Cold Wind, Warm Encounters

Grim conditions lay ahead, according to the forecast. Truth be told it was quite accurate, but it didn't hurt the riding. For the first three hours or so that I spent on the road I mostly only had to deal with the headwind which was manageable most of the time except where the road reached too far out into the sea.

Despite the weather it turned out to be one of those days where you meet lots of other cycle tourers. After that Swiss guy from yesterday I met another proud owner of a Genesis Croix de Fer -- incidentally on the very day that the Tour de France crossed the actual Col de la Croix de Fer thousands of kilometers away in the Alps. He was one of four French tourers that had a spontaneous meeting at a roadside supermarket. Two were headed south as well but so far I haven't seen any of them again.

While we were talking another tourer on an ultra-minimalist setup was passing by who I later caught down the road. Turns out she was from Germany and one of the unluckiest cycle tourers in the world: first tied to a hotel room with Covid for days, then having to deal with a broken chain. After sharing the wind and talking for a couple kilometers I felt very fortunate for all the things that didn't happen to me so far on this trip!

Rainspotting

While the weather had been rather unpleasant all day it hadn't outright rained so far apart from a few short showers. This changed around 75 km into the day while I was on the Vennesund--Holm ferry. With a bit of a sprint intermezzo the other German tourer and I arrived on time for boarding, not one minute too late. That was a precision effort! We didn't get to enjoy it though as rolling onto the dock on the other end of that short ferry ride the rain came down on us with full force.

At the same time the temperature went down a few degrees too to remain around nine degrees for the rest of the day. I was getting a little cold from riding at a leisurely pace so I said goodbye (or rather: break a leg!) to that unluckiest of tourers and upped the tempo a bit to generate some internal heat. I didn't have to go full gas even as there lay several short and steep climbs ahead that turned me into a rolling radiator on two wheels. All the while I was whistling and humming songs to myself because by that time I had gotten "in the zone" and took to the rain and wind with a rather good mood.

At the Naustbukta (yes, this is an actual town name!) supermarket I was hanging out in the resting area in the back drying out a bit while eating apples. Another tourer dropped by for a chat and shared some wild stories about traveling central and southeast Asia on the bike. Very intriguing. He also mentioned some fully automated laundry shop in Trondheim where apparently one can stay in the warm after opening hours. Maybe I'll check it out, who knows.

Staying near the last in that series of ferries that the Nordland region is littered with to get it over with first thing in the morning. Instead of the tent I took a luxury cabin for the night since I urgently needed to do some laundry. While preparing my fiskekakers with kaviar menu I noticed I must have lost my trusty Vectorinox knife; adding it to the list of items to buy in Trondheim.

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