Vanny in Fontainebleu

In the spirit of DIY with the likes of the haute route post , here is a description of the DIY Campervan we created last summer.

Helen and I went on a trip to France this summer past, starting in Nottingham and finishing in Inverness after a nice tour of France and parts of the UK.

Wild camping is banned in France along with a few of the other central european countries. Meaning that if you want to be ‘out in the nature’ you need to stay in a campsite or hotel.

However, there is a big campervan culture in France which means that campervans are accepted all over the place and there is a network of aires which provide essential services such as water and waste disposal.

The downside of campervans is that they are very expensive to buy and hire .

Famous refuge and gash

If you want to spend time in the alps or the pyrenees a good way to do it is with a DIY Camper™

There are some amazing Van conversions out there which take a lot of time and money to create. This is not one of them. This conversion can be done for minimal funds and in a couple of days.

Vehicle

Buy a van, max 2m high as this means you can park in regular car parks. Features to look out for are low mileage, ply-lined, carpeted. without bulk head, turbo diesel, side and back doors. Buy something which has a decent resell value as you will likely want to sell the van on after your trip.

As of 2011 £2000 would be a good budget. We started with a Mercedes Vito electricians van purchased from Autotrader vans.

Post training lunch in the heat.

Sleeping

You can pick up an IKEA sofabed for about £100, this acts as both a sofa and a bed! Jobs a good un!

High altitude camp spot.

If you have more time / expertise an mdf sleeping platform design is far superior as it allows you to store luggage underneath the sleeping area when you sleep.

Mods

Solar Shower in Action

• Inverter for a DC power supply (Laptop and Mobile) – sourced from Maplin.
• Large water container. You need a lot of water storage as often days can pass without water. – sourced from Decathlon.
• Solar shower. A large black back with a nozzle attached was excellent for cheeky washes. – sourced from Decathlon.
• Seat organisers, these clip onto the back of seat.
• FM transmitter, good way to listen to Ipod / Phone in the car without modifying the stereo.
• Screw hooks on the ply lining for organising stuff.
• Cooking was done outside with an MSR Whisperlite International stove running on petrol.
• Take a basic tool kit for repairs. Our main issue was the back section of the exhaust needed tied onto the chassis for most of the trip. If you get a good van you will hopefully escape mechanical issues.
• Curtains for the back doors with velcro attachments. Well made by Mrs Palmer.

Tips

• Use the aires in villages for services (but buy something in the village!). You can also sleep in them as well.
• When driving long distance we split the driving and did 2hr efforts, which can be maintained.
• The pyrenees is a lovely area.

4×4 intervals followed by Barbeque

The latest in amazing trials riding! source: Steev

Relaxing after haute route completion

Disclaimer

You should really have been ski touring for a few years, have mountain experience, be able to navigate in the mountains, have glacier experience and be willing to plan a bit beforehand.

If in doubt, hire a guide.

Paper goods

• Buy Peter Cliff’s book – The Haute Route a guide for skiers and walkers
• Buy 1:50000 Maps (Martigny and Arolla (Winter 1:50000 maps, they have ski routes marked on them.))
• Buy 1:25000 Maps (The required maps are mentioned in Peter Cliff’s book.)
• Buy Glacier Mountaineering (good book for glacier travel)

Work out a version of the Haute route that suites your group.

Get a group together

Ideally all of similar ability and maximum 6 people. If possible, go ski touring with the group and meet a few times before the trip to go over plans, shared equipment etc.

Make sure you have the right equipment.

Sort out your equipment beforehand, make sure you have tested everything; make sure your boots are comfortable and dont give you blisters!

Haute route equipment list

Book the huts

Erik Vignettes

It is possible to get email addresses and phone numbers from the Swiss Alpine Club Website attempt to use broken french and book them quite long in advance. It might be worth joining one of the affiliated clubs as this results in cheaper lodgings.

