Bobs bike ride from Nordkapp 4th July Hi everybody, I got here yesterday after twelve hours on the road to do 87 km. old friend the wind came out to play again and really made me earn my prize. The day started really well with quite a good tail wind for about 25 km. Then there was a big hill to climb before descending to the 7 km tunnel that links Nordkapp island to the mainland. The tunnel descends steeply down 200 m and rises just as steeply towards the end. Just before the entrance there was a parking place so l stopped to put my lights on. There another cyclist there with a trailer and a dog and l had spoken two days earlier to an Australian guy going south and he had said that there was a french woman about half a day ahead of me with a dog. So l thought it must be her and it was. I said hello and she said that she was scared to go through the tunnel and could l go thro with her. I of course said yes . There was a campervan there and it just happened that it came from the same area in France that the cyclist came from and they were interested in Chloe’s safety so they said that they would wait at the other end of the tunnel for us. Chloe’s dogs name is Fayline. We all set of and roared down the first 2 km after which it was flat so Chloe let Fayline out of the trailer to run at the side. Fayline was amazing she ran along and wasn’t worried by cars or motorbikes going past . The noise was very loud. As we were climbing out of the tunnel a cyclist coming in the opposite direction called out ‘ Is that Bob Grimes ? ‘ I said ‘ The very one’ so we both stopped. His name is Paul Phillips and he is from Skye and he had started from Cap St Vincent (which is 5 km from where I started in Portugal) about two weeks before me. His wife had seen something about another cyclist going from Portugal to Nordkapp , but he had told her that it must be about him. She checked on the internet and told him that there was a bob grimes doing the same trip as him but with a different route. He was hopeful that we would meet at some stage and eventually we did under the sea in a tunnel which was a real pitty as we couldnt talk for long especially as l was with Chloe and didnt want her to get too far away. We reached the end of the tunnel safely and the couple in the campavan had coffee and biscuits ready for us. Chloe suggested that we continue together which seemed like a nice idea. So we set of. There were a couple of small level tunels before we reached the main town on the island called Honningsvag. Chloes bike with the trailer , Fayline and all of her luggage must have been very heavy but she was going along very well and must be very strong. We bought some food for us and Fayline and set of on the last 30 km. It was quite easy at first then ahead of us we could see a big climb zig zagging up and up. As we got higher and higher the wind got stonger and stronger until poor Chloe just had to get off her bike and walk . We continued to walk until we got to the top and turned out of the wind slghtly. Faline was having a great time running in the grassy hill next to the road. The road continued flat for a bit and then started to climb again with the wind getting stronger very blustery head, made worse by the dozens of big coaches taking tourists to Nordkapp. We continued cycling and walking when Chloe just couldn’t keep going on her bike . The blustery wind made it very difficult to balance at the slow speed and often there was a sheer drop at the side of the road and l was worried that Chloe with her trailer might get blown of the road. We continue going up hill after hill with no end in sight for hours until eventually we could see Nordkapp with just one more hill to go. What a relief. We were nearly there. It was after eight o’clock when we got to the entrance to Nordkapp and we had been on the road for twelve hard hours. But it felt wonderful to have got there after such a struggle especially for Chloe. The french couple in the campervan were there to greet us so they helped us to take pictures and said that they would cook dinner for us. Which we gladly accepted. After a quick look round we went to put up our tents which was quite tricky in the strong wind and then went to the campervan for a very welcome meal of casserole turkey. An aperative wine and schnapps which was a bit too much for me so i was feeling pretty light headed. By the time we had finished eating and chatting it was about half an hour after midnight and the coach loads of tourists were starting to leave so that it was not very crowded anymore . Chloe and l are going to eat in the restaurant tonight and they are starting to run out of food so l will send this and continue later after we have eaten and taken Fayline for a walk Please keep donating at justgiving/bob-grimes thanks and God Bless. Bob
Posted on: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 20:15:59 +0000
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