Figure 8 On A Bike

We turned around from the climb on Lochnagar quickly and repacked the bags for a bikepacking loop without the climbing gear. We are starting to get tired of the constant packing and unpacking at this point in our trip but this packing was a unique puzzle to repack as we figured out how to slim down our load, what can we leave behind and what do we need and what can fit in the bags we decided to limit ourselves to. Thankfully, the hostel was fine with us leaving piles of stuff in their carport which is just one of the many reasons we love Ballater Hostel. Once we got the items figured out we rolled away from Ballater to start our 5 day bikepacking loop of the Cairngorms. We felt still heavy, but comparatively light and free! Who knew getting rid of a rope and a pile of metal could feel so good! Look at those slimmed down bikes!

Waking up in Aberdeen we enjoyed the hotel breakfast for the second time (since that was our dinner), re-organized all our bags after the flight, and got on the bikes probably a little late, as if it was just another day with nothing new. Of course a lot of things *were* different; the culture shock started right away as we had to continually remind ourselves to ride on the left side of the road, adding extra confusion as we tried to interpret intermittent bike lanes and signs directing us on and off the sidewalk. We had a bunch of errands to do and supplies to get in order to be properly situated in a new country (it's hard to cook on the far end when you can't fly with stove gas or a lighter, and Norwegian climbing guidebooks aren't much help in Scotland). Any sense of "same-old same-old" definitely shattered when we arrived at the Asda (supermarket) and had to dodge waves of uniformed adolescents rolling through the snack and take-away sections, since a nearby...

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