Raphael's Travel Blog

An early end

Hey there friends! As you can see I come to you with sad news. It’s also the reason why I’ve been silent for so long. Normally I write these blog posts broken up into travelling days and thus the natural continuation would be to now tell you about day five, but the events on day five have changed so much that I’ll first just update you on what happened to my travels.

The short story is, that I had an accident. Whilst cycling up a pretty steep incline, just before the crest a big truck decided to try to overtake me, even though the oncoming traffic was obviously hidden behind the crest of the hill. Just as the three rear axles of the truck were about to be parallel with me, a big truck appeared over the crest, which made the driver on my side panic and swerve hard to the right. This meant all of a sudden I had the three huge tires about five centimetres next to my face. Instinctively I jumped into the ditch next to me, leading to quite a rough landing and a heavy bike falling ontop of me. But in this split moment when the truck swerved and before I jumped I had this certain feeling that I will die right now. It sounds overdramatic, but it really was that close of a call. I was extremely lucky that there were no guard rails at this section of the road and that my instincts kicked in this quickly. In general I came out of this whole oredeal in a very fortunate way, only having collected a lot of bruises that weren’t serious, even though they hurt like crazy. My bicycle however suffered a bit more, with a very bent spoke and the front brake having suffered quite a bit as well as the gear shifting menachnism not operating smoothly afterwards. All in all I was extremely lucky with how everything turned out and very happy to still be alive, but mentally it left quite a mark on me. The day of the accident was maybe the lonliest I’ve felt in a long time. Somewhere stranded out in absolute nowhere, far away from everyone I love and the comforts of home, scared for my life and definitely in shock with noone there to embrace and find comfort in. All that in a constant heavy downpoor. In that moment I just wanted to be home, wanted to hug my girlfriend and be comfortable. I spent the next hours and day deliberating, what to do but quite quickly realised that this time, things might just be stacked against me a bit. The constant heavy rain, that was projected to keep going for at least another two weeks, that feeling of lonliness I encounter early on already this time on the road and now the shock of the accident, the bruises and the banged up bicycle. More and more I felt like I wanted out. But at the same time I was obviously very torn, because I loved the scenery, I looked forward to this trip so much and also felt like I didn’t want to be the guy to “just give up”. Since I had to fix up my bike as best as I could and cycle another 110km north anyway to get anywhere where I could even catch public transport back down, I had another full day on the road to see how it felt and whilst that day was stunning when it came to the scenery, everytime a car would approach to overtake, I would tense up and the fun just wasn’t there anymore. Obviously you could argue, that this would most likely decrease again with time but I just decided to make a decision and head home again. Why force something that lacks enjoyment, be scared, wet and feel lonely just for the sake of it. The short time I had in Norway this time, whilst wet, was still an amazing experience and so worth it, with scenery that felt like out of this world, encounters with amazing people and just some real quality time in nature. It’s funny because this whole time when I was deciding on what to do, and now again when typing this out, a quote of the fantasy series I started rereading on the trip kept popping up in my head: “Journey before destination”. For anyone who is an equally big “Stormlight Archives” fan, this quote will be very familiar to you, but it just hits the nail on the head. I’m glad and thankful for the wonderful journey I was able to have and that matters more, than if I reached my original destination. And how lucky am I to be able to have friends and loves ones, that make me miss them so much and that make coming home such a beautiful thing nonetheless? Now I’ll instead get to spend an active and beautiful summer spending time with them, doing loads of activities and fun stuff.

I hope that I haven’t let anyone down with this decision or lost face with any of you, but I think this decision should be understandable overall.

Day 5: Leknes – Valberg – Svolvær

Distance covered: 75.62km | Elevation gained: 626m

Total distance covered: 326.06km | Total elevation gain: 3829m

The day started off wonderfully, with actual blue sky and sun, even though I knew it wouldn’t last long. Nonetheless the first kilometres out from the camp ground made for a stunning ride along the fjord, with incredible mountain landscapes on one side and the sea on the other. I covered a lot of distance quite quickly as it was mostly flat as well, so it was just a great time! Unfortunately the rain wouldn’t leave me alone for long and it was quickly back to heavy rain and winds. And then after some time came the accident. Naturally I was in a bad state afterwards and even though my bike was quite banged up, I was determined to keep going to find myself a hut to rent for the night to at least give me a place to get some proper rest. Unfortunately I then encountered a tunnel that was closed for cyclists and instead had to push my bicycle up a small mountain pass along a hiking trail. In the heavy rain, with the bruises and the shock that ordeal was anything but enjoyable, especially since it was a climb of almost 200m up and then back down. Shortly after I made it to Svolvær where I decided against taking a hotel room as prices there were just insane and instead pushed on another nine kilometres to a camp ground where I rented a hut. As a little side note – Svolvær might just be the ugliest town I’ve encountered in all of Norway – a touristic concrete graveyard surrounded by the most gorgeous scenery, making it’s ugly appearance stand out even more. Anyhow – day five came to a close and I would end up spending another day in the hut at the camp ground, fixing up my bicycle as much as I could and trying to decide how to proceed.

