Ever wanted to go on a bike adventure in Norway? Well listen to Slauka share her experiences from spending 3 weeks bikepacking her way through this amazing country all the way to the North Cape.
You can follow Slauka on instagram via @AllRideGirl (https://www.instagram.com/allridegirl/) and keep an eye out in the weeks to come for a full length episode featuring this amazing adventure.
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Hello everyone, Bella Mallaloy here, host of Seek Travel Ride and welcome to another midweek mini episode. These episodes are all about keeping your fire stoked for bike travel and I am sharing what it’s like for one of our listeners during their bike adventure. This week, I’m really excited to be sharing what it was like for Slala, also known as All Ride Girl, and she’s going to be transporting us to her 3-w week adventure in Norway. Earlier this year, Slala took an awesome bike packing trip through Norway all the way to Nordcap. And if you were like me, you have dreamed about riding in these amazing landscapes. And she’s going to be transporting us there. Think of fjords, think of beaches, think of amazing wild camping, think of amazing sunlight, and of course, reindeer as well. So, let’s listen to Slacker share what it was actually like there to ride a bike on an awesome adventure all the way to Nordcap. Take it away, Sla. Hi, Bella, and hi to all the listeners of the podcast. My name is Loka, but some people know me as All right girl. And I’m super excited to share with you one of the most incredible adventures of my life. A journey that took me on two wheels all the way to the end of the world, or at least to the North Cape in Norway. I have always dreamed of visiting northern Norway. The idea of wild nature in the midnight sun up north was just stuck in my head for a long time. As I am mostly a solo traveler, it felt a bit too expensive to do a road trip through Arctic Norway alone. And honestly, also not exciting enough, but I never imagined I’d one day go there by bicycle. So, how did this all happen? I looked at the map and picked a route I thought I could do in about 3 weeks. That’s how much time I could take off work. I wanted it to feel epic, but also doable. And that’s when I stumbled across this little fishing village in Leffortton with a very curious name, O. Yes, that’s right. Just one letter. O is actually the last letter of the Norwegian alphabet. So, it felt poetic to begin there and cycle all the way to the end. And just like that, the plan was born. Cycling from the village of all to the end of the world. Now, if you’ve never heard of North Cape or North Cup, it’s the northernmost point in mainland Europe that you can reach by road. A dramatic cliff rising above the Arctic Ocean with winds so strong they can knock you off your bike. I’ve traveled solo before. I’ve wild camp in the mountains. I’ve slept under the stars with just a sleeping bag. That part didn’t scare me. But bikes, I was clueless. I knew it had two wheels, a seat, and something called a derailer. I can’t even pronounce it. But if something broke, no clue. Well, that should be part of the adventure, I guess. Of course, not everyone was thrilled. My dad especially was a little worried. Are you sure? He asked. What if something happens? But I reassured him. Norway is one of the safest places you can travel in Europe. The people are incredibly kind. The roads are good. And there are little villages with shops, guest station, and shelters all along the way. So on the 20th of May, I boarded a flight to Norway. That’s just before the big tourist season starts. Some people thought I was going too early, especially with snow still covering some of the mountain passes. And yes, it was cold. And yes, there was up to 1 m of snow on some mountain passes. But honestly, that early timing was a great decision. I had the road almost entirely to myself. No crowds, no carvans, just me, my bike, and the road ahead. Oh, yeah. And like thousands of reindeers. And how was Norway? Norway is magical. I rode along the ocean almost every day through the Lefotton Islands where sharp mountains rise straight up from the sea. It felt like cycling through a painting. Then came the Lingan Alps where snow covered peaks surrounded me like in a fairy tale. I remember just stopping sometimes completely alone, taking it all in, breathing deeply and thinking, “How is this even real?” On the island of Sena, I cycled past deep dramatic fjords. And then I reached Finnmark, the northernmost region. There I crossed the vast mountain plateau that looked like on another planet, windswept, silent, and endless. And spring in Norway, it’s this beautiful contradiction. One moment you’re passing white sandy beaches that feel Caribbean, full with surfers catching waves. A few kilometers later, you see people carrying skis heading up into snowy peaks. It’s surreal. But that’s no way in May. And let’s talk about the light. Once you’re far enough north, the sun never sets. You have 24 hours of daylight. Imagine riding your bike at 10:00 p.m. and the sun is still high in the sky. I never had to worry about time. I could ride when I wanted, rest when I needed, and camp wherever I