Dan-Salmon

At Alesund

After the last blog post I decided to stay up and watch the sunset since it was nice weather and I had a lazy day till 3pm the next day. It was amazing, it didn't properly go down until 11:20 ish and then even at past midnight it was light enough to read in my tent.

I got up late on Thursday and went to the shop to get some pastries for breakfast, Bond was in all the papers.

Then I had a nice day of reading and relaxing, I even saw a helicopter filming some chase scenes just across the water! Don't think my tent will be in the final cut though.

I had to go across the Atlantic way pretty quickly with lots of traffic as everyone was waiting to go. They blocked off all the stopping points and it was so busy that I didn't get too much of a view, it was still quite nice though.

Then I had a really nice ride through some country lanes around the water before coming to some of the most beautiful bits of Norway I've seen so far!

I got a ferry after that and ended up on an island that was basically one big mountain so where I camped at the side of the road wasn't great. It ended up raining all of Friday morning until about 1pm when I set off. I had another ferry to catch and then thought I had 67km to go, which I was dreading because of the late start, it meant I wouldn't get to the campsite till about 9pm.

Luckily when I was following the bike route it had a sign for a ferry which Google didn't know about, it ended up cutting about 40km off my trip so I ended up here early. I'm at this campsite for 2, possibly 3 nights now so I can have a day or two off to explore Alesund, I'm about a 10 minute ride from the city centre. There's a Mark Knopfler concert going on about 5 minutes away from me aswell.

Hopefully the rest will mean I'm eager to do the next 500km or so to Bergen next week!

Thursdays ride

Today's ride

James Bond related plan changes

It looks like James Bond has messed up all of my travel plans.

I had a normal day yesterday, quite a hilly ride, I climbed more in the first half of the ride than I did in all of the previous day.

I got to the campsite and set up for the night, it was in quite a nice spot but I was so tired from the two days of cycling that I just crashed in the evening.

This morning I got up, packed up and set off around 11 to start heading towards the ferry. I got about 5km away from the ferry when it started raining (of course). Luckily there was somewhere out of the rain to sit and wait and then the ferry had a lounge.

After the ferry I had about 10km to go before I got to Kristiansund, it's a really weird place where four islands opposite eachtoher are the city. It means it's difficult to get around as it's all very hilly and things are far away from each other. I stayed for lunch and had a burger then started planning what to do for the day.

I had to get a bus to get past the 6km long Atlantic tunnel which I'm not allowed through and there wasn't really a detour. So I went to the bus terminal and found what one I needed to get to and realised it went straight to where my campsite was! It cut out about 15km of the cycling but I was so tired and achey I thought it was with it.

I talked to someone at the bus terminal about my plan when she said “you do know the Atlantic way is closed right?”. I did not.

As it turns out the next bond film is being shot here, I'm only at the most about 3km or so away from it. I've seen a helicopter and some random cars and bikes going across but not much else.

The road is open between 3pm-6pm And 12am-6am. I didn't much fancy cycling at 4am so I'm going to stay at this campsite till tomorrow afternoon and hopefully cycle across (I'll keep my eye out for Daniel Craig).

It means it'll be a shorter ride tomorrow, but I'm looking forward to that and I'll still only be about 2 days away from Allesund where I think I'll take a rest day.

My view of the Atlantic way

nice warm ride

Yesterday was lovely, I woke up late and stayed at the hostel till about 12 because on a Sunday everything is closed or opens really late. I walked out to the Kristianten fort, and got some nice views.

From the fort I walked over to the NTNU campus, the Trondheim uni, it's really big and a lot fancier then my uni, and was quite close to the river and a park, so I walked over and ran into a bunch of dogs and humans turns out it was the annual dog run!

Then I walked around the old town which had lots of streetside cafes and a lot of cobbled road, luckily I didn't have to cycle on it.

Then I walked around a bit more and came across the royal family's residence in Trondheim.

After that I sat in a cafe and read for a bit then the sun came out so I moved outside, but since it was Sunday not much was open so I headed back to the hostel.

This morning I got up and packed and then found out I can control the weather! All I have to do is think about cycling or get on a bike, and it rains!

Luckily with my new trousers and my coat I was fine and it stopped about an hour after I left.

I found a weird little dog house in the city when I went shopping that morning, from what I can tell it's temperature controlled and everything so you're dog is safe and happy whilst you shop.

Then I set off on my ride, it was pretty good actually nice and warm so I was in a t-shirt for a lot of it, and not too much on busy roads. It did rain for a bit right at the end on my way to the campsite but all of that disappeared pretty quickly.

