Ski and Paddle Norway 2009

Distance 0km | Time 0hrs | Ascent 0m | Descent 0m

I got up at 0700 for breakfast Haldane had prepared. I had not slept well however as I kept getting cramps in my thighs when I moved in my sleep. These cramps woke me instantly and I had to wait at least 30 seconds while the painful spasm subsided.

Not only were my legs stiff but I was quite saddle sore also. It had been a while since I was on a bike and the 10 hours yesterday was well beyond comfort. It was also pouring rain with the odd bit of sleet thrown it.

As I ate breakfast I pondered a day off. It was 88 km to Tana Bru with many ups and downs. The forecast said rain all day and then dry for the next week. I decided to stay put long before I finished breakfast.

In the morning I borrowed Haldane’s laptop to check my website and a few other things. The phone rang and it was the shipyard in Kirkenes. The kayak had just arrived. That was a huge relief as there was plenty of scope for a muddle here.

Then I had a snooze. As it was such an easy day I skipped lunch. It was no effort as I was not really that hungry.

In the afternoon I padded out the bike seat with another layer of foam and read newspapers. It was still pouring outside and had not let up all day. It must have been plus 5 at least.

This weather really was the death of winter. I watched the river below the café swell through the day with large chunks of ice getting dislodged and carried downstream. It would be impossible to cross and all the small becks were now swollen torrents.

The decision to post the skis and cycle to Kirkenes was definitely the right one. There were 4 groups of people trying to ski the length of Norway behind me. They all started in Mid January and were at least a month behind. All 4 groups had recently thrown in the towel. To do this trip really one has to start in mid December and be quite single minded about it. I had just made it and I was relatively lucky with the weather.

It finally cleared up in the evening and by then I was throughly bored. Without my laptop, which was dispatched from Oslo to Kirkenes by Hartmut in the afternoon, there was little useful I could do except rest and I had done a lot of that at Mehamn.

It had been a boring day. Saddle sore or not I was off tomorrow to Tana Bru some 90 km towards Kirkenes.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 4th, 2009 at 8:03 pm and is filed under Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.