nbjtours

Kittila, Finland

Day Four 87 miles 1567 ft

Today was always going to be a good day. The route had taken me down from the high Arctic plateau and there was actually a choice in getting off a main road to a quieter cycle friendly route that I always search for. 

As well as that the route was overall downhill and one of the shorter days of the tour. 

It also meant no pressure on an early start which in fact became a late 10 am start as we had not realised that Finnish time is 2 hours different to the UKs. 

The countryside had changed too from dwarf Birch to mixed pine and Birch forest interspersed occasionally with small farms. 

  
The church spire was the stand out feature on Leaving our overnight stop in Enontekio. As everywhere else in Finnmark it was new as the Nazis raised all buildings to the ground when they left in 1944. 

   
 
The occasional views along the river and over farms from the odd hill were superb especially as the sun has continued to shine. 

Most of today’s route has been through a National Park and although I did see a couple of Reindeer and a Red Squirrel the Wolves, Bears and Lynx remained elusive, much to Monica’s chagrin or was that relief. 

The fun started at the next turn which although a marked and numbered road, became a dirt and gravel road after 500 metres

  
I could not turn back now and apart from a few gravel and washboard sections the road was better than many of ours back in Kent,  so I pressed on not really losing any time or speed – fab. 

   
 
After 30 miles on the the dirt road passing through a couple of small villages and stopping for lunch, setting up in a field, we finally hit the Tarmac and sadly a bit busier road, the only upside being the lack of dust which had meant keeping my mouth shut for a while after a car passed, not a bad idea round here anyway as otherwise you may swallow a fly or midge. 

  
Passing the ski resort of Mt Levi just outside Sirkka I was able to run for many miles on really good cycle paths – we have such a long way to catch up in the UK as every town or even village seems to have them here. 

  
Coming into our overnight stay in Kittila I passed the airport just after which Nigel had got his motorcycle out and escorted me the last 2 miles to the campsite where we immediately jumped in the river to cool down,  a la Jess Ennis ice bath before once again setting up to dine Al fresco with a cool beer, after having showered and cleaned the bikes of dust. A great day. 

Enontekio, Finland

Day Three 101 Miles 2933 ft

There are some days on a long distance ride that just have to get you from A to B. Today was just such a day. 

The weather has remained incredible, considering that we are still 150 miles inside the Arctic Circle, today there was not a cloud in the sky at all and it was genuinely hot – hitting 25 degrees. 

  
This roadside photo could be the south of France except for the road sign. 

Whilst pleasingly completing 101 miles the scenery barely changed all day with perhaps the dwarf birch trees being a little bigger and the lakes less frequent. 

There were only two towns on route 

  
This was the most picturesque -Maze. The monotony of the day was not helped by staying on the same road all day , certainly a record for me to do over 100 miles and not take a turn. 

We have now said goodbye to Norway and are safely in Finland where once again Nigel set up the barbie for the evening meal as we were being eyed up by the midges. 

93 – that lovely road!

Off the road, Norway

Day two 85 miles 4233ft

Sitting outside in the sun this evening, we just cannot believe our luck, with hardly a cloud in the sky and the temperature reaching a balmy 23c, it’s more like the south of France than inside the Arctic Circle. I expect Spain will be cold and wet!

To treat Monica, my personal medical cover for the tour, to a bit of culture, a detour from the planned route to see the Prehistoric rock carvings at Alta was arranged, so an earlier departure from Skaidi saw a cool start in mountain mist at 8am, but thankfully it burnt off within the hour.

As usual, the days cycling was split into three stages but each had quite a different theme, the first 30 miles was effectively all uphill, climbing 1200 ft at a gentle gradient onto a plateau.

Stage two was back down to sea level at Alta to see the rock carvings which were only discovered in the 1940s. Looking at the photo below it looks as though Stone Age man invented the railway.

It is incredible to note that Alta was raised to the ground by the Nazis in WW2 and its fjord also paid host to the battleship Tirpitz trying to hide from the Royal Navy.