Just in case anyone wanted to see Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/hIWG9ePTdX

So now I'm at the campsite and I can finally sit outside my tent to read and eat and do whatever, it's a nice feeling.

At last some recognition!

Summer is here!

It's officially Norwegian Summer! And the sun was out today. I had a nice morning after getting off the train, I wondered around Trondheim for a bit, and there was no one else about, it wasn't even that early only 8am.

The view from just outside the station

I went to the Nidaros cathedral, which is built over the tomb of Saint Olav, a Viking who became a Christian. It was pretty good and apparently the most northerly gothic style cathedral. There were some other museums around aswell about Trondheim through the ages and quite a lot about the occupation in WW2 which was really interesting.

After that I went to a nice park by the river and read my book enjoying the sun. It was amazing after so many days of rain, I even saw someone proposing (she said yes), some kind of family reunion of a bunch of dogs, and a very strange circle of people who kept laughing really loud whilst dancing.

Then I went and got my stuff from the railway lockers, found and checked into my hostel, and then went out exploring again. There was some live music going on around the city which was nice and lots of people milling around, tonnes of shops and restaurants with outside seating that was completely packed! (It doesn't seem that weird but trust me after being up north for 2 weeks in the rain with nothing outside it's strange)

I had some food out at a Mexican pub and then headed back to the hostel (I didn't sleep great on the night train and walked a lot so I'm pretty exhausted), my plan is to get an early night and make the most of being here tomorrow.

Some pictures from around Trondheim

Some of the old town

The night train

I'm on the train! It feels a bit weird to think I'll be on it for the next 11 hours or so. I'm half tempted to try and stay up the entire time to enjoy the scenery, but I know I should sleep as much as I can really.

Today was quite nice wandering around Bodø, I spent most of the morning trying to find rain proof cycling gear but nowhere seemed to have any overshoes, I'll have a look again in Trondheim. I did get some rain proof trousers though! In fetching bright orange and grey patches but atleast they'll keep me dry, and surprising warm. I spent some more of the day exploring, and went to the Salmon centre! It was all about how salmon is the most sustainable food and how great the industry was. And weirdly in the shop it had all sorts of things made from salmon skin like this fetching tie.

Unfortunately most of the stuff there was £60-100 and I can't carry much more weight but I did get a salmon skim wallet, how could I not get atleast something.

Other than that I didn't do much but as one person I met at the hostel said “there's not much to do in Bodø”.

Im looking forward to Trondheim apparently there's loads to do and a really nice old town, the hostel I've booked looks alright aswell.

Some pictures from Bodø

Don't think you'd catch many bag guys in this

On the train, I can't get away from the place!

Bodø

I think it's safe to say I'm a little bit upset about how Lofoten went, after the ~30 or so hours of rain yesterday there was a brief break this morning, before another 24 hours or so is forecast to start this afternoon. There's also some yellow warnings about ice on the road and snow showers high up!

I wish I could have cycled more of it, but with a soaking tent temperatures getting worse I just felt like I couldn't, I was still 125km away from Moskenes (and the ferry). And that was two days of cycling through rain and Possibly icey roads.

And to think only a couple days before the forecast said lovely weather until Friday!

I'm on the express boat to Bodø, it left at 6 and takes about 3 and a half hours. It's pretty quick and luckily has more of a speedboats up and down motion than a ferrys side to side one. Hopefully means I won't get as seasick.

I'm in Bodø in a hostel for two nights and then I get the night train to Trondheim, I'll be staying in Trondheim for a night or two before going on to Bergen. I think it'll be nice to get cycling again, it's warmer and not as bad a forecast. And it's my longest stretch yet, 800km.

Im in Bodø! It seems like an interesting place, it must be near an air force base because there a fighter jet just flying around over the city randomly and no one seems to care. I've also found that the largest park in the city is a frisbee golf course???

The ferry was okay actually, not too bumpy but I saved my breakfast till after I got off just in case. I put my bags in a storage locker at the train station as I can't go to the hostel till 3 so I guess now I'll just walk around and explore

Rain rain go away

Yesterday was quite a nice day, I woke up to some sunshine and a view I didn't realise was there due to the previous days sea mist. I got in a good 80km ride and then had a ferry where I met a nice German couple who recognised me from the previous ferry.

The view I'd missed the day before

I got the Fiskebøl around 5ish and set up camp, then the rain started.

And it didn't stop raining. It rained all night and is still going now and the forecast is for it stop properly sometime next Thursday.

So the tent is soaked.

It's about 5-6 degrees, rainy and windy, and I'd need to stay in a room tonight (because of the soaked tent). So I thought I can't realistically cycle today, I'd probably freeze and it's not like I can see much anyway (all clouds and sea mist again).

