreme.
On a good day, you will have 90 minutes to explore before the bus returns. As Nordkapp is one of those locations that exposes the frailty of humanity, you may be glad of that.
The Independent