Andoya

13/7/12

   Road out for Bergen but being me not by the most direct route. I start off heading up to Honefoss and it started showering just before I got there so had to put the wet weathers on, I had done the bags before leaving knowing I would get rain somewhere on the way. From Honefoss I rode up to Gol then on to Borlaug, this was so I would have to go through the 24km long tunnel on the way to Bergen. They had 3 stopping points in the tunnel and at the last one I had to take off at around 10 to 11,000rpm which made a lovely noise, well for me I don't know if the 2 car loads of people taking photos at the stop point enjoyed it lol.

there are a few caravans in this place, it is on the way to the tunnel

Thre start of the tunnel, you would not want to be clostraphobic. The have signs every kilometer with how far from each end you are

easy to spot the stopping points before you get to them with this blue light.

   I stopped at Trengereid to see if they had info, maps etc there with camp grounds, unfortunately my GPS decided to shut down and wouldn't turn on at this point, mmmm. I managed to find a camp ground the old way, by using a paper map. Also as it was early enough I went up the mountain in the cable car to see the view of the town, it was great with the sun low (ish) and shining through the clouds onto the town (not me though). It did cost $20US (ish) for not long up there but hey sometime you have to do these things and I had been told it was worth it, which it was, sort of lol.

View from up the mountain of Bergen

14/7/12

   Headed out for the trolls ladder, badly named should be bloody big waterfall. This involved heading out on what is suppose to be one of the top 10 rides in Europe. Followed E39 up to Ytre Oppedal where I had to catch the ferry across the Sognef Fjord. Then still on the E39 till Bykjelo when I turned off onto the 60 (B road by English standards) was all nice riding with no real rain, although I did put the wet weathers on when on the ferry as it was a bit cold in the mountains before there.

   After following the 60 till Stryn the GPS wanted me to carry on along that way but luckily I didn't so I went the other way along the 15, it turns out this way is much slower. This involved heading up into the mountains with some awesome waterfalls and the first (mostly) frozen lake I have ever seen, no I didn't go for a swim in it lol. Coming out of the mountains and down to Eidsdal was a good bit of twisty but most of the road in the mountains is wet as it is in the clouds.

Snow, with a waterfall going under it

there was some huge waterfalls up in the mountains

I had to make a mini snow man, but he didn't last long on the back

Swim anyone

   On the ferry I feed a baby crow some ham, which he loved so I thought you should have your veggies and gave him some stork off my mushrooms, he (like me) was not that impresssed with that so I gave him some capsicum (pepper for those who don't know that one) which he liked but dropped where he couldn't get at it. So getting a spoon out I got it back for him which made him very happy.

   After the ferry I rode out for Trollstigen which was shrouded in clouds and a wet road almost all the way. This meant I had to ride to the bottom to camp as it was to cold/wet up there for a tent. I am now in my first bush camp of the trip in a lovely little clearing hoping the mountain doesn't come down on my tent lol. Also hoping that it will be clear in the morning in which case I will ride back up the mountain and get some photos of the waterfall and maybe even get to play on the road a bit, maybe. The reason I mention the mountain coming down on my head is, in between the clearing I'm in and the cliff face are a lot of broken trees. I'm pretty sure it is from an avalanche though as they are all broken a meter ish up from the ground, but the road side of the clearing has no broken trees so it must of stopped right here lol.

nice little spot with a river just through the trees

From out side the tent

15/7/12

   Well it was still wet this morning so rode up the hill a ways and took some photos but didn't bother having a play on a wet twisty road. There where 2 bikers camped out next to the river, near my camp site, from Czech who I ran into again at the first ferry crossing of the day. It turns out they are going the same way I am, i.e to North cape, although saying that I've been reading the lonely planet for Sweden (thank you Diana dreadlock for them) and it sounds like I may go up the point next to north cape as even the lonely planet is saying it is a rip off. Basically you have to pay over $30US to get to the cliff face and spend 2-5 minutes taking a couple of photos then leave and it isn't even the most northerly part of Europe anyway that is only accessible by foot, mmm I'll decided when I get there if I want to pay that much for a lie.

still got the low clouds

I wish the weather was this clear

   Anyway headed out to the coast to see this bendy bridge they built there, which was cool enough. Unfortunately it was blowing a gale and the wind was cold as F..K, why do we say silly things like “I want to swim in the Arctic circle”, I'm getting iffy on that now. I decided not to take my GPS's advice of turning back from the bridge, it is set to fastest route, and carried on. I will admit the GPS hasn't been updated yet so didn't have the 2 tunnels on it to get to Kristiansund and back to the main land. Bit pissed I didn't take the GPS's advice though as the two tunnels cost 100NOK (almost $20US) so with the two ferry crossings and food plus the tunnels was ever $120US today. It is costing me about $40US for 200miles fuel and going through two fill ups most days. This is way above my $40US a day budget that was close in Asia lol, it is expected though.

