Part 1 Our Three Rs - Rants, Rain and Riding - Part 2 - A Tale of Fire ? and Ice❄️

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Blog Post 2 - Friday the 28th and on to Moskenes.

Our 3 Rs - Rants, Rain, and Riding

Needless to say our bodies were confused about the time of day so when we attempted to go to bed the night of the 27th, which was really still the afternoon of the 26th at home, some of us were not so successful. I woke up to Lois getting up and thought it was time to get going. I got out of bed as I recall and immediately went back to bed to lay down for a minute. The story that Lois told was that Peggy and Lois enjoyed a nice cup of coffee at about 3 AM. I was more tired than I thought, although as you know from my previous one it was at least 1 AM before I had gone to bed the night before, so rather than laying back down for minute I fell into a sound sleep.

For whatever reason I woke back up with a start then looked at my watch, still on PMW time, to check the time, now worried that I had overslept. When I looked at my watch it said it was almost 8 o’clock… Oh crap I need to get up! At that moment Lois sat up on the other side of the bed and said oh good now I can get up. It was all I could do to contain a scream but I am pretty sure I let out a loud shit because she had startled me so badly. I had thought that she was up and in the other room and that I was late. Not ready to move yet I lay there a bit longer but finally I gave up. As I walked into the kitchen I remembered that I hadn’t changed my watch to Norway time. It was almost 8 PM in the states but only a bit before four in Norway! We all had a laugh about how early we had gotten up which disturbed Isabelle. We told her we were all going back to bed but somehow that never happened for any of us.

What started out with us having a good laugh and some friendly banter ended up with a neighbor pounding on our walls angrily. Not realizing that apparently the walls were paper thin we had woken them and they were not happy. We immediately quieted down And proceeded to make coffee and get ready to go as we were all awake now. However shortly thereafter the tenant below us came upstairs and pounded rudely on our door. He proceeded to RANT at Lois who had the misfortune to answer the door. Her apologetic demeanor and attempt to make things right just threw me into a bigger RANT and he proceeded to use several unsavory words. NOT the way we wanted to start our first day of adventures in Norway ??.

We settled into a period of quiet and stillness for the next little bit so as to not disturb our neighbors again. Finally the coast was clear and we decided to get ready to go and head down by the ferry terminal and perhaps get some coffee before heading to the Lofoten Islands from Bodø.

It seems that our travels would be cursed/blessed (Sometimes the craziest in the worst moments end up being the best memories and give you the biggest laughs) with interesting moments, poor directions, many comedies of error and RAIN! After numerous attempts Lois was able to get the cab company and they were headed our way to pick us up. They arrived and we headed down to the waterfront without incident. The plan wash to check out the ferry situation, get our tickets and then head to a coffee shop. Of course it couldn’t be that easy. The ferry dock was a bit of a walk from the coffee shop. It was up hill ad we would have to drag our bags along . Peggy and I decided to go ahead and walk up to the coffee shop I had found on my GPS while Lois and Isabelle stayed behind for coffee and sweet treats at the ferry terminal. I wish I’d taken a picture of Lois’. It was quite interesting… Basically bell shaped chocolate covered cream. Peggy and I headed out with about 90 minutes to kill. We found a lovely coffee shop and some amazing baked goods. To make up for it I bought two cinnamon buns back to the ladies waiting. Finally it was time to load the ferry and head to the islands!

The passage to Moskenes on Lofoten reminded me much of ferrying through the San Juans. The main differences were it was chillier and the many islands dotted through were much more stark and rocky or even just rock formations coming out of the water. When we finally got around the point and headed towards our destination it appeared that we were heading toward a giant island of rock with some high peaks and snow to be seen! When we finally got close enough you could see that it was inhabited and there was a settlement near the water. I still couldn’t fathom how we would be biking that. Lois kept joking that we were going to ride the ridges of the rock formations. Did I mention this whole time that of course it was raining!

Well we did pull into port at that rock formation and proceeded to disembark. There were actually roads and flat lands among the rock formations. We found the place to wait for the bus… Yes another bus ride! I don’t recall if I told you that the bus ride the night before in Bodø. Another mishap for sure. The bus driver in Bodø pulled over at one point to drop us off but then decided to take us a little further up the rode. This should be closer he said and dropped us at the side of the road. We ended up walking back the way we had come to where he originally stopped and then walking up a hill and of course it began to rain on us. We ended up having to backtrack about 3/10 of a mile. All the while pulling her suitcases. Ugh!

