A sunny day!

August 15:  Svolvaer to Henningsvaer

(posted by Susan)

Finally a sunny day, and according to the weather forecast, this might be the only one we get!

Our ride today was short, only 25 km, thankfully.  It started with a bike path for the first few km.  It was nice to not be riding on the road.  When the path ended, it was a short distance to a less busy road.  About halfway through the ride, we had to go through a tunnel.  Thankfully we could see the light at the end of it.  Riding through it was not fun.  When you are driving through a tunnel you don't realize how loud the cars are.  After the tunnel we were riding on a winding road with beautiful views, then over a couple of bridges into Henningsvaer, which is a picturesque fishing village.  We were on our own for lunch there and had delicious smoked salmon sandwiches.  We loaded up the bikes and were driven back to Svolvaer.  In 20 minutes we covered the distance it took us 2 hours to ride!

We had a free afternoon, so the 6 of us took a boat trip.  It was on a high-speed zodiac and we had to wear full body suits, life preservers, and goggles.  This boat went really fast--took care of our helmet hair!  The fjords were beautiful and we saw some eagles (the trip was advertised as a "Sea Eagle Safari").

We had dinner on our own and are now mentally preparing for a longer ride tomorrow and potential rain.

 

 

August 14: Stokmarknes to Svolvaer

(Posted by Susan)

Since we didn't do the full ride the first day, this was to be our longest day of riding, approximately 80+ km.  Our ride included another short ferry ride, three causeways, a short tunnel, and many hills.  We passed through varying terrain--fjords, farmland, small villages.  The weather was cloudy but we only got rained on for a few minutes and the clouds were higher so we could actually see the tops of peaks.  Alan and I brought up the rear of the pack but we don't care.  One couple seems to never ride the entire day anyway, so that only leaves one other couple and they just ride faster than us.  We are staying at another nice inn right on the water, and we are here for 2 nights, so we don't have to pack up in the morning!  The meals have been fantastic.  Each place we stayed has had a nice breakfast buffet.  Our 2 guides provided a picnic lunch for us today, with a great view, and for dinner we ate at a nice restaurant that specializes in "stockfish", cod that has been hung upside down to dry for 3 months during the winter.  Then it is rehydrated so it doesn't seem dry when you eat it.

Alan and I were quite proud of ourselves for completing this ride--82.1 km!!

Sortland to Stokmarknes

(Posted by Alan)
The rains parted this morning and we got off to a good start. The views were great. The sun only came out a little but generally the clouds hung around all day, but mostly up in the mountains until after lunch. After lunch we got rained on a bit but nothing like the day before so did not affect our riding or sightseeing much. In fact the clouds over the surrounding mountain peaks  made for an impressive backdrop to our ride and made you understand how the Norse legends and gods came to be.

One thing though, the tour guide said this is a flat ride, but we have learnt that 'flat' is a relative term. I would not call this flat and many times we needed to walk our bikes up the steeper of the 'rolling hills', but an advantage of walking some is it gave me time to take more pictures. The end of the days riding was a crossing of a large very high bridge that connects some islands. We got some good pics of the bridge and view from the top.

Fillet of Sole

(Posted by Alan)
After our getting drenched by the rain on Sunday, our rain gear worked reasonably well except our gloves and shoes were soaked. So as a public service I give this recipe for "Fillet of Sole":

• Take one convection oven (provided in our cabin).
• Takes laces off shoe and open up completely and place on rack in oven.
• Take gloves and place on rack in oven (placed decoratively but not touching)
• Heat oven to 100C for 10 minutes then turn off oven. Leave door slightly ajar.
• Wait 30 minutes then turn over shoes and gloves.
• Repeat until shoes and gloves are dry.
• Do NOT over cook!

Oslo to Harstad and on to Sortland

Saturday Aug. 11 to Sunday Aug. 12

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.

A long day of travel

Thursday August 9 - Friday August 10

We flew from Seattle to Iceland, then Iceland to Oslo.  We had upgraded to "Saga class", which was totally worth it.  We were able to use the lounge at both airports and were fed well on each flight.  And of course the seats were way more comfortable than in the main cabin.

We left Seattle at 3 pm PDT, and arrived in Oslo at 12:30 pm (3:30 am PDT), so needless to say we were exhausted.  But we needed to stay up in order to adjust to the time, so we figured out how to take the train from the airport into the city.  (We are staying within walking distance of the airport, as we have another flight tomorrow morning.)  We managed to walk around a bit and even went into a history museum for about an hour, before we hit the proverbial wall.  So we headed back to our hotel for an early dinner and bedtime.  We will be back in Oslo after the bike trip and will have a little more time to explore.  From the little that we saw, Oslo looks like a typical European city with a mix of old and new architecture, and lots of shopping. 

Tomorrow we fly north to the Lofoten Islands, above the Arctic Circle!

P.S.  Unless stated otherwise, text is by Susan and pictures are by Alan

The Oslo train station

The busy pedestrian street we walked

Thursday, August 9: Pre travel thoughts

The idea for this blog originated when a friend asked, "Will you be posting your progress on Facebook?"  Since Alan and I don't really use Facebook for that purpose, I thought this might be a better way to stay in touch.  Consider it the 21st century version of postcards/travel diary. 

This morning we are dealing with all the usual worries--did we pack too much, have we forgotten anything, will there be any travel delays, and a few worries that are unique to this trip--did we train enough, will we be compatible with the other people in our group, and how hilly will it be?  All these questions will be answered soon enough.  In the meantime, we have about 3 hours until the shuttle picks us up, so I'd better stop writing and get all the last minute chores done!