Half way to Nordkapp

Day 20: Hofles-Brønnøysund (129 km)

Today, I wasn’t quite sure how far I would get. The weather forecast was really bad, so I wanted at least to take the ferry from Holm to Vennesund after eighty kilometres and maybe continue a bit further towards Brønnøysund. The ferry goes not very often on Sundays. I could have aimed either for the 13:00 or 15:20 departure. In order to make it by 13:00, I needed to leave at eight, according to my estimation. So I set my alarm to 6:40 and planned to be efficient in the morning.

When I woke up, it was raining outside. I considered for a moment to take the later ferry, but it stopped raining after a while. When I was taking down my tent and getting packed, a heavy rainstorm started. I needed to finish packing and then took shelter at a parking lot nearby. Here I waited for almost thirty minutes. Then I decided I would get cold if I stood here any longer, so I just started cycling.

It rained almost without a break for the first three hours. I figured soon that I would not make the 13:00 ferry because I lost time in the beginning when I was waiting, and I cycled more slowly in the rain than I would have otherwise.

When I approached the ferry harbour at twenty past one, however, I saw a boat coming towards this harbour. I thought that there was a small chance that the ferry was actually delayed, so I increased my pace and reached the ferry just when they started boarding. This was very fortunate because it saved me almost two hours.

With new energy after a sausage and a svele on board, I continued my ride. It had stopped raining now, but the sky was very cloudy still. As long as it was dry though, I thought that I could continue for a couple of more hours and maybe even reach Brønnøysund which was 50 kilometres away from the ferry.

Thirty kilometres before Brønnøysund, I passed a petrol station. I wondered if I should stop for a coffee or continue as long as it was dry. I went for the coffee – fortunately, because after five minutes, another heavy shower started. This one took fifteen minutes. Then I continued, and after five more minutes, the sun was actually out again.

I continued in more or less sunny conditions to Brønnøysund where I checked in a hotel. (No wonder that Olav Thon became a billionaire when they sell rooms in a Thon Hotel in Brønnøysund for 1350 kr!)

At Brønnøysund, I am approximately half way to Nordkapp now. I have in total cycled 1650 kilometres and am a bit ahead of my time plan. Tomorrow, I will continue towards Sandnessjøen. Bodø, from where I am going to take a boat to Lofoten, is less than 400 kilometres away.