The skies of yesterday gave way to the more normal grey that I have endured of late. However the scenery remained its spectacular self. At least there was no wind to speak of .
Camp last night was lakeside in a small wood with plenty of directions .
There are few things more satisfying than filling your water bottles from a Norwegian roadside spring. Water doesn’t come much more pure .
The small beaches I passed whilst on route 815 were quite stunning .
Churches were attractive too.
Those hills was where I was headed. Gulp.
Just prior to crossing this bridge which was at the junction of the main E10 and the smaller 815 that I had been on i bumped into Franck. He had set off at 5.30 am and by the time I met up with him had already been on the move for 4 hours.
Even under grey rain threatening skies the views from the top of the bridge were pretty special .
This helicopter was there or thereabouts all morning checking power lines after the high winds of Saturday. Quite skilful piloting too having to cope with all the drafts of wind bouncing off the cliffs. Not too sure there are many other counties in the world that could afford this type of maintenance check.
Another stunning beach. The water looked refreshingly clear. Refreshingly cold too.
Even the view leaving one of the many long tunnels was pretty special.
Quintessential Norwegian / Lofoten view.
Josef from Munich on an electric bike had passed me going up a hill and as he did so proclaimed proudly “electric is king”. About a km later I tore past him in a downhill section only for him to pass me again up a hill with him patting his battery and saying “my battery is my baby”.
Having arrived at the ferry wharf in Fiskbol I had an hour wait. Moments after me Achem from Bavaria turned up on his motorbike, proceeded to offer to make me a coffee and pulled out his German hunting horn to make a call to drink. Surreal.
The wait at Fiskbol soon turned out to be a meeting of cyclists with the Belgian gents from the past few days also arriving and so too Andrew from Yorkshire. He is riding from Trondheim to Nordkapp then down through Finland , the Baltic states and Eastern Europe before finishing in Athens in September .
It was a quick 25 min ferry to Melbu and then a 16 km sprint to Stokmarknes. Even then the views didn’t stop giving.
