Escape to the UK Interlude: September 6th - 7th, 2023
We woke up to a light frost on the tent before sunrise. It was just warm enough with our equipment but we were looking forward to sleeping indoors and then flying south (since Scotland is known for being so warm in the fall :P). We packed up the tent wet and rolled to the bus station in Åndalsnes to catch the bus to Molde. This bus apparently does double duty as a school bus as there were a lot of school children who hopped on. This was another one of those moments where it hit me that I am not just on a summer vacation and I would not be returning to the classroom this fall.
When we arrived in Molde we headed straight to a cafe to kill some time and enjoy our last cafe in Norway (and feed our caffeine addiction). We really just did a cafe tour of Norway. We don't know much about how Norwegians dine, but we are fairly familiar with their bakery items!
We rolled our bikes towards home for the night. We knew the way as we were returning to the same KOA style RV park/cabin-land/campground that we had stayed at when we came through Molde on our way to Åndalsnes. But this time we were staying in one of their cabins for some extra luxury. And to not have to fly with a wet tent.
On our way we stopped at a bike shop to ask for boxes to put our bikes in for the flight to Aberdeen. We didn't think the first place we asked would work, so with this place open we decided to stop even though we had all of our stuff with us. They said yes we can have some boxes and Ben bought a new bike light because he needed one sort of and as a way to say thank you for the free bike boxes!
So now we had to figure out how to add these unwieldy cardboard monsters to our already unwieldy carbon monsters. We tried a few ways to strap them to the bikes and to our bodies and finally we figured out a system that allowed us to push our bikes and haul the boxes the last couple kilometers to the campground. Feeling pretty clownish, we hummed classic circus music as we struggled down the sidewalk with ropes digging uncomfortably into shoulders. With enough stubbornness anything is possible. Though in hindsight we should have delivered the bikes and come back for the boxes. But why make two trips when you can make one?! It works with groceries...mostly.
The campground let us check in early so we got to work doing laundry, drying our camping gear, taking showers, getting groceries, collecting bubble wrap, and disassembling our bikes. This was the first time we were doing this ourselves so we were a little nervous. But after struggling to get the pedals off as they were a little stuck (Thank God for Ben), it went surprisingly well. We shoved bubble wrap everywhere and taped the boxes up tight. Hopefully, they look this good on the other side.
The next morning we got a taxi to the airport. They assured us they would send their "largest vehicle", but it still all barely fit. With the bikes in boxes they become less useful as a transportation tool and more a transportation nightmare. We get to the airport way too early but with how obnoxious bikes are to fly it just makes it less stressful to not worry about a time crunch. We check in, all of it is automated and mostly works with the bikes but we had to ask for some help. Then she tells us to follow her with the boxes and we end up going a strange way to security...where they begin to check EVERYTHING. The unpack our carry ons to take our empty plastic jars as the peanut butter and nutella remnants in them were considered dangerous liquids. (Plastic jars are hard to come buy over here and glass is really heavy, so this loss really hurt!) They unpack the bikes (undoing our wonderful tape job and shifting around some carefully padded items) and then send us on through to the gate area where we realize...no one ever checked our identification...
We fly from Molde to Bergen and then wait for the next flight to Aberdeen. We nervously watch the baggage handlers loading bags and we see our bikes get on the plane and most of the bags. Crossing fingers we don't lose another one. We land in Aberdeen and again watch as the baggage handlers unload from the plane and we are starting to get hopeful all of the bags are with us. We get to border control and with a quick glance at our passport she tells us "You are not allowed recourse to public funds, and no working!" and waves us on. Got it. We get to baggage claim and success all of our bags come out on the conveyer and a poor baggage handler dragged our bikes through a back door for us. With all our stuff on a couple luggage carts, and still humming the circus tune, we head out the doors...and get trapped. The doors big enough for us to go through with the boxes need a human to operate. So we hit the HELP button and eventually someone comes and lets us out of the airport.
At the front we see some airport police and ask them if there is a spot they prefer we be for putting our bikes together. They were super helpful and directed us to an out of the way spot near the recycling bins and dumpsters so we can clean up easily. Thank you nice cops! Now to put our bikes together. This we had done before and it went smoother and quicker this time. We actually got them put together in a reasonable amount of time and we rolled away with some light left in the sky. It was pitch black by the time we got to our guest house for the night and no one was serving food any more...so we ate the 24 hour breakfast service (cereal) for dinner and went to bed dreaming of Scotland.
- Total days - 80
- Days touring (moving camp from A to B along the route, even if it's short) - 39
- Days we climbed - 21
- "Rest" days (sometimes involving *some* biking, but without the bags at least) - 15
- Total distance biked - 1,963 km (1,220 miles)
- Total ascent on bikes - 21,218 meters (69,613 feet)
- Most bike ascent in one day: 905 meters (2,969 feet)
- Most kilometers bikes in one day: 73 km (45 miles)
- Total distance bussed - 382 km (237 miles)
- Number of ferries - 16
- Nights camping - 60
- Nights inside - 20
- Nights free - 56
- Nights paid - 24
- Favorite junk food - SMASH! A delicious Norwegian concoction where they take a bugle-style chip and cover it in milk chocolate. Got us through many tough bike rides.
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