Day 33: Tromsø-Nordmannvik (93 km)

Today I have to praise the meteorologists: They predicted very accurately that it would start raining this morning and keep raining all day. We left Tromsø at 9:30, and it had just started raining lightly. But it soon got worse. Our goal today was, despite the weather, to take the last two ferries on our trip and reduce the distance to Alta to under 200 kilometres so that we can reach Alta on Tuesday. 

After 51 kilometres, we reached the first ferry from Breivikeidet to Svensby. Our timing was quite bad and we had to wait for one hour. They didn’t have a waiting room which most ferry harbours have, but a toilet with a floor heating, so it was warm and cozy in there. 

The second and final ferry of this trip (at some point I need to count them all, but I believe I have taken between twenty and twenty-five) took us from Lyngseidet to Olderdalen. This time, our timing was perfect and the ferry left five minutes after we arrived there. 

After cycling for one more hour, we started looking out for tent spots. This was difficult today because it had been raining heavily all day, and all meadows were really wet and the ground very soft. We found one spot with a gravel ground which worked OK. The disadvantage with this place: it is quite close to a camping site. And indeed, after half an hour – I was just eating my soup – the co-owner of the camping site drove by, honked and told us from his caravan that we were too close to the camping site and couldn’t stay here. We played the “sorry didn’t know” card and told him we couldn’t leave again because of the weather. He said something about being back in a few hours and left. It is eleven o’clock in the evening now and still raining heavily, so I guess he won’t be back. 

We can be quite happy with our performance today – cycling more than 90 kilometres in the worst weather I have had so far on this trip. Alta is 196 kilometres away. I didn’t take any picture today. Imagine me being wet during the day and lying in tent during the evening, poking the roof of my tent from time to time so that the lake which forms in the middle of it will run down to the side. Let’s hope that the weather report is correct tomorrow as well. Then it should stop raining at some point in the morning – probably after we leave. 

Day 31: Brensholmen-Tromsø (58 km)

On Friday, we had a rather short distance to cover to Tromsø. It was sunny in the morning. The way to Tromsø across the island Kvaløya led us along the coast first and later over a nice green plateau. 

We reached Tromsø around lunch time and enjoyed a lasagne at Skarven restaurant, sitting outside in the sun. Then I visited a bike shop and some other stores before I went to my accommodation. I tried couchsurfing for the first time. My hosts, Guro and Niklas live in a very nice flat with a great view over Tromsø, not far from the centre. We enjoyed a delicious dinner with shrimps and some wine and went out for a couple of drinks afterwards. 

On Saturday, we had a rest day. I met Wolf right after lunch. We had a coffee first and took a cable car up to a place with a beautiful view over Tromsø. Then we visited the polar museum with a great exhibition about the Norwegian polar history and trappers in the Arctic. 

In the evening I had dinner at Guro’s and Niklas’ together with some colleagues of Guro’s, accompanied with a good selection of wines (they all work at Vinmonopolet, the Norwegian state-owned wine shop). 

After two great days in Tromsø, our trip continued towards Alta. 

On the plateau at Kvaløya

Crossing the bridge to Tromsøya

Some snow left high above Tromsø

View over town from the top of the cable car

My generous hosts Niklas and Guro

The city that never sleeps

Day 31: Andenes-Brensholmen/Kvaløya (89 km)

We took a ferry this morning at 8:45 from Andenes to Grillefjord on the island Senja. Unfortunately, it was very misty today, so we didn’t see so much of the beautiful nature at Senja. 

There are two ways to cross Senja – either via the west coast facing the ocean or via the east coast. My map of cycling routes indicated the eastern route, but the traffic signs for cyclists indicated the western route. Apparently, some of the tunnels on the western route have been upgraded in recent years so that they are safer for cyclists now. Since the western route was 20 kilometres shorter, we chose that one. 

There were many tunnels indeed. Some of them had a button which cyclists can push before they enter the tunnel, upon which a warning light switches on which indicates for car drivers that there are cyclists in the tunnel. Most of the tunnels were well lit and there was very little traffic, so they weren’t a big problem either. 

We had lunch at a motel in Skaland – a not so good hamburger at a weird place with weird people. When we continued, we noticed that the mist was getting thinner, but the sun first came through when we had crossed the last mountain pass. The route was rather hilly today, and we had more than one thousand metres uphill in total. 

When we reached the harbour at Botnhamn from where we took another ferry to Brensholmen on the island Kvaløya, the sky was all grey again. 

We now have a bit more than 50 kilometres to go to Tromsø tomorrow. So we will have a short day and the chance to wash clothes, take a long warm shower and relax. 

Senja is beautiful, but the clouds turned everything grey today

Nice resting spot

On the last mountain pass – wearing my reflex vest because of the many tunnels

View back to the pass – misty on the other side, sunny here

Ferry to Kvaløya – last island before Tromsø

I guess we will see more of these on our way to Nordkapp

Day 30: Sørmela-Andenes (54 km)

Today started with a tech emergency when I discovered that the memory card of my GoPro camera was full. I hadn’t even been aware that it was close to being full. In addition, my iPhone battery was very low. Therefore there are few pictures and videos from today. 

