DON'T MAKE IT SO DRAMATIC. !!!

I live here, and have no problems with the Russian's on the other side of the river. Also, you should have mentioned that in this river "Grense Jakobselv" you can catch big Atlantic salmon - and that the church/chapel you mentioned was built in 1869.

Hidden road? Its a super popular tourist road. I was baptized at that church you briefly viewed, and i have a cabin nearby. Stop dramatising this border, its as calm as ever.

If you would have said "hi" to the Norwegian Border Patrol you would probably have had a nice chat. Even though they're super competent they are also really nice people. Never be afraid to say "hi" to the Norwegian Army 😊

Good memories :In 2009, I rode to Grense Jakobselv on my motorcycle. The signs about the border were already there. I found the place much more interesting than Cape North which is a tourist trap.

I'm a UK university student living in Narva, Estonia for a study placement. From my apartment I can see Russia and most days i walk 2/3 minutes to the border which is a river and walk down the promenade. Its a stunning location with Ivangorod castle dominating the landscape but the first time i did it i was shocked! I was perhaps 20 metres away from Russians that were just chilling over the on the other side, some were sunbathing and others were fishing but you could literally just talk to them. As a Brit from over 1000 miles away this experience is very odd for me but to the locals of both countries everything seemed friendly and cordial. But then you go back into the city centre and Estonian soldiers patrol the streets, its difficult to understand what the relationship is between the two countries here. Perhaps the distinction between politics and people, i don't know.

In the early 90's I was stationed up there patrolling that border, on ski's wintertime, and walking when there were no snow. Fun memories :)

That ship was the Coastguard, not the regular Navy.

Being a native norwegian born and bred i can firmly say that this trip is nothing to worry about.do understand that making a youtube vlog it can be temting to add some drama but best keeping facts.😂

No one sleeps in the bush unless they are tourist camping... :-) There is a way to cross legally into Russia, even without a passport. In Pasvik there are two areas in the river where the Norwegian side is too shallow, so it's permitted, on a boat, to use the Russian side of the riber to get past these two areas. Not many know that... The road to Grense Jakobselv is often considered one of the 10 most beautiful in Norway. Greetings from Hesseng :-)

Inspiring, informative, funny, beautiful all in one video. Thanks Matthew ❤

In 1968, under heavy fog during the night, Norwegian border guards suddenly heard the sound of heavy machinery all along the border. When the fog lifted, thousands of tanks and tracked vehicles stood lined up in front of the border, aiming their turrets at Norwegian positions and watchtowers. At one point, a spotter saw a flash from a turret further back. His heart sank. It would be only seconds until they were dead. But as the clock ticked by, nothing happened. And he released probably the longest sigh he's ever made until that day, because they were only shooting blanks. The whole incident was black-bagged by the Norwegian government, so it never really made a stir in either Norwegian or international press, but Norwegians stood ready to fire missiles at the tanks the second they made the wrong move. Had this happened, the world might have looked very different today...

Fantastic as usual Matthew 👌

Another great video Matthew, I very much enjoy the humour that you use! I'd forgotten about that road, I missed the chance to 'explore' it last time I was up in the far(ish) north of Norway. Areas with forbidden zones and routes intrigue me very much and I'm always compelled to explore them. Not sure Rudolph 🦌 deserved that ending mind, think of the children at Christmas 🎅 ... Excellent footage as usual, thanks very much for that 🚴‍♂️👍

Beautiful story, thanks for sharing

Well that road was once Norwegian road in Finnish-Norwegian border but Russia stole our lands. Petsamo is the name of that stolen area.

That part of Norway used to belong to Finland before it got stolen. Still people speak Finnish there!

Great, loved It! Thank you.

I have this route added to my list of places to cycle. What a ride!

This brings back so many memories. I was there back in 2004, my first long trip in my new Škoda Fabia. I didn't even remember until you said it here that the road wasn't paved all the way to Grense Jakobselv, but I do remember paddling in the river and being aware not to go over half way. There were no elk to be seen in the dense undergrowth on the other side that day though; nor Russian military, for that matter. But it was early July, the weather was nice, and we picniced on the beach. I really need to get back there. I miss that part of the world. I never got to go down the Øvre Pasvik road though; I so wanted to, but my travelling companion said "leave something for next time". That "next time" is yet to come. Oh I do hope they put the ferries back on from Newcastle again soon.

I would be a LOT more concerned traveling to the UK than to Russia - for sure!

I've come to expect wonderful videos from you, and I'm never disappointed! This was really interesting, and, as usual, beautifully filmed. More, please! Greetings from Devon.

