Cycle Touring Norway Part 4: Andøya and Senja

In the summer of 2019, I spent a month cycle touring 2,500 km through Norway, from the southern city of Bergen to the Arctic city of Tromsø. In this video, I share my experience of cycling through Andøya and Senja.

Map of Norwegian tunnels that cyclists can and can’t use: https://www.cycletourer.co.uk/maps/tunnelmap.shtml

The narrative in the video is based on my book about the trip, Cycling Norway: From Trolltunga to Tromsø, available on Amazon (Kindle and paperback): https://amzn.to/3qr9CWq

Arial shots taken on DJI Mavic Air: https://click.dji.com/APStdXk3GJzUClIvR9ggBg?pm=link

Ground shots taken on DJO Osmo: https://click.dji.com/ANx_onjpjKjK9Iy7c8be2A?pm=link

I cycle tour in a different country every few months, with the aim of cycling 50,000 km in 50 countries. For more cycling stories from around the world, subscribe to my channel! And follow me on Instagram (Island_Rides) and Facebook (IslandRides1)!

#cyclingnorway #cycletouringnorway #bikepackingnorway #andoya #senja

[Music] one summer assassins arrived from bergen a city in the south of norway the thrumsa a city in the north also known as the capital of the arctic i gave myself a month to ride the two and a half thousand kilometers between these two cities camping along the way in the wild as much as possible after heading in the wrong direction for several days to hike to trolltanga taking another detour to ride atlantic ocean road then cycling the 600 kilometer coastal highway to lefutum i finally made it to the island of andoya i had learned about underwear from a norwegian couple who described it as a paradise with caribbean like water’s lap and white sand beaches when i arrived however i was greeted by a howling headwind in an icy rain for the most part i kept my head down as i pushed forward but when i did look up i saw a brown and weather beaten landscape where hardy shrubs and small trees clung to the white ground lest they be sucked by the tempest into the sky when this world had siphoned most of my energy i scoured it for places to sleep but i had read that andoya was known for a certain type of land and it was clear that it was all around me og endless stretches of flat ground all of it thoroughly saturated with water bulges to the camper as the ocean is too [Music] dehydrated [Music] having made it to a campsite i woke the next morning to the sound of gentle waves into sunlight warming my tent now nearing the end of my trip and with several days into my flight home i asked the receptionist at the campsite what there was to do nearby and she recommended a short hike to a local beach so after a quick ride up the coast i left my bike at the trailhead and set off to explore on foot sheep grazed on luscious green hills that were woven into a coastline of crystal blue inlets and coves after weeks of cloud and rain or feeling like i might never make it to the north of norway it was a relief to take a slow and winding walk beneath the sun [Music] while i had retreated from the elements into my mind the previous day the sun now had me looking out in wonder at this curious corner of norway after outrunning a posse of flies that chased me from the trail head along the road i arrived in the village of bleak where one of the longest white sand beaches in the country is flanked by swaying green grasses and glistening blue waters [Music] having taken a ferry from the northern tip of andoya the next morning i found myself beside a fjord on the island of senya i loved senja as soon as i saw it i hadn’t thought it possible that anywhere could feel more remote than some of the places i’d seen in norway missenia did on average norway is home to just 17 people per square kilometer but on senior there are only five outside the distant archipelago of svalbard senior is at 1500 square kilometers the second largest island in norway with a population of less than eight thousand arriving was like that moment you noticed the fridge stopped humming oh you think this is silence as the sun warmed my tent the next morning i looked at the map and realized it was only another hundred kilometers to trimser this made me happy it meant i would no longer have to ride past the point of enjoying it if i saw something of interest i could stop and look i could even go to see segler a mountain someone had described to me as an alien fortress it was best seen from mount heston which was only a few hours away overlooking the village of fieldguard [Music] to the lapping of the sparkling fjord and the chirping of small birds i struck my tent then set off along the coast instinctively urging myself onwards until it occurred to me that there was no need in fact i should make more of an effort to pause and to soak in the landscapes at one viewpoint i admired a headland that resembled a serrated knife and passed the time reading on a sunlit rock beside the sea when a band of flies discovered my location i continued the coast of a deep blue fjord watched over by spiraling white birds led to the mount heston trailhead i put my valuables a carton of orange juice and some nuts into a backpack left everything else by a shelter at the trailhead locked my bike to a post then began up the trail [Music] i’ve just started on the trail to heston mountain uh it’s about 3 30. i saw a sort of older guy at the bottom of the trail who had just come down and he said it took him about an hour each way uh there’s only a few other people on the trail so uh hopefully it’s not gonna be too crowded up there and i’ll be able to get some nice views of the neighboring mountain sega the path ended at a narrow rock covered ridge about 400 meters above the fjord and 150 metres beneath the summit of mount heston at first the incline was forgiving and i was able to skip onwards over the rocks but the mountain became steeper and steeper and parts almost vertical and i had to use my hands to pull myself up an hour after starting the hike a small sign came into sight at the end of a long path it marked the top of the mountain the challenging route to the summit meant many made do with a view from the ridge and so when a small group left i had the top to myself i sat by a cliff that plummeted straight down to the ocean half a kilometer below ahead beyond the shimmering blue water the snow-capped mountains hazy in the sunlight to my right there was a mountain that seemed like a stadium from another world where gods might fight to the death and to my left was settler casting a long shadow over the town below like the mother of all sundials for the first time during the trip i sat on one spot for an hour feeling the sun and the wind on my skin and absorbing what might be one of the most beautiful places on [Music] [Music] earth [Music] i saw my first sign for trimser the next day by now the country seemed like an old friend in fact we were new friends but the type that had traveled together that seen each other at the best and at the worst formed memories floated through my mind the astonished looks of trolltonga hikers upon seeing a man with a loaded bike high up in the mountains moments and ferries when i was happy to be moving north from the comfort of a lounge pitching my tent in the wild and the accompanying sense of freedom the content expressions and the faces of other cyclists and times when i basked in the idea that this was reality not life at home and that it was always there waiting for me i thought about the hard times too about the cold and rain the damp clothes the dank tent the climbs and the insects how big norway had looked on the map i thought back to my first night when on a depressing track beside the road i was swarmed by flies as i tried hopelessly to adjust my gears on my upside down bike of course all these moments made the present that much sweeter i thought about how the mountains would still be there long after i had gone after i’d gone home and after i’d gone gone a thousand cyclists had ridden this road before me and a thousand more went after me and still the mountains would be there watching their timelessness illuminating the brevity of our lives and spurring us to see the world while we can then pulling me from amusings drumser appeared across the water sprawled beneath a panorama of shining white mountains after four weeks and two and a half thousand kilometers at last there it was the capsule of the arctic and the end of my ride hey so i’m on a long bridge right now and on the other side of this long bridge finally [Music] is [Music] you