A sudden dramatic change of plan in North Norway

 Day8 Weds 18th July 18

Trondheim to Mo I Rana 300 miles

Got on the road for 08.30 today. Took a while to clear Trondheim, through long dark tunnels and a very long boring avg speed camera 70kph stretch. Then it opened out into a mix of fields and forest. Lots of bikes taking the long trip North.. at one rest stop met another Brit from Staffordshire and 2 nice Russian guys. 

The road was now flowing with the opportunity to make progress passing large lakes and tree clad mountains with the scent of pine on the air. By midday I was almost halfway there. Surprisingly hot 29C..I thought it would be cooler and some rain.. well that’s probably still to come 😎

Pushing on further North the road was perfect, no traffic for long stretches; winding along past lakes, rivers and through pine forests all with a display of lovely pink flowers along the roadside. What a great ride; just doing my own thing 😎

Houses are few and far between, this is now getting remote and I can see snow topped mountains in the distance. The wind has picked up and the skies have cleared, it’s now 30c as I reached the official point of entering the Artic Circle in North Norway 🇳🇴 “Nord-Norge” 😎👍

This road goes on for ever and even gets better as the terrain starts to undulate.. now it has it all; totally smooth grippy surface, banked on the corners, flowing sweeping bends, up and down and very little traffic.. in fact 200 miles of biking heaven 🏍😎.. the only grumble is that’s it’s now 33C and the Twix bar I was saving is a gooey mess 😱🔥

On the road again and came to a 9 kms long tunnel.. inside the temperature dropped suddenly from 33C to 14C! Now comes the last 50 kms; always the hardest after a long day on the road. Stopped at a rest area on the banks of a massive fjord, just to take in the view. 😎

As I approached my destination, Mo I Rana,  the wind was really strong; it was 30C and dark clouds were forming; looks like a storm brewing! 

Checked in the hotel as a few spots of rain fell, but soon blew over. Had dinner, more wind and a sprinkle of rain.. seems it’s saving the worst for tomorrow; forecast is 19C and thunderstorms 🙄

Day 9 Thurs 19th July 18

To the Artic Circle; then a sudden change of plan! Let’s go to Sweden 🇸🇪 

It had rained over night and looked like more was coming. As I set off from Mo I Rana the heavens opened and continued for 30 mins, but I could see it was getting lighter up ahead and indeed it stopped and blue sky started to appear 😊 The road dried out and fun was to be had on the twisty bits.

After a couple of hours the terrain changed and became treeless and barren with snow capped mountains. Soon I came upon the Artic Circle centre, so pulled on to take some pics. Nice German man with a massive mobile home saw me trying to do a selfie and offered to take my pic, had a long chat with him and found that he visited England regularly. At the top of a hill people had built lots of stone piles as a  memento of their visit to the Artic Circle ⭕ 

Get ready for the next bit!

After another 30 kms or so I was riding along looking at the scenery, straight piece of road, no cars around when suddenly a policeman jumped out in the road and waved me in 😱 “do you know what the speed limit is? “ he said. Whatever it was I was obviously exceeding it! He went to check his machine to get my speed and came back to say it was 110kph and the speed limit was 70 🙁. He then went on to say that my speed was so excessive that I would be banned immediately and could not drive anymore in Norway 😱

I was then handed over to another policeman to be processed!  This guy sat me in his car and told me my speed was a criminal offence and I would have to see a judge in 3 wks time..this was going from bad to worse 😱

I explained I was from U.K. on holiday and wouldn’t be here in 3 wks, so he said if I admitted the crime I could have a recorded interview now and state any mitigating circumstances and they would be “in touch”. There would be an immediate 5 month ban in Norway. So I stated that I was a visitor to Norway and had travelled nearly 4000 kms to get to this point and had observed speed limits all the way.  I admit the crime but felt it was very harsh to punish me in this way when on a straight road with no traffic and not riding dangerously. He said I could ride to Sweden, just 10 kms away, and ride home. I was actually thinking of coming back via Sweden..so Sweden it is. 😎😁

I never made it to the Lofoten Islands, my next planned stop, but had seen 1000 miles of Norway and reached the Artic Circle..I’m happy with that 😇

So I rode into Sweden up through the mountains and it started to rain heavily. A few kms further and I came to a petrol station, pulled in to fill up have coffee and figure out a new plan. I saw another biker who was sheltering from the rain; he came over as I was filling up and asked where I was going. I said I didn’t know as I had just been thrown out of Norway for speeding. He then “well so have I, do you want some coffee?” 😁

Well what coincidence! His name was Claus and he was Danish. 

Make sure to check my next post as meeting Claus turned into one of the best bits of this trip and a new adventure to be continued. 😊