Grense Jakobselv - I was there on 1st September, passed King Oscar II Chapel and stayed one night directly at Barentssea. Unforgettable 😍

u r a good environmentalists i thank u for using cycle for ur travel . i support ur endeavour and ur channel for this

Oh I love the drama! What amazing roads up there :-)

What a journey. What a ride. Would like to cycle to the far north of Norway some day

Hi Matthew, great video as always. The bikes are there from refugees crossing the border. The law says they can't travel by foot or motor vehicles BUT do not mention bikes. So they travel over on bikes given to them by the Russians who export their refugee costs.

Not at all the kind of video I expected to watch, though I'm happy I did. Wonderful

Love it! Thank you!

Ah yes - more ‘bikes as tools of discovery’ - so good to see and incredibly interesting, many thanks

Great film, an amazing trip.

Another great video.

Congratulations with first 20K subscribers. Plz upload more videos 🎉🚴

I have cycled to Kirkenes and Grense Jakobselv in 2012. Fascinating area. 😂

Great video

😂 you had me there, where you stopped because you heard something in the bushes, you’re heart stopped, I stopped breathing that’s not better, luckely it was a reindeer 😊 Love you’re video’s 👋

Looks like a great route!

Interesting to see what it's like over there !

Was by the border crossing myself in 2021. Did not know about the chapel at that time. Planning a new trip in 2025, maybe then I will be able to see the chapel. Went to the north cape. but truly never went as far towards Jacobselv, really because I did not think much about it other than it being a river between Norway and Russia which also marked the border. Next time will be through Finland / Sweden. To see more. Maybe closer to the Russian border, all the way to the point where Finland, Norway and Russia meet. Thank you for this video.

From what I've heard and read about this Norway-Russia border crossing things were much more tense during the Cold War. Back then this crossing was literally a part of the Iron Curtain between the East and West. Nowadays things aren't as intense as they were during the Cold War.

Seems like a nice place to take the bike at in the summertime.

Good Job Matheew😘

It is also the oldest and only remaining nato to russia border that has been there since the formation of Nato, as there was no warsaw pact countries between Norway and Russia, and Norway being a forming member of Nato, and the border being close to Russias largest naval base in Murmansk.

Grense Jakobselv is the most special place! And Oscar 2. chapel is a must! Actually its the reason for Norway and Russia was right there. Its so close to Russia, and that was planned by the building the chappel there. l was there as a army patrol. The beach is so perfect, and its so far north, you will never find a border that long north anywhere.

Want to go there with my camper next summer! Ferry to Helsinki and drive up. Adventure! Was at the world end in Norway this summer, fantastic views! On the way there we stopped at Drammen, also very beautiful! Unfortunately flooded a week later.

Great! Wonderfull Norway!

❤❤❤❤❤ that area, peninsulas, and regions. I tell anyone if they get a chance to visit that area. Had lunch at the picnic table at the border, spent the night at Grense Jakobselv at the Barents Sea, and beyond belief the quietness all along the FV8860. Didn't realize at the time but the land I could see in the distance was Vardo. Had a similar feeling while trying to take a picture of the Russian side, noticing that we were being watched, put down the camera. I was talking with a Norwegian Military Personnel and he said we were not allowed to take any pictures of the border buildings. Noticed that a tour bus that went there just to see it, and not cross it, with not a single person with a camera out.

Nice video Mathew! Which bag you are using too fly your bike? Cheers

Super cool 😄

4:50 is pure projection. It was Norway that killed over 100 deers to stop them from crossing into Russia.

I was a Border Gaurd in 1973 not far north but on Korpfjell Borderstation

Hello Matthew. I think you had an exiting ride. In juni 42 years ago I visited Svanvik boarder high school in Pasvik. We should run the Norwegian championship in orienteering long distance, that in these days would have been called ultra long. We were picked up by a bus at the airport at nine o'clock in the evening, and a guide gave a history lesson on the road against Svanvik. There we were servered danner in bright sunshine at midnight. The day after we run cross country orienteering in the woods along the Pasvik river. This was of course in the cold war and in the woods we passed soldiers sitting in bunkers as listening posts with large binoculars following things that came along on the other side of the border. Now the Russian Autocrats have destroyed the interpersonal relationships that had been built up. Now everybodu must cheer for Jkraine and hope the best. 🇺🇦🇺🇦Slava Ukraine and glory to their great heroes 🇺🇦🇺🇦

Lots of guys has made this road trip. No Problemo!

