Florø Terminal

Today is a quiet day; I am waiting for the ferry in Fløro to Måløy. I was hoping to drink some coffee and sit at a cafe during my wait, but everything here is closed on Sunday. So I am waiting in the waiting room of the terminal.

Today is also a day of re-calibration. It’s been a month since I left Hamburg. With my current pace, I can probably end up in Nordkapp with a few days to spare, and go back to Hamburg. But time feels constrained at this point. With the weather not helping, I can only go much and also maintain some amount of relaxation.

I could skip parts of the trip, take a bus or train, or even a cruise. But then there’s the question of how much to skip. I can even go until Bodø, skip the entire Trondheim to Bodø leg. Or go to Trondheim, or even just to Ålesund.

There’s also the option of just pedal and sleep, the most feral option. With almost twenty fours hour of daylight, I can go as long as I want, camp, eat, sleep and repeat. This will also be the most taxing and isolating. I probably won’t stop to look, or write. And with this weather, there will be very little comfort. I don’t think I want to be in that mode for too long.

Then there’s the financial aspect, I have been getting comfortable every time I had the chance, eating out, taking up room when the weather is bad, which has been very rejuvenating for my soul but rather heavy on the wallet. I am thankful to have that financial cushion; last night was so windy, that my heavy bike got toppled from a wall. I can only imagine what would happen to my tent. But in the other hand, I can’t keep falling back to comfortable options every time the weather gets bad or I am tired, specially since my entire route follows the coastline.

I can also maintain the purity of the trip (if such a thing exists) and bike until time runs out or money runs out, which to me the most appealing. This has some potential for logistical challenges but nothing that can’t be overcome. It is also the most dreamlike option among it all.

Or I can mix and match all these, but with the unpredictability of weather and relatively fixed route that I need to follow, weighing which option is optimal when is tricky. But also, I can also avoid doing math, and experience whatever is next.