Pick a time to go

We went at the very beginning of April and this was a really good time to go in that the snow was still good and it wasnt too busy on the route. Slightly earlier (maybe a week or 2) would work but you will have to check that the huts are open. Later would also work but you run into issues on the last day with being able to ski out to Zermatt depending on the snow year.

Have a wee bit of leeway in your travel plans

Bad weather may hit when you are on the trip; try to have some extra days in your travel schedule to accomodate this.

Have fun!

Any top tips or questions? Add them below.

Glacier du Mt Collon

Pigne D Arolla and Icefall

Day 5 – Arolla, Pas de Chevres to Pigne D Arolla to Vignettes Hut

We had 2 options on this day.

1. Ski direct to the Vignettes hut, same as the guided groups.
2. Rejoin the original route by crossing the Pas de Chevres, climbing the Pignes Des Arolla and then descending to the Vignettes hut.

Option 2 seemed a lot more exciting and the weather forecast was good to we decided to go for it.

Left the old school hotel last with Johan. Bought ski passes for a long poma which saved us a couple of kilometres and a few hundred metres ascent. Cheating?

Skiers on Montagne d Arolla

Roar took a cheeky line up an extra poma and did a sweet traverse to get ahead of us by like 10 minutes. I caught him on the way up the Pas de Chevres and cained all the Norwegians to the top.

Roar and old sun avalanche

Watched the Dix hut being serviced by heli which was cool, it kept swooping over my head at the top of the Pas de Chevres and down toward Arolla. Happy we bypassed the Dix as the guardian had given me an earful for not cancelling in time the day before!

Rigged up a rope and we downclimbed the ladders onto the Glacier de Cheilon. Was fun to get some ladder action with the skis on the back.

Pas De Chevres

We continued up the cheilon glacier in the heat and up to the Col de la Serpentine where the wind got up considerably.

Lone Skiers

The Pigne d Arolla stretching out before us and the Mont Blanc de Cheilon behind. This looks like a very impressive mountain and seems to be climbing possibilities and skiing possibilities on it.

Mt Blanc de Cheilon

Pigne D Arolla

The conditions were deteriorating slightly so there was a real feel of commitment and challenge in the air. The steep slope to get up to the Col du Brennay looked quite icy so it was time to get the crampons on and skis on the back and ice axe out.

Felt quite exposed on the way up, here is one of Johan getting buffeted in the wind. (hard to show in a photo!) We didnt think we were going to make the Pigne d’Arolla summit.

Johan on the windy icy section.

We got to the top and started skiing again. Eivind and I pushed on ahead, curled round some crevasses and headed toward the Pigne d Arolla summit. Amazingly the wind dropped as we approached the summit and all were able to summit. There was a guide with one client already on the top and he took some nice photos of us. They had climbed up from the Vignettes side.

Looking back the way we came

View from Pigne D Arolla Summit

Some photo taking, then an amazing descent towards the Vignettes hut. One of the best ski views I have ever had.. snow was a bit wind affected but still an amazing descent. Could have been the best descent of the trip.

Erik, Roar, Alastair, Pigne D Arolla Summit

For some reason we were greeting like heroes by the Americans and some of the guides for going the long way round. Was a great feeling to get to the hut and it is potentially the best hut we came across.

Erik Vignettes

Pigne des Arolla descent

Before taking our skis off Johan and I spotted a huge powder bowl down the other side toward Arolla so hit that before retiring to the hut. Really good powder. Johan had left his Thermos in the hotel at Arolla and was seriously considering skiing back to get it. Luckily we managed to talk him out of it!

Glacier du Mt Collon

Most groups were continuing onto the Bertol hut; but we wanted to stick to the classic route so planned to ski direct to Zermatt the next day.

6.5 hours skiing.

Day 6 – Vignettes Hut to Zermatt

Leaving the Vignettes Hut at Dawn

Excitement was high in the night which meant little sleep and we had an early rise for the ‘biggest’ day of the haute route.

