Back to the coast

Day 19: Malm-Hofles (122 km)

I was going to start one hour earlier today, at eight o’clock, in order to catch a ferry in the afternoon, so I changed my alarm to 6:40. However, I had forgotten that it was Saturday, so my alarm didn’t go off. I woke up at 7:20 anyway and checked the time on my mobile. Breakfast and packing took a bit more time than planned. So I finally started cycling today at 8:50.

Since I had a slightly higher average speed to start with, I soon gained back some of the lost time. I first cycled towards Namsos in sunny weather. In Namdalseid, I took a short hot chocolate break at a Shell station (free hot drinks with my cup), and in Namsos, I had my lunch break at a Circe K station – quick and easy today.

North of Namsos, the landscape changed. There were many small bays I passed and sounds I had to cross. At Salsnes, I could see the open sea again.

I saw my first reindeer today – first a group of five or six which quickly fled into the forest, then a single one which wasn’t quite that shy. I also met many more cyclists today than in the previous days (most of them German). It seems like there are many different routes to choose in the south, but that most people choose the route I am currently on which connects the North Trøndelag region with Bodø along the coast.

I caught the ferry from Lund to Hofles as planned at 17:10 and even had some time for a piece of apple cake with cream at the restaurant next to the ferry harbour. On the other side, there was also a restaurant. I decided to have dinner there so that I could save my dinners for the next days.

I considered to continue for a few more kilometres, but then I would have left the coast. The weather was so fine so that I wanted to stay close to the coast, so I set up my tent two kilometres behind the ferry harbour at Hofles.

Tomorrow I will go towards Brønnøysund which I will not reach though, most likely. The plan is to get as close as possible.