Solo Bikepacking in Norway Was Miserable.

The Milk Road, this was supposed to be one of the best cycling routes in Norway, but it turned out to be the wettest bikepacking ever!

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I was so sick yesterday and today I feel a bit better. The fever went down quite a bit and my body ache subsided but still I feel tired. Yes. After riding 300 kilometers in Sweden, I got really sick. bad enough that I decided to head back to Japan. But before leaving Europe, there were two bike packing trips I just had to do. [Music] Milk Vegan isn’t just a cycling route. It’s a 230 km journey through some of Norway’s most beautiful landscapes. I just didn’t know that it would be so miserable. [Music] Today’s first day and it’s pouring rain, but uh let’s get going. Actually, my new journey started about 24 hours ago. Milk Vegan was a one-way route. So, since I’m driving my van, I have three options to get back to my car. Option one, ride the entire 230 km back. Option two, take a 7-hour train ride to the trail head after 5 days of bike packing or leave my van at the end and take the same 7-hour train to the trail head before I start. I arrived in Vinstra. Option one was not an option from the beginning. Option two, I didn’t want to stink up the train for 7 hours. So, I thought option three was the best. Only it got its own problem, too. Okay, now I’m nice and cozy. I’m going to stay in Linstra for a night and start pedaling tomorrow. The first day will be the hardest climb of all, so we’ll see. And then it’s day one. I’d already left my car behind waiting for me at the end of the route, and turning back isn’t an option anymore. Even though what was supposed to be fair weather turned into nine straight days of rain, I guess this is the beginning of the worst climb. It’s going to be steep and it’s going to be climbing forever. Bye-bye, thin straw. This may be the last view. I’m going in clouds. Yep. It just keeps going up. Look, my breath. It’s white. Oh, it must be cold out here. Yep. I’m so wet. I can squeeze water out of my jacket. It’s getting colder as we go up. The wet weather made a climb a challenge, but it sure made the surprisingly enjoyable downhill far worse. Yes, it’s cold. Oh my god, my hands are so cold. After hours of suffering, I couldn’t find any joy until this happened. Oh, I can see something. It’s beautiful. Nice view. [Music] Finally, the sun’s out and look at the beautiful mountains. This is what I wanted to see. So this road used to transport milk into the valley from mountain farm in summer. That’s why this trail is called the milk road. It’s said to be one of the most beautiful sceneries in Norway. And I can see that it’s so beautiful. [Music] So the first day is 45 kilometers and 1100 m of climb. It was miserable in the beginning but at least I could see really nice view. My body was so cold. So this is the best food. Tomorrow it’s going to be another long climb, but if the weather is right, I can see the best view of this ride. [Music] [Music] Okay. Day two. Today it’s going to be another long climb, like 20 kilometers climb. And then hopefully I can stop at the cafe and feel my energy on the milk road. There are a few tall roads and most of the cases it got incredible views with really roamed animals. Good morning, goats. And I was just an unwelcomed intruder. Hello. Yeah. Yeah. It’s okay. I’m going. I’m going. It’s okay. Don’t attack me. Oh, I don’t want to get attacked by goats. I will lose for sure. Despite the gloomy forecast and really day before, day two turned into an incredible day. Nice mountains. [Music] So good. It’s a beautiful meadow with snow capped mountains in behind. I love mountains. It’s very good. I guess it’s time to go down. Oh, I’m glad. We can see some view. Look at the view. It’s so beautiful. Yeah. I’m just going all the way down. I’m getting hungry. In the middle of a vast lonely field, a restaurant appeared. There was no question. I had to go in. That was actually pretty good sandwich. Now I’m full filled with meat and start pedaling. Going up more. I love this emptiness just the mountains and lake. Sometime there are like houses. I guess those houses are for summer. They move the cattle in the mountain in summer. So they just move into those houses during the summer and go down in the winter. What a way to live. Don’t you think so, Cal? Yeah. You think so, huh? Yes. This is the milk road. Of course, there should be a cow. Hi, cow. Hey, cow. Hello, cow. You guys are so chill, huh? Can I touch you? H maybe not, huh? I don’t want to get uh kicked by cow. Oh, I’m scared. Hey, cow. Can you move? [Music] Don’t want to move. Okay. Hey, cow. Don’t attack me. Okay. Hey, cow. Yes, this is bicycle. Yes. Interesting. Yes. You guys are so friendly. Yeah. Oh, wow. Pretty. [Music] Okay. I got to go. I’m going to go. Don’t kick me. Okay. Don’t kick me. Don’t kick me. Okay. Okay. Oh, they don’t really want to move. I’ve never seen so friendly cow before. Oh, I love Norway. So good. Making new friends in Norway was easy, but saying goodbye to them left a little ache in my heart. [Music] Still the journey must go on. And I found out why my old friends, the goats, was so upset with me. Huh? I think uh those animals that I thought was goats actually are sheep. [Music] Oopsie. I don’t know if they don’t have a hair. I can’t tell the difference from uh goats and sheep. Okay, that