So I'm on a coach on the way to Moskenes, im a bit annoyed I didn't get to cycle more of Lofoten but I don't have enough money or patience to sit in a hotel until Thursday waiting for the rain to stop.

I don't know if I've just been unlucky with the weather lately (since it was so nice before) or if this is just what it's like normally. But at any rate it's starting to feel like Norway doesn't want me cycling it.

^^^^^^^^^^ All of that was written on the coach, since then we had to swap coaches due to some issue with schedules. I got off the coach unloaded all my stuff and waited a bit to then be told there was no room on the replacement. The next coach was at 8. It would still take 3 hours and the ferry was at half 8.

So, I went to the tourist information found out there's an express boat from Svolvær (where I ended up) at 6am. I'm booked into a hotel and it's lovely to have a proper bed and a bathroom and even a balcony! (But it's still raining)

I'll still get to Bodø tomorrow and it just means I have some time to look around here and more time in Bodø tomorrow day.

ups and downs

Well last night was lovely! The ferry got in at about half 8 and I was at a campsite and set up by 9, it had a nice beach and some really good views of the sun dipping a little bit.

I woke up in the night to a little bit of rain but it wasn't too bad, by the time I'd woken up in the morning it had stopped so I packed up and headed out.

It was pretty grey and cloudy the entire day, I think this signpost best summed up the whole thing.

I found a toilet with an incredible, and slightly unnerving view after about 30km

I got about 40km in to a nice ride and it started to rain, it had been drizzling a little all day but this was proper rain. I hid in a little bus stop for about 45 minutes trying to wait out the rain (and at one point sleet) before decided I should just do the last 15km to the campsite.

I got to the campsite around 4 and have been here since, they have a nice lounge where I had a coffee and started to dry off a bit. There was some nice views of the rain all day and it's still raining now (9 hours after it started). I had an amazing meal though with a pretty good view.

I had a moose pie! It was actually incredibly nice and the first proper food I've had in a while.

Then I had a cloudberry and cream waffle to finish, to make up for a short day and the bad weather.

After such a nice meal it's a bit sad to be back in the tent listening to the rain, but atleast I'm full and it should be nice weather tomorrow. I've got an 84km ride to get to a ferry so here's hoping it goes well.

Ferries and tunnels

I left Tromsø yesterday morning, and I had quite a nice ride once I got out of the city through lots of farmland and fields. Ended up at the ferry about an hour before it left but there was nowhere to wait so it was quite cold.

We ended up getting to the island at around 6pm so I set off looking for somewhere to sleep, before I knew it is done 10km and had started climbing into marshy bog land. I ended up setting up camp on some gravel by the side of the road, not my best night but I was so tired I slept okay.

Today I woke up at 9 and knew I didn't have to be at the next ferry in Gryllefjord until about 6pm, I tried to stay in bed and read for a bit but it wasn't too comfortable on the gravel. So I set off around 10, the ride was okay, not too challenging but quite cold to begin with (it's due to snow tomorrow where I camped).

So now I'm at Gryllefjord with 4 hours to relax before the ferry. It's nice and warm and sunny here now and there's a cafe and shop so I should be okay. I don't expect I'll be cycling much when I get there as I think it will be about 9pm, I just hope I can find a campsite quickly.

They had these at most of the tunnels today to warn drivers, first time I've seen them, there was a couple of tunnels you could borrow a hivis for aswell!

Tromsø!

Well technically I got to Tromsø yesterday at about half 5. I ended up getting the coach the whole way as it was a coach ride and 2 ferries and only cut out 30 or so km.

I'm staying at the Tromsø activities hostel for 2 nights before heading on, yesterday I went to burger king for tea as I was starving and needed some hot food, then I went for a walk around the harbour for a bit. It's a really lovely place, lots of fancy ships and apartments.

Today I went out to the Tromsø museum which had a nice park aswell. I'm just back at the hostel now for lunch before I decide what to go off and do for the rest of the day. I'm thinking of going out for food again, I don't think it's in the budget but places like this are few and far between.

My next leg of the journey takes me out to the Lofoten islands where I'll have to catch a lot of ferries. I'm debating if I should cut some of the north journey a bit short so I can spend some more time down south enjoying some city's and warmth, the only issue is if I get the train from Bodo the next stop is Trondheim so it cuts out about 800km. Then I could cycle from Bergen to Stavanger, so about 300km and do some detours down south. I think I'll wait and see how Lofoten is and decide then.

Does it still count if I do the distance but not the whole country?