And my first 3 weeks in Norway were certainly unexpected. I arrived far north of the Arctic Circle with no bicycle. No luggage. Both were stuck at Heathrow airport where I checked in with SAS (Scandinavian Airlines).
I could give up. Or make do with my carry-on.
WHY not simply go to an all-inclusive beach resort and start drinking at noon?
Here’s a good answer from Jedidiah Jenkins who cycled Oregon to the southern tip of South America.
My original plan was to cycle the Senja National Tourist Road — the scenic and BEST parts shown in brown below. Sadly, summer 2022, the section marked RED below was closed due to construction of a new landslide superstructure.
I’d hoped that only motor vehicles were going to be blocked — BUT a Swiss cyclists told me he didn’t get through. The only folks who made it cycled at night and carried bikes around checkpoints.
THEREFORE I was forced to take the long way around. Less scenic. And a LOT more traffic.
I caught the fast ferry back to Tromsø from Finnsenes. Fed up with rain and wind.
Disappointing — but I did climb Sengla, one of my highest priorities for this trip.
My best campsite (free) was in Sommarøy. A wooden platform with a wind break is ideal in Norway.
Disappointed in having to do a much longer trip hitting Finnestes twice, I decided to take an $80 room in this old house. And was glad I did. A nice break from cycling in the rain.
A friendly truck driver on a ferry tipped me off to this — a rare free hot shower in Norway. Actually, I had 2 free hot showers because I cycled through Botnhamm twice.
My final night I camped in a troll themed free campsite near Hamn. Weird. But a good spot.
Expecting the bad weather to improve, it got worse and worse. And worse.
I finally QUIT en route to Skaland which is the trailhead for one of the great hikes. After days of hard rain, that route would have been too muddy to enjoy. Also — no vista from the top.
Summing up ➙ I need to return to Senja once the scenic road is open again.
My rental bike was pretty good, actually. Perhaps I’ll BUY a used bike like this in Tromsø and ride it south as far as it will go. Next time.
… over 5 months after SAS did not deliver all my luggage to Norway ➙ I finally was sent an airline voucher for CAD $940. And I’m happily surprised I got anything.
Scandinavian Airlines did EVERYTHING to pretend they hadn’t let my luggage sit untouched in Heathrow airport last summer — while I waited day-after-day in Tromsø, Norway. Wanting to start my long cycling tour. No reply to dozens of my attempts to contact them.
After weeks I finally got the camping & cycling gear — but not the bike. It was (finally) sent back to Canada.
Scandinavian Airlines did EVERYTHING to ignore my compensation claim, as well. Pretended I had not sent receipts, for example. I had.
Someone there finally got fed up of my pestering and reluctantly sent a voucher.
I’ll use it to get back to Tromsø, Norway this summer as it’s only valid until 2024-01-13. And try to start my cycling trip again.
I enjoyed wandering the streets, some bleak but interesting landscapes. And some ultramodern looking buildings.
With long, dark winters, libraries are popular here.
ME at my Bibliotek hangout. 😀
Historically, this was the furthest outpost of “Norweigans” in an area mainly populated by the Sámi.
Explorers like Roald Amundsen recruited their teams from here. Here’s a statue of Helmer Hanssen from nearby Andøya. (He’s unrelated to the Helly Hansen company, originally based out of Norway, purchased by retail chain Canadian Tire in 2009.)
Amundsen disappeared in June 1928 while flying on a rescue mission for the airship Italia in the Arctic. The search for his remains, which have not been found, was called off in September of that year.
It’s tempting to fly to Tromsø in winter. Very unique. The northern lights are visible most clear nights.
I stayed at the only hostel in town. About US $35 / night. They treated me well.
I flew to Tromsø to start south on a long cycling adventure. Sadly my bike and gear got stranded at Heathrow airport. I watched them unmoved for … weeks.
There are 3-4 different distances raced each year. Mine was shortest.
I signed up 2-days in advance of the race for the EASY 16km up and down.
It was more of a hike than a knife edge ridge.
I ended up 153rd, 1hr 44min behind the winner in the short race. My time 3hr 11min.
BUT I was happy with how I did. Running in I still felt great — avoiding muscle cramps which threatened throughout. I’d not really gone running in over a year before this day.
Louise finished ahead of me. We recovered with free vegetarian chile. So tasty, I bought some to take cycling.
In fact, at that point, Louise was wondering what happened to her brother Henry — turned out he had kept going at the short race turnaround. Henry ended up running an extra 7km or so.
Happily, his luck changed later — winning an official race hoody.
Most oil rich small nations suffer from severe economic and social issues — but not Norway (5.5 million).
Norway kept control of natural resources in Norway. In 1990 they created the Norway Sovereign Wealth Fund – today worth about $1.2 trillion.
By comparison, the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund where I live is worth only about $18.9 billion. Norway did it right. Alberta did it badly. The 2015 Fraser Institute report titled Fumbling the Alberta Advantage details the bungling.
Norwegians pay some of the highest taxes in the world — but enjoy some of the best health care, education and infrastructure. Small towns well above the Arctic Circle enjoy a good quality of life.
DON’T ASSUME AIRLINES WILL PAY YOU THEIR LEGALLY OBLIGATED COMPENSATION.
Summer 2022, their lawyers are doing everything possible to avoid payouts.
As I feared, Westjet airlines will not compensate me for being stranded at an airport overnight.
They are pretending there was a delay at my international connection in Toronto — my Westjet flight from Europe landed on time and I planned a long layover just-in-case.
My Toronto flight departed 80 minutes late causing me to miss a connection by about 10 minutes.
The problem had nothing to do with my international connection.
My cost was only about $100 and time — so I don’t think I’ll take Westjet to small claims court this time. But if I did, I’m sure I’d win.
It’s an excellent adventure hotel that also offers dorm beds for about $35 / night.
I’ll never forget their reindeer stew with lingonberries served me on night #2.
I cycled to enjoy the best views I could get of the Lyngen Alps. Finishing in Nord-Lenangen where I caught the fast ferry back to Tromsø late on a Sunday night.
Vancouverism developed in part as a product of Vancouver’s geographical context. Wedged between the sea, mountains and the border with the United States, there was not much room to expand as the city grew.
Rick McCharles 