Day 6: Svolvær – Straumnes – Fiskebøl – Melbu – Hokland – Stokmarknes

Distance covered: 79.50km | Elevation gained: 547m

Total distance covered: 405.56km | Total elevation gain: 4403m

When I headed back out onto the road, I was already mostly sure, that I would go back home, but the public transport situation was such that I had to head north to Sortland either way if I wanted to get back down south, so for now I just kept cycling north. I managed to get my bicycle to a state where it was working mostly as it should, just the front brake wasn’t really usable and if I was going too fast the front wheel would wobble in what was probably a pretty unsafe amount. The day was again spent in rain and beautiful scenery. But the main takeaway was that I was really tense on the road, afraid of most vehicles passing and the fun just was no longer really there. On top I was still pretty shook from the accident and thus I spent another night in a hotel in Stokmarknes. I’m sorry I don’t have too much to say or that many pictures, but with the weather being what it was and my camera not being water-proof I’m not left with much.

Day 7: Stokmarknes – Sortland

Distance covered: 27.62km | Elevation gained: 113m

Total distance covered: 433.18km | Total elevation gain: 4516m

This day was just me getting to the bus terminal that would get me connections back south. The weather was yet again rainy, but equally, the scenery was again beautiful! After a really lovely chat with a Swiss couple also bike-packing at the bus terminal in Sortland I eventually boarded the bus and with that, my adventure in Norway would take it’s early end.

Conclusion

After the busride back to Bodø I spent about 38 hours on trains to get back home to Basel and arrived on June the 13th on the morning. Having spent some time processing and unwinding, I can say that I think I made the right decision, even if I frequently feel a slight nostalgic longing to be back on the road. But now I just make the best out of how things turned out and will spend an awesome summer in Switzerland! I’m sorry that I didn’t get to give more cool stuff to read and more pictures, but this time it just shouldn’t be. I’ll get in touch with the people who contributed to “Cycling for Life” within the next days to wrap up everything. Thank you so so much for reading and following along no matter what and I wish you all a wonderful, safe summer!

The first days on the road & a big change of plans

First and foremost, I am sorry for not having written an update sooner. As will become clear when reading this post, me and particularly my mind were quite preoccupied and together with exhaustion after long days and a lack of Wi-Fi to upload images whilst not chewing through all my cellular data, it made giving an earlier update quite challenging.

Day 1: Bergen – Knarvik – Austrheim – Sløvåg

Distance covered: 86.01km | Elevation gain: 1138m

Total distance covered: 86.01km | Total elevation gain: 1138m

The adventure finally started! Although exactly in the way I remember Norway from the last time: rainy. Not too much can be said about this route. As I’m cycling Norway, it’s inherintly beautiful, but for that it wasn’t too special. In the beginning a lot of it revolved around cycling next to the big roadway leading north out of Bergen, which included some demanding ascends. Eventually the landscape changed to cute little villages alongside different fjords, it’s fjells covered in trees. Visually it made for some nice scenery, but the bad, gloomy weather and light, paired with really nasty climbs somewhat diminished my amazement. Now, some of you probably are already wondering about me whining about climbs, but you have to keep in mind that with the amount of weight I carry on my bike, any incline gets just that much more brutal compared to cycling it with let’s say a race bike. Eventually I made it to a campsite, a bit westerly of Sløvåg and was very glad for it. Towards the end my legs were really not happy with me any longer and I was definitely able to feel that there was a ways to go, before finding my groove again.

One of the few pictures I was able to take when the rain subsided for a short moment

And speaking of finding my groove again, this is where I can transition into the big part of this blog post. My change of plans.

Change of plans

After one day on the road, it became apparent, that I faced on major hurdle again. The weather. Just like last time when cycling Norway the weather report projected over ten days of straight downpour. And this time, the prospect of that really didn’t sit well with me. Days and days just being wet, your stuff never able to dry properly, and that at the very start with thousands of kilometres ahead of you. That thought really unsettled me this time – it just sounded like a miserable time, a receipt for getting ill and strayed far from the main goal of this trip. Having fun and enjoying the moment. So all of a sudden looking ahead felt grim and no longer exciting and that didn’t pair well with another novelty of this trip. That chest tightening feeling of loneliness, of being so far away from the people I hold dear. Now this, unlike the Norwegian weather, caught me completely off guard and was new to me, as when I previously went for big adventures, a big part of what I loved about them was the possibility to just really be with yourself. So when all of a sudden, my chest felt tight with loneliness, I really started to waiver and was unsure how to respond to that. Especially with so many challenging wet kilometres ahead. And so I started thinking and assessing the situation and came to the conclusion that I needed to make a tough decision. I was only one day in and it felt like I was rushing things, but I also knew that with every day I kept going, I’d be treading further into extremely remote areas, where changing plans would become more and more challenging. And deep down I felt like I knew that the combination of extremely bad long-term weather in the south and feeling overwhelmed with the amount of time ahead, that I’ll spend on my own, required a change of plan. And so I started to bounce around ideas, asked for opinions from my girlfriend and family and came to the conclusion that I wanted and needed to focus on the core ideas of this trip. Enjoyment and what I was most excited for.