The day started sourly as we lost Roar and Erik at Vignettes due to illness. It would be a team of 4 instead of 6 which was a bit sad. The plan was for them to stay in Vignettes for an extra day; luckily there were 2 places left for them!

Glacier du Mt Collon

Glacier du Mt Collon

We eventually got away from the hut at about 7am, just as it was getting light. A cruisy ski down to the Glacier du Mt Collon and on with the skins for the first of 3 cols. Medium length skin up to the Col d Eveque, passed some groups that were in front of us (we were last to leave again). We got stuck behind a guided group on the way up the skin track. Passed them at the top however and we were in concentration / speed / being ‘effective’ mode as we knew the day was a biggy!

Long line of guided groups to overtake!

Skied down the other side of the Col d Eveque, snow was a bit bind affected but nice swooping turns anyway. We then caught up the American group, got a bit of banter with them then passed them on the way up to the foot of the Col d Mt Brule. Got the crampons out again to climb this, my Camp XLC 390 crampons were excellent and was fine with pure aluminium. If going later in the season it might have been a different story.

Col du M. Brule

Col du M. Brule

Col du M. Brule

Pulled away from the stars and stripes and caught up a group of italian stallions all wearing the same closes and using similar skis! A small traverse led us onto the Glacier de Tsa de Tsan were we stopped for a spot of lunch. The climb up to the Col de Valpelline is desceptively long and we worked hard to get there.

Boys up the final glacier

Eivind and his fishnet thermals

Upon arriving we were greeted with an amazing view of the Matterhorn as we left Italy. Time to take the skins off for last time and take some photos.

Me and the matterhorn

Matterhorn (from italian side)

We proceeded to descent the heavily crevassed Stockli Glacier. It wasnt over yet. The great visibility and abundance of ski tracks made it slightly easier but you still needed to watch where you were skiing. It would have been a different story if the weather had been bad and we may have had to ski roped up!

Skiing round some crevasses

Johan and Ice

Snow conditions on the glacier were excellent spring conditions as it was approximately 1130 am when we skied it. If done too much later in the day I doubt it would have been so fun.

Sweet tele turn

Took the right fork and skied directly under the Matterhorn which was extremely cool. Johan smacked his head on a rock due to rotten snow. The dangers of telemark skiing; wouldnt have happened if his heels were attached! I also wiped out here and my bindings DIDNT release when I came over the top, which is actually just as sketchy really.

We just hit this old glacier in time as apart from a little walk we were able to ski all the way to the afterski at 2300m!

Supposed to take 8:30 to 12 hours in the guidebook. Rando racers could so it a lot faster but we were pretty happy with 6 hours!

We met a dutch group who had skied from the Bertol that day. A tasty celebratory beer was consumed.

Relaxing after haute route completion

We advised the young waitress that when the Americans arrived she was to tell them the Norwegians (and scot) had been waiting for ages and had to ski down!

Band playing at 2200m below matterhorn

Skied down to Zermatt from here on long cruisy Cat Tracks.

The fun did not end there.

Chez heine for world class lamb, afterski bar, la poste nightclub, climbing rafters and to out delight there being no bouncers, stage dancing.

I had to make it to Scotland the next day nursing a killer hangover but it was worth it!

We made it! Haute route complete!

Sunglass photo

Day 3 Mont Fort Hut to Prafleuri Hut

Excellent weather again, up early and onto the Col des Chaux, felt strong and did it in one go. A good hard start to the day.

Leaving Mont Fort Hut

Top of Col des Chaux

Switched to clothes for warm weather which helped massively. Eivind got his fishnets out, something which an English woman found very exciting.

Towards Rosablanche

Pushed onto the Rosablanche (3336m).

The slope of the Rosablanche is north facing which meant nice dry snow. Dropped the sack and did an extra round along with Eivind and Johan.

Johan Rosablanche

Afterwards we had a tasty lunch on top of a rather large cornice (we didn’t realise this at the time) and then wandered up to the top and took some photos.

