From Trondheim

Everything is squeaking, creaking, scratching and fraying both on my bike and gear, and on me. …and for good reason. 1,239 miles of this crazy trip down. 611 to go.

I say crazy trip, but it’s pretty tame compared to others. Like my Swedish traveling companion for a day said: “you think you’re out here doing something insane, then you meet some of the ones who are doing even more insane stuff.”

For instance, I’ve met several people en route from Finland. That’s a lot farther than Nordkapp. Met a Swiss couple who have been traveling for a year-and-half. And there’s this other guy – whom I didn’t meet, but I saw his bike – who rode one of those 19th-century big front wheel bikes all the way from Italy to Nørdkapp. Now that’s crazy.

But even on this tame little trip of mine, both Prieto and I are feeling the wear and tear of the road. I’m fighting a cold and my joints are creaky. And there is some unidentified squeak coming from Prieto.

We hit it pretty hard this week – 450 miles over six days. Had one day that was relatively flat. Again the operative word is “relative.” Nothing is really flat in Norway, but it felt like it compared to every other day this week. Lots of small country roads over beautifully hilly farmland that my guide called “consistently hilly” and “undulating.” Yep.

I think I went through Norway’s wheat country, but maybe someone reading the blog can help me with an identification of the grain. Looked a little different from Oklahoma wheat.

So having done 450 miles of undulating, I decided to take a rest day before the last third of the trip. The final push to Bergen. And where better to do it than Trondheim. The “home of the throne“ is the basic meaning.

Trondheim is a wonderful historic city established as a trading post during the Viking Age (997) and put on the Christian European map when King Olav was sainted in 1031, a year after dying in battle. From that time a cathedral slowly emerged that by the 16th century was Lutheran and the capital of Norwegian Christianity. Nidaros Cathedral also happens to be the northernmost gothic cathedral and the site where some of the kings and queens of Norway were crowned.

Trondheim is also where you see some of those typical Norwegian postcard views of houses lined up along the waterfront.

In short, the day off has been well worth it. It’s fun to be a tourist every once in a while. And yes, I’ll admit it…I hit the Starbucks right around the corner.