was my mistake. Apparently, I was stepping on their turf. You have a lot of milk in there. Oh, sorry. I’m sorry. Hey, Cal. Pacing my friends off. My second day came to an end. So beautiful. It’s still 4:30, but I think I’m going to camp here tonight. This cool mountain is named Bihorn. Holy. It’s not windy tonight. It’s going to rain. I was just in time. It’s that it’s rain now. So, it’s going to rain all day tomorrow. If it’s really bad, I might have to stay in the tent and start pedling the next day. We’ll see. [Music] And as I predicted, it was rainy the next day. But that’s okay. My plan never goes as planned. Okay, day three. I spend in the morning in the tent, but now it stopped kind of stopped raining, so start pedaling a little bit. It’s about to go down. So, I ate breakfast, but then my body is craving for more food. So, I might get some food at the resort. I might have bought a little too much, but I was so hungry. Burger. Now, my ballet is full of burger. It was time to go over another mountain. I wonder what that guy’s doing. [Music] It seems to me that rise always start with uphills and that’s the 90% of the ride. It’s so beautiful but it’s also windy. Maybe that’s where the person on the map was doing something. Yeah, I think it’s a mine getting gold. Oo, it’s pretty. [Applause] Oh my god, this is so gorgeous. I just fell up the road there. That’s the lake. Look, we are still going up. This climb is going forever and ever and it’s quite painful, but also this must be one of my most memorable climbs of all time. So beautiful. So this is the top at,300 m of elevation. [Music] Let’s go down. It’s going to be super cold. Oh my god. So beautiful. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s steep and windy. Don’t crash or it’s going to hurt. Yeah, I’m just straight going down. Oh, it’s getting warmer. The sun. I feel the sun. Okay, end of the tall road. And now we are in this little town. Cow. It’s another tall booth. This is going to be another beautiful ride, but I want to look for a campsite. It’s time to make my nest. So, day three is over. I rode about 50 kilometers and about 1,400 m of climb. I’m just hungry all the time. I just had a dinner and now I’m thinking of eating this uh bum. H maybe I make coffee. Okay, see you tomorrow. [Music] Okay, day four. Another day, another rain. So, it was raining hard in the morning. That’s why I started a little bit late again. My butt is getting sore. It’s just, you know, once it started to climb, it’s just climbs forever. But I keep on climbing because there is always a reward. Yesterday there was a beautiful sceneries and today it’s a waffle and hot chocolate. Okay. Oh, yes. I got the reward. So, from here, we’re going to go between the lakes and villages and go up to the next plateau. Oh, yes. Lake on the right, lake on the left. I love No way. Okay, little single track section here. There was a nice guy who told me that it’s going to be really wet and slippery and they can see that. And it’s started to rain again. Oh yes. Do you think it’s going to be so wet? I don’t know. Yeah, this section looks tricky. It’s so wet. Okay. Oh my god. Don’t stop. Don’t stop. Don’t stop. Don’t stop. Ah, this is not good. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh, my shoes are getting wet. Okay, now my shoes are wet. This has been the most wet bike packing trip ever. And the rain just kept coming. Like, it was testing how far I could go before breaking down. It looks like it’s going to rain and thunder a little bit. So, I’m trying to escape from the clouds. I think the worst thing happened during a bike packing is getting cold and wet. If you are preparing for those weathers, you can enjoy almost any situations. [Music] Just we need to prepare for the worst. [Music] It is raining so hard and I would like to camp but uh the camping is prohibited here. Okay. Let’s go to the other side. Oh my god, it’s been so wet. That was wet ride and I wasn’t really ready for it. [Music] Day five, the last day. Finally, it’s sunny. It’s going to be kind of short day today. We go up to a ski resort and going down to a town named Gaul. That’s our last destination of this trip. Of course, we have to go up to go down. Hey. Hello. I’m starting to see more people in the last two days. Okay. But but it’s very sore. [Music] Bye-bye, cow. [Music] I guess from here we just going down the the road. I’m so wet. The journey began under pouring rain and I was soaked with regret for ever starting it. Going up more. The endless climbs nearly brought tears to my eyes. Sugar. However, the rewards of both nice and not so nice food kept me moving forward. Friendly animals offered the comfort to my weary heart, while the vast empty mountains filled my lungs with fresh air and something more. Makes me so wet. It was more miserable than I had imagined. But just as relentless rain eventually gave away to clear skies. The sun. I feel the sun. My journey to found its end. Go [Music] home. Sweet home. Oh, it’s so nice to be back home. That was the most rainy bike packing trip I’ve ever done. And yeah, sometime it was quite miserable, but overall the view was awesome. I was so happy pedalling up the mountains. Now again, I really need to have a shower. I haven’t had a shower for last 5 days actually 6 days because I took train to the trail head. So yes, I need to have a shower. So, thank you for watching and see you next time.