Figure 8 On A Bike

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/cabi...

With about a week remaining on our visa for Norway, we had time for one last excursion but also needed a real plan about how to escape to the UK from the Schengen zone. Storm Hans over the summer had washed away some of the rail bridges to Oslo, so managing to catch trains farther south wasn't looking good (not to even mention the number of different trains we'd need to get from Oslo to the UK). We'd really wanted to check out some of the southern Norwegian mountains, in the Romsdal area, and discovered that Widerøe (now our favorite airline) ran a flight from Molde to Aberdeen, in Scotland. Perfect! We definitely had some apprehension about disassembling and packing the bikes ourselves and then flying with them, but it sounded much more palatable than taking 6 different trains. As for how to get ourselves and the bikes all the way south to Molde (without having to pedal)... there's a boat! Boats are our favorite because there's no fuss (well, sometimes my seasick...

We left Flatanger campground , excited by the prospect of not sharing a kitchen that night. We started the bike ride back to the junction already fairly tired from climbing but the biking went smooth and quick all things considered. It kind of helps when you know the route and about where you will camp that night. We set up camp at a beautiful spot by the water with a bench and a big fire pit. We had some time so we did some yoga on the beach and skipped some rocks at sunset. It was an incredibly calm evening and we appreciated it all the more due to the recent chaos camping. Pretty riding back from Flatanger

After what felt like a hectic time heading south from Torghatten, Nature gave us the perfect excuse to chill out for a bit at Flatanger - 2 days of solid-to-patchy rain. Flatanger is known for having, literally, the most difficult rock climb in the world, and most of the climbing there is centered around Hanshallaren, a cave carved out from remarkably sound and solid granite. The elite-level climbers still had plenty to stay busy with, since the hardest routes keep you out of the rain by climbing upside-down all around the cave, but anything we could even think of attempting was pretty well drenched. The amenities at the campground were basic, though; we had a nice, dimly-lit but mostly-clean barn to hang out in, stocked with worn surplus recliners and a tired Ikea sectional that *probably* didn't have any mice living in it, and even though it was equipped with a whopping 3 power outlets the lack of internet access meant we couldn't be terribly useful in there. So we biked ba...

From Sandnessjøen we started with mostly flat and good weather biking. We stopped at a really old church (Alstahaug church, built in 1150) and looked inside at the deep walls designed to keep out the cold and tried to remember Christian symbolism as we stared at the art behind the altar. From the church, I sped down the road fleeing allergies as Norwegians cleaned out their barns. I felt mighty proud of myself for catching up and passing the e-bike tour group. I got to the next ferry in Tjøtta and it looked about ready to leave but the worker told me they were waiting 10 minutes. Ben just made it, literally biking onto the ferry right before they closed the ramp. So satisfying! We rode on, past a sculpture landscape art installation that was a little underwhelming, but also impressive for the work that must have gone into it once you thought about it. A little too much to interpret in this artwork

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 stressfu...

Bonus photos from our time in Lofoten! Fun or neat things that didn't make it into any of our posts. Views on the ferry from Melbu

Still climbin' Typically, when you climb a big ol' mountain in the US, you get an "alpine start", meaning stupid early in the morning, so to climb Vågakallen we set our alarms for 4 AM and hit the trail by 6 (which is still far too late to be a "true" alpine start). Well, that's not a good way to do things in Norway. The trail was absolutely SOAKED from the nighttime dew, and it wasn't long before we were dripping as well. And, despite the clear forecast, the peak itself was obscured in an impenetrable blanket of sea fog. Even though we'd done most of the approach, it was about 9 AM and the fog showed no signs of lifting, so we were discouraged and turned back. Several other groups passed us heading up and seemed determined to wait out the fog. Pretty lighting in the early morning on the approach to Vågakallen

The climbing episode! Now just a few kilometers outside Henningsvær , we'd set up the tent near the Gandalf Wall crag at a free climber's camping area. Besides the unbeatable price and proximity to some of Lofoten's most well-trafficked routes (and the wild blueberries that were all just ripening), it's also a popular spot because of the unlimited free water! Some enterprising climbers "tapped" the water pipe into Henningsvær, so now gallons of fresh water just flow out onto the rocks. Either it's not that much in the grand scheme or this part of Norway just has that much water to spare. Collecting a little free water at the campsite

It was finally time to reach the fabled Lofoten archipelago, a promised-land of world-class climbing! Waking up at Trollskåla, the first step was to bike to Melbu and snatch some groceries before we caught the next ferry. The morning was gray and groggy (and the ocean smelled like sulfur?) and my allergies had finally also made it across the Atlantic. I was cranky at Susan in the grocery store, trying not to scratch my eyes out, so she gave me an antihistamine and sent me to a bakery for pastries and coffee. We were in much better moods getting on the boat. A nice guy from Finland gave us some stickers and told us how he bikes about 150 - 200 km a day and has done this route 3 times now. Nice... will you take some of our bags? Views just after getting off the ferry