What that meant was, that instead of cycling through the south and mid section of Norway, I would take the train all the way up to Bodø and “start” my trip at the south point of the Lofoten. The reason being that the Lofoten were by far what I was most excited for when planning this trip and what I was most bummed out about missing, last time when I had to come down from the Nordkapp with public transport instead of cycling. Combine that with a better weather forecast up there and it just made sense. That way I would for sure do the part of the trip that meant the most to me, escape the bad weather and would have easy possibilities to cut the trip short in Tromsø or the Nordkapp, should I conclude, that loneliness was not the thing I want this summer. It would also allow me to head back south after the Nordkapp however and extent my trip by cycling some of the stuff I skipped earlier in the south, should I feel like not wanting to go home yet. Basically, it leaves open a lot of options, while making sure that I get to do the part I am most excited about first, whilst I’m not sure for how long I want to continue.

Now obviously that will most likely considerably cut down the trip in length, both time and distance wise. And with that come mixed feelings, especially since I worry about how it looks to other people. Weak-willed etc., but in the end I have to remember that I am doing this for my enjoyment. I know that I can battle through a lot of bad weather from the last time where I did do the whole long route north through Finland and I know I have the endurance, but maybe this time, with the horrible weather and the unexpected feelings of loneliness it’s meant to be a shorter adventure. I’m sorry if have disappointed anyone reading this, especially in regards to my charity run, but hopefully most of you will understand that this is best for me.

Day 2: Sløvåg – Austrheim – Knarvik – Bergen

Distance covered: 85.69km | Elevation gain: 1134m

Total distance covered: 171.7km | Total elevation gain: 2272m

Now with this change of plan came the logical conclusion that I needed to go back to Bergen to catch the trains all the way up to Bodø. So I used the last day of good weather before the two weeks of downpour to head back the way I came. I would be lying if that didn’t feel a bit weird and of course I still had some mixed feelings, some doubt if this was the right decision but a decision had to be made and now I stuck to it. The way back was more fun than the day before, simply because the sun was out and made everything a lot more pleasant and everything look more stunning. As I still have a lot of stuff to write about I’ll leave it at that.

Day 3: Moskenes – Å

Distance covered: 5.94km | Elevation gain: 90m

Total distance covered: 177.64km | Total elevation gain: 2362m

As I’m only counting days that I cycled in these blog posts, day 3 will also have some stories about my journey up to the Lofoten. There isn’t too much to tell to be honest, other than that it was extremely exhausting, as I basically sat in trains for 30+ hours straight before catching the ferry from Bodø to Moskenes at the southern tip of the Lofoten. One really cool thing that happened was, that I met another cyclist in the train who also planned to cycle the Lofoten up to Tromsø. So we chatted on the ferry and decided to camp together for the night and cycle together the next day. After my issues with loneliness, that was such a nice and welcome stroke of luck! So at 10p.m. after the ferry landed in Moskenes we decided to cycle down to Å, the southern most settlement on the Lofoten and set up camp there. Even though at this point I was incredibly tired and exhausted from the train rides and the lack of sleep they brought with them, once I was on the ferry and then when we cycled those 5 kilometres an immense joy flooded over me. The landscape was so incredibly stunning and so unlike anything I’ve seen before, that I just couldn’t help it. I think I made the right decision!

Day 4: Å – Ramberg – Leknes

Distance covered: 72.80km | Elevation gain: 841m

Total distance covered: 250.44km | Total elevation gain: 3203m

Wow! I knew that the Lofoten must be stunning, but nothing could have prepared me for this! I cycled almost the whole day with Jannike, for which I was super glad as it was just wonderful to have some company. The whole way I just couldn’t stop my jaw from hanging open, in awe of the sights in front of me. It was as if the towering, unwielding rock faces and mountains were in an eternal battle against the gnawing, raging sea and I a spectator in this epic contest. It felt like riding through poetry, inspiring all sorts of philosophical thoughts and ponderings within me. Even the small fishing villages encountered now and then seemed like they perfectly fit into the landscape. Like a leftover from olden days, they felt untouched by modern influences.

The riding was also mostly incredible, with the route itself making for easy cycling and beautiful views. Only the flood of car tourists put a dent in my euphoria, as it’s sometimes just a tad too much and takes away from the fun and peacefulness. And then there are the tunnels. Most of them have a little road for cyclists and pedestrians to get around them, but we had to cross a big undersea tunnel and it was one of the worst experiences of my life. It was dark, wet, incredibly loud and plain frightening. When I got out of it I was severely unsettled and I’m genuinely horrified of the next tunnel I will have to pass.

That scare and the exhaustion from all the train rides caught up to me and towards the end of the day it became clear, that I wanted a bed for once. So Jannike and I parted ways, her looking to get some more distance in whilst I looked to rent a small cabin at a camping some six kilometres east of Leknes. And this is where I’m writing this from, staying one more day at the camping, waiting out some heavy rain and following my mantra I set for myself when I changed my plans. Doing what feels best for me on any given day. Who knows, maybe this way my budget only gets me up to Tromsø but already now, I can say this trip was worth it and when it’s time to go home, be that due to budget or because I want to, amazing people and a wonderful future await me at home. And for that I feel extremely blessed and thankful.

Heading to Bergen

It’s finally time again to type out my first blog post on my phone. There’s a lot of memories coming back whilst doing this and quite a bit of excitement for what’s to come! I forgot how nice it feels to share all the crazy and wonderful things you experience and know that even though you’re on the road alone, there is people following your adventure. It feels like you have a bit of company.