Rosablanche

Learnt 2 new Norwegian words, both which translate to bitch.

Next skied all the way from near the Rosablanche summit to the Prafleuri hut. Snow at the top was amazing but it got a bit wet towards the end. Rosti and beer was waiting with the others who got there before us, as our skiing laps took more time.

Johan, Rosablanche Summit

You have to be careful about when you approach the Prafleuri hut, as late in the day there is high avalanche risk.

Some guy broke his ski and a helicopter delivered him a fresh pair en route to a helibombing mission. Only in the Alps!

Helicopter Ski Delivery

A group of plucky Americans arrived late in the day having skied from Trient and an hour or so after they arrived the approach was avalanched.

If you are a strong group I recommend skiing from Trient to Prafleuri in one day if you are doing the Verbier variation, just make sure you keep good time.

Day 4 – Prafleuri – Lac Des Dix – Prafleuri – Pralong – Arolla

Johan and Prafleuri

Started early, weather wasnt ideal with snow and bad visibility. However, the main problem was an overcast night meant that the snowpack didnt refreeze overnight. The snow was completely rotten right to the ground and skiing was challenging.

Col de Roux

All of the guided groups made the decision to turn around, we deliberated for a while but decided to also turn around as it may have not been possible to skin up the Pas du Chat. (It transpired later that a german group without a guide carried on but had to turn around due to snow conditions.) We made the right choice.

We went back the way we came over the Col De Roux to the Prafleuri to look at our options. Apparently the avalanche danger directly below the hut was too high despite the previous days helibombing. Luckily there was a 1.6km disused tunnel under the hut which would pop us out further down the mountain!

Dude in tunnel

There were loads of weird and wonderful ice structured in the tunnel. We walked with some of the guided groups.

The avalanche danger was still relatively high after the tunnel experience. When then relied on the guides to check the slopes and set off a controlled avalanche to evacuate their clients. We potentially would have been faster without the guides (and a swedish prafleuri hut guardian told us about a safer route further to skiers’ right.) but we kept with them.

We finally got to a road but unfortunately this road was closed, lots of large avalanches were funneling into the valley off a huge cliff at regular intervals. To get to civilisation it meant skis on the back and a 6km walk in ski boots to the hamlet of Pralong. Safety!

We eventually squeezed ourselves into a taxi (guided groups had priority) and drove all the way to Arolla. We stayed in the hilarious, ancient Hotel Mt Collon. The food was great, the hotel itself was a blast from the past!

Eivind and his norrona boots

Johan in ancient bathroom.

Hotel Mt Collon

Day 1 – Argentiere to Trient Hut

Looking down to Argentiere Glacier and Col du Chardonnet

Managed to actually get the first lift from Argentiere due to taxi and good organisation. We stayed at the Hotel L’Arve in Chamonix, which I recommend.

Rolf and Roar were a bit behind us in the lift line so we managed to have a cheeky expresso at the grands montets cafe.

We got going an headed down towards the Argentiere glacier via the Rognons glacier. Some crevasses but excellent visibility. Long descent to get the skiing legs back. I had done minimal downhill skiing this season, mainly snowboarding and xc skiing.

Rognons descent

We switched to skins on the Argentiere glacier and onto the Col du Chardonnet. On the way up we used ski crampons. I used mine for the first time and learned that skiing downhill on them is not a good idea when there is rocks around. I ripped off the dynafit plastic mount. Bindings were otherwise fine.

Chardonnet Ascent

Looking back to Rognons Glacier

It flattened off then we got to the abseil over the other side. We had 2×30m ropes with us and rope-round-the-back side slipped down the col. This was fine and exciting, potentially later in the season we would require more rope to do this. Also we relied on the next party to unclip rope for us.

Chardonnet

Skinning up chardonnet from Argentiere Glacier

Chardonnet crew

Johan waited for rope release and skied down the last section with the rope, as he arrived at the group he had a very impressive wipeout.

