5th August 2023 (sunny, windy, mild) 62km

Last night as we walked back from the restaurant,  we talked about how awesome it would be if we woke up to a windless, blue sky morning.

Awake at 5.46am, poked our heads out of the cabin and that is exactly what we got.
It was a lovely morning,  perfect for cycling.
Ate breakfast in our cabin, packed up the bikes and over to the kitchen for a coffee.
No one else was up when we rode out of there at 7am.

We both enjoyed our stay at Brustranda.   Even though the cabin was 550 (about $90nz) per night, it could have been so much worse. And because we had no food meant we had to eat at the cafe/restaurant, but again, this was reasonably priced, so we felt OK about this. 
We also met some lovely people whilst there and that definitely is a highlight for us.  It felt like a mini holiday in our big trip.  No cycling, no cooking, no putting up or breaking down a tent.

But with all that inactivity,  man, it felt great to be out on the bikes again and we were grinning from ear to ear as we cycled out of the inlet.  With no wind came beautiful mirror reflections and it was difficult to keep our eyes on the road....not that we needed to as nobody else was up at this time.

It makes it very difficult to leave somewhere when the views are so magical.   But Norway has proven time and again, there's more magic around the corner.

Leaving the dark clouds behind us.

We are so glad we waited the extra day.  Seeing this area without having to contend with a ferocious wind and being able to enjoy this traffic-free road was pure bliss.


We were humming along for the first hour, enjoying the tailwind which had appeared and were only interrupted with photo opportunities, which were many.

As we approached the first bridge of the day, along the road comes a normal sight on Norwegian roads, sheep.
Quite often you will see them just lying on the road, soaking up the heat, but more often than not, they are wandering casually up the road, bells around their necks clanging away.

Over the first bridge, dodging the sheep droppings.  This is one of their major roads, the E10.  Luckily it was still early enough to hardly have any traffic.
In Norway they have a tendency to make their bridges very steep, we presume because of the amount of water traffic that passes underneath.
Certainly doesn't make it easy for cyclists.

About 4kms on, the second bridge, which was also under repair, hence guys working on it and traffic lights in operation.
This one was steeper again.

Down the other side and to a rest area with toilets. Whenever you find these, you use them, even if you don't need to go.
Julia got talking to another bikepacker, but some of them are not forthcoming with information, in fact quite bluntly....they are miserable prats.

About 100 metres further on, Julia's chain came off and got lodged in between the
crank and cogs.
We were on the side of the road, on a bend, but Ju just got stuck in and pulled the chain, whilst I was balancing my bike and holding hers.
With more oil on her hands than what comes out of Maui in a day, she placed the chain back on.
Then with me still holding her bike and squeezing dishwashing liquid on her hands, she managed after three attempts to rid herself of the bulk of it.
With that, we rode on.

We had now altered direction and were full on into a head/cross wind, for our ride to Henningsvaer, famous for its football pitch on one of the islands that make up the town.

I had four layers on top after cycling 35km, otherwise I'd have been in!

Just after turning off the E10, we came to a freecamping spot, next to a beautiful beach.
If it hadn't been blowing and cold, we'd have been in.
As it was, we earmarked the freecamping spot for later.
Some other bikepackers had warned us not to come to Henningsvaer because of the traffic and certainly the difference was phenomenal.
From a relaxed,  enjoyable ride, suddenly we were back to keeping an eye over our shoulders.  But to not go to this famous football pitch would be like a strict Catholic going to Italy and not going to the Vatican.  This place is iconic and we weren't going to let hundreds of tourists put us off.

This area is so mountainous and rocky, that it attracts, hikers and rock climbers.
On the way along, what was now, a very narrow road, in parts, we could see climbers on the huge rock faces, with others parked by the side of the road, in their dozens, getting their gear on, ready for action.

All along this coastline, we'd been shooting constantly, even though the wind was cold.

Finally, we came upon the bridge leading into Henningsvaer.
As you can imagine, it was steep.
Got a couple of shots and rode into town like John Wayne..." Get off ya horse and drink ya milk"
Diverted off the main village road and parked the bikes at a school, before walking to a viewing site to snap some pics.

As we had no food whilst we were at  Brustranda, the camp for the past two nights, the girls at the cafe had made us some toasted sandwiches for our morning tea ( charged us, of course).
They were very nice and we sat in the sun out of the wind and had them with a brew of coffee.

Rode back into town and over another bridge.
Whist taking shots from there ( holding traffic up at the same time)
" Hey.. We're not coming back here, so these shots are gonna count."

Anyway, I digress.
We said "Hello" to a female bikepacker.
When she said " Hi", I said to Ju, "She's Kiwi".

Sure enough she was.
Robyn was a mother of four grown up kids, whose husband doesn't cycle, so she packed in her job as a teacher and cycled from Stockholm up through Sweden, into Norway and Nordkapp and was heading to  Stockholm to finish on Oct 2nd.
Also on the road for three months.

She came with us to see the famous football pitch and we spent about an hour with her and took photos of each other.
She's from Christchuch and has been cycling on various tours since the late 80s, but like us, had to put it on hold when the kids were young.

After a quick trip through town, we all ended up at a Joker supermarket to buy our food for today and......do I need to say it...? 

Robyn was heading south, we were going north, so we said our goodbyes and she rode away.

On the way to the turn off, 7kms away, we had a slight cross wind, which caused no problems.

Once at the freecamp again, we decided to push on as it was still early and the wind was strong and cold.
As we made the turn, we had a tail wind
We were now heading for Svolvaer.
We motored along, only slowed down by having to stop and turn on our front and rear lights for a short tunnel.
Once out of there, we resumed our speed until we pulled over in a covered bus stop, to avoid a shower, which lasted fifteen minutes.

Just shows how miserable it can be if the weather's not with you.

Very happy we nabbed this bus shelter at the beginning of the rain as six other bikepackers went past as we were sheltering. 

The rain cleared but the skies looked dodgy.

Riding once more until 3pm we came to Kabelvag camping ground.
Checked in, but expensive, for what it was.
After setting up tent, Julia showered whilst I sorted the inside of the tent, then I shaved, showered and washed some stuff. When I came out, Julia had made us a couple of buns and a coffee for a late lunch, (it was now 4pm).

Then we both wandered to the tiny kitchen to write and work out tomorrow's route.

At 6.45pm, we wandered across to the barbecue tent to sample the very famous whale steaks. Uver, the chef operates out of a  marquee with heating above each table and if that doesn't keep you warm, his personality will.
He is a lovely man, probably in his seventies, but perhaps older and speaks great english to go with his cooking.

We had heard about Kabelvag camping throughout Norway from various people we met, so we had to taste it.
One thing about the camp that isn't so good is that the wifi connection isn't good, so we couldn't upload the photos.

Tomorrow we have a long day which hopefully will come with good weather. They are expecting sun and cloud, with a high of 16C.