July 9th started off on Senja with a slow morning and a slow uphill. We happened to see Bent driving in (he is easy to spot in a conspicuous neon green zombie apocalypse SUV) as we slowly pedaled back up the tunnel. After the tunnel there was still more hill, we made it up a pretty long hill and at the top we talked to some other bike packers from Switzerland who were battling the same flies we'd fought the other day. They looked like they had been doing this for a while and were very friendly. There was a lovely ride downhill with views of Segla Mountain and then another tunnel. Views of the other side of Segla mountain

We left Tromsø slowly. Definitely were delaying some goodbyes with a long breakfast and more rounds of tea and coffee. Some readers may know that Ben and I tried to rid ourselves of caffeine addiction before we went on this trip. That is out the window at this point. Cristobal is far too good at caffeine preparation between being Chilean and thus maté, being married to a Welsh woman and thus tea, and living in Norway and thus coffee. Leaving Tromsø we had to tackle the big hill to get to the other side of the city...I had to push. My excuse was I saw another guy pushing his bike...so I do what the Norwegians do. We made it out of town without any extra stops and head on our way. The Eurovelo 1 route had some construction on it so we detoured along the coast. We weren't too upset by this change as it removed a lot of elevation gain. We also got to check out some ancient petroglyphs which was pretty neat. Susan coming up the bridge out of Tromsø

Waiting for us in Tromsø were our friends Ellie and Cristobal. Ellie is actually from Wales in the UK, but Susan met her while they were both teaching English in Punta Arenas, Chile; Ellie met her husband Cristobal there as well, and somehow they've now moved about as far away from the southern tip of Chile as you can get on a globe. They were out working when we arrived but left us a key to get in and an adorable welcome message, which worked out really well because it gave us time to clean up a little. When you haven't seen someone for 7 years you probably don't want your smell to be the first thing they notice! Life's too short for bad maps

Back on the bus! This one from Alta was little bit busier but bikes still fit! We got off in Storslett to bike a big hill. That one was tough, but we were rewarded with our first view of the Lyngen alps. This view made me need to sing some hymns. I’ve sung Catherine McAuley’s Suscipe more times on this trip than I have since being at Mercy. We managed to find a campsite with this view. Got Ben to take a creek bath with me. It was cold so it was more of a creek squeak. Which was fine as we needed to be quick to hide from the bugs. Nice views during the bus ride to Storslett

We needed to leave Honningsvåg … But first shopping! We couldn't keep going on cold dinners and no caffeine in the mornings. So to the Intersport to replace as much of the missing items as we could. Managed to get almost the same style stove, some fuel for it, 2 pots, and the most important a pannier to put it all in. Picked up some lighters at the COOP and got made fun of for asking for a receipt – hey man if the airline is maybe going to pay for this that’s a coffee some day! Then back to the hotel to pack everything up and with a little bit more cursing from Ben off we went south for a 50 kilometer day. All loaded up, and Susan with an even number of bags!

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.” - Philip Dick Camping at Nordkapp, we got our first experience of sleeping outdoors with the midnight sun. All those pesky, dark rain clouds had decided to leave, so at 3 AM it was bright and hot and we both woke up and sat around for a while. I ate a few cookies so that my body could keep making quadracep muscles. After a few more hours of fitful “rest”, we finally called it and got up to make breakfast and break camp. Our breakfast pastries were quite good, but the sugar-free lemon tea tasted like poison (we couldn’t brew our own due to the missing stove). Grocery shopping in a new country is always a guessing game; you win some and lose some. Nordkapp All the same, I was feeling much better than the previous day, so we went back to the visitor center and posed for a photo with the monument at this edge of the world. From Cabo Froward to Nordkapp, and many places in between, Susan and I’s time toge...

Well… that’s not quite right. The sun is always up in Honningsvåg, but the amount of actual sunshine varies quite a bit. We woke up at the hostel to a rich blue sky dotted with a few clouds. Since we paid for breakfast, Susan got the chance to try out all the tubes of food goo (her favorite was the “one with a fish on it”), and then we lugged our boxes outside to see if we could manage to assemble the bikes. Assembling the bikes outside the hostel  

At about 8 PM on Tuesday 6/20, some 28 hours after leaving Susan’s house on Monday (35 hours including the time change), we finally arrived at Hostel Vanderhjem outside Honningsvåg. Getting dropped off at Eppley Airfield by Susan's dad