Sadly our bus adventure this day to the place where we were to pick up our bikes was not much different. We had to stand and wait for the bus in the rain for almost an hour. We got really excited when the bus arrived and proceeded to get on the bus only to discover it was the wrong one. The correct bus came shortly after and Lois showed him the information on the place we were going and he seemed to know where that was and said it was the first stop. Someone we talked to at the bus stop a bit earlier also had said it was the first stop. So we got off at the first stop…A good 30 minute walk from where we were supposed to be. The bus had long since departed and we were stranded.

Thus begins part two of this blog…

A TALE OF FIRE AND ICE! (Please insert Game of Thrones music here. If I could figure out how to do it I would. I would also insert flying dragons breathing fire! ?)

The lady at the sporting good store where we were stranded was very helpful and before long the adventure company had a taxi coming our way to pick us up. The company we worked with to rent the bikes was amazing and we were once again in good spirits. Finally all fitted out and ready to go we we began our very soggy wet ride. Yes it was raining and actually rather cold… In the rain continued through the evening and in many sections without with very high winds. True to form we took many a wrong turn and had to turn around and go back. And of course it was raining. Not only was it raining but we would climb a hill and go around the curve only to be blasted by a gale force wind that froze our blood and caused the rain to soak into every crevice of our clothing. We finally made it to the town before our destination for dinner at an amazing restaurant. It was rather late I believe but our internal clocks were totally messed up and you have to remember this is the land of the midnight sun… Given the gray skies of the days you really had no concept of time without a watch. Now Truth be told it was probably the only restaurant around but it was amazing!…wait there’s more!

We rolled down the hill into the parking lot of the Maren Anna restaurant in Solvagen. Truth be told it may have been the only restaurant in town. Did you know that you can’t buy alcohol in the stores after 8 PM on the weekdays and after 6 PM on Saturday nights?! Anyway back to the story…We were cold, soaked and tired… Did I mention it was still raining! There was a shed one side of the parking lot which we appropriated to park our bikes in and squished squashed our way into the restaurant. First stop of course the bathroom and to takeoff as many wet layers as legally possible. We were lucky to have found an absolutely charming restaurant and were seated at the far end with a lovely view of the water. First order of business ordering a drink and figuring out what to it. Wait… The next thing we knew the waitress was running to us and speaking urgently in Peggy’s direction… Sadly with phone in hand I still missed the perfect photo op. Peggy’s menu was on fire because when she flipped the sheet over she had put it in the candle. The waitress grabbed her menu and took it outside and put it in the rain. We had quite the laugh… And I think the staff Found this quite entertained the whole night through. As soon as we got settled in to figure out what to eat and into a conversation Peggy’s wine we seem to be spilling all over the table on the floor. Not sure what happened… LOL. The nice gentleman in the table next to us told Peggy it was good luck to spill your wine. I don’t know if it was true or not but it was a nice gesture.

We removed all glasses and candles from any close proximity to Peggy and the rest of the evening went without incident. We had a marvelous time and delicious food. Our waitress Jenny was delightful as was the rest of the staff. I even got to teach her how to make duck farts for all of us. They didn’t have crown royal so we did some researching before we settled on the whiskey. The waitresses at one point all offered aquavit to make our duck farts and then giggled… I do believe they knew as well as we did that the stuff is nasty and shouldn’t be consumed by humans.

At the close of the meal the person that handles the Airbnb for us came and met us to give us directions to Tind and our home for the night -Farmhouse by the Sea ?.

It was a lovely place near the water. Much different than the hodgepodge of a home/apartment that we stayed in Bodø. There’s so much more I could tell. Even though we had a cold miserable ride we had seen so much and had a good time… See if you stay positive those moments could become quite precious.

I must add that I stayed up much too late that night. It was close to 2 AM before I went to bed. Peggy came down around 1 AM and we witnessed a Land of the midnight sun bike event! We watched 30 40 50 or more riders passed by us on bikes. After the diluge of riders passing the house seemed to end Peggy went back to bed. Before I headed to bed the riders all came back by heading the other direction. I feel like it had to be an organized bike ride just because of the quantity of riders and on the return trip I saw the support vehicle following behind them. It added to the excitement that tomorrow we would have another adventure going down that road to a famous bakery in Å.

Since I am using my cell phone to make the blog post it is much too cumbersome to upload pictures. I will post pictures for each day on Facebook along with the link for that days blog. I hope you all enjoy… I complete this one at the end of day 3.

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