13th August 2023 (sun and cloud, mild) 34km

Woken by the sun warming the tent at 6.30am after another restful sleep.  A cup of tea to start followed by our usual concoction of prunes, banana, blueberries, muesli, yoghurt and milk. I popped on my jandals as the grass was dewy and sat on my shoes with the sun on my back, warming me enough that I was keen for a dip.  I was on my own this time but we have plenty of beaches coming up on this stretch and a cracking day to enjoy them.

Still just as beautiful in the morning.....

......Just like Pete 

Pete: The sky was clear, except for the odd fluffy cloud and there was no wind.  It was warm, even at 7am and the sea was like a millpond.  The early morning light looked magnificent on the mountains.

We had to be a bit careful with our water as I can't see the locals being too receptive if I was to rock on up and ask for water please and maybe I could use your loo and kitchen facilities as well.

We totally understand why locals get peeved with freecampers.
One minute you're living in paradise and the next, every tourist on the planet is invading your space.
Freecampers are like people using the kitchen in a campground.
There are those that leave it better than they found it, or there are those who believe that it's everyone else's job to tidy up after them and unfortunately there are plenty of them around.

We packed up and you wouldn't have known we had been there.  Rode away having spent the previous evening and the early stages of this morning, just in awe of the beauty of these mountains.

We haven't seen a huge amount of livestock.  This is the first little pig we saw.  But he's moved on from building a straw house.

Wandering sheep are quite common, but look at the size of that bird!

We thought it was a seal at first.

Had to use the zoom on it's extreme setting, but looks like some kind of eagle.  I know they have a white tailed eagle over here, but can't see any tail, white or other kind.  Maybe it's a youngster. 

The riding this morning was all coastal and dramatic in rock structure.  We passed through the village that was supposed to have the campground we saw on the map board.....but none existed.  So we were extra glad we chose freecamping.

After about 15km, we came upon a recognized freecamp which had about six campervans lining the road and a boarded up toilet to discourage freecamping there.  Why you may ask?  Well it's right in the middle of a rockfall area, so perhaps not the safest place to stop overnight.

Maybe not that safe, but certainly very scenic.

About 1.5 kms up the road we came across a very space age looking WC.  From experience we can tell you that even if you don't need to go.....use them anyway.  Especially for cyclists, they are like hens teeth.  This one was a bit special.  Built into the rock, overlooking the stunning ocean, with amazing views, this toilet has glass windows that you can look out of, or, if you are wanting to get on with your business, you flick a switch to make the glass opaque.

Interestingly, there is a description on one wall, but the switch is around the corner.
Surely they are next to each other...?
Thinking that even if you didn't push the switch, it would be one way glass anyway, I plonk myself down on the loo.
I did wonder why there were so many people looking over the concrete wall.
I thought they may have seen a seal, or dolphins.
In actual fact they had....Peter Dolphin.
I only thought about it later that I should have been charging.

We'd been travelling the coast and looking at the small communities dotted around.
It's easy to understand how in times of old, hundreds of years ago, these small villages would have consisted of just a handful of families, because they would all have intermarried.
I can just imagine Olag Larsen saying to his son Invag, "It's time to take a wife."
"You must hike over these fifteen mountains and find a woman and convince her to return with you."
To which Invag replies, "Or I could just marry granny."
"So it shall be" says Olag.

Did not expect to find this!

Further up the road, we came upon the Andoya Spaceport.
This covers a large area and there are signs forbidding you to take photos.  Having already taken photos of the supposed launch area, the transmitters etc didn't really have the same appeal, but maybe it would to a Russian spy?
Had some brunch on a piece of newly mown grass overlooking yet another two beaches.
A slight breeze had come up and neither of us felt the need for a swim at that point.

At Nordmela there was ...believe it or not, a 24/7 convenience store and cafe.
How on earth it can make a living, I don't know, but it's been operating since 2015, so something is obviously working.
Grabbed a couple of items and two ice creams, before continuing on to Stave.
Here there was a campground right on the beach, with three walking tracks up on the mountains behind.

Decided to camp here today and chill out and tomorrow do the walks.
Got talking to a Belgian girl called Erin, who was a mine of information on the tracks, so as long as we ration our food, we should be okay and the Cafe at the camp can make us some food, so we will cope.

As the afternoon wore on, we took a walk on the beach.  The air had a chill in it by now, so instead of swimming, we took showers and washed some clothes, which we hung over our handlebars to dry.

Had dinner around 7.15pm (mackerel and rice, followed by an ice-cream), and then wandered to the kitchen to wash the dishes and write or collect messages.  Met an English guy, Shane, who has lived in Norway over forty years.  Loves the place.  He spends his time now he's retired, between cycle trips in Norway and/or Europe and six months in Thailand.  Like he said, "Why wouldn't you?"

The cloud was moving in as the evening progressed.  Tomorrow, we are supposed to have some rain in the morning.  Hopefully it will be over by 10am, as we have three mountains to climb.
Thought I was Julie Andrews then..

We returned to our idyllic spot by the beach to find we'd been invaded.  There was a car parked just half a metre from our tent.  This was 9.30pm and we were ready for sleep. We hoped it was just an elderly person wanting a close spot to go walk on the beach.  We clambered into the tent and started preparing for bed when, oh no, here they come, four Frenchies talking very loudly.  They started pitching two tents in the very tiny gap beside us when there was half a field empty.  The talking, the tents going up, the car door banging repeatedly....oh no we thought.   And then the clincher.  "Yes! The beer's still cold!" Had us worried they would be drinking and talking well into the night.

Not to be outdone, a nearby herd of cows started mooing loudly as they made their way to sleep on the beach, no doubt soaking up the warmth of the sand.  Oh boy we miss our freecamp!
Luckily the antihistamines worked their magic and we were out cold before we knew it.



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