? this road is not hidden at all. Everybody on Pasvik excursions goes there.... There is also Pasvik reserve on the russian side, and near Nyrud, a narrow long islet/island named Varlam visited for its diverse biotypes. This Varlam islet was the home, before Revolution of a norwegian ornithologist, Hans Schaanning,, who after moved to Noatun on the other shore. The trade on these areas was quite developed in Middle-Ages, in russian it's part of Pomor trade and subculture, and the name of the city Murmansk derivates from the word "nordmann" ie. in scandinavian "norwegian", with "n" softened in a "m". The old name of the settlement before the city in Romanov times was Romanov-na-Murman. around 0:23: no, Grense Jakobslev/Borisoglebsk is not the only Schengen-Russia crossing open by now. There are three crossings in Estonia, main one Narva of course, two in Latvia (main one Terohova on M9 to MSK) and the crossings to Kaliningrad from/to Poland and Lithuania. how do you think NATO regimes do bring in/out their own agents if all border crossings shut down?

I will retire in a couple of years - watch out for me! I will be there some day! a very nice story!

awesome❤

I read the title first as "Hiding in the Arctic Road Along my Norwegian-Russian Brother"

In 1974 I drove to the North Cape through Finland and we though about driving to the Russian Border, but never got that far. They still had ferries from Repvåg by then.

Beautiful, except for the simulated reindeer murder, whilst drinking my morning coffee...🇧🇻🦌

I missing Kirkenes and Sør-Varanger, in 1996 i had my military service there, as boarder solider and we even meet brown bear in Passvikdalen.... 😀😁

Well, you proved me wrong. I predicted you wouldn't make a video about Grense Jakobselv. Not that scenic in the North Norway style, drones will draw unwanted military attention, and so on. But no, I was wrong. Congratulations, great video!

You took the nicest route in Finmark I live in Varanger. And it is much nicer than going to the northern cape. Vardo and Hamningberg is also the real arctic. Not just the arctic circle.

I was in Murmansk / Monchegorsk in July this year. It was pretty alright, a bit of poverty is to be suspected but the Russian way of life is just so different than the norwegian one in may ways. But also extremely similar in many more. All in all I'll have to say that people around Murmansk / Monchegorsk are extremely friendly, if not a bit shy / unintrested. It's a extremely vast country, and it's easy to tell that the north has a hard fight every year with the permafrost / insane amounts of snow and ice that builds up underground. But their roads for the most part are on par with Norway, and defiantly better than Bergen's. (joke but not quite) The cuisine is extremely good, the prices are extremely cheap. A good general rule in Russia is: if you don't "fuck around" you won't "find out", which I think is a good deterrent to not act like a benign moron. As I have been very lucky in my upbringing and come from the states, I would frankly say that Russian rural people and American rural people are almost per definition the same people in their values, views, kindness and hospitality. They did not see me as a foreign NATO agent / spy, (which i kinda feared due to the stigma of Russia / KGB / NKVD / FSB stereotype, but rather as a random dude which they were more curios about than anything else. Thanks to my girlfriend who is Russian, and my somewhat basic Russian I spoke to proper bandits from the 90s. Also if they ask to play cards, deny as fast as possible. But also spoke to a lot of random people with their own random lives, and their biggest fear of the west is that all we have is hatred torwards them, because hatred is a tool of division and is the most promoted tool of every government as of late. If not for goverments every nation could work as one, but we are forced to be learned our ways of life through harshness of history, rather than the promise of the future.

JOLLY GOOD: regards D end.

I was there last summer!

It is not the only one Schengen area border crossing which is open to Russia. Poland has also left open the crossings, Finland as well.

I know that road. Travelled it four years ago on my motorbike. Weather was much worse that time, otherwise pretty much the same, including the Norwegian soldiers.

It used to be Finland on the other side of that small stream...just saying

I've driven along this road, in the middle of the night... although, it was June, so not dark...

This vid is some Jack Ryan level type of thriller!!

Is there any way one can trespass the border line?...how much troublesome would that be ?

Glad there is a river crossing required.

@matthewnorway Do you have a video where you explain your gear, travel bags and how you disassemble to bike for a flight, and which fees the airlines will take?

Hmmm whats the songs u use?

Meanwhile me, a norwegian that hasnt been further north than Bergen....

As a previous Norwegian bordergard(the guys that sitt in those towers). This was waaay to dramatic, the rode is not secret and the Russian bordergard is not dangerous as long as we are in peace time. I can't gett a gripp on if this is ironic or not.

I came home two hours ago. Took my bike to the shop and back home. Not as impressive like what you guys did though. But when i was on my way back home i saw a man with only one leg. A one leg man is nothing you see everyday

Танки «Абрамс» могли бороться только с верблюдоводами и фермерами, но не могли бороться с русскими мастерами водки.

