Skaidi, Norway

Day One 77 miles 3441 ft

Of the Scandanavian leg, today was the day I was most concerned about. Not only was it the first real day of cycling, but I also had five tunnels to go through totalling over 10 miles underground to negotiate.

The most notorious being the Nordkapp tunnel at almost 7 km long going 212 metres under the sea with 3km down and up at 10% gradient each way plus plenty of lorries and coaches. A cyclist attempting the North South route only got as far as here a couple of years back when he hit the kerb on the way down ( and I can tell you 30 mph on a bike in a tunnel is a bit hairy ) fell off and broke his collarbone! I had no intentions of doing that and apart from a coach causing a bit of a wobble all was well.

Saw plenty of seasoned cyclists carrying all their gear including an American chap in his 60s who arrived in France in April, and has so far cycled across to Turkey through the Balkans, up through Ukraine and the Baltic States on his way to Nordkapp.  He has a flight back from Paris in October. I don’t think that I am up for that.

A bit cooler and overcast at times today but still dry. After the tunnels much of the day was spent alongside a couple of Fjords, with their majestic scenery and shouting at the reindeer to get out the way, just like their UK cousins the deer 17 mph seems to be their top speed.

Leaving the fjords there was a decent 750 ft climb made a bit harder by some fresh Tarmac which instead of being smooth and free running was like cycling in treacle.

Building the daily distance so today was a relatively leisurely 78 miles  to some hard standing next to a petrol station. Tomorrow will see a stop in the middle of nowhere but pleasingly the weather forecast remains dry.