Out of the Arctic: August 3rd - August 10th, 2023
It was finally time to move on from Lofoten and our experience on Vågakallen/Nordryggen dictated that we needed to drop the plan of climbing Stetind (Norway's national Mountain). It was a much harder grade and more elevation. So...based on how Vågakallen went we decided to not become a rescue story. In order to get off of Lofoten we either needed to bike what we had already biked or do some public bus shenanigans again. So we anxiously waited at a bus stop, asked the driver, (Wait is that the same driver that Ben was aggressively befuddled at a few weeks ago!?), and loaded the bags and away we went back to Leknes. The bus was running very behind so we assumed we would miss the connecting bus from Leknes to Moskenes, but the next one had waited for our late bus. Quick unload the bikes, the bags, reload the bikes, the bags, success we made it! This driver tried to aggressively make up the time lost and an RV clipped off one of the side mirrors along the way. A little stressful but we got to Moskenes and waited for the ferry to Bodø.
We had planned for this 4 hour ferry to be a time to do some research on the next climbing area we were headed to, but we only managed to book a hotel room for the night before Ben had to make his weaving way to the outdoor deck in order to get visuals to help his brain remember which way his stomach should be oriented. Dreams of sailing with Scott may need to be revisited.
We had a lovely hotel stay in Bodø, we cooked at the picnic tables next to the church up the street. "Hey, we should pull out the book and look at the info on the next climbing area we are headed to." Nah, let's sleep instead. The next morning we enjoyed the hotel breakfast and Ben again resolved to be caffeine free...right after this hotel stay with such good coffee. We again thought we should look at the book on the next climbing area we were heading to, and never looked at it.
We headed out of Bodø, stopping at the best bike mechanic in Norway who did some quick magic for Ben's bike issues and while pausing for groceries I had my longest Norwegian conversation with a nice retired social studies teacher! Great way to start this section!
On the way to the climbing area we stopped at Saltstraumen which has the strongest tidal currents in the world, so when the tides change and you time it right you get to see some very cool swirley water. Fishermen love it as it stirs up the water bringing nutrients to the surface which attracts the fish. We didn't time it perfectly for the full effect, but it was still pretty neat.
When we arrived at the Blåfjell climbing area (14 km out of our way) we saw a pretty cool wall that should have some climbing on it (which could describe all of Norway). We pulled out the guide book to find the information on the area...and the area is not in here. "Susan how did you hear about this place?" "I don't know I thought it had to be in the book!? It's not in there so...YOU must have found info online!?" Ben pulls out his phone and of course we had no cell data. On the main wall we found 2 or 3 bolts on routes that must have been mixed lines (using bolts and some trad gear), but we could not find any anchors. On the other side of the road where we were hunting for camping and cell signal...we found a total of 10 bolts that seemed totally useless. Just bolts in the ground or anchors over a bouldering route...what is this place? With no info we decided to sleep and move on the next day. We should have looked up more info in our nice hotel. But both of us assumed the book would have the info. How the heck did we hear about this place!? Oh well moving on... there's got to be more climbing along our bike route, right? There's cliffs everywhere!
We headed onwards and our next day of biking found a very cute geology trail. We also found a really nice rest area with good cell signal in the early afternoon, so we stopped biking a little early to do some research on a different climbing area to maybe head to. Ben's caffeine-withdrawal headache (no coffee that day) briefly strengthened his resolve to stick to tea only. We cooked dinner, charged our battery in the bathroom (it was a *really* nice rest stop!) and found information on a climbing area that is also a cool hiking spot, Torghatten. Great, also a detour off the bike route, but this time we have topos!
Good weather and gentler hills (but there's always hills) made for pleasant riding the next day. An interesting sculpture landscape installation, a roadside toilet/monument to a downed WW2 submarine, great views of the mountain-island Fugløya, and even a trash animal! Maybe our patron saint? We also started leapfrogging the circus - fully loaded Ben and Susan on bikes moves at about the same rate as an entire three ring circus and probably look just as silly. I guess we could really commit to this vagrancy thing and join on as full-time clowns? I bet Norwegian clowns still get full job benefits. We got surprised by the next ferry at Ørnes because it only ran a few times a day (most of them go pretty often), but luckily if we waited a couple hours we could still catch the last one. The waiting made it impossible to resist the ice cream shop at the dock, but Ben gave up because he was intimidated by the disorderly glob of people packed inside and the unclear system for ordering and getting the ice cream. Lucky for him I'm braver and got us the treats. We ended the day just after the ferry, in a little rain, and biking to the first wide-enough spot on the road to pitch our tent.
So even with the misadventure to Blåfjell things were going OK... and then the rain came. Day 1 of all day rain biking we hopped from grocery store to grocery store, buying food as an excuse to hide inside and try to dry out a little. At the first one a lovely lady at the grocery store tried to give us free coffee which Ben declined stating the no coffee thing is just starting to work! But at the second grocery store he said ok just one cup so we can huddle inside and try to be a little less wet. The no coffee thing is hard when it is wet. As we approached each ferry crossing with its promised waiting room we prayed the space would be nice and warm and comfortable and sometimes that was true. One waiting area had a little free library packed into an old phone booth so that was a good reason to stay out of some of the rain. Again we found the first widest spot after an evening ferry (out of Jektvik) and crawled into the tent.
The next morning was bright and sunny so we exploded all of our soggy things and hung them up in the hot sun on the side of the road. The day was HOT. The first uphill I started overheating and had to stop for a clothing change. We went on as the day got windier and paused at a convenient but surprising Thai restaurant in Brattland. We ate outside in the wind as their inside was boiling and catching flying pieces of lettuce was better than being inside. The wind managed to knock over our coffee, but that was just the world trying to help Ben with his resolve to stop drinking coffee and not a red flag that the biking was about to get rough. After lunch, we hopped back on the bikes and in the beginning the wind was going the same direction we were going so we got to experience having a nice tail wind push us down the road. It was glorious, almost like having an e-bike (or so I imagine). And then we turned a corner, as one always does on the Norwegian coast.