I headed out from Basel the evening of the 25th of May taking a night train to Hamburg. In general I should mention that getting to Bergen by train with my bicycle is probably the scariest part of the journey. So much can go wrong, as most trains have very limited bicycle space that you have to reserve well in advance, so missing one of those trains means there might be no other way up anymore for days or taking regional trains that will make the way up take multiple weeks probably. So it goes without saying that when I arrived in Hamburg with only 20 minutes delay, I was elated to have dodged the worst that DB can offer. Little did I know that just a bit later I would be stuck in Flensburg as the overhead lines for the stretch between Flensburg and Padborg had apparently been damaged. So just like the last time I had to cycle between those two cities to catch the train on the other side. Long story short I made it to Kolding in the end, just a little more adventurous than had hoped for. One positive out of all of that was that I met some other fellow cyclists who also got stuck in Flensburg and we immediately connected. Another thing that I just love about this way of travelling – you constantly meet like minded strangers that you easily connect with and get to share some nice moments together.

In Kolding I got to crash at Jaschas mom’s place – my friend who joined me for the first stretch last time if you’re newly following my adventure – for which I’m really grateful. From there I took trains to Hirtshals, the almost northern most point of mainland Denmark. There I planned to take the ferry to Kristiansand, the southern most point of mainland Norway. It turns out that the ferry terminal is really hard to find, especially where to go if you bring a bicycle with you. I ended up driving around in Hirtshals for about 40 minutes for something that I assumed would take me no more than 10 minutes. That was a big mistake as I initially decided against putting on my rain stuff as a few minutes in drizzle wouldn’t be too bad I thought. Before I knew it, it was pouring buckets and I was in nowhere trying to find the terminal. So I got absolutely soaked for the first time on this adventure. Before I even really started. And so I was cold and wet until I got to Kristiansand. Which took quite a while. The ferry crossing was also quite challenging as the sea was very rough and it was obvious I wasn’t the only one this boat that started to feel very ill. Silly me was so cold and focused on how much that sucked, that I forgot to take my anti-nausea pills. Anyhow, I eventually made it to Kristiansand where I cycled 40 minutes to crash at a friend’s place and got to warm up, have some nice quality time with a friend, eat Pizza and get some much needed long good rest. Now, today, I am sitting on a cozy train to Drammen, where I’ll transfer onto the train to Bergen. I’m quite excited for today, as the train rides though Norway are simply stunning and they provide the best service to cyclists as they help you load and unload and the fear of the train leaving whilst I’m getting my bike or bags out of the train isn’t there. Close to midnight I’ll arrive in Bergen and tomorrow the cycling finally starts.

Thoughts before the start & a little tangent about trains

Why am I talking about trains on my blog about cycling through Norway? What does it have to do with my thoughts on the upcoming adventure? Well, in a way, it has everything to do with it. Because just three weeks ago I got the news that my life-long dream of becoming a train driver for the Rhaetian Railway in Switzerland has become reality. I got the training spot in Samedan, meaning I get to spend my life doing what I always dreamed of doing in the most beautiful region I know. Thus my thoughts on my upcoming adventure are tightly linked to the sheer joy of having achieved my long set goal. I get to now head out into the wilderness with a newfound sense of calm as I lined up my future and get the chance to really live in the moment and enjoy every second of what Norway has to offer me. No worrying about what the future might hold, no worrying about exams – just really soak up the joy and excitement of the wonderful things life has gifted to me lately. That is not to say that I have no worries or reservations about what lies ahead. This time I’m starting alone, leaving behind a much more deeply rooted friend circle than last time and most importantly a wonderful girlfriend from whom I’ve never been separated this long. I didn’t have the same amount of time to prepare myself mentally as last time and in general my thoughts haven’t been as focused on it beforehand as last time as the recruitment process for the train driver position took priority. All of that means that this time I’m more scared of what’s ahead, especially in regards of weather and loneliness and I’ve had to remind myself a couple of times that it would be completely fine if I ended up deciding to turn around earlier than planned. After all, I do this to experience something amazing, to unwind, to be in an intense exchange with myself and not to proof anything to anyone. Especially since I already made it all the way up last time. So with that, all that’s left is to soak it all up and enjoy. Thank you so much for following along again this time and until soon!

P. S. Just a little heads up that you can still participate in my Cycling for Life initiative and donate to help suicide prevention in Switzerland with every kilometre I’m cycling.

Cycling for Life

Hi there friends!

Some people might remember from last time, but with my new adventure coming up I’ve decided to bring back my initiative “Cycling for Life”. As you can see from the infographic it is basically the equivalent to a charity run, but instead of me running, I’ll be cycling.

Suicide prevention is still a topic very close to my heart and with Switzerland’s incredibly high suicide per capita rate, it’s a talking point as important as ever. So it would mean the world to me if you could help me raise funds for Ipsilon, an initiative doing incredibly important work when it comes to preventing suicide in Switzerland. It’s very simple – you define an amount you would like to donate for every 100 kilometre I cycle (estimated total distance is 2’700km) and at the end of my adventure, I let you know what distance I’ve covered and the resulting amount you can donate. I will send you the bank details for Ipsilon and you can then decide if you want to transfer the money yourself, or let me handle it. Of course, you would get a confirmation of donation.