Col du Chardonnet

Next a traverse ski and then up over the Col de Saleina; Skis on the pack for this one and the thin air took a bit of getting used to; tough times.

Fenetre de Saleina

On the other side of the col we saw both the Trient hut and some sexy lines above the Col du Tour. I was persuaded by Johan and Erik to hit this, so off we went for an extra tour.

Eivind

Unfortunately the turns were not as nice as they looked; the snow was breakable crust! So we had to do Italian style turns to make it down.

Food at the Trient was excellent, portions slightly small however and the guardian crew not the most friendly. The main guardian was nice though.

Norsk Crew

Important to drink a lot of water at altitude and to rehydrate in the huts. Water, Coke and Beer all have their benefits!

Heineken and Girl

6hrs 40min

Couloir Copt (Xavier de la Rue hit this.)

Saleina Dusk

Day 2 – Trient Hut to Mont Fort Hut

Up quite early, we were the second last group to leave the hut. Down the Trient glacier where there were quite a few holes.

Col des Escandies

Over the col des escandies, with skis on back and ice axe, no crampons.

Smiling Col des Escandies

Peein Col des Escandies

Nice skiing down the Val D Arpette into Champex ski resort. Saw the point d’orney couloir over the backside of the Trient hut which we should really have hit as the conditions were good for it.

Val d Arpette

Val D Arpette

As we arrived at the ski resort we were lucky enough to arrive around 10:10am when there was a bus at 10:25am which took us to Osieres. From here we got a train to Le Chable via Sembrancher. From Le Chable you can get a cable car to Verbier. Maybe a taxi would be faster but not sure how much it would cost.

Val D Arpette

The boys carried on up to the Les Attelas restaurant for some tasty food. I went to Mountain Air in Verbier and got my binding spacer replaced by a friendly dude for a reasonable price.

Chilled out at Attelas restaurant and hoovered up leftovers, then onto Mont Fort hut for more beers, wine and chilling out.

A funny moment was witnessing a group of yah’s skiing down from the Mont Fort hut half cut in the pitch dark without headtorches at 11pm. Hope they made it safely back without getting buggered!

2 hrs 05min skiing!

Rusty chain

As winter comes to an end, its time to get back out on the bikes! My commuting bike (called the bus) has taken a hammering over the winter months and the chain is not in a good way.

Sheldon brown shares a good tip on cleaning chains. Sometimes when you think that you should buy a new chain for your bike, all that it needs is a good clean.

Drop the chain into a plastic Coke bottle with a couple of ounces of un-diluted citrus degreaser, cap it, and shake thoroughly. Fish the chain out with a spoke, rinse in water, and you are all set! (I am told that Pepsi bottles also work, and are easier to remove the chain from, because they have a wider mouth…but I’m a Coke guy, not a Pepsi guy.)

I have had ok results with this method. I only managed to get solvent based degreaser which is horrible smelly cancerous stuff. The bottle top was pretty wee so a larger one in future will be better. It also only worked quite well and not as good as I thought.

I will need to try with real citrus degreaser in the future and see how that goes.

Matterhorn (from italian side)

Here is a list of what I took on the haute route. We were a group of 6 without a guide and shared the safety equipment between us.

Generally go as lightweight as possible with everything on the list. Get the lightest possible as in the end it makes your skiing a lot more enjoyable and your skinning easier. Light is right.

Dynafit Bindings seem to be the way to go.