The bendy bridge

   Just before the Kanestraum to Halsa ferry I changed the GPS to a place in Sweden and it said it would take 9 hours, this was at 14:30, so should be able to make it before dark lol. Actually I only went a little over the border and camped out on the side of the road. Yes Espen there are a lot of mosquito's here which meant setting up the camp in wet weathers with the helmet on as I still do not have any mosquito repellent, I ran out somewhere in south India and haven't bothered getting more yet, I will be tomorrow.

16/7/12

Got everything on before leaving the tent and did a quick de-camp before hitting the road. Headed into the middle (ish) of Sweden and stopped at a supermarket to get some mosquito repellent lol. As with everything in this part of the world bloody expensive and I don't even think it has DEET in it, will see how it goes, I asked about Dettol but got a blank look on that one so cannot even do the best stuff.

cool looking building on the side of the road

I decided to stay in a camp ground tonight and have a shower, yes mum I have used your wet wipes for a bit of a wash lol and will again.

It seems the guy that runs the camp ground is into chainsaw carving

17/7/12

   Headed out a bit later after cooking the last of my porridge with maple syrup, thank you Murray it did well lol. I think the gas is running a bit low now which I'm not too worried about as the chances of cooking are also diminishing as the number of blood insects increase, I noticed march flies at one stop this afternoon, nasty little F..ks.

   Was a nice easy ride and for the first time in ages I did not put on my wet weathers hahahaa finally, saying that it showered a couple of times but well I was stopped so just waited. The roads are a bit boring but like western Australia at the right time of yeah really beautiful as they have masses of wild flowers all along them, lots of loopins I think they are called, but not spelt. Also lots of lakes and trees, trees, and yes more trees, except where they have harvested then not so many lol.

   I realised in Storuman that I had too much Swedish Kroner left so bought a reasonable amount of "no need to cook food" with it. But when I got to Arjeplog I was lucky enough to find a petrol station that took cash instead of card, Unfortunately I was left with just over 300SK, but fortunately I am a smoker and the lady there was nice enough to give me 2 packets of tobacco for what I had left, I was 15-20 Kroner short.

   Road out from there towards the mountains and found a nice little site to set up camp, there are three different types of scat near the tent though, don't think any is bear lol. I think one is fox, as it looks like dog shit, one is probably Moose or deer as it is big ish pellets and the other is little so unknown what that one is. Hahaa I just know you all wanted to hear about poo. Oh and in case you are wondering mine is usually done in a gas station either in the morning and/or before I set up camp, so no bush dumps since Nepal.... yet.

18/7/12 and 19/7/12

   Headed of towards the border, with the wet weathers on as I had been told I was heading into the mountains and expected it to be cold. I got to a border sign and though it was a bit slacker than the others I had been through, this crossing goes through to Graddis, but when I got around the corner I discovered they did actually have the same things to declare lanes as the other ones I had been through.

I made it through to Bodo about 15:00 and went to a restaurant to get on line and get something to eat before setting up camp for the night back out of town. Unfortunately I was unable to find out what time the ferry sailed or what it cost. Also for some reason my phone actually discharged instead of recharged as I had hoped. So I went looking for the information center which has been turned into a bus depot and the lady there didn't know where it was. Heading back out of town I found the docks and saw some bikes there so thought, choice I can get on this ferry and head out tonight to Lofoten. I only decided this while riding back out of town because there where dark clouds hanging over the hills just out of town and that was where I was going to set up camp.

   The bikers at the ferry had reserved their tickets over a month earlier and didn't know what it cost so I asked the lady who was selling tickets in the cue. She said go to the back of the cue and this ferry was full, mmm I'm only on a bike but oh well I'll wait till you are done and find out what is going on then. Once that ferry was loaded I found out it was 270NOK so about $45US and that it leaves at 02:00 mmm that's a bit late but if it's all I get it's all I get. There was some nice people to talk to though, one who had spend a few months in New Zealand, and a biker from Norway, the two from Czech, and a few others waiting in the waiting rooms.