If you want to participate, you can fill out the form down below or contact me in other ways. Let’s spread some light, help save lives, and support people in finding ways to give life a second chance.

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I’m back: Nordkapp 2.0

Hi there! It’s been a while, I know! Life moved fast, loads of stuff happened, and my focus laid with things other than travelling for a while. Which makes it all the more exciting to sit down again and share some new adventuring news!

The Idea

It’s not long ago, that I first learned of the chance to do some solo travelling again this summer. Thus, I knew right away, that it would have to be something that needed limited amounts of planning beforehand. My mind immediately jumped to another cycling adventure – after all, I felt the itch to really put my legs to the test again for a long while now. So, the question was where to? My plans to cycle to Amsterdam never came to fruition, but I knew I wanted to do something a bit more extensive, so it felt logical to head north again. And since I ended up not doing the way down the west coast of Norway the last time, I jumped on the chance to finally conquer that part of the north as well! It’s decided – I’m heading back to the Nordkapp, this time along the west coast of Norway, starting in Bergen. I took a little screenshot of the estimated route I’m planning to take.

All in all I expect the total distance actively cycled to be around 2’700 kilometres, with quite a lot of elevation changes along the way. In comparison with last time, it will be physically more demanding, but I should also be in better shape than back then, considering I started right after three months of post-surgery bed rest last time.

Dates & Thoughts

I will start my journey on the evening of the 25th of May by train and spend four days on public transport before hopefully starting to hit the road on the 29th of May. On this note, I’d like to extend my gratitude to Elke and Björn who both give me a place to stay over the night in between train rides up north. This time I have a concrete time constraint as I will have to be back for a wedding on the 2nd of August. Having planned with a daily average of 75km a day, I should have no problems making it.

Typing this out got me weirdly excited! It brings back a lot of wonderful memories of last time, even if the situation is completely different. Last time was the big “first”. The unknown, but also the life goal, the big dream I chased for so long. This time, it’s a spontaneous idea, a dive back into known territories, all the wondering and the imagination replaced by excitement for what’s to come again. I can’t wait to feel this unmatched freedom again, just living out of my bags, being able to go wherever I want, see whatever I want to see. But weirdly, I’m also more scared this time, knowing how rough the Norwegian weather can be and how lonely things can get sometimes. Overall, though, I am beyond stoked to head out again and say hello to the far north again.

If you’re planning to follow me along again, then welcome on board! It’s so great to be sharing all of this once more, and I’d feel honoured if I had a couple of people cheering me on again. I can’t promise any specific time intervals for updates, but I’m planning to keep it similar to last time.

As a last thing – I brought back Cycling for Life, after I had to postpone the last initiative due to the last second change of plans. So if you are interested in supporting suicide prevention in Switzerland, then I’d be overjoyed if you decided to chime in and help me raise funds for Ipsilon – a suicide prevention initiative in Switzerland. You can find more infos about Cycling for Life here.

I can’t wait to head out! Let’s make this one just as special!

Best

Raphael

Change of Plans

Well, that took a turn. It’s with weird and mixed emotions that I’m writing this. On Thursday evening I packed everything, got my bicycle readied up and everything and in the evening sat down to eat dinner and then go to bed so I’d be ready to go on the road the next morning. I look at the weather report and I have to make a very hard confession to myself. With the weather forecast looking the way it does, I really just don’t see how any of it will be fun. It literally predicts snow and rain non-stop for the whole time I’d be on the road. Would it be doable? Most definitely. Would it be fun? No. Not for the whole stretch, especially when I’m alone and have no one else to turn the wet misery into something to joke and laugh about.

Last summer was different. The weather in Norway was probably worse than it’ll get at any point here within the next few weeks, but there I was already on the road, I was etching in on my goal and it was a completely foreign landscape and country with an incredible atmosphere and feeling to it that totally made all of it worth it. And even then, I reached my limits and wouldn’t have made it much further. This time, it’d be only for around fifteen days in a landscape that is already very familiar to me and it just… Well I don’t want to spend this precious time that I have for travelling and adventuring battling myself to push through some hardship that was totally avoidable. Is that all against the mindset and spirit of a true adventurer? Maybe – I’m sure there are enough hardcore people out there, that wouldn’t mind – after all tents are waterproof, right? But I just had to admit to myself that I feel like it wouldn’t be fun for me. So what did I do? Well I completely changed my plans last second and spend all of today frantically trying to plan everything and make everything work and so on. Because now, I’ll just be using InterRail to travel around Europe trying to meet up with friends and go whereever my heart takes me. And obviously I’ll still end up in Amsterdam, because there is no way I would give up on reconnecting with the people there and the city.

What about “Cycling for Life”? That’s what made this decision so hard as well because I knew I just announced this project and everything but in the end not many people have made pledges yet, so I’ll just postpone it to the next big tour I will make which undoubtably will happen sooner than later.

I’d like to go into more detail and talk about everything a bit more, but it’s already way past midnight here and my first train leaves early this morning, so I really need to catch some sleep. I’m sorry if I have disappointed anyone with my decision, but in the end I’m doing this for me, trying to find joy and happiness through travelling and freedom. In my way.