We struggled against this wind past WW2 memorials, trees that were bent over sideways (Oh that is why the trees are so thin and bendy here), and birds that were getting tossed to the other side of Norway. After we were blown one too many times into the oncoming traffic lane we decided to hide behind some rocks on the side of the road to see if the wind would die down at all. It didn't, and this was not a good place to camp and there will be more rocks so back on the bikes to struggle on. With all of this Ben's bike starts doing a new weird thing. He noticed the ride was no longer smooth and he stops to check and his rear tire had developed a bulging spot. Sustained headwinds of 25-30 mile an hour with gusts of 55 miles per hour are not good for bikes or for bikers. I convince Ben it is ok to stop short of our kilometer goal for the day given the adverse weather conditions and we set up camp at another cute roadside bathroom spot. We spent a nervous evening hoping the winds wouldn't break the tent as Ben calculated how many kilometers his doomed tire needed to get him before the next major town. And the rain came back.
The next day we woke up to more wind. In the morning a nice German dad in a camper van gave us coffee. Despite Ben's desires to be coffee free we couldn't turn down coffee from a man in a van. This day we were looking at finishing biking around the Catfjord (so called by me because the road on Google maps makes it look like a cat, though after it spent 2 days yelling at us I think I should refer to it as Lionsfjord). We aimed for the next grocery store and though the wind was not helping us it was no longer trying to body slam us into the pavement or motorists. We made it to the grocery store in Utskarpen and bought the most delicious local strawberries and enjoyed them as we stared up the giant hill out of Catfjord, it would be our biggest single climb yet with the loaded bikes. Thankfully the still strong winds were at our backs now (because it's Norway and we'd turned another corner) and we hoped that they would help us up the hill. We left the store and started the approach to the hill when I had to ask Ben "Hey does your tire feel worse? Because it is now hitting your fender." He stopped and magically the bloated part stopped in a way for me to see it. It was a giant zit at this point (those of you who know Invader Zim imagine Pustulio on Ben's back tire). And poof! It popped while I described it to Ben and his tire deflated. That was about as good of an outcome as we could hope for. Ben had been imagining it bursting catastrophically as he was riding at speed and sending him over the handlebars. So it bursting when he was stopped was very kind. Ben quickly popped the tire off, patched it with superglue and duct tape and threw in his spare inner tube. I am feeling very proud of Ben at this point and our ability to "fix" our own bikes. Ben meanwhile recalculated how long his patch job had to last and still had visions of the patch job failing spectacularly and sending him over the handlebars on the way down the Catfjord hill.
But first we have to make it up that hill. The wind mostly helped us, but also sometimes made us really erratic. Perfect for biking along with all those cars! At the top there was a nice view point where people were staying WAY back from the edge and still laughing nervously as the wind shoved them around as they posed for photos. We finally had some cell signal and Ben was relieved to see the next big town did in fact have a bike shop. On the big downhill he was taking it slow due to his fear of his tire exploding, and I kept it slow so as not to fly off the road on the tight switchbacks (remember switchbacks in Norway means this was a BIG hill that they were taking seriously). We were rewarded with amazing views of waterfalls on the way down. We made it to the small town of Nesna and planned to catch the ferry before finding camping.
As we waited for the ferry a fast, light, free Italian biker asked to borrow our pump as his tire popped and he didn't have a pump...or a spare inner tube....so I also left him with the rest of our super glue...He had gone 4000 km and never needed to pump his tires or change a flat. "I have very good tires" ok dude...but you have a giant hill and quite the distance off route to the nearest place to buy an inner tube...Good luck man. Meanwhile Ben's tire was still looking pretty sus so he was busy duct-taping a bandage around the outside. But also now his rear shifter was being weird and wouldn't pop back into place like normal? Probably shouldn't try to fix that one ourselves...
Feeling morally superior for being able to take care of Ben's tire woes like professionals we hopped on the ferry and on the other side stopped to make dinner. But the wind would not leave us alone! The wind flung our beloved cutting board into the sea. This cutting board is a relic from Ben's pizza delivery days and became one more thing the wind had robbed Ben of (he was feeling a little discouraged). After dinner and another ferry coming in and out the movement of the water made it possible for me to scramble down a ladder and snatch it! Hah! Take that WIND! Little did you know my bike is called the Rocinante! (Yes, Hayden I started reading the Expanse series (yes, Mom I know this is actually a reference to Don Quixote)). Also we noticed a tear in the floor of our tent so had to patch that up. Sigh.
The next day was beautiful riding over a gorgeous bridge into Sandnessjøen. Sandnessjøen meant indoor housing, bike shops where Ben could buy a new tire, and of course coffee (Ben just needed the coffee to help with changing the tire, soon we will go coffee free, he swears). Ben changed his tire in a park while we waited to check into the Air BnB, which was up a steep hill outside of the city center so we were extra sweaty and raggedy looking when we rolled up. Luckily the host was awesome (even left us a candy dish) and had a really nice apartment above her garage where we recovered and talked with friends on the phone and made an amazing dinner of salmon and potatoes. Being up on a hill let us enjoy the spectacular sunset... Oh wait there's sunsets now?? We'd crossed the Arctic Circle a few days ago. Uh-oh I guess we have to start worrying about nighttime and getting caught in the dark. But that also means we're finally getting south!
I like the Ben vs coffee side story.
ReplyDeleteAlso LOL at the Italian fast light free cyclist. Broooo.