Andenes

I woke up at 7. Made breakfast and packed my stuff together then we left for the grocery store and the ferry to Andenes. Then we met John from the US and Ole (again). That was fun and we all had company on the ferry trip which was 1 hour and 40 minutes. Weather was lovely today, sun and no rain! There were headwinds but I'll rather have that instead of rain, which I had a lot yesterday. We said goodbye and all departed in different directions. I met John again a few times  in the beginning but then I think he was a lot faster than me. At 9 pm I was looking for a tentspot since I didn't wanna stop so late today and enjoy the basecamp life. I did for a short while and then it started to rain while I was making dinner so I had to move everything inside. By 11 pm the rain got very intense but now I am all cozy and dry inside. Distance today was 75 km

Tunnels passed: 1

 

 

 

 

 

Senja

I woke up really early but then I fell asleep again and suddenly it was 10.45 so I had a quick breakfast and packed my stuff together heading for the 12 o'clock ferry to Senja. Next one isn't until 5 pm so I really wanna get on this one. I just made it few minutes before 12 and the ferry was actually late. Then came Michele 5 minutes late. I spoke to him on the ferry. He's from Italy and just came from the airport in Tromsö. We had a coffee when we arrived at Senja and then we had company all day. We met a french guy and he was kind of special. He took our picture and said we would be online in one hour! We had god weather in the beginning but then it started raining a lot. We had some hard uphills but the view is to die for wherever you look. Just after midnight we arrived outside Gryllfjord and one of my most weird tentspots so far I think. Distance today was 78,4 km.

Tunnels passed: 6

View from tent at night.

Morning at basecamp Kvalöya.

Michele and me.

Michele.

Michele and crazy french guy.

Michele.

Michele.

The cyclist warning button.

Senja.

Senja.

Michele puts on raincover for shoes.

An old house.

Beautiful Senja!

Me and Michele at viewpoint Bergsbotn.

Arriving Gryllefjord.

Basecamp for the night.

Senja is Norway's second largest island (1569 square feet) and is located 69 degrees north. Nature is contrastfilled with midnightsun and northern light depending on the season. Barely 8,000 people live at the island. The countryside is characterized by deep fjords, beaches, steep mountains and vibrant fishing villages. The road winds up and down hills, in and out of fjords and through small fishing village, and villages clinging to narrow strips of land between the mountains and sea.

Kvalöya

I woke up early and when I looked out of my tent I could see that the fog had lifted and revealed the beauty of the world (the mountains). 7 am I was ready to hit the road again this beautiful morning. Just after 11 I reached Tromsö. I went to the library to use some internet like skype, check my mail and do some updates. I transfered all my pictures and had to go through these. First I bought myself a big cup of coffee. Tromsö library is so big and really nice, the staff are also very friendly and helpful. After this rest I was heading for Kvalöya. Then I met Carl-Henrik from Germany, my own personal guide to get the best route out of the town and over to Kvalöya. He also told me about good tentspots near Brensholmen. He had only lived here a couple of months but was very enthusiastic about this place. It was a nice road and then over the bridge. Kvalöya was really beautiful and bike roads were like a dream. Only when I came to Kattjforden it looked a bit like a ghost village. Old buses and car wrecks. Empty houses falling apart and not much people to see. It looked almost abandoned but I noticed some people still lived there. This was a long day for me but finally I arrived at the wonderful beach that CH promised me. At midnight I had set up the tent and dinner was in the making. There were already 3 tents when I came. I didn't sleep until 2 am. Tomorrow I will sleep really late! Almost 90 km today.

Tunnels passed: 1

 

 

 

 

Passing Lyngen on a rainy day

TM drove me to the crossing so I didn't have to go through the horrible Maursundtunnel. That means I'm back on my route again! It's raining today and the fog is low covering all the beautiful peaks at Lyngen. I took a ferry from Olderdalen to Lyngseidet and then I took the ferry from Svendsby over to Breivikeidet. Originally I planned to camp one night at Lyngen but now when I couldn't see anything then it's no use so I continued a while more and looked for a tentspot. I pitched the tent and made some indian cuisine. I made an early stop today but I got quite cold today after biking in the rain. Distance 73 km.

Tunnels passed: 2 small at Lyngen

Olderdalen.

Olderdalen. 

Norwegian ferry food!

Ferry to Lyngen.

Lyngen.

Lyngen.

Skjervöy

View from the tent over Ulöya.

After breakfast I said goodbye to Andreas. He went to Tromsö and I went to Skjervöy. Since I lived here 2 months last summer I wanted to see this place again. Tor Martin met me on the uphill after the bridge on bike that was nice! TM Bed & Breakfast offers coffee, hot shower, washing clothes, veggie pizza and all whatever you can ask. We said hi to Helge and Svanhild (they were like extra parents to me, so sweet) then we visited Sissel and Johan. We tried homemade eggnog, cloudberry liquor and TM tried red currant but from the look of his face it wasn't that great. 30 km today. I think this almost counts as a restday.

Tunnels passed: 1

Helge and TM.

Me and Helge.

Johan, TM and Sissel.

TM riding a bike.

Photo: TM Iversen

Tor Martin B&B.

 Thanks for the hospitality Tor Martin! Will pay you back if you come to Lofoten!

Ravelseidet

Today we went over Kvaenangen mountain pass which was so darn beatiful that I almost shed a tear. Up there we met Till from Germany. And this is wonderful because he told me that he dreamt of doing this trip for 20 years. Same day he retired he left home with his bike! He has been on the road for 6 weeks and now heading for North Cape. It makes me happy that he is now living his dream! We also met 2 french guys heading the same way. Then we arrived Storslett and had a great lunch at Bios with a beer and charging . Then we headed for the next mountainpass and set camp at Ravelseidet with a campfire and all. 66 km idag.

Tunnels passed: 0

 

 

(Some pictures by Andreas Christiansen)