found a good spot. The wildlife also kept me company. I had reindeers crossed the road in front of me. Once a moose family appeared from the trees and just stared at me like, “Who is this strange human on wheels?” Sometimes the animals would run off. Other times, they were just as curious about me as I was about them. And I never felt lonely or too tired or unmotivated. Some nights I found incredible wild camping spots. Sometimes right by the sea, sometimes up in the hills, wrapped myself in a sleeping bag and watched the sky glow at midnight. I couldn’t wait to get up in the morning, brew my coffee, and start another adventure day on my bike. I was also incredibly lucky. No mechanical issues, no major weather problems, or most importantly, I never felt unsafe. There were days when I cycled 100 kilometers and felt energized at the end. Every morning, I’d wake up excited to start pedaling again. And after 15 days on the road, after nearly 1,300 km, I reached the North Cape. Standing there on that cold and windy cliff looking out at the Arctic Ocean. I was exhausted, yes, but more than that, I felt proud. I felt powerful. I had taken this idea, this crazy dream, and I had the courage to pursue it. It was honestly one of the happiest days of my life. So, thank you, Bella, for having me on the podcast, and thank you to everyone listening. If there is one thing I hope this story leaves you with is this. You don’t have to be an expert to start an adventure. You just have to start. Trust yourself, be curious, and don’t be afraid of a little unknown. I can’t wait to share more stories from the road and maybe inspire you to go on your own journey. Slala, thank you so much for sharing your experiences there. Oh my goodness, it has 100 million% confirmed that I really, really want to ride my bike through Norway. But I also listeners wanted to highlight something which Slacker said right at the end there and it was this. She said, “Standing there on that cold and windy cliff looking out at the Arctic Ocean, I was exhausted. Yes, but more than that I felt proud. I felt powerful. I’d taken this idea, this crazy dream, and I had the courage to pursue it.” And listeners, I think that’s the key to bike adventures. How many of us dream up these bucket lists and they never go further than that because life gets in the way or for some of us it’s almost feels insurmountable that we don’t have enough experience to take it on. And Slacker touched on this at the start of this episode where she said she didn’t really know anything about bikes. She knew bikes had wheels, a saddle, and something called a derailer, but if something broke, that was going to be part of the adventure. Now, some of us can take that mentality that Slacker was talking about on. And then there’s others who maybe are feeling that’s too much of a hurdle to overcome. I don’t want to be stuck somewhere. What if my bike breaks? I can’t fix it. And then all of a sudden, that bucket list adventure dream of yours doesn’t happen because we’ve put these barriers in the way. And I’m not saying that those thoughts aren’t valid. that maybe thinking about ooh if this happens what will I do to get out of that situation that that’s not part of your preparation strategy but I think Slaler’s approach and it’s an approach that a fair few of my guests that I’ve interviewed have also taken as well of throwing caution to the wind and just saying well if something happens I’ll work it out. One of my guests, Steph Derey, was the first to tell me this when I asked her what her biggest life lesson was after riding her bike through all of Europe all the way down to Cape Town in South Africa. Her reflection was instantly this, and it was, “Things will always work out and you will find a way.” And I’ve heard that over and over again from many guests. It didn’t matter whether they were adventuring somewhere like Europe or the US or whether they were in the far reaches of Kyrgyzstan high up in the mountains. Yes, things occur, but there’s always a solution. And I love that I have leed that through their journeys. And Slacker talks about this being a potential barrier, but overcoming it and going anyway. So, I hope that’s a lesson that you take from hearing her story as well. The other things that I especially loved were just hearing things like being in Norway, one of the things is the daylight hours are so long and so that means that you have longer to ride that the concerns of finding a wild camping spot aren’t as high as they could be somewhere else because it’s sunlight. And I could just imagine what it would be like to experience that. I’m not from a country where the daylight hours extend super super long in the summertime and so experiencing a day that almost feels like we’ll go forever with those type of daylight hours is high up on my list. And Sla, you did talk about the weather and really strong winds and I’m guessing that has shaped the landscape and made it even more dramatic. But I have to say, I just picture myself on my own bike, riding through those landscapes, seeing fjords, seeing waterfalls, hearing the waves crashing alongside me on the ocean, and then oh my goodness, I don’t know what I would do if I saw