We started cycling at quarter past nine. It was cloudy, but the grey sky in combination with green meadows and the turquoise sea gave a very picturesque landscape. The first few kilometres were the wildest and prettiest, but from here I don’t have any pictures unfortunately. 

At Nordmela, we stopped at a local store/café – they seem to always serve as both here. Here I charged my phone and deleted some files from my GoPro since I assumed that I wouldn’t find a memory card anywhere before Tromsø. I also used the time to book a hostel in Honningsvåg, book a Hurtigruten ticket from Honningsvåg to Bodø, and a train ticket from Bodø to Oslo. So the plan is to end this cycling trip with a fraction of “the most beautiful ship journey in the world” (according to Hurtigruten’s advertising). And the return date to Oslo is set.

From Nordmela we continued to Bleik where we had fish soup for lunch at the local shop/café/restaurant. I originally considered to stay in Bleik for the night because they have a beautiful beach there. But then I realised yesterday that today would be a half cycling day only and that we would have time for a whale watching trip from Andenes. So we only admired the beach passing by and continued to Andenes instead. Here I spotted a small computer shop, so I tried my luck and asked for a memory card. And they had one indeed.

Andenes is special for Whale watching because there is a deep sea canyon, the Bleik canyon, pretty close to the coast. This makes it possible to watch species that would normally only be in the deep sea like sperm whales. When we left the harbour, however, instead of turning west towards this deep sea canyon, we turned southeast into the sound between Andøya and the mainland. Apparently the sperm whales were rather far outside today (both previous departures today had seen some). We counted on finding orcas or other whales in the more shallow waters instead. It turned out after three hours of unsuccessful searching that this was a bad strategy. So we came back without having seen any whales. The organiser is very fair though and pays back the money in such cases. So we had a nice dinner instead and plan to continue to Senja tomorrow – which I believe will be another highlight. 

Bleikstranda

Maybe the whales didn’t like our orange jackets

Day 29: Taen-Sørmela (108 km)

The morning started sunny. From 7:30, the sun hit my tent which was nice because it was a bit humid. When there is no chance for rain, I prefer to sleep without the waterproof outer tent because then I can enjoy the view. But then the morning dew can make things a bit wet.

We had breakfast on a bench in the sun and left our beach at nine o’clock towards Stokmarknes, which was 15 kilometres away. Here we were invited by Henny, Kathrine’s mum (Kathrine is a former colleague). Henny served us coffee and a good chocolate cake which we enjoyed on her balcony with a nice view. 

After one very pleasant hour here, we continued to Sortland. On this part, it was very warm. We had lunch at a pizzeria. When we continued from there, a cold wind had come from the sea and taken fog with it which we could see on the water all day. 

When we got closer to Andøya, the next island, we met two cyclists who were going to Nordkapp, too, and visiting their father on Andøya on the way. They told us about a nearby café at which we stopped for a waffle with cloudberry and cream. 

This gave us new energy, so we actually continued much further than originally planned. I spotted a nice beach on Google Maps (using the satellite function). So now we are at Sørmela at the west coast of Andøya. We are the only human beings here. But a flock of sheep has just joined us and enjoy dinner nearby. The sheep wear cowbells here (or sheepbells?), so we have some nice background music. 

It is cloudy now, but the weather forecast for the coming days is still good, so we hope for the best. 

Bridge at Stokmarknes

Coffee and cake at Henny’s

Mountain panorama close to Stokmarknes airport

Smooooke on the water (or rather fog)

View from my tent when the beach was still sunny

Day 28: Svolvær-Taen (47 km)

Today we left the Lofoten archipelago and entered Vesterålen. Our plan was to have breakfast at a café in Svolvær we had seen last night, but this one opened first at ten, so we went to a bakery instead. 

The official cycling route number 1 takes quite a long detour north of Svolvær, probably in order to avoid the main road E10. We didn’t find the traffic too intense the last days, and the route looked nice on the map, so we followed the E10. The route was indeed very nice. It followed the coast most of the time and had steep mountains on both sides. 

After 37 kilometres, we took a ferry from Fiskebøl to Melbu. This time we timed it quite badly and missed one departure with a few minutes only. So we had to wait for one and a half hours, which wasn’t a problem though because it was sunny and warm, and we hadn’t planned to go far today anyway. 

In Melbu we bought a disposable grill and food and continued to Taen. There is a nice beach here which Kathrine recommended to me. So we stopped here, sat up our tents and went swimming. Then we had a nice dinner. Now we are sitting outside. It is still quite early because we didn’t go far today, so we’ve got enough time for blog, diary and other things. 

Tomorrow we will pass through Stokmarknes and Sortland and see how far we get. 

Nice mountains along the main road

The water was more turquoise than it seems in this picture

Nice beach at Taen

Always good to have someone watch the tent

Day 27: Eggum-Svolvær (89 km)

I slept very well at the nice beach at Eggum, and I must have fallen asleep again after my alarm rang this morning. So we had breakfast a bit later than usual today – outside on the beach in the sun instead of in the tent. We also started cycling later – around quarter to ten. 

