Say what you like about the Western… er… Cape – it might have its downsides, but it also has loads of internal Capes: Columbine, Town, of Good Hope, Point, Hangklip, Agulhas, Infanta. And that’s just off the top of my head.
Norway also has a Cape – Nordkapp or North Cape (check out their pseudo Table Mountain). And now, a former SAS (the airline, not the elite British military unit) (I think) is planning to fly from there, to one of ours.
This is Johan Wiklund, and behind him is his 1935 De Havilland DH-60 Moth biplane. He’s attempting to fly it from Nordkapp to South Africa (specifially the Cape of Good Hope), roughly following the route taken by adventurer and aviator Göste Andrée in 1929.
This appeals to me (as long as it’s someone else doing it). While the plane may be old (and put together by Johan and his friends), there’s a modern twist with GoPro footage, social media updates and you can even follow the flight on our old friend FlightRadar24.com. See below for some details.
Johan set off this week and plans to arrive in Cape Town on the same day – October 24th – and at exactly the same time – 3:10pm – as Andrée did, 86 years previously. It’s touches like that that make this adventure so special.
If this has made the news here in Cape Town, I’ve missed it. But I’m going to be keeping an eye on Johan and his Cape to Cape trip very carefully, and so can you on the following links:
Facebook – FlyingCapeToCape
Net – CapeToCape.net
FR24 – SE-AMO (and recent flight database here – click the little plane logos to view)
The weather is Scandinavia has been pretty awful since the trip started, but Johan has still managed about 1500km and has just arrived in the Swedish city of Gävle (there he is via their webcam, on the grass airstrip, next to the four squat trees), under heavy skies.
Gävle looks like a really exciting place to be.
Look out for more updates on 6000 miles… over the coming weeks.