Technical Equipment

• Skis (w/Dynafit TLT Speed)
• Boots
• Poles
• Skins
• Tranceiver – Fresh Batteries
• Shovel
• Probe
• OMM 35L Pack (Maybe 40L would be better)
• Straps for skis
• Harness (Black Diamond Couloir)
• Ice Axe (As light as possible)
• Crampons (Lightweight Aluminium)
• Ski Crampons
• 3 locking carabiners
• 2 non-locking carabiners
• 1 Ice Screw
• Prusik cords (2 times 5m length of 6mm cord)
• Belay device
• 1x dyneema sling (120cm)
• 1x dyneema sling (50cm)
• First aid (blisters, duct tape, sports tape roll (important for blister prevention), plasters)
• Ear plugs
• Wee Headtorch – Fresh Batteries
• Survival Bag
• Compass
• Maps (Martigny, Arolla 1:50000, Missed 1:25000 maps would be good to take these)
• Route Guide (Scan and print out relevent parts from Peter Cliff’s Book)
• Watch
• Victorinox Knife
• 500CHF – get from Geneva Airport
• Toothbrush + Paste
• Mobile Phone
• Silk sleeping sheet (wool covers and pillows are provided by the huts)
• Passport
• Sun Glasses (Category 4 Important)
• Sun screen and lip protection
• Goggles
• 1 liter Water bottle.
• 500ml mineral water bottle
• Pen + Wee Book
• Medication (if applicable)
• Lunch and Snacks – Day 1
• Insurance Docs
• Zip-lock bag for wallet etc.
• Camera

Clothing

• Shell Jacket
• Waterproof Trousers
• XC Ski Bottoms
• Pertex Windproof
• Primaloft Insulation Jacket
• Light Fleece
• Down Vest
• 3 x thermal tops (1x synthetic, 2x merino)
• 1 x thermal bottoms
• Insulated Mitts
• Light semi waterproof gloves (use these most of the time)
• Liner gloves
• Buff x 2
• Sun hat
• Hat x 2
• 2 x Thick Socks (Merino)
• 1 x Thin Socks
• 3 x Boxers

Group

• Skin wax
• Stove + Pan
• Rope x 2

Erik, Roar, Alastair, Pigne D Arolla Summit

Day 10

Day 10

Today we were feeling quite lazy and did an easy jaunt through the jagged mountains of Lofoten (Austvågøya) to the town of Solvær (capital of lofoten). Solvær as OK and we had a tasty snack and bought some delicious bread. (Vestfjordbrod from Kringla Bakeri in the main square.)

Climbers at partywave

We continued onto hip and happening Henningsvær, the climbing captial of Lofoten. We relaxed in the climbing cafe over some Nordland Pils and partook in a magnificent shower. Finally we retired to PARTYWAVE the cool climbers wild campsite and evaded the clouds of angry mosquitos.

Helen reading the girl with the dragon tattoo

I tried to get a pair of Norrøna Lofoten ski pants for cheap (RRP circa £400) but the climber dude wasnt having any of it. Note to self: when haggling its better to make sure it is a one on one haggle and there are no other advisers in the vicinity.

Sunset at henningsvær

Sunset at henningsvær

Stats

63.82km
19.9 Avg
49.6 Max
980 kcal
3:11:55 ptime
960.6km fae NK

Day 11

Day 11

Woke up to find out that a beast of some kind had got into our tent porch in the night and eaten most of our food!!

Looking across to henningsvær

Very picturesque beautiful cycle on one of the recommended motorbike roads. Finally got my ipod out and have started listening to music when I am cycling.. pumpin!

Helen had a dark day today.

Found a ‘mall’ and had some tasty ice cream. Tried for find a some snow and ran to a white patch on some hillside. Unfortunately it was a very white stone slab . This ends my 32 month stint of being on snow every month!!

Attempting to find snow

Stopped off at a proper campsite and made some funny sunset pictures.

jumpin team

wicked air

sunset

Stats

90.79km
20.5kph Avg
57.0kph max
1434 Kcal
4:24:23 Ptime
1051.4 km fae NK

Day 12

Day 12

A slow start to the day at Ramberg Gjesthus Campsite but a heart warming story of a 90 year old Australian man who had been in nearby Skelfjord aged 19 and returned to witness the opening of a war memorial. He has been reunited with a 76 year old man whom he gave a box of delicious chocolates to 71 years ago.

break time

We cycled the remaining length of flakstadøya to Moskenesøya and all the way to the famed å. We spent the rest of the gloriously sunny day relaxing and pottering about in å and moskenes.

end of the road

Lofoten Hills

At the ferry port we met a kiwi / south african couple who were driving an insane mercedes camper van. (something similar to “this”“http://www.flickr.com/photos/cinemadreams/3027634842/in/photostream/”) They were driving it around the world and had heaps of good chat.

