June 19/20/21/22/23/24 2008

Thursday 19 June 2008

Away to the airport slightly later than expected then roadworks shut the A1! Miserable journey down to Heathrow but still arrived at 05:10.

Checked in the tandem without drama, oh what innocents we are!

Flight left for Oslo on time and, on arrival, we waited patiently for the tandem after celebrating the arrival of four panniers and one big black sausage!

Well we waited and waited. After being fobbed off by the SAS ground staff for an hour or so the conclusion was reached Disharmony II was MIA. In fact, she hadn't even left Blighty!

We made our connecting flights to Tromso, Hammerfest and finally, Honningvag. Escaped from the airport at Hammerfest for Norwegian Pizza, apparently their main staple. Suffice to say, Hammerfest is a dump though the Pizza was nice if not requiring direct funding from the Bank of England before a purchase could be made!

Arrived in Honningsvag on schedule at 22:10. Hassled the nice SAS man about our non-arrival and we were promised delivery the next day. Taxi to our campsite, followed by bed and Z's.

Friday 20 June 2008

Managed to drag our sorry ar$es out of bed at 10:00 (well we did miss a nights kip) and breakfasted, chatterboxed with anyone that looked human and waited for the bike.

She eventually arrived at 13:45 looking slightly battered and bruised. Methinks SAS now stands for 'Scratches and Scrapes' as our once pristine bike now looked decidedly second hand. Hey ho, at least it turned up and we have transport...

Spent a couple of hours prepping the bike then set off for Nordkapp at around 16:00.

How we laughed at the 1:10 hill from the campsite to get us underway. At least we were without all our gear or we'd definitely have been walking.

The weather at least was sunny-ish though very windy. We made reasonable progress reaching Europe's most Northerly point 2.5 hours later.

After the obligatory photo's and a Belgian waffle (eh?) we set off to return to the campsite.

Nightmare! Very strong head winds, big hills and leaden legs had us walking the worst sections. Got back to mission control around 22:00 still in full daylight. In fact, it don't go dark round these 'ere parts so at least lights are redundant.

Total today a very hard won 32 miles and 1200m of ascent.

Saturday 21 June 2008

Tardy start had us leaving the campsite to start our journey south after 10:00. The bike, fully kitted up with all our camping gear, clothes and some food was carrying around 30kg extra. PLEASE may we have a tail wind and fewer hills today?

Planned destination of Dollejohka was extended slightly to make a campsite. Revised destination; Olderfjord. Around 60 miles south down the E69.

Pretty good days cycling. Route hugged the coastline for much of the day and we had the pleasure (of seeing) 3 Eagles and many Reindeer.

Strange experience of cycling through numerous road tunnels the longest 7km Everytime we exited one, it felt like we were entering a sauna!

After a relatively sprightly ride in torrential rain (dodged that bullet!) we booked into what is probably the sh1tyest camping accommodation ever. Hey ho, when you're knacked, sh1t holes are like palaces!

Total today 65 miles and 765m of ascent.

Sunday 22 June 2008

Escaped from our doss hole at around 09:00 to dry but very overcast weather

Riding straight forward enough. No major climbs or descents and the wind must have been somewhere behind as it didn't slow us down at all.

Overtaken by a trio of campervans replete with Geordies whom we had met at Nordkapp. They've been doing an extended tour of Finland and Norway and are heading off to Sweden. Personally, I think it was an away fixture for the Whitley Bay Swingers Club! They kindly stopped at about our 30 miles mark and supplied hot drinks. Very nice, just hope they don't want us to join their club!!

Landscape changing as we head south, now Juniper forests carpeted in Billberries and, da da daaaaa.....tree's. It's amazing just how bleak northern Norway is - bit like Milton Keynes on a bad day!

Heavy rain most of the day had us pretty much soaked through. Stopped for supplies at a garage about 10 miles from the campsite which was lucky as they had nothing to offer apart from a dry, warm 10'x10'; wooden gingerbread house by the lake.

Got talking to an American chapee who has cycled from Helsinki and is going back via the Norwegian Fjords and Sweden. He managed to pi$$ his companion off so much in the first couple of days that he (the companion) abandoned the trip! Some halitosis that! The 'merican hadn't bought ahead so was going hungry, I'm just grateful he didn't call in airstrikes to divert us whilst he stole ours!

Total today an easy 55 miles and 550m of ascent.

Monday 23 June 2008

Left our lovely woodland retreat at 09:30.....in the rain. Only lasted an hour or so until normal service was resumed. Hellish 10 mile ascent to start the day had us puffing and panting in short order. Scenery changed to peat bogs and rolling hills, bit like mid Wales without the Welsh!

Rolling hills rolled by for the next 30 or so miles when we arrived in Karasjok for lunch. The civilised healthy option of burger and chips was had in the local transport cafe with the local council road workers for dining companions.

After our blow out, we waddled unsteadily to the tandem and wiggled off to continue the journey. 10 miles or so later had us entering Finland ...hurrah! Our second country and first major milestone passed.

Knocked out another 25 miles of rolling scenery to arrive at our Kielajoki campsite at around 17:30.

A long hard day in the saddle had us initially monosyllabic and then uttering nowt but Z's for a couple of hours.

We perked up to shower and eat then hit the sack early for another 60 odd miler tomorrow to Ivalo.

Total today 65 miles and 815m of ascent.

Tuesday 24 June 2008

Left the site at around 09:15 in warm sunshine. Turns out we had the campsite to ourselves which was very pleasant.

Very rolling countryside for the first 30 odd miles. Horrible sharp ups followed by what seemed minimal downs. Followed Route 95 in pretty scenery until we arrived in Inari for lunch.

The town was re-characterised (by us at least) as a 'One Whore Town' as it didn't seem to have any horses (just Reindeer). Apparently Inari is the Sami (Finnish indigenous Indian) capital of the world though the place doesn't really do this accolade justice.

Turned south down the E75-4 heading for Ivalo, our destination for the day. Wind grew in strength and swung to the front...uh oh. We had the mother of all headwinds for the last 20 miles or so which resulted in high levels of knackeradge and withering of senses of humour!

Booked into the campsite and crashed for an hour or so as the heavens opened outside. At least we'd dodged the storm. After the application of smelling salts and injections of adrenaline, cycled back into the centre of the town to visit the supermarket for dinner provisions. Lovely Caesars salad and salami sandwiches followed by....more gonking.

Total today 64 miles and 620m of ascent.

Tomorrow; more southerly perambulations mitt overloaded tandem.

Back soon. Miles & Tracey.