Day 24 Flakstad to Brustada

July 25, 2024

Beautiful Landscape and One Horrendous Tunnel

“That was fun,” Patrick being a bit sarcastic as Rachel finally emerges from the long tunnel. She was able to cycle the downhill part on the sidewalk inside the tunnel, until the incline started, large trucks passing creating a wind and she felt unsteady: either being blown off the sidewalk or into the wall and wobbling into traffic. Patrick on the other hand has no problem.

We are surprised how quiet the campground has been given the number of people staying in one place. After our standard breakfast we set off. The first 13km is around a bay where we end up almost across from where we started. The day is beautiful once again with blue skies. Only late in the day did the wind pick up toward us.

The tunnel goes under the bay from one island to the next. We continue to wind our way around the bays.

Finally late morning we start to see other cyclists. There are too many to stop and talk with them, but it also seems that just isn’t done as much anymore on busy routes like this.

When we reach Leknes, we stop at a gas station for coffee and food. Patrick goes around the corner to a REMA grocery store to pick up tonight’s meal and tomorrows food supplies. We’ve discovered frozen meals that are complete, tonight rice and sweet and sour chicken. All we have to do is reheat in the pouches. After we leave Leknes, there is our big hill for the day. The road surface is pretty rough. After the hill we descend back to a bay and follow it to our campground.

There is lots of opportunity to wild camp on the Lofoten Islands, but there are also many campgrounds and they are reasonably priced. A hot shower, access to power and WiFi make it worth it for us. We fix our meal in the camp kitchen while our devices charge. We have a plan for the next couple of days, we guestimate it will take six more days to get to Tromso, the next larger city. After Tromso, we’ll have plenty of opportunities to wild camp.

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Today's ride: 45 km (28 miles)
Total: 1,092 km (678 miles)

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Scott AndersonFantastic photos! Glad you survived that tunnel though. Sounded very scary.
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4 months ago

Rachel and Patrick HugensMost of the tunnels have a bike path to take as an alternative. But this one we didn't know about the bike ferry that costs....that John Street mentioned.
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4 months ago