Stage three out of Alta had a flat start then a 1000ft climb up the Alta gorge, reputedly the biggest gorge in Scandanavia, apart from one relatively steep section at around 10% it was more of a grind uphill, with some cheering halfway up from Nigel and Monica who had stopped to check I was ok

We only saw a couple of other cyclists today and after 85 miles called it a day by a lake where we are wild camping having enjoyed a barbecue of Reindeer sausages and Monica’s special Beetroot and Apple salad, after having cooled the legs down in the lake.

Tonight will be the last night in Norway before we hit Finland sometime tomorrow afternoon

We have found everything clean, well kept, and all facilities have been first class. The weather too has been out of this world, so the next 8 countries have a lot to live up to.

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.

Honningsveg, Norway

Day Zero 16 miles 1481 ft

I knew this was going to be a real challenge but having finally arrived here in Nordkapp the distance is very real as we are 2170 miles from Calais driving for 49 hours out of 70!

Well we have really lucked in, as the weather here has been incredible for the whole drive up through Scandinavia, and the locals have said that this is only the second day this year that it has reached 20 degrees. We are after all 400 miles inside the Arctic Circle and did not think for a minute that T Shirt and shorts were to be the order of the day. 

As Nordkapp, just like Lands End costs a fortune to get in and is open from 11am to 1am, we had to get there today or wait, so the ride started in bright sunlight at 9pm this evening, with a short hours ride to the campsite but with plenty of hills to get me started. 

   
 
Here are the compulsory shots at Nordkapp surrounded by hoards of elderly German tourists, who had been bussed up from their cruise liner anchored nearby. 

  
I had to take this shot from the top of one climb with the sun setting over a fjord  A-MAZ-ING. 

Tomorrow more climbs and a tunnel under the sea await

Thank you to all those who have been so generous so far as the total raised for charity now exceeds £2000, if you have not yet been able to do so please use the links under charity partners for either BBC Children in Need, or The Alzheimer’s Society.  

Hopefully next update tomorrow. 

Almost no going back now and getting very real. After the fun round the velodrome yesterday I completed a  last short hilly training ride this morning. Then made five lists of things to pack and get ready for the trip. Longest packing session ever – then just about got it all in the SMax to get it down to Nigel’s ready for the off on Friday .

Thank you already for the fab donations to both Alzheimer’s and Children in Need the total raised approaching £2000 already. If you have not donated yet please do so via the charity pages link. 

Motorhome sign written ready to go with Nigel & Monica.  

Training is progressing well despite a nagging summer cold, I am getting out for a good long weekend ride and then trying to get one or two rides in after work during the week. Pleasingly I am getting and bettering a few hill PBs so fitness is getting there with only 8 weeks to go. Good news is that I will be being joined at Zaragoza for the last 10 days by two of my Hadlow cycling pals Nick and Chris, especially handy as Nick is a bit Peruvian and can converse with the locals, so should help us communicate, although he has promised not to navigate. This will be a great help to me as I expect to be a bit worn out by then so some peloton riding and encouragement will be great. 

Welcome to my first post. I had not intended to set one up but for some reason more than one person was interested in following my progress and encouraged me to start this off.

I am hopeful that Internet connections dependant I will be able to keep this up over the 7 weeks of this most epic of European journeys.

the oft asked question is why, my reply is always why not whilst I am still able. In reality it was fellow Hadlow cyclist Chris Goulder who started the idea just over two years ago. Ever up for a real challenge I managed to get agreement from work to take a sabbatical and even more importantly permission from Caroline to leave her and the kids for 7 weeks.

All therefore set to go, but a very important ingredient was ensuring that I had full support for the trip. We thought of only one person who could fit the bill, Nigel Stevens, Caroline’s cousin and as luck had it he just left the police force and being up for a challenge agreed to act as support driver and crew in his camper. Just to make things even better his wife Monica, a GP, decided to take some time off work too, so I am off fully supported with security and medical support. Happy Days

The site is in development at the moment- they always say that don’t they and I hopefully I can add some more interesting background pages on the route, charities supported and thanks to all those that have helped this mad idea get off the ground over the coming weeks to get used to the idea of blogging and making it something that you actually want to read.