Midnight Sun - Lappland - Mountains

We travelled the "King Olavs Way", a route between the coastal Iron Ore transhipment town of Narvik (Norway) and the mining town of Kiruna (Sweden). The mountainous road follows the Ofoten railway line across the border.















We had clear blue skies and sun and even managed to catch some midnight sun (see pic below). Great for drying clothes...















We loved the mountain road. Vast open rocky terrain.















From Narvik we had a steady 25km climb up to Björnfjell (Bear Mountain).















and we even met some bears...











































We cycled along Torneträsk, the most Northern lake in Sweden.















and got to Abisko National Park which has a beautiful, buzzing outdoor centre. From here many people set out on the "Kungsleden" longdistance (425km) hut to hut walking\skiing path to Hemavan. One for the future maybe...





























We also have to thank our Finnish friend Juha Larimo, who knows Northern Scandinavia like the back of his hand having cycled over 10,000km in the region. We got lots of tips on roads to ride and places to see and even a map of the cycle routes in North Finland. Thanks Juha.















We are now in Kiruna enjoying a day off with civilised breakfasts and tourist excursions planned. Oh and we turned up just in time for the Kiruna festival. Report soon.

Lofoten - Vikings, Elk and epic Scenery

Epic few days riding up the Lofoten Island Chain. Riding out from Moskenes the clouds lifted and we were treated to a couple of days of sunshine, fantastic Scenery and quiet roads.
We enjoyed our camping with a few games of evening Yatze.














Have food in supermarket cafes.














The ready meals came in handy during a cold night - Thanks Lena!










































We also saw an ELK! just after the road sign.














Overall we are really pleased with our kit but "splashed" out on some extra wetweather gear, i.e. overshoes and a fine pair of Marigolds (awesome Overgloves!)




























The temperature is generally around 8degrees so when we rolled into Kabelvåg couple days back and the thermometre hit 18degrees in full sun - we (and the rest of Norway) took the afternoon off to soak in the rays - Lovely!




























But we did not leave out the culture and learnt about Vikings in the brilliant Lofotr Viking museum at Borg.














The roads in Norway are really good for riding and include many bridges, tunnels and ferries (have taken 10 ferries) Longest tunnel so far was 2.2km (spooky experience) and went right underneath a fjord.














Spot of lunch on what Tim calls "nuclear sand" (very very white). The water is also very colourful - greens and blues.














Big country










































The village of Reine which the Norwegian themselves have elected their most picturesque village - we agree it is very pretty.





























Overall we have pedalled about 900km and are close to Narvik, which we are hoping to get to today. Tomorrow we commence our journey East, crossing the border into Sweden to Abisko National Park and the mining town of Kiruna, for possibly some hiking and to learn about the Sami.

Lofoten - Moskenes

Here we are in the Lofoten, with dramatic mountains rising straight out the sea with little fishing villages dotted between them. We arrived last night on the Car ferry at the Southern tip of the island chain in a small place called Moskenes. See ferry port photo below.
















Tim's knee is still swollen and we are giving it a rest until it is happy to go again. So today we went on a history tour of the fishing heritage to Å, a fishing village museum. Any questions we may have had about stockfish drying and the export of Norwegian Atlantic Cod to Africa, Italy and Portugal are now answered!

Cod heads drying, see below.

Now we are on our way back to the campsite so start our Yatze battle.

Tomorrow we are back on the bikes for an easy roll. Sunshine forecast - whoppee! Enjoy your time off Mary and Helen.

Weatherbeaten & Happy!

Norway - Beautiful waterscapes

Day seven and here we are in Bodo looking all a bit weatherbeaten but happy!

We have over 500km in the bag, have battled wind and weather, broken one gear shifter (Tiagra) and are suffering one rather swollen knee (Tim's). So far so good.

And when we are not cycling we are generally eating - anywhere and everything!

We camped every night, including two wild - well and then there was that night when we rolled into campsite at 21.45pm in the pouring rain and must have looked so pathetic that the camp owner offered us a lovely log cabin for no additional costs.

Yes, the people here in Norway are very nice - we got free ferry rides and tasty chocolate as a reward for battling against the rain. In Trondheim we also got "interviewed" by Agnetha, the journalist who caught us on the street. She is doing an article on Trondheim, the tenth best cycling city in the world.

Little did she realise that we had not done any cycling yet!!

Nevertheless we made it into the regional newspaper of Trondheim.

We travelled mainly on the R17, to make our way between Trondheim and Bodo. Part of that were quite a few ferry journeys.

So today we are in Bodo (above artic circle) having a break. We got some cream for Tim's knee which needs some rest and a few less km's for the next couple of days. Tomorrow we are heading out to the Lofoten islands which promise to be spectacular. The weatherforecast is not great (more heavy rain) so we,ve hit the bike shop for some overshoes - but we are promised "big sun" for friday - so that'll be great. 24hr day light taking a bit of getting used to.