In the morning we flew from Oslo to Harstad, north of the Arctic Circle and the starting point of our biking. We had a few hours to walk around the small town, which is right on the water and was beautiful while the sun was out for a short time (more about the weather later). Finally at 6 pm we met our 2 guides, Sascha and Pascal, and the rest of our group. There are only 6 of us on the trip; apparently 2 people cancelled. The other 2 couples are around our age and seem similar to us in biking seriousness (or lack thereof). All have been on bike trips in the past, and one of the women had reserved an electric-assist bike, based on her prior experience. After a brief question and answer session, we walked to dinner at a restaurant called "Umami." This was the first of the meals included on our trip. Usually when you are on a tour you get mediocre meals, but this was probably some of the best food we have ever had. We were served approximately 8 plates of beautifully presented courses, each accompanied by an explanation. The foods included minke whale (the one type of whale you can eat without guilt) and reindeer meat. The only downside to the meal was that it lasted 3 1/2 hours, so we went to bed way too late. And we were too full, so we didn't sleep well.
The next morning we had breakfast at our hotel and gathered at 8:30 for bike preparations and instructions before setting off around 9:00. The weather was cloudy and a little misty, with forecast for rain, so we wore our rain gear. We were prepared for this day to be the hardest in terms of distance and hilliness, but we were not expecting the weather to be so bad. In the first few minutes we had to climb 2 long hills, and the weather deteriorated rapidly to driving rain and wind. We rode 18 km (do the math) and regrouped at a viewpoint that had no view because of the clouds. One of the couples decided to put their bikes away and ride in the van. Alan and I and the other couple decided to keep riding. We rode another 16 km and the weather only got worse. By this time we were fairly miserable, so when we got to our next meeting place (a restaurant) we decided to call it a day. It just didn't seem worth it to be miserable. We ate lunch and then all of us rode the van the rest of the way (about 55 km that would have been gorgeous!), which included a nice 20 minute ferry ride and a bridge that would have been a bear to ride across. The heat in the van felt so good, and there were even blankets to wrap ourselves in.
Tonight we are staying in little cabins right on the water (a fjord). It is still raining and quite windy, but hopefully tomorrow will be better.
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