23rd July 2023 (rainy morning, misty afternoon, cool) 41km

Woke early hours to the sound of rain on the cabin roof.  Hoping today that the rain would clear so we could see this area in all it's glory as what we could see below the mist looked inspiring.  

As we began packing up, Amanda arrived with coffee for us. What a sweetheart.  She even thought to bring milk and sugar as she'd met a few kiwis through sheep shearing and she said she'd never met one who didn't take milk and sugar.  Norwegians generally like their coffee black.

Chatted with her while we got some breakfast down.  We knew there was a ferry leaving at 9.30am, but we were a little unsure how far away it was, so we packed up ready to leave at 8.30am.  After goodbyes to both Amanda and Jonny, we rode away in pouring rain on a mission to get the first ferry, rather than wait around in terrible conditions for another hour.

We had two tunnels to contend with.  One 2kms and the other 200metres.  Both well lit. Both free of cars at this hour.  And for a very short spell, the bonus of being sheltered from the rain.

Pushed on up some short but sharp climbs, still with the hammer down.  Had sharp chest pains on the ride today.  Upon reflection, I think I've pulled a chest muscle while lifting my bike.  Hard to breathe normally and changing position made me wince.  A situation which when climbing especially, was very uncomfortable.

Arrived at the ferry with two minutes to spare, to find Kaspar, (not the friendly ghost), but our Swiss friend, had only just made it himself, having thought the ferry left at 10am.  This ferry was taking us from Kilboghamn to Jetvik and would take 50mins, so plenty of time to chat.  No wifi on this one, which is a pain when you want to get the blog updated.

Our gear by this time was soaked and we hung it up to dry, while we were ensconced upstairs.
Unfortunately, the 50min ride only brought more rain, so we donned all our wet weather stuff, which didn't appear to have dried at all, and carried on our way.

The scenery just after Jetvik showed great promise and it was disappointing to have so many clouds about.

If it had been warmer, this would also have been an ideal place for a swim.

By this time I was struggling to stand or turn around at all.  Every movement grabbed me and took my breath.  Along the way, we would catch Kaspar and include him in photos, then he would pedal off again.  At one such part, we cycled through a 3.2km tunnel to find him videoing us as we exited.

Julia and Kaspar discuss the trials of helmet hair.

Cloud, cloud and more cloud.

Somewhere on that far shore is our campground for the night.

I was relieved when we finally reached the next ferry, once again in perfect timing.  Enjoyed our last ferry ride and final few minutes with Kaspar, before he carried on another 40 odd kms and we stayed put in a very nice little site, Furoy.

With a reflection even the local cement works look pretty good.

Aaah, sanctuary!

Decided that we'd take a cabin.  Firstly to dry out and get our gear dry and to monitor these pains without having to be up and down and in and out of the tent.

Had showers and then lunch about 2pm.  My movements by now were easier, but still the odd twist would catch me out.  By 4pm, the sun was out sporadically, but there was a breeze drying the gear on the little deck.  We took a little walk to move the muscles and enjoy the fact it wasn't raining. 

After drying all our wet gear, firstly outside, then bringing it in to warm up, the cabin looked like a bloody steam room.  Windows fogged up and with my gasps of pain going on, ooh aah, that was the sound effects to cap it off.

Had a pre dinner cashews and chips with wine from Heidi at our camp two nights ago and a Carlsberg from the supermarket, bought yesterday, because.......That's right my children.  Today is God's day, once again.  I'm sure he's probably sitting back enjoying a Carlsberg himself, looking at us getting soaked on the bike saying, "You mad bastards".

Dinner out the way, coffee with our favourite chocolate, Kvikk Lunsj, the far superior version of Kit Kat.  Then we settled in for a night of fact finding for the Lofoten Islands as we should be there before the week's out.