Wet And Miserable On The EUROPEAN DIVIDE TRAIL (Part 7)
I'm riding the European Divide Trail from the trailhead up in the frozen shores of Northern Norway, through the vast wilderness of Finland and down to the deep forests around the Arctic Circle in Sweden. This time around things quickly go from good to worse. So I just put my rain jacket on, because this does not look very promising. Headwind, uphill and rain. It's not much going in my way now. Pretty sick and tired of this right now[Music]
[Music] Why is it always so difficult to get going in the morning? I'd rather just be lying here for yet an hour or two? This is the best feeling in the world, just lying in your tent in the morning. But I guess I have to get up. I have a very long day today as well [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Well, not the most interesting ride I've ever done. I've been basically going along
the highway here for the last hour and a half. I have about an hour left until I'm in Kåbdalis, that's the next town, and they have a supermarket there as well. So I think I'll stop there for lunch. So now I'm just going to take a short snack break by the side of the road. These are my favorite biscuits here in Sweden, Ballerina.
For the last 3 days we've had a prevailing wind from the south, and I'm I'm going right in that direction. So it's pretty slow going right now, especially on these bigger roads, because they're pretty wide and no shelter from the wind. As I said in 15 km I'm approaching the next town and from then on I'll turn on to the gravel roads and follow the European Divide Trail all the way to Arvidsjaur. I think the wind is less affecting you when you're on these smaller gravel roads, because you're more sheltered from it than on these major roads Look at that halo effect around the Sun I'm just outside Kåbdalis now, I've got maybe 2 kilometers left. This is a very popular ski destination here in Northern Sweden, and we go here at least once every winter with my family, just for a weekend or so. As I look up on the mountain there's still snow left on the mountain,
even though it's beginning of June now. This is a pretty lively place during later part of winter and spring, however now I believe it's pretty much a ghost town. There are only maybe 50-60 people living here, but they do have a supermarket, since a lot of people pass through this area. The funny thing about this Supermarket... I don't know what it's like now, but during winter it's not staffed. So it's basically closed the whole time and you can
just enter it through a thing we have here in Sweden called Bank-ID. That's sort of an electronic identification on your phone, so it's going to be interesting to see when I get down to the supermarket if it's open like that or if someone is staffing it at the the moment. That's a pretty unique thing here in Sweden, I think that you have these unmanned supermarkets because people generally are quite honest here. People trust each other to to just buy their things and leave and don't make a scene or anything. Plus, of course they have cameras inside of the supermarket, but still works by people trusting each other [Music] [Applause] I'm enjoying a bit of lunch here in Kåbdalis. I've just made some instant mash potatoes with
bacon. While I eat I'm also charging two of my power banks and my phone at the same time. Because I'm basically all out of power. I guess I miscalculated this a little bit. But like I said I only have like one and a half days left, so if I charge up my phone now it should be able to last me all the way into Arvidsjaur. So I'm taking my time to make sure that everything is fully charged. And then we hit the road again after lunch and after maybe 1 or 2 kilometers we hit the gravel, and that gravel road is going to lead us all the way to my Finish Line in Arvidsjaur. I think we have around 145 km left until I'm there, so I'm going to divide that evenly on both of these days. There are some dark clouds over there, exactly in the direction
that I'm going (obviously). And we'll see if we get some rain later on. According to the weather forecast we were maybe supposed to get some rain in the afternoon, but hopefully not that much. And tomorrow looks fine as well, so hopefully it's just a passing cloud area, that is going to move quickly ahead. Back on the roads again after a nice lunch and
it looks like we're turning off the highway here and heading right for the gravel roads I forgot to mention that about the self manned store back there in Kåbdalis is since you need that Bank-ID to be able to open the door, you need to be a Swedish citizen. And that can be a little bit tricky if you're coming from another country cycling through here. But just wait and some kind person will let you in. I was there for about an hour and I think five cars came up during that time. So just wait for 10-15 minutes and someone should come by and if you ask them kindly they gladly let you in [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] Of course you find these super awesome campsites when you have about 50 km left for the day. I would gladly have stayed at this place Look! Fireplace, a small boat, although I think you're not supposed to use that. And there's also a hiking path along the lake here for a nightly stroll
Otherwise I have to say that there's not a lot of things going on today. Even though when I joined up with the EDT it's been pretty bland for a while now. I'm hoping for some more like curvy undulating roads coming up, but we still have about 50 km left for today. So I think we should hit some nicer roads coming up here [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] I just put my rain jacket on because this does not look very promising I'm right where the black dot is. It says it's going to be raining for the next 4 hours or so. Don't really know what to do... I'll keep on going for a for a while at least. In the worst case scenario I have to pitch my tent, wait out the rain and
continue on later on tonight. But then the the roads are going to be pretty pretty wet and hard to ride on. So I'll continue for a while at least to see what happens [Music] Headwind, uphill and rain. There's not much going in my way now My aim for today was to make about 120 km, but uh I guess everything over 100 km would put me in range for Arvidsjaur tomorrow. I'm at about 75 now,
so I think I'll carry on for for another 25 to get me a good position for tomorrow [Applause] I'm taking cover here under a couple of thick trees, and me and the mosquitoes are fighting over over the place. It looks like the rain is intensifying, so I think I'm going to start looking for a for a camp spot. There is a lake coming up, or maybe two lakes coming up, in the next 15 kilometers. So if they have a decent camp spot I'm pitching my tent there and and calling it a day. I'll have to get up a bit earlier tomorrow, but tomorrow's forecast looks really promising. It's going to be sunny all day,
so I don't doubt that I'll be able to put in some extra miles tomorrow instead You can't believe how cold it is. It's about like 12°C outside right now I think, but the rain makes it almost ice cold I'm just glad I'm pedaling, so I I'll keep warm as long as I'm as I'm moving. I don't want to stop or anything Let's hope we find a nice campspot here Okay, forget about the lake. Now I just need to find a flat space, and as you can see around me here it's like mountains and large boulders everywhere. So it's pretty difficult to find a camp spot over here I'm pretty sick and tired of this right now. Take a look at the bike. It could be a lot worse,
because I've been taking it really careful. I've been criss-crossing between the puddles, and the puddles that I have ridden through I've basically ridden through in in walking speed I might have found a candidate here. Oh, I'm loving bikepacking life right now. Well, I guess it can't be sunshine and rainbows all the time. You got to have these horrible moments to
enjoy the good ones. I think it's like 5:00 PM in the afternoon or evening, but I think I'm pretty set here. There's no use in uh going outside and showing you where I'm staying, because I'm staying basically like 2 m away from from the very muddy road that I just rode upon. I just found this some sort of flat space that was connected to it. So I took the first opportunity I could and and turned off and now I'm sitting in a very drenched tent. And I know I'm going to get this comment: you should have a tent that folds... I'm just chasing the mosquitoes
while I talk. You should have that one of those where you pitch everything at once. And believe me I have a couple of those ones as well, but the benefit of this type of tent is that I've now slept in this one for seven nights and I haven't had a single drop of condensation yet. So I know these nights are going to happen when you're pitching your tent in panic, but I've done this before in extremely worse conditions than this. I know that I'm going home tomorrow as well,
so this is the last night in the tent. So I can get home tomorrow and dry everything off, so it's fine for me. So now I'll just take my towel and try to wipe everything down and then we'll see if can get some sort of dinner going. Or maybe I'll wait for the rain to stop first. It's supposed to rain for about maybe three or four more hours. Look at my hands like raisin hands And they're super cold and everything And right about now my camera had had enough of the rain and decided to call it a night. So until next time, have a good one!
2024-09-06 00:49