More updates will follow soon!

Take care everyone!

Cycling For Life – A New Adventure

Dear friends

It’s finally time again – my new adventure is just around the corner! After last summers trip to the Nordkapp, I once again head out for some more unforgettable moments. From April until the beginning of July, I’ll be out and about again on three different adventures. The first one will start on April the 1st and consist of me cycling down along the Rhine river until I’ll break away for Amsterdam in the Netherlands. What made me choose this route? It’s pretty simple – I studied in Amsterdam and made some of the best friends there and it’s just been way too long since I’ve seen any of them, not to mention the love I feel for this city. Since I have to be in Switzerland again around May, I knew I couldn’t go on a super big and long trip again so I felt like this would be the perfect thing to do! I have 23 days before my train journey back home to Basel, which should enable me to have around a week in Amsterdam. I can’t wait to be back on the road, taste the air and freedom again and meet some friends in Germany on the way to Amsterdam as well. Naturally, I’ll post regular updates about my travels again on here and hopefully, it’ll become an unforgettable journey yet again.

Now to the most exciting part – what is this “Cycling for Life” thing all about? It’s an idea that I had come up with during my travels to the Nordkapp, that grew really dear to me. What if I could make my adventures, my dreams more than “just” about me, my personal growth and happiness – what if I could not only move mountains within myself by chasing the horizon, but also give a bit of that light and thirst for life to the people that need it most? As a few of you might now, I’ve battled with severe depression and complex post traumatic stress disorder for the majority of my life and it’s been only within the last few years, that I found myself on stable ground and loving life. What helped me get to that point, the one common thread through all of it, was that idea – that dream of cycling to the Nordkapp, chasing freedom and letting go. Unfortunately my sucess story is not the default and I’ve had to watch many of my friends lose their lives to suicide. So when I sat there on my bike last summer, I’d sometimes ponder about how I wish people that were down in that darkness, like I used to be, could get the chance to live their dreams, like me. I remembered how far away all of that seemed, when death seemed like the only possible way forward. It breaks my heart to think that people like you and me – with dreams just like yours and mine – decide to leave this planet before they ever got to live their life. That the darkness sometimes envelops all of our being, tears our soul apart into chaos and ruin. So what better way for me to try and make a change, than by doing the very thing that played a substantial role in getting through it all myself.

How does it work?

It’s pretty simple – it’s basically like a charity run where you’d determine an amount of money you want to donate per kilometre run beforehand. But instead of running, I will be cycling and you can decide how much you’d like to donate for every ten kilometres cycled. I’m currently estimating that it’ll take me around 1’250 kilometres to get to Amsterdam, but the actual number could deviate depending on how fast I progress, potentially giving me the chances for small detours. All the funds raised will go directly to “Ipsilon” an initiative for suicide prevention in Switzerland. If this sounds like something you’d like to support, you can either fill out the form on the bottom of this post or email me your infos (E-Mail, Name, Amount per 10km and any additional text you’d like to add) to “cyclingforlife@gmx.ch”. Once I’ve arrived in Amsterdam, you will receive an Email from me with a report of my performance and the resulting amount you can then directly donate to Ipsilon yourself or wire to me for collection in a pool that will be transferred to Ipsilon after receival of all donations or after thirty days of being open.

I’d like to sincerely thank you for your contribution, it means the world to me.

Let’s make a change and shine some light into the darkest places of our world.

Go back

Donation Message Sent

From the bottom of my heart – thank you so much for helping make a change and save lives!

Wrap Up

Dear friends,

it’s been quite a while. I’m really sorry about the silence, but one thing just lead into another and before I knew it, there was so much going on, I just didn’t find the right headspace anymore to write something up here. Funny sidenote is, there is an almost finished blog entry that I had written up during my train ride from Oslo to Kristiansand, but I got a terrible migraine on the way there and just couldn’t stare at my phone anymore. But my final days in Norway where I joined my friend in Kristiansand were an absolute blast and looking back at them fills me with great joy. So does the memory of my last days on my adventure that I spent with Jascha at his home in Kolding, Denmark.

Overall I think this post is meant to just dwelve in nostalgia and wrap up the chapter I started almost a year ago.

It’s been the time of my life. It truly fulfilled all my hopes and expectations whilst being completely different from what I imagined it would be. But it filled me with so much pride, confidence and served me the most gorgeous memories I have. The peaceful evenings in the northern summer light, the lakes, the forests, the reindeers, the brutal northernmost weather and atmosphere, the freedom. The freedom. I don’t think there are words for me to describe how precious and important it was for me, to experience this calm freedom of heading where my heart takes me, whenever and however I want to. I made so many incredible experiences, have so many priceless pictures stored in my head and overall grew an incomprehensible amount during my time on the road.

There aren’t many days where I don’t want to go back, where the north doesn’t call on me and I can assure you, that it won’t have been the last time adventuring there for me.

Scandinavia I love you.

Finally I want to thank all of you for following me here, for having someone to share all my experiences with. You taking time out of your day to read this really means a lot to me. I hope I was able to bring some of that dreaming, that freedom, into your everyday life, maybe even inspire you to pack your things and chase after that feeling yourself. Trust me, it’s worth it.