First we had to go back to the main road (E10). After one hour, we stopped for a coffee at a camping site. Then we continued towards Svolvær. We took a twenty kilometres’ detour, however, towards the nice little fishing village Henningsvær and had lunch at the cosy Klatrekaféen. After lunch, we visited the “most beautiful football pitch in the world.” It did not look as spectacular from close by as on the photos taken with a drone though. 

Right afterwards, we bought something to drink at a convenience store when I suddenly ran into my former colleague Marius who was on holiday here with his family. 

Then we continued back to the main road and further to Svolvær where we stay for the night. We sat up our tents on a meadow at Svinøya – an island quite close to the centre. The weather is still great, so we sat outside and had fish & chips (or cheek & chips because it was cod cheeks) for dinner. Tomorrow we will leave the Lofoten islands and continue towards Vesterålen. 

Nice beach on the way to Henningsvær

Lunch at Klatrekaféen

Suddenly I met Marius

Anker beergarden

Hurtigruten ship in Svolvær harbour

To the left of the peak you see the famous rock Svolværgeita

Day 26: Uttakleiv-Eggum (32 km)

Today, I only wanted to cycle half a day and go for a hike in the morning. Lofoten’s highest peak, Himmeltinden (himmel = sky/heaven) was located close to the beach where we camped. In order to avoid too many tourists, we left already at eight o’clock. We cycled one kilometre to where the trail started and hiked from there. 

The higher we got, the greater the view became. We first came to one summit called Fehammaren (830 m). From here, we actually had the best view over Haukland Beach where we had spent the night, and Uttakleiv beach which was very close. After some photo shooting here, we continued towards Himmeltinden. There is a radar station on the main summit, so we only hiked up to the “false” summit which is 931 metres high. From here we had a great 360 degrees view. 

The hike back down was actually a bit harder than the way up because the trail was a bit slippery. But we came back around noon, snacked and relaxed a bit, before we took down our tents and continued by bike towards Eggum. 

This was only a 32 kilometres’ ride. At Eggum, we found another beautiful beach with white sand. We sat up our tents right on the beach, and we are almost alone here. There is only one other tent quite far away. The beach is on the north side and open to the west, so we will have the sun here almost all night. 

We bought a disposable grill and had a barbecue on the beach. We were almost done when a small boat approached the beach. A father had been fishing with his two sons. They had caught a lot of small pollack and asked if we wanted some. So we took two of them and had another course – very tasty. 

Tomorrow, our plan is to continue to Henningsvær and maybe Svolvær. 

Sheep have a good life at Lofoten

Haukland Beach from bird perspective

On top of Himmeltinden – can’t get enough of that view

Catch of the day: pollack

Tonight’s tent spot

Sunset at Eggum beach (it’s not that dark though – that’s playing with the sunlight on photo)

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire

Day 25: Bodø-Uttakleiv/Lofoten (64 km)

We started the day with a sunny breakfast on the veranda of our guesthouse in Bodø before we left to take the ferry to Moskenes on Lofoten at half past nine. The trip took almost four hours, so we arrived at Lofoten in beautiful weather and started cycling at half past one. 

Moskenes is located almost at the southernmost point of Lofoten, close to Å. From here we headed north and passed first Reine. The landscape is very beautiful here, so we stopped for a lot of photos. 

Today, we had to follow mostly the main road (E10) which is the only connection to the north in this part of Lofoten. Only when the E10 went into a tunnel, we used the old road which runs parallel. 

In Ramberg, we stopped for a piece of cake and a coffee. Right behind Napp, we had to cross our only tunnel today which connects the islands Flakstadøya and Vestvågøy. This tunnel hade a pavement though which we cycled on, so no problems with the traffic. 

At Vestvågøy we left the main road and turned left. We reached our destination for today at six o’clock: Haukland Beach, close to Uttakleiv – a beautiful beach with white sand and turquoise water, surrounded by mountains. There are quite many people here, but the beach is wide, so it is not too crowded and enough space between tents. Tomorrow, we consider an early morning hike to get a good view of the beach from a bird perspective. 

Mountains close to Reine

On the way to Ramberg

Lofoten panorama

White sand and turquoise water

Mr. Nansen enjoying the view at Haukland Beach

Relaxing in the tent

Haukland Beach at sunset

Day 24: Sandhornøya-Bodø (66 km)

Finally, after many days of grey weather and rain, the good weather is back. We left our camp at Sandhornøya right after nine o’clock this morning and headed towards Bodø. This was going to be a short day since we had gone longer than planned yesterday. 

After a bit more than thirty kilometres, we reached Saltstraumen – a narrow sound with very strong currents caused by the tides. This is a paradise for fishermen. We only enjoyed the view and continued without fishing. 

We reached Bodø at three and checked in at a nice small guesthouse close to the centre. After I got my clothes washed at a cleaning service, we enjoyed grilled salmon at a restaurant and took a little walk through the harbour. I also started working on my fourth video, but this won’t be finished by tomorrow morning as I hoped since I’ve got WiFi here. So I can use the time on the boat to Lofoten tomorrow. 

Up and down towards Bodø

Saltstraumen

Bodø marina at sunset (or does it set?)

Bodø marina with “skyline”