Arctic-To-The-Med 5000

'Easy days', the Troll's path, & Geiranger The UNESCO site Geirangerfjord. Supporting Hand in Hand for Syria - www.alaina.org.uk  Ride day 15: 49 miles, 864m ascent Damn you wind - this is my 'easy' day! Atlantic Ocean Road Doing my mega day had afforded me time to split the next hundred miler in half. Knowing I'd be going over the place pictured above, I thought it's not something I want to rush or be feeling horrific for! 30 minutes of sun!? Quick! My gear may go from soaked to damp! :D Feeling leisurely, I took my time with getting ready, & met another lovely German couple touring in their campervan. My route south began with a tunnel illegal for cyclists, & it seemed the ferry I planned to take actually no longer exists! Fortunately buses were running on Sundays, albeit quite infrequently, so I had to wait until 3pm for this.  A part of Kristiansund called 'Grip Island'. I'm actually having some chill ...

Welcome to real Norwegian weather Constant rain, wind & fog. Ah, so this is what Norway is really like... I miss the hot Arctic! Day 17: Riding day 14 - 140 miles - 2600m ascent Trondheim to Kristiansund My route plan had me taking 2 days to go to the next town, Kristiansund. An 80 then a 60miler. But I had an itch, especially after this rest, to try do it all in one. I'll get up early, I thought, & see how I feel... The homemade 'spa' that the lads made in their Trondheim student house.. Got chatting with the lovely guy I was staying with, instead of packing up/making food for tomorrow...& had to decline an invite to go out. This is a serious cycle trip you know. It's all in the breakfast  Started later than intended, but out the door & heading south once again! Did a diversion around the Trondheim Peninsula, added some miles but nicer than busy roads. Heavy clouds threatened rain the whole way as I followed a cycle rou...

Ridiculous . Day 8: Andenes - Stokmarknes. 84mi - 780m. Ditch those base layers, I'm baking! Shorts time already! The first of many a beautiful beach So, from -2°C to +25°C in a week... & still in the Arctic... madness!! Passing a herd of Reindeer grazing in the heay by sparkling blue water was quite bizarre. Reindeer on right - one dude staring at me, clearly thinking "Erm, where is all my snow?!" I was to swoop down the western edge of the island "Andøya", known to be the puffin island. It revealed rural fields looking out onto inlets of calm blue, with obviously snow-topped mountains being the permanent backdrop. Lots of small villages passed, I was pleasantly surprised to find more regular places to buy water (I'm talking every 20mi maybe, as opposed to 50-70!). Eventually I came to 'the blue city' of Sortland. Wow. Its bridge was framed by a collection of glistening white peaks, their beauty enhanced by t...