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To the Roof of Europe

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  Saving a lieutenant commander by pushing a knife wielding man into the sea.

  Dragging back to shore a sailor who had fallen overboard.

  Breaking up crew member fights, by calming them down by putting his paws on their shoulders and then leading them back to the ship.

  Rounding up crew back to the hip in time for duty or curfew, going on his own on buses with a bus pass attached to his collar.

He became an official Allied Forces mascot. He was buried with full military honours. A larger than life bronze statue was unveiled by HRH Prince Andrew in Montrose, Scotland on 17th October 2006. A new statue now stands in Honningsvåg looking southwest towards Montrose, where the Scottish statue is looking northeast towards Honningsvåg.

Honningsvåg was a pleasant enough settlement with all the usual amenities one would expect in a place that sees around 250,000 visitors each year. My brother, Kate and I split up to wander around. I spent my time strolling around the pretty harbour, although the cruise ships spoilt the feel of the place. Kate went looking for a photo shop to transfer her now full digital camera memory card onto CD-ROM and I believe my brother drove up to the next and last town of the southeast of Magerøya island, Nordvågen.

After a few hours we returned to the campsite for a bite to eat and some rest. In the evening, my brother and I left Kate to her own devices and decided to go back up to the North Cape. We stood at the railings atop the cliff. I was still in awe knowing that in front of me was but the sea and ultimately the North Pole. Alas, I am no Sir Ranulph Fiennes so will unlikely ever get that far. We spent some time looking around the visitors centre, the Nordkapphallen, which includes several attractions, some of them built under the ground in order to reduce environmental and ecological impact. In Nordkapphallen you can visit the bars and enjoy the old tradition of celebrating North Cape with a glass of champagne (or lemonade).

   
 
   
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