Shortly, I’ll be uploading my favourite photos of the trip, that I spend a lot of time editing since I’ve come back. With that, I’ll close the chapter of Scandinavia 2021 – a once in a lifetime experience, a lifedream come true. See you soon on the next adventure!

Yours truly,

Raphael

Day 46 – 49: Leaping South

It’s been a while. I’ll do this post and the next ones a bit differently since my way of travelling has changed as well. So maybe let’s begin with that.

Some of you might know that I originally had planned to cycle back down south through Norway. I have made the decision to not do that and cycle Norway another time. At first glance that probably seems like a disappointment, a waste of an opportunity but my reasonings and motives are quite thorough and well thought out. In fact it’s a decision that weighed on my mind for quite a bit, being torn between different needs and the scale of the decision. After all, you don’t get the chance to cycle down Norway every day. But after the long time on the road alone I’ve come to realize that I long for some social interaction, or specifically, I long for a friend a bit of “home”. Due to Covid and Finland not being to most touristy country I didn’t meet a lot of people on the road. In addition the weather in northern Norway is really just awful without a change in sight currently. Having been absolutely battered and pushed past my limits during the last days on the road it seemed like misery was what would await me if I went back onto the road. If I was fresh and not already quite expended, I probably would be able to put up with it better but it really just seemed like not a lot of fun. Furthermore almost my whole family will be on holidays in Switzerland at a place I adore during the later half of August. I don’t know when the next time would be that everyone can come together like that and knowing that in my new mental state I’ll be able to enjoy the presence of all of them in full for the first time, it’s something I really just don’t want to miss. Last, my budget got thrown totally off by my need to turn to hotels due to the weather and I’d have to live extremely tight to get through Norway.

What I’ve seen from Norway by the time I made the decision to postpone the Norway part of my adventure, was truly breathtaking and amazing. It further reinforced my desire to cycle this wonderful country. But add up all the reasonings above, I am sure that doing it another time is the right way to go about it. After all, I want to give Norway the attention, love and time it deserves and I think I will be able to enjoy it way more when fresh and the circumstances are different. I’d rather be patient than waste away what will be a stunning adventure because I’m forcing myself to do it when I’m not in the place to do so.

So what does that mean? It means I’ll be taking buses and trains back down south to Kristiansand where a good friend of mine is living and I’ll be spending some needed and awesome social time. On the way down I’ll stop by some cities that I’ll take a day to explore before moving on. Tromsø, Bodø Trondheim and Oslo. After Kristiansand, I’ll be heading to Denmark and will most likely take the train to Kolding to visit Jascha and Frida and spend some time there before taking the last train back home. So now that you are up to speed with my plans, I’ll take you along the first days of public transport. Please excuse the sometimes bad quality of the photos, in the bus I can only use my phone to take pictures.

Tromsø

After that wonderful day at the Nordkapp it was an early alarm the next day so I could catch the bus from Honningsvåg to Alta where I’d transfer to another bus to Tromsø. The whole thing got me a bit nervous as you can never be quite sure if your bicycle will fit into the bus with all the other luggage and how much of a beating my beautiful love will have to endure. It turned out to be an absolute non-issue though. Everything went smoothly and before I knew it I arrived in Tromsø in the evening. The ride there was extremely scenic with the fjords painting that typical Norwegian landscape. Truly breathtaking and getting me very excited for my cycling trip up there one day. Due to the terrible weather though a lot of times you couldn’t see anything and in addition to that I also dozed off quite frequently, no matter how hard I tried to stay awake to take in the scenery. Good thing I’ll be coming back and explore everything thoroughly.

Once I arrived and got my things stowed in the hostel I felt a fresh spark of energy and decided to head to a cable car not far away that would take me up a fjell with a wonderful view over the city and it’s surroundings. Thank you very much Kuma for recommding me that! It was a good decision as the weather wasn’t too bad right then and it looked to be worse the next day. It made for a really lovely and relaxed round off to a long day of travelling. Even if the weather was pretty bad up there and the view mostly obscured by fog, there were some short openings to take a couple of pictures and take it all in. I have to say the area is really gorgeous and I would love to go for a hike there some day when the weather is a bit better. Oh and whilst walking to the cable car I came by the famous Ishavskatedralen – the Arctic Cathedral – what an amazing building!

The next day was designated to exploring Tromsø and doing some fun activities. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t friendly so my time strolling around was a bit shorter than I had hopen. Non the less I got to pick up on that typical northern cozy feel in the city and it’s friendly, cute vibe. Since there is an university I’m really wondering what living and studying here would be like.

I went to visit the Polaria, an aquarium and museum about Arctic sea life. Whilst not being very large and the information provided being limited it still made for an interesting time. The main attraction definitely were the seals though! Such cute, funny and apparently really intelligent animals! To stimulate them they train them and surprise them all the time with new games which made for a very adorable and entertaining show. They clapped their flippers, made jumps, did things with balls and so on. As always the visit also left you with a somber note again as water pollution and climate change were obviously quite a big topic in there. I’m sounding like a broken record by now, but we’ve got to do so much better.

Afterwards I went to visit a small hidden shop that got all sorts of amazing, slightly, nerdy stuff. Comics, trading cards, all sorts of fantasy related things and merchandise and… Well honestly there was just everything and I’m sure you’d discover new stuff every time you’d visit. It was such a cute and wonderful place.

