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Kjelling Vestry - Southern tip of Lofoten

66 km

Average speed: 19.7km/h

Sun and clouds (more clouds than sun)

Wind from the west, very strong from the northeast in the evening.

Last night I didn't fly the drone because I was uploading pictures for you and it took forever :)

But I went out again at half past 11 and took a photo of the sun that was shining directly through the big bridge.

I'm slowly getting used to sleeping in a bed. Not good. This morning I didn't wake up until 8 o'clock. But that'll change again.

Just before we set off, I flew the drone again. Didn't crash and let's see how the shots turned out.

After yesterday's good cycling conditions, today was even better. There was a slight drizzle at the beginning, but then the sun came out and it became really warm. Around 16-17 degrees Celsius.

After a few kilometers of cycling, we climbed uphill for a long time to about 240 meters. At the top, the route was a little up and down and we passed several beautifully located lakes. In the background, the high snow-covered mountains. Because we weren't in a hurry, we stopped at one of the lakes and walked along a wooden promenade for a while. At the end, there was a pine tree hanging down from a bare rock. Clearly, a rope to swing into the lake. I didn't hesitate, undressed, didn't test the water temperature, and swung out. The water was cold, of course, but I think the sea would have been colder. There was a small problem now, though. The shore was slippery and steep everywhere. I had to swim for several tens of meters to find a reasonably passable exit point. I jumped into the lake a second time, let the sun dry me very briefly, half-wet I put on my clothes and off we went. Franz and Jonathan didn't do it.

We passed another idyllically located lake that had a fairly large outflow. This stream plunged about 50 meters shortly after the road. We climbed around a bit at the waterfall to find a good photo spot.

Shortly afterwards, we were back at the sea and towering to our right were massive snow-covered mountains, with their heads in the clouds. To our left were gentle bays with crystal clear, greenish water.

A few more kilometers and we reached the bridge over the Malmstrom Saltstraumen. Luckily, we didn't have high or low tide, so we could experience the strongest tidal current in the world in full action. It was simply amazing to see the power of the moon live and impressively. A few facts from Wikipedia. Up to 40 km/h fast, whirlpools 10 meters wide and up to 4 meters deep. 400 million cubic meters of water per tide flow through two channels about 50 and 100 meters wide.

The next 25 kilometers followed along the bay south of Bodø, the last 15 kilometers along the heavily trafficked Route 80. There was a lot of traffic here and we tried to cover the last kilometers as quickly as possible. We did our shopping (power bank for Jonathan, Expanda for Franz, and a more stable fishing line for me).

When we arrived at the harbor, it was time to say goodbye. Franz wanted to stay one night in Bodø and then drive to the Lofoten Islands the next day to take the Hurtigruten north after one or two days. Only Jonathan and I took the 4 o'clock ferry to the Lofoten Islands. The crossing took 4 hours. During the journey, we saw some funny characters. A group of 6 Swiss people sat diagonally across from us, and one of the ladies talked for 4 hours without a pause while the others just nodded but hardly spoke. Up on the deck, we looked towards the Lofoten Islands, and then I heard a smacking and clicking sound behind me. When I turned around, there was a cool young Norwegian guy beatboxing. A somewhat alternative-looking middle-aged couple was traveling with a fire truck converted into a camper.

The Lofoten Islands presented themselves to us as a very rugged island mountain range. Although we saw a lot of blue sky, the mountains were all shrouded in dark clouds. The mountains seemed even more rugged, even steeper, at least as high as those on the mainland, and the inhabited strip between mountains and sea seemed even narrower.

Arriving in Sørvagen, Jonathan and I found a cozy spot on a peninsula in a lake almost in the middle of the village. Although cozy is relative. There is a very gusty, sometimes very strong northeast wind. So it'll be a noisy night in the tent.