Forest, forest, Karasjok - end! This was roughly how our last cycling day through Northern
Norway went. The final stage by bike takes us today to Karasjok, near the Finnish border. A nasty wind is blowing, the sky is overcast at 16 degrees. After so many incredible, sunny, and warm days, this is quite a sad conclusion to our cycling tour. With a tailwind, we master the last 50 kilometers and 500 meters of elevation quite quickly. But so be it, aside from forest to the left, forest to the right, forest behind, forest in front, forest as far as the eye can see, there is nothing to see. Anja sarcastically remarks that it probably wouldn't be much different in sunshine, well, she's right. Karasjok isn't special at first glance, with 2600 inhabitants, 2 supermarkets, gas stations, closed shops, and Kjell's Café (coffee... well, no cinnamon rolls available). An ice cream from the supermarket will do. Tonight we are sleeping at the Scandic Hotel and dining in the hotel's restaurant, having one last really enjoyable evening, bidding farewell to Norway, discussing our experiences on our adventure, and just being happy that everything went so well. We hope that we do not lose the simplicity and relaxation that has accompanied us over the last weeks right at the Swiss border and that we can still undertake many such or similar tours in good health. Thank you Norway one last time! Tomorrow we travel by Finnish bus (a crazy bus driver who speeds through the forest for 7 hours, regardless of whether there are reindeer on the road or not) to Rovaniemi (where Santa Claus lives in his own village (à la Disneyland)), then by night train (which also has stickers everywhere related to Santa Claus) to Helsinki, from there by ship to Travemünde and on to Bern. If all goes well, we will be in Münchenbuchsee on Monday night....