In the morning I realized the wind had increased a lot. It was obvious from how the luv side of the tent had almost collapsed onto my sleeping bag. To make matter worse, when I got up to make coffee I noticed that the stove's built-in lighter had stopped working. It is a brand new Primus lighter and this was maybe the fifth time that I wanted to use it. What a joke of a product.
Bummed out from the lack of coffee I got back on the road. Unfortunately the wind had not only increased, it also had turned around and was now facing me from the front. I was dying eating headwind on the short uphill stretch leading to the new tunnel. Battling the wind I followed the coast south until I reached Olderfjord again where the E6 makes a turn inland towards Skaidi, the last supply point before the Sennalandet plateau.
The stretch of road from there to Alta is among the highlights of my trip. Bogs, birch forest, canyons, long straight roads, sparse Sami settlements, the scenery up there is quite the change from the coastline setting of the days before. At the one resting place about halfway up the Repparfjordelva river I finally made tea using the lighter I had bought at the Skaidi shop, lifting my headwind torn spirit. What was even more motivating was the sight of a blue sky at the horizon in the direction that I was pedaling in. And indeed, not long after I was cycling in the sunshine. At ten p.m. It felt like I could go on indefinitely.
The descent to Alta however ruined that illusion. Winding through a deep valley the road doesn't see much sunlight to begin with, but even less when the sun drops so low over the horizon as it does at midnight during the arctic summer. Which means the ambient temperature dropped drastically, so much that I had to stop to put on some more clothes. By the time I reached the fjord I was freezing and a strong feeling of fatigue overcame me. Gone was the enthusiasm of a few minutes ago up there on Sennalandet. Looking around for a place to rest I hit gold at the exact point where my journey had started only four days ago: Alta airport, which has a 24/7 h gas station that serves waffles.
gps tracks
gallery
