Day 21 – Finally some sun

Trip odometer: 1,879km

Today got off to a very good start. We woke up in the ferry waiting room at 7am, quickly packed up our dry things, and cooked breakfast before the other ferry passengers started arriving. All was very efficient and we made the 8:05am speedboat from Smorhamn to Floro.
On arriving in Floro we had a surprise waiting for us – both Viki’s front and rear brakes had stopped working. This would not be ideal for a day with 2 400m+ hills (the highest we’ve encountered so far). We sat outside the local bike store, from 8:30am, waiting till 10am opening. A kind lady from the shop next door saw us looking rather pitiful there on the curb and made us coffees.
After waiting for an hour, I thought I’d Google how disk brakes work. After a bit of research, I found out how to adjust the caliper distance and lo and behold – the brakes were fixed just as the shop opened. We decided anyways to tell the bike man about our other ongoing issues. I’ve had a rattling sound in my easiest gear and, using a rather snazzy tool, the man found that my derailleur hanger was slightly bent. He fixed this, oiled my chain, and didn’t charge us. We were thrilled!
Finally we set off around at 10:30am on a beautiful coastal road under the sun. We went fast up until the first 400m behemoth of the day. Slowly but surely we climbed, finally making our way through a teeny tiny unlit tunnel at the top, and emerging victorious. We settled down to well-deserved mackerel sandwiches.
The next section to Forde was very fast – flat, smooth, with continued good weather. At kilometre 70 the second behemoth began, this time from sea level (we had a 100 meter head start on the previous one). Using the last of our energy, we made it to 350 meters, where we found a rather decrepit looking ski resort and judged it perfect to set up camp. We are now well-fed, on rice with tuna and vegetables and will now doze off to the sound of gunshots (from the shooting range across the street).