   So I finally got to sleep around 02:30 and didn't see much on the crossing, it is a three hour crossing. This meant I got my earliest start of the whole trip lol, I have been up at 06:00 before but not on the road then. When off the ferry I headed south, with most others, to a little town called A and said probably the most uttered statement there of “Now all I need to do is find Z and I can go home saying I've been from A to Z.”. I did go through Bo a bit later on but as it has the o with a line through it it doesn't really count, oh and the A is the one with the two little o's on top so I suppose it shouldn't really count either.

you probably cannot read it without zooming in but that is the information center for A

   Luckily I had chatted to the biker from Norway as he told me to head around some of the little side roads as they where some of the best on the way up to Andennes, he had also checked for me and found that the midnight sun was still a possibility at the top of Andoy Island. It is a lovely ride along this chain of islands most joined by bridges and some by tunnel, I didn't realise when I first got to Norway exactly how many tunnels there are. Some go down very steeply to get under the sea others have very little in the way of lighting, some are ruff cut with blankets hanging on the side to stop any rocks falling on the road and some are well concreted and very well lit.

bank of generators for the fish farm

   I got to Andenes information center at about 14:30 and found out about a nice beach down a little bit where IF the clouds cleared I may actually get to see the midnight sun, and also be out of the way of people enough that I shouldn't scare anyone by going for a skinny dip at midnight. I spotted a man selling fish out of a truck when I was buying a severely over priced bottle of Jameison's to help me get into the water, and warm up after getting in the water.

   I knew it would be expensive for fish here and when at the info center I had asked about places to eat. The lady had put a ring around a few and mentioned one selling pizza, so after buying some stuff at the supermarket I jokingly said to myself should I pay $20 for a regular pizza or $30 for some fish 'n chips. Having a good laugh about saying that well riding back I ended up out side the pizza place, which was about $20, and thought “No I can get that anywhere I want some good local fish”. I carried on to a Pub/Restaurant which had a fish with bread, i.e a fish sandwich I think for $30, lol I was only joking when I said that guys and it isn't even fish and chips its a bloody fish sandwich. Luckily it was half an hour before dinner orders were to come in so I thought stuff it and went to the guy selling out of his truck. Got a lovely fillet of smoked cod for 50NOK, just under $10US.

   So headed out to the beach found a nice track down although it does have a water hole so hope it doesn't rain much or getting out could be a problem. Set up the tent with the intentions of having my fish and a nap before midnight when I was going to have a swim. Got through cooking about quarter of the fish and ….. the gas ran out lol bloody brilliant there goes the idea of having a pot of porridge ready for after the swim.

just on the dunes but still sheltered ish

a bit earlier than midnight, it had promise

the sun even shone through at about 21:00, just not on me

   I did almost fall asleep at one point but once it was 23:00 I decided to have a lot more whiskey and start getting ready for the swim. The clouds where thinning out a bit and it looked like the sun may actually show up for the event for a while but by 00:30 the clouds had thickened again and I knew I was not going to see the sun, bugger. So I ran back to the tent and hid in the warm, no I didn't, I put the Loggie/sarong on and my bike jacket, pacing up and down a bit before setting the phone video going and stripping the last 2 items off and jumping into the Arctic ocean... I know why they call it the bearing sea, because its' got every males bearing it it that has been dumb enough to swim in it. Actually with a half bottle of whiskey in me it was not as bad as I thought enough so that when I discovered that I had actually turned the bloody video off when I set the phone down I started the video again and ran back in for another go hahaaa. The lady at the info center said the water is somewhere around 10C, it was cold on the feet after but with two pairs of socks on, my thermals and inside two sleeping bags I was actually able to warm up fairly quickly.

20/7/12

   Obviously after being up for so long over the last two days I actually sleep well ish and didn't get up until after 13:00 to head into town and get a new gas bottle and get on line to post the video of me nude at midnight swimming in the arctic lol, poor facebook I wonder if it will be there tomorrow or if someone reports it.

   Anyway have decide to stay here on the beach tonight in the hopes it may clear up a bit, bloody unlikely, and tomorrow I will head to a camp ground as I think a two second rub in the sea isn't quite enough to get 3 days smell off lol.

Enjoy your life, go for a nude swim at midnight in the arctic circle. Then you will know you are still alive hahahaaaa

Oh and there is a video in this post for the followers who cannot see it when emailed