reindeer, which it sounds like you’re pretty much guaranteed to see if you’re going to the North Cape as well. Now listeners, I’m pretty excited to say that I have reached out to Slala and I’m going to be doing a fulllength feature episode on her journey and how she got into bike travel as well. So keep your eye out in the weeks to come for that episode release. In the meantime, you can follow her on Instagram. Her handle there is all ridegirl and I will put a link to it in the show notes. Thank you so much Schlaer for sharing your journey with us. Now, speaking of Instagram listeners, I had posted a little poll a few days ago off the back of our last midweek mini episode which featured Harvey Hacker Bike Packer and his experiences of riding through Kyrgyzstan. And in that poll, I had asked whether Kyrgyzstan was somewhere where you wanted to ride your bike to as well. And the overwhelming responses were I think it was 89% of people said yes, it’s an absolute dream. I definitely want to go there. And then the only other responses were yes, but I’ve actually already ridden there. And there was no one who didn’t want to go there at all. So it sounds like Kyrgyzstan is right up there as a bucket list bike packing destination. And so I’m putting the call out now to you, the person listening to this episode right now. I want you to get in touch with me and let me know what’s your bucket list destination where you want to take your next bike adventure. As I mentioned, I would love to go to Norway. I think that would be an absolute dream. Would you join me there? Is Norway on your list? Is it Kyrgyzstan? Or perhaps you want to do something like riding the Camino to Santiago Trail or something like that. Get in touch with me and let me know what is number one on your bike travel adventure bucket list. So listeners, many of you know that whilst I am an Aussie, my home is actually here in France and it’s mid July and that means that the tour to France is currently being raised here. Now the tour to France is something I have a special relationship with because it’s actually what brought me to France as a cycling destination in the first place. I grew up watching it on my TV screen as did my husband. And 12 years ago, we actually first came to France all the way from Australia to ride bikes and sort of watch the tour over 3 weeks. That sparked a love affair, especially with the area where we live, which is in the Pyrenees. And we came back and back and back again, and eventually made the decision to live here. So this week I am looking forward to seeing the tour come past some of my local roads and watch these athletes ride up mountains at ridiculous speeds. But most of all just enjoy the communal picnic that happens roadside with other fans from all over the world congregating in one place to cheer these riders on. If you’ve ever wanted to go to the tour to France and experience what it’s like for a day, keep an ear out because I will be posting about my experiences roadside. And if you’ve ever watched the tour and want to share your experiences with me, reach out because I would love to hear where did you watch the riders? Did you ride your bike? And what are your longlasting memories from doing that as well? Okay, listeners, now it’s time to give a special shout out to you, my awesome super fans, who have been absolutely legendary and bought me some coffees. These virtual coffees go a long way in helping to fund this podcast, and so I am especially thankful for those of you who’ve taken the time out of your day to actually buy me some virtual brews. This week, I would like to say a big thank you to Janet Stark, who says, “The podcast is super inspirational, Bella. Hearing all your guest stories and experiences makes you want to plan another cycling adventure.” Oh, Janet, I’m a million% with you, and I think I’ve said this so many times. Every time I finish a guest interview, I just want to pack gear on my bike and head off out the door. And it sounds like tuning in makes you want to do the same. I’d love to know where your next bike adventure is going to be taking you, Janet. So, get in touch with me and let me know. And listeners, I once again have an anonymous someone who has also brought me some virtual copies and they have just said, “Thank you so very much, Bella, for your amazing podcast. I recently discovered it and I’ve nearly listened to all the episodes already. I’m looking forward to many more to come. I love it. Thank you so much.” Well, someone thank you so much for supporting me and the pod. You must have listened to so many hours of seek travel right now because our back catalog is huge and I can’t thank you enough for supporting me and the show. Now listeners, if you want to be like Janet Stark and someone and show your support for Seek Travel Ride, you can buy me some virtual coffees. Simply head to buy me a coffeeop.com/seektraide. buy me some coffees, but most importantly, leave me a message and let me know what is it that you’re loving about the podcast and where is your next bike adventure going to take you. And until the next episode, I’m Bella Mallaloy. Thanks for listening. 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