Our time in Lofoten was coming to a close as the sun went down behind the jagged peaks. We munched on our final wild dinner, washing it down with some Nordlands Pils.

Lofoten Dusk

Lofoten Dusk

Stats

45.85km
20.6 kph AVG
58.5 kph MAX
731.8 kcal
2:13:23 ptime
1097.2 km fae NK

FINISH!

*å*

Banter sunset

Day 7

day 7 map

Weather good / amazing! Had the best ferry waffle experienced so far. (Brensholmen -> Botnhavn). Staying at obscene hut called Senjabu. Buily in 2002 it is in very good nick and seems like someone’s own house.

Senja view

Did a beast of a shop and cooked mince n tatties for dinner. Bought some beer to drink despite the weight!

Senja view again

Welcome to the hut.

Brushing the teeth at senjabu dnt #2

Stats

81.87km
19.6 kph avg (NR)
54.4 kph max
1235 Kcal
4:10:13 ptime
699.4km fae NK

Day 8

day 8

Water and hills

Sensational senja

Left senjabu and had a beautiful and amazingly fun circa 2 hour ride to Gryllefjord. Saw lots of jellyfish, trucks and shags. One moderate mountain pass.

Arrived at 11:43am to find out that the ferry had gone ar 11. Next one was due at 7pm!! We spent several relaxing hours reading and fishing. (fishing with rudimentary equipment didnt work out too well.) Went to shop for dinner at 5pm and found out that the evening ferry to Andesnes was cancelled!! Bad weather apparently.. but I think it was a Birthday Party as the weather was lovely.

Basically we have been proper winging it with the ferries so far on the trip. Just rocking up and waiting a short time for a boat. This was the first time that the flying by the seat of your pants approach has bitten us in the bum after years of success. So the jury is still out… fly by the seat of your pants or plan?

Cat

Preparing the mobile kitchen

Biked a few kilometres back up the fjord and found a stony campspot. Enjoyed a delightful beach dinner in textbook sunset conditions. (Prawns, salmon, sweetcorn, cheesy pasta, Tuborgs.)

Helen tucking into a tuborg at dinner time.

(started the regular consumption of beer)

Sunset gryllefjord

White women can jump

Stats

42.11 km
20.3 kph avg (NR)
59.1 kph max
777 kcal
2:04:09 ptime
741.5 km fae NK

Day 9

day 9

Bye bye gryllefjord

Finally escaped from Gryllefjord in a ferry that should have been in a museum. Rip off costs for shitty coffee (30kr (£3) + 5kr (50p) for a refill!!) We spoke to the captain about the previous days cancellation and it was clear that they just couldnt be f*cked the previous day. Annoying to say the least!

Due to the pitiful distance covered the previous day we decided to pound out a big one.

Rest

After some choppy seas we made it to Andøya (Awesome Andøya). Andesnes is a surprisingly big place and with the wind behind us we smashed through 50km in 2 hours.

Went for a 1hr effort, 10 min break schedule for most of the day, grinding out 6hrs of cycling effort in this manner. Sunshine and obscene views most of the time!

Helen and Bridge

At the ferry to get to lofoten.

Arrived at Melbu and didnt like the look of it so decided to go even further than planned at get the last ferry to Lofoten. Possibly the best sunset I have ever seen was experienced as Helen danced to some attrocious pop music on the ferry. Would have been better without the pop music!

Stats

155.21 km (NR)
23.4 kph (NR)
56.4 kph Max
2588 Kcal (NR)
6:37:34 ptime
896.8 km fae NK