Part Four - June 2007 Nordkapp is the northernmost part of mainland Europe and considerably further north than we planned to go. But as we grew nearer, I had an urge to get there and told Tom. Tom decided against making the detour but agreed that I could go, so long as I was quick. So, I planned my route, hoping to cover the 500 miles in 4 days. At 1 O'clock in the morning on the 9th June, I left from Jokkmokk, I was on the road, heading north and excited. I had planned to cycle long days at a steady pace and so took breaks every 30 miles. I made good progress that day, despite a constant headwind, and by midnight I had covered 209 miles. Of course I needed plenty of energy and was eating almost constantly, on and off the bike. But with 24 hours of daylight I had decided to cycle day and night and was neglecting sleep, with just an hour here and there. By 5 O'clock the next morning I was struggling, losing concentration and having some bizarre thoughts. At 5:30, the road became a long row of tables with giant mice sitting down to them for dinner, I was asleep. I woke up after just a few seconds, I was still upright, travelling straight and even pedaling. But I knew I was lucky not to have fallen off and decided to stop and lie down, and besides, I wanted to continue the dream after such a promising start. I was back on the bike by 9 O'clock and again making good progress, by midday I had covered a total of 290 miles. The 291st mile was the first time I felt a new pain in my right leg, it was in my quad and the intensity and regularity increased until it was on every pedal stroke, which is about 400 times a mile. That afternoon was ridiculously slow and I eventually decided to stop for the day at 6 in the evening, having increased my distance to just 306 miles, I was unsure whether I would make it to Nordkapp. I was lucky to meet a couple of Swiss doctors, also travelling to Nordkapp by bicycle, they looked at my leg and gave me a patch to put on it. I went to sleep at 7:30, giving the leg a long rest and hoping it would be better in the morning.
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I woke up early, gave my leg an experimental flex and was relieved that it felt much better, I got back on the road. It was my third day and the most spectacular on my trip, the highlight came after just a few miles as I was cycling down a long descent through a deep canyon, with a white water racing beside me in the river and waterfalls in every direction. I was up to the coastline by 6 O'clock that morning, just 150 miles now from Nordkapp. I then had to pass over two mountain ranges as I swapped coast, the pain was with me again, although more managable with painkillers I had bought, and I was shattered. I was now going 10 to 20 miles at a time and then often I would get off the bike, limp to the side of the road and lie down to sleep. At the time I didn't realise how I must have looked lying by my bike with even my helmet still on; more than once cars stopped to check I hadn't been in an accident. One time I woke up to discover it had poured with rain, I was soaked and hadn't even noticed. That evening and night was very memorable, I saw incredible numbers of reindeer, sometimes in herds of over a hundred, I had a clear night and saw the midnight sun make its strange arc in the sky and I felt fantastic to be approaching my destination. At midnight I had reached 434 miles and two hours later I could see the mountainous island of Mayeroya, home of Nordkapp. Getting to the island required a steep descent into a poorly lit tunnel 212 metres under the sea, including some scary moments traveling at up to 37 mph through patches of total darkness where bulbs had failed. When I first saw the horn of Nordkapp, from 10 miles away, I was excited like a child at Christmas. The last part of the ride was fittingly tough, I finally reached the plateau of Nordkapp at 9 O'clock in the morning, having covered 498 miles in 3 days and 8 hours. I was totally exhausted, elated and relieved. I'm now returning to Jokkmokk, travelling by ferry and train and taking it easy. I will meet Tom there and then we will continue our journey, this time travelling south through Finland and towards Russia. Our trip is being used to raise £10,000 for Friends of the Earth and Medecins Sans Frontiers, we are currently 40% of the way to our target. ______________________________________________________ Part Three - June 2007 1000 miles flashed on our odometers as Tom and I approached Östersund in Sweden. Over the past few weeks, we have become well acquainted with slow climbs and rapid descents, headwinds and tailwinds, excitement, adventure, mishaps and some very memorable characters. If I was ever pessimistic about the state of humanity then cycle-touring has restored my faith. Perhaps it's because we look scruffy, tired, dirty and lost but we have found that people are keen to help us whatever our need. When we have asked directions, we have often been told the most scenic route, the climbs to look out for and the best place to stop for lunch. We have asked permission to pitch our tent in a field and instead been offered beds, dinner and breakfast. When we've stayed in a town we have been made to feel welcome, with locals only too keen to include us in their circles. We have found generosity like this everywhere we've visited, including England. OK, so not all the car horns sounded at us are accompanied by a cheery wave and it is fair to assume that the lorry drivers who brush our panniers as they pass are not cyclist-lovers. Indeed shooting at us with BB guns is not a welcoming gesture and it was not a 'friendly local' who pinched our bikes. But when someone sees you are hungry and so lets you sit and eat and drink from a buffet without charge for 6 hours, you smile from a combination of gratitude, 6 cups of coffee and further realisation that people really can be fantastically kind. And when a shop keeper brings out a bag of pick 'n' mix for the road, it really doesn't matter when you get beeped. If you find what I say hard to swallow then I urge you to take to the saddle yourself and experience it first hand. Tom and I have 11,000 miles left to cycle on our trip and we're not rushing them. __________________________________________________________ Part Two - May 2007 Today, Tom and I are at sea, enjoying the sunshine and the Norwegian scenery, grateful for a break from our rather firm saddles. Over the last two weeks we have cycled from Bucks to Newcastle, and over the coming eighteen months we will travel a further 37,000 miles by bike, train and boat on a round-the-world trip.
 | | Bish and John's Bikes |
We had expected the leg we've just completed to be little more than a warm-up, a pre-quel to the real trip, but we were mistaken. Already, we've met people with incredible stories on a daily basis, encountered great generosity and hospitality and cycled through some beautiful scenery in near-perfect weather. We've also had a few mishaps, in fact maybe more than our fair share. We hadn't expected, for example, to lose our bikes with just 70 miles on the clock. They were just four days old when they were stolen in Cambridge, it was our first, and so far greatest, set back. But whilst it was a huge blow at the time, we came to realise it wasn't a disaster and we were back on the road within a week through the help and generosity of a number of people, to whom we are hugely grateful. Two hundred miles later, we were cycling into Yorkshire when we approached a ford. I was leading at the time and made the decision to keep our speed and cycle through. What I didn't know was that there was algae on the bottom and so as I entered the ford, my front wheel slipped away from under the bike and before I knew it I was submerged from head to toe. Apparently Tom wasn't overly concerned for my health for when I stood up and turned around he already had his camera out and was taking photos, fortunately I too was laughing. In truth, I don't mind the set backs. In fact, I'm glad they've happened and that includes losing the bikes. It helps give us perspective and so we can appreciate the good times, accidents also tend to be the funnier memories and the best stories. So, whilst we'll do all we can to keep things running smoothly, when they do go wrong, we'll try to see the funny side. Sometimes though, it takes a while to find the comedy. As we watched our ferry leaving Newcastle without us there wasn't so much as a chuckle for a good 20 minutes, and when they came they were soon stifled again as local kids shot at us with BB guns. That was three days ago, this time we made it to the right ferry port and so caught the ferry (apparently there's a North and South Shieds in Newcastle). So, we will soon be in Norway, we don't know what to expect but we're certainly excited to find out. |
