27th July 2023 (sunny and warm) 40km

Last night we left you on a cliffhanger.....what would keep Pete awake tonight.  Well I can assure you, nothing did.  A Carlsberg to himself and an antihistamine and he was away with the fairies.  I felt like we'd had a role reversal as the words I'd uttered as we were putting up the tent came back to haunt me.

There was a house next to our spot with a deck on it and as we're setting up, a woman comes out on the deck speaking loudly on her telephone.  I said to Pete,  "do you think she's the type to come out on the deck chatting on her phone into the night?" Turns out she was.  Just after Pete had drifted off, out she came, talking at full volume in what sounded like Russian to my untrained ears.  I thought Pete might wake up but he thoughtfully tried to drown her out with his snoring.

I brought ear plugs with me (and have offered them to Pete several times), but tonight I rummaged quietly through my bag so I could use them.  I was just kneading them, ready to stuff into my ears when she finally shuts up and goes inside at 11.08pm.  A quick nudge with the crank spanner over his head and Pete stops snoring and finally I'm able to get some shuteye.

Pete here: we have just over four weeks cycling remaining on this tour.  Today we travel to Bodo, then take the 10.30pm ferry to  Moskenes, arriving at 2.30am.  Yes that's right, we will arrive at 2.30 in the morning because we have a cunning plan.  While all the rest of the tourists are sleeping,  we plan to pedal off that ferry in the wee hours and zip round Lofoten on our bikes to all the best spots, capturing images left, right and centre.

It's a four hour ferry ride so we should manage a few hours sleep at least.  Have to say it's a strange time for a ferry to run and it will be very interesting to see how many board it.  Breakfast over, tent packed and we were off, this time on the scenic route, with less vehicles, to Bodo, well, at least for some of it.

Very nice to have plenty of space and not be worried that some imbecile is going to hit you from behind.  The cycling was undulating and undisturbed and we wound our way around the coastline until we found a beach.  Now being Julia's husband, I know full well what this means.

At home, it means walk, then body surf.  Here it means sunbathe then swim.  But not today.  Julia had spied a very large jellyfish and seen some weird looking worm type creature inhabiting these waters.  Swim off, sunbathe on.

Spent about twenty minutes there and then continued on to Bodo.  Firstly on the Coastal road, but when that rejoined the main road, we were on an adjacent cycle track.  The main road was very busy and we were glad we'd chosen the minor road.

Bodo is a strange town.  It's basically a port town, with all traffic directed to the ferries.  The harbour area is nice, quite quaint.  But the town lacks structure and consequently, it doesn't have a heart.

It did have a heart today however as Bodo were playing a European qualifier in town against Bohemians from Czech.  There were fans walking and gathering long before the game.  The yellow of Bodo and the green of Bohemians.  There was some friendly singing and banter, but at least no aggro.

Found a lovely spot for lunch down by the marina which is fighting hard to be the hub of town.  Only thing is, it's at the far end of town from where the ferries and cruise liners dock. We enjoyed a delicious homemade lunch with a lovely outlook while all around us punters were being fleeced by the local business owners.  We could have made a tidy sum ourselves selling salmon and tomato sandwiches and coffee with milk and sugar.  But we didn't want to share.

In the sun it was warm, so we went to check out another beach.  That was worse than the one this morning.  Because a lot of industry bases itself around the water, you have the downside to that, with industrial runoff.  Big wood and steel mills pumping God knows what shit back in there, had many areas of water looking very unappealing, while others looked pristine, from a distance.  It was 3.45pm and we headed to a service station for wifi, but alas NO.....but they did sell ice-cream.

Local church spire/monument. 

Note the young girls at the side. There was a two day festival starting tomorrow and we enjoyed listening to the acts rehearsing as we rode around this area.

Rode down to the ferry terminal.  Saw a couple of ferry attendants and double checked we had the right place and time....we did.  It's all very well finding out this stuff online, but nice to actually have the reassurance of talking to another human being.  That sorted, so we went to grab burgers and fries for dinner from a local garage with free wifi so we could update the blog.  Had hours to wait til the ferry left so grabbed a coffee and treat after that, then got the groceries for tomorrow on Lofoten.

Found a sunny spot where we cooked up one of our own coffees, more to kill time than to fill any dire need.  Managed a quick FaceTime with Toffa too before it was time to head for the ferry terminal.   It was at this moment the fog started to roll in and suddenly you could see nothing.   We just hoped the ferries would still be running!  But as quickly as it arrived,  it disappeared again and all was good for boarding and take off.

The fog rolls in.

I can see clearly now Irena's gone.....oops, I mean Julia

Tonight we arrive at 2.30am and if the weather forecast is correct, we should get some stunning shots.