Tough day weather-wise.

Despite the bad forecast with rain and cold, I woke up in a sun heated tent. Outside, there were over 20 degree Celsius, but very dark clouds all around, only a small window allowing the sun to shine on the camp site. I dressed lightly, but the temperatures dropped quickly. The camp site was a few kilometres outside Alta. When I passed through the town temperatures were already below 16 degree Celsius, and the north wind made it feel much colder again.

After riding along the coast of the Baltic Sea for a good part of my journey, I have now crossed Scandinavia and reached the coast of the North Atlantic Ocean, more specifically the Norwegian Sea.

In Alta, I did the usual shopping at a coop mega, which was a supermarket, DIY store, outdoor shop, and some more. All in all not as large as it may sound, but a noteworthy place for resupplies along the route. They also had a buffet of warm lunch, of which I took advantage. While eating, I chatted with a guy originally from Czechia – in German for a change.

Before continuing, I had to add more clothing to withstand the wind, the cold and the occasional drizzle.

Stunning views shortly after Alta.

The stage began mostly uphill, and I specifically remember a climb of around 200 height meters and 8 % inclination.

The harsh headwind didn’t make it easier. The reward was an epic scenery along the road.

Writing of which, the roads are in a remarkable state in Norway, and the drivers here seem to be really bike friendly. If there’s traffic ahead, they patiently drive behind you until there’s an opportunity to pass by with a safe lateral distance. Some of them give you a friendly wave while doing so. In Denmark, there were so many bike lanes and roads that I cannot say much about the drivers’ mentality.

In Sweden it’s different. If there’s a clear road ahead, they safely pass you with a distance, but when there’s traffic ahead, or a middle barrier between lanes, most drivers don’t hesitate and drive by very closely without slowing down much.

Finland was even worse in that regard. There, they seemed not to bother at all about keeping a distance. It sometimes felt as if there was a fine for crossing the middle line, because that was exactly how much they dared to veer while overtaking. But all in all still a much better experience than riding a road bike in German traffic.

There, the drivers will occasionally shout at you, honk, or even drive by extra close, and then explain to you that you are endangering yourself by driving on the road. German car drivers are tense people. They read the speed signs as a lower not an upper bound for traffic speed, and take it as their birth-given right and duty to go at least that fast. Without being conscious of it, they value saving some seconds of their time more than someone else’s health. But that’s of course an overly generalised and biased description based on some negative events on a road bike. The German part of the Berlin-Copenhagen bike trail was perfectly fine, as it avoids road segments.

Back to northern Norway, I am getting close, tomorrow will be the day if nothing goes wrong.

On the open planes, I was completely exposed to the weather, which can be best described as stormy. I steered sideways to go straight. The wind was freezing cold, but stopping and changing clothes was no option, since I have already had experienced how quickly the wind cools you down as soon as you stop moving. I try to do combined photo and snack stops where the scenery asks for it. That’s usually on top of hills, where you are also most exposed, immediately cool down, and then face a fast downhill segment which further decreases the body temperature. The best place to pause would be at the bottom of a steep climb. Sadly, even at official resting spots, there is no shelter to warm up or change clothes while being protected from wind and rain.

While stoically outdaring the weather, another bike traveller riding a similar bike and bag setup as I do, but cycling in the opposite direction, appeared on the horizon. We both got slightly slower looking at each other. Without any words, he knew where I was headed to, and I knew where he was coming from. I nodded acknowledgingly, he wished me good luck, and I said thank you. What a nice encounter.

The second half of the stage to the camp site at Olderfjord was more downhill and thus faster. At the camp site, the local grocery shop was already closed, as well as on Sundays – Sundays like tomorrow. The next shop was 90 km ahead. I had enough food, so it was no problem. It was just a little inconvenient, since I had no fresh bakery stuff and ran out of sweets.

My apologies for the lack of pictures in the second part. I was too exhausted and just wanted to arrive, take a hot shower, eat, and get into my sleeping bag.

The camp site was combined with a large souvenir shop and restaurant where buses headed to the North Cape would pause. Today, there was a caravan convention, so the whole camp site was crowded and I had trouble finding a piece of lawn large enough for my tent and even enough to sleep on.

At the reception/souvenir shop, I had a nice talk with the two young women working there. One was from the Ukraine and one from Finland. For both of them, it was a well paying but remotely located summer job. Talking with someone – for them not about tourist questions, for me at all – seemed to be a nice change for all of us.

Only in Norway, I encountered camp sites still using those annoying coin shower system, where you have to put in 10 NOK for 6 minutes of hot water. Since I had no Norwegian cash, as I intended to rely on my credit card only, a group of nice Norwegians having a party at a large camping table ensemble helped me out – nice people everywhere.

From the announced rain, none occurred, besides a little drizzle. The weather here can change completely within 15 minutes, and the forecast isn’t worth very much, as the locals confirmed. Lucky as I am, I didn’t have to use my rain cloth once so far. They make a great pillow though.

Last night I booked my flight back, being optimistic that today and tomorrow would go smoothly. So I’ll be back in Berlin on 2015-09-01. This means two days of very early rising. On 2015-08-31 I’ll take the bus from Honningsvåg to Alta, have the day for packing up everything in a plane-fit and cost-effective way (i.e. 8 kg hand luggage, 2 checked in bags à 23 kg, one of which will be the bike), and then flying back to Berlin via Oslo the next morning. I’ll post about the travel back days, too.

Tonight might be the last night in a tent. I will look for a cottage or room to avoid the long packing procedure when having to get the bus early.