Location: Bowerchalke, England
Day 1,606
Miles on the clock: 43,630

Gibraltar is an odd place. The road signs are British but people drive on the right. The people are British but most speak with soft Spanish lisps. I had a pint of tepid Old Speckled Hen in The Lord Nelson on the afternoon I arrived. I was killing time, waiting for my friend Jamie's flight to get in. As is happened, a thick fog shrouded Gibraltar rock that evening and the plane was redirected to Malaga. I heard staff in the airport making jovial banter about the "pea-souper" that had fallen. 

Day 42
Location: Alta, Norway
Miles covered: 3,036

After two days R&R in Alta I began the final push of my journey's first leg. The road turned inland and climbed sharply away from the stunning Altafjord and its gaspingly cold water. I soon found myself following a steadily growing river across a vast expanse of the snowless summer tundra dotted with reindeer and small houses, each with a parked snowmoblie impatiently awaiting winter.