20th August 2023 (sun and cloud, mild) 57km

I was awake at 5.47am after a restless night.

Couldn't get comfortable on my pillow and was tossing and turning with the cold as well.
Decided to get up and get moving with a walk in the bright sunshine and totally clear skies.  It was nice to stride it out along the road overlooking the bay, with the wind in my hair.....CUT IT OUT......anyway, the wind in my hair, (actually, it was really still). When I was further down I did some stretching and by the time I got back to the tent at 6.30am, Julia was up and moving.

A gorgeous morning and this kayaker went out first thing to practice rolling up out of the water.  He was wearing a drysuit, with a hood, but it still must have been one helluva way to wake yourself up, doing this for about an hour.

Had an early coffee and began cleaning and lubing the chain and getting excess dirt and grit off the cog wheels.
Ate a leisurely breakfast and then while I was sweeping out the inner tent, Ju was removing the pegs, when suddenly SNAP.....another pole goes.

Looking strong and sure in an idyllic setting.....

Then.....oh no!

Poor old Vango.

We gingerly turned her around to let her dry out on the shaded side and then took her down, to find one of the straight sections in the second curved pole had gone. I guess they're just getting brittle now.

Put some insulation tape around the break in the metal, but I'm not sure that will work.

Packed it up and stowed the gear on the bikes.

Rode away from one of the best freecamps we've had and left Sommaroy behind.

Now we were heading for Tromso.  The weather was perfect and we were making good time for now, on a quiet road.  The first 19kms went by quickly even though we were encountering a lot of road works.  Usually patches of about twenty metres, but a lot of them.  Couldn't tell you what was going on, as it defied explanation.  All the while, we were stopping to take shots on a lovely day.

From nowhere, a cool strong headwind suddenly sprung up and we were pushing it uphill.  After searching for ages for somewhere to eat, we came across the Tromso motocross track, which was officially closed off to the public.  However, the thought of sitting at one of the two benches there for our lunch was enough for us to work our way around the barrier and have something to eat.  It was still cool, but we were sitting in the sunshine, mostly away from the wind, except for the odd gust.

As soon as we'd finished our lunch, we were climbing again, (good way to work off those calories) through some beautiful mountains and up onto a plateau, before descending to another fjord.

Once again we had water back in the photos and we clipped off the kms.

Suddenly, as I was leading, I came to a grinding halt.

There, in the middle of the road......what the hell is that?

Santa's late so Rudolph waits patiently at the bus stop.

Rudolph wanders off to practice standing on rooftops.

Huge antlers. You would wonder how he could hold his head up.

It was a beautiful Reindeer.

Cars were slowing down and driving around him.

We just stood at the roadside snapping pictures as he slowly moved toward us.  He meandered past and began nibbling on some grass.

We haven't seen a moose on this trip and we didn't think we were going to see a reindeer, until....whataya know, one comes walking down the road to meet ya.

Carried on, chatting about the experience, when all of a sudden.....hello.....four more at the roadside and starting to wander down toward us.

This was turning out to be a great way to reach our final destination and cap off our final days riding to Tromso.

About 10kms out we came upon four more, just wandering onto the main road and standing there, blocking the traffic.  Nobody tooted their horn but one woman wound down her window and shouted at them.  We were rapt, shooting photos and observing these creatures close up but a local cyclist came along to break up the party, herding them onto a roundabout so the cars could get through.

They aren't at all worried about humans or the cars it seems, but we did wonder how many accidents occur with reindeer in the course of a year.

The final five kms into Tromso was uneventful on the animal front, but it was also sad in a way, that we've finally reached our chosen destination.

Today really sneaked up on us.

We rode 57kms today.

It was pretty cruisey, very enjoyable, but then suddenly, your goal is achieved.

We had intended to cycle a course around the Lyngen mountains to fill in some time, but to be honest, it's getting pretty cold up here.

Last night it was supposedly 7C, but when you see ice on the picnic bench, you know it was colder.

Liverpool supporters here are very committed!

As you enter Tromso, you ride over a massive bridge onto the island itself.

The wind registered 50km per hour.

The wind sock on the top of the bridge was certainly letting us know how hard it was blowing.

Over the other side, straight past the airport that we'll be leaving from.

Looks a good size. I would imagine they have a lot of air passengers here.

The interesting point for me was seeing two planes in the air when that wind was blowing and they were coming in to land.

One looked like an air ambulance, the other a bit bigger.

Heading toward the middle of the island, not really knowing the lay of the land, just looking for the campsite.

Julia knew it was over the island and then over another bridge back onto the mainland.

We decided to go over the top and it was a good climb, made more interesting by Julia's chain coming off. It also came off first thing this morning.

At the same time this was happening, football supporters for the local Tromso team were heading to a match.

Chain back on and then asking directions for the bridge.

Over that bridge and standing looking at our directions for the campsite, when who strolls down the path, but Seena, our Swiss girl from Sommaroy.

She'd just been on a two hour hike and told us she was catching the bus to Copenhagen tomorrow and will then ride from there to the German border.

If we had been ten seconds sooner, we would have missed her.

Checked in to a cabin at the campground, which has not got a large or nice area for tents at all.

I think it is the end of the road for Vango.

It would have been nice to leave it for some kids, but hey....they probably wouldn't have appreciated it anyway.

As it is, that second pole snapping just makes things too awkward for anyone to deal with.

Once the formalities were out of the way, we had showers and ate some dinner, before crashing at 10.10pm.

We talked again about the Lyngen mountain circuit but have decided we won't do it. With Ju's chain jumping off the cog twice today, the second pole breaking in Vango and the cold nights, we have decided to book the cabin until we go into the hotel on Saturday. So that means all of a sudden our trip has ended. It kind of snuck up on us in the end.

But here we are. We've done what we set out to do. Now we have plenty of time to clean and sort stuff and go for a hike or two if the weather plays the game.