Twenty-third day

Swimming - Kvænvik Lake (12 km before Alta)

107km

Average speed 18.0km/h

First rain, then gray but dry

Mainly tailwind (I'm a bit worried, starting tomorrow (if the wind stays like this) it will be full headwind all the way to the North Cape)

In the tent, you quickly notice when it's raining, and even this night, I heard the drumming on the tent half asleep. The morning was unfortunately not better. Gray, cold, windy, and occasional showers. Not bad, but enough to make everything wet. On such days, getting up is particularly difficult for me.

After breakfast, I lay down again and fell asleep once more. But it doesn't help. At some point, I have to leave. I was on the bike at exactly nine o'clock, and my highly motivated day from yesterday took its toll. My legs felt like they were filled with pudding. When I went up the 250m climb, it started raining again, and because it had cooled down to 10 degrees Celsius, I had to put on a few layers. When I reached the top, I was sweaty, wet from the rain, and had cold feet and hands. I didn't see much because I was just under the cloud cover. Even during the descent to Burfjord, I didn't see much of the landscape. Everything was gray and my glasses were dripping with water. After a short distance to the north, I turned right and went overland and then along the Langfjord (the name says it all) to the east-northeast. I couldn't really enjoy the landscape today. Either I'm already a bit tired of the fjords, or my weak physique distracts me too much, or it's a kind of weather hangover from yesterday's great day. Maybe a bit of everything. In any case, I couldn't get into my flow. Another reason is certainly the many small inclines that add up over time. When I reached the cape where the Langfjord flows into the Altafjord, I could see the houses of Alta in the distance. If I manage to do it, I would have over 100km on the clock today.

I found out that the Coops here offer free Wi-Fi, so from now on, the Coops are always worth a break, as I'm still traveling with a blocked SIM card.

Unfortunately, I had to leave the E6 just before Alta and take another detour, of course with an ascent. When I reached the top, I decided that it was enough for today. The place can't compare to yesterday's, I would have loved to take a shower (tomorrow I have to camp in the wild again because the long stretch over the highlands is coming up), but there is no one else around to smell me. My hair could also use a wash, but then I'll just wear a cap in civilization.

It's six o'clock, I just ate four sandwiches, now I'm in bed, and I think I will sleep shortly. Especially now that a bit of blue is coming through again.

Quick addendum: I was really exhausted yesterday, I could barely motivate myself to brush my teeth, I slept at seven, and I woke up with one alarm at almost 11 hours of sleep. Sometimes I forget that I'm not 20 anymore :-)

By the way, it's raining again today, but that belongs in the next chapter