Normally i i don’t make long comments on videos, but this one deserves it. I have to say, being a person who has lived in Kirkenes for 20 years, i find this video borderline offensive. To make these “dramatic” scenes and state things like “dangerous” or “deserted” place. Its just rude, people live here, people spend their entire lives working for this town that they love, so that you can make dramatic misinformed content of it? I could point out so many things you got wrong. And the worst part is, had you made a normal video without all this bullshit, it would still have been a really cool interesting video. But its all about the views i guess🤷‍♂️ Just some things i would like to correct: 2:16 Those bikes are not from people crossing the border, its literally just the bikes of a guy who lives there, he collects lots of stuff, and he owns property there, including the souvenir shop. You think it looks deserted or creepy, but it’s just the backyard of one of our local hoarders… 3:27: That’s the Coast Guard, NOT the Royal Norwegian Navy. There is no war going on up here, so stop making it look like it. I could point out so much more, it’s aggravating. This is not political, this is just me “defending” my hometown. So please don’t start any comments about the war in ukraine or anything unrelated. I just want people to understand that what it shown in this video is many people’s homeland, and it is what they love. It is not a creepy place to make misinformed videos. Thank you

They say that Scandinavia has only recently risen from under the water. Just a few centuries ago, in its place there was a sea with small rocky islands. Did you see any signs of this?

Im gonna go fishing there

It's a good video, but the dramatic parts were not needed.

Wish you would make it just a little bit more dramatic..

The road is not hidden, it's in lain sight.

…fear..fear…lets create some more fear…..

TOO MUCH DRAMA , LOVE FROM AFRICA

I know some guys that went swimming in the border river. They were happy they got up before the Russians came over.

those bikes are there because it is illegal to walk between the borders. but you can drive aka bicycle, as it is not same as walking, they use that as a loophole and many migrants came trough Russia and to come to that border. they get the bikes from russian border guards.

Putin has forgotten that road himself. Tnx for reminding him🤣

Før gikk man frem og tilbake over grensa og var venna. Hvem er det som setter oss opp imot hverandre?

the bikes came from 2015? or round about. There were meny refugees coming through Russia, but first they weren't allows crossing by foot to seek asalym, therefore coming by bike. That time it was huge, but maybe that news didn't reach Oslo😁

Also there is a sign that says dont urinate in the river towards Russia or you will pay a large fine !! Cuz the river is the border and people have done it

We free camped at grense jacobselv in our camper van

1.20 fish alert!

How hard is it for a westerner to cross into the Russia from Norway or Finland at a secured border-crossing without a visa? Would you be turned away and told to go back?

As I recall it, those signs were there when I visited Oscar II's chapel at Grense Jakobselv some 15 years ago, long before the invasion of Ukraine (even if you count it from the occupation of Crimea). I did not visit Vaggatem though. Btw: That distance "fact" is incorrect. The distance to Oslo must be along the road, as it is "only" some 1400+ km in a direct line. There is certainly no road to the North pole so they are comparing different measurements.

I've waded to the far bank of the river

what happens if you ride a moos and it suddenly goes over the border?

And we constantly live there

In summer 2021 I was camping in that area with my home made box van camper for 1 month . This was a bit over dramatic lol. I would love to see how much over the top drama he would make out a actually trip from Kirkenes to Murmansk Russia. I have done that trip 2 times with my car and soon after passing the heavily guarded border into Russia you come to Nikel a industrial heavily polluted town. After that it is hours of driving trough a military area where no one lives (no one is allowed to live in that huge military area) and you see the Russian border high barbwire fence with with sand trap which is not meant to keep people from coming into Russia but it is meant to keep people INN Russia identical to high prison fence .... Also you pass several checkpoints with armed military guards on the way to Murmansk before you actually reach the Russian border passport control (think it was 1 hour or more to get to that point quite far into Russia). At the passport control it was 1 hour waiting in line to get your passport checked and approved by a clerk writing on a type writer with one finger 1 sign per second, probably the most slow typewriter in the entire world and that person alone was the reason for the 1 hour line at the passport check... After passing the border passport check it was more normal with no more armed guards and military checkpoints. But on the middle of a long stretch of road with 80km/h speed limit it was suddenly a 60km/h speed limit for no reason at all... The guy I traveled with said it was there for the police to catch speeders that ignored it, a literal speed trap lol ;) Rest of the trip the largest danger was Russian logging lorries which had the habit of driving in the middle of the road (presumably because they was drunk and stayed in the middle to be safe ... they looked like drunk drivers swerving all over lol.) We arrived in Murmans and had to check in at a hotel I had paid for even If I had private place to stay. That was part of the visa to stay in Russia for 2 days in the weekend. We went out on the town and for first time in my life girls actually asked me to dance... Later my friend that I was traveling with said the girls was doughters of Russian mafia boss lool ;) We had fun and then went home. Aslo shopping there was a pleasant experienc, thing tid cost the same as in Norway but it was in Rubles which was 1/4 the value so everything did cost 1/4 :) This was back in 2001, now the Ruble even with the war is much higher in value and increasing compered to the Norwegian shitcoin (that is what we call NOK now because it keeps falling faster and faster in value...)...