I went back to the hostel, did some reading and then joined some others in the kitchen. That evening was one of the most precious ones on the trip. After such a long time alone, the lively conversation, story-telling, joking and exchanging of experiences and knowledge was the most wonderful soul food. Time flew by and I was just full of that warm feeling you get when spending time with wonderful people. Everyone there had such interesting stories and experiences to tell and Guido the polyglot, who was about to move to Svalbard captured us all with his knowledge about that far off, exotic place and his thoughts on what will await him there working as a hotel receptionist. Really really good times!

The largest and most vibrant rainbow I’ve ever seen. It was truly a majestic scene

Bodø

After that amazing evening it was already time for the next bus the next morning. I would have twelve hours of bus ahead of me and with it also the worry if everything will go smoothly. But it did. For most of the time I unfortunately didn’t see anything of the scenery as the fog and rain were so dense you couldn’t see past a meter. If you did get a glimpse of the surroundings though, it was breathtaking every single time. This country really is just incredible.

The highlight of the day was definitely my encounter with Erik (forgive me if it’s written with a c) though. I saw him sit next to me on the bus from Tromsø to Narvik already but it was when he helped me load my bicycle onto the bus to Bodø that we got talking. He’s from Kenia, having spent time in London studying and now continuing said studies in Norway. He knew Basel due to football which really kick started our conversation. We talked about travelling, his studies, football, the world and the absolute highlight was when he told me that he lived in Kristiansand. What are the chances? Now I’m heading there already having plans to meet two people. I have to say these encounters with other people the last days have really been somewhat of a bonfire for my soul and I cherish them quite a bit.

At half past ten in the evening I finally arrived in Bodø and to my despair found out that the train to Trondheim I had planned to take the next day was now fully booked. Knowing my budget I really didn’t want to spend one more night here at the hotel so the first thing I did this morning was to head for the train station to talk to someone from the train service. The station was unmanned though. After some thinking I decided to buy a ticket for the night train leaving at 09:10p.m. this evening since that saves me a night at the hotel and should be a fun experience anyway. At half past 7 tomorrow I should arrive in Trondheim where I’ll explore the city and then take the train to Oslo the next day. But for now I just called the customer service of the train service asking them to reserve a seat for me as well as buy a bicycle ticket from them. It’s a bit complicated as I bought a 3 trips InterRail ticket and the app from the train operator here only allows me to buy a bicycle ticket together with a ticket for me. So I guess I’ll be calling them a bunch the next days.

After having organised my journey to Trondheim and being quite happy about the outcome I went back to the hotel to store my stuff until the evening and asked for a good activity to do here for the mean time. I was recommended a hike which I went to but had to turn back from due to the weather. Now I’m sitting in the hotel lobby writing this, waiting for time to pass and my train ride.

Day 44 & 45: Nordkapp

Day 44

I headed out for one more day of misery. And weather wise that’s what I got. When leaving Lakselv it was already raining and the wind was extremely strong. The following climbs were extremely exhausting and only knowing how close to my goal I was what kept my mental at a quite good place. Funnily enough the weather along the fjords was quite interesting as every now and then I would exit the torrential downpour into an area completely free of rain for a few kilometers before going back into heavy rain. I am not complaining though as that gave me a chance to at least take a few pictures of the stunningly epic landscape. Not too many though since the wind was so strong that when I got off my bike it just blew it aside onto the road. But yeah, the landscape was unlike any I’ve seen before. The huge epic fjords lunging into the sea like monuments of older times, witnesses of times long gone clashing with the violent winds and waves.

As I entered Olderfjord, the last ten kilometers had wind so strong that I had to be in my second lowest gear to even move forward, even though it was completely flat. If my goal wasn’t in sight already this would have probably worn me down quite a lot but now it just felt like the last final sprint, the last burst of energy before making it across the finish line.

Not shortly after, I did just that – cross the finish line, having arrived at the Olderfjord bus terminal. From here it would be a bus for last final bit. Now some of you might be disappointed or think that taking the bus for the last 100km is cheating or taking away from my achievement but if you do think like that, then I’d ask you to either give it more thought or just not follow my journey anymore. Because it was the only safe and reasonable decision. What lay ahead of me were multiple, very narrow, badly lit tunnels, some of them quite long and extremely steep. Pair that with the weather and my hyper alertness, a symptom of my CPTSD, it would have been lucky for me to arrive intact on the other end. Mentally and or physically. So instead I waited for the next bus to get me to Honningsvåg. I was actually very surprised and happy I would get a bus today, as I misread the timetables initially and thought I had to spend the night in Olderfjord.

Whilst waiting for the bus I met another cyclist who just came down from Honningsvåg with the bus. Funnily enough it turns out that he was Swiss, but we still had to convers in English as he was from the French speaking part and I am from the German speaking part and we were both apparently not too fond of our time in school studying each others language. It felt very excited and good to exchange experiences and give each other tips. He warned me about the winds up there, told me about how horrid the weather was in Norway lately and that he can’t wait to get to Finland and hopefully better weather. I gave him a few tips for the country of the thousand lakes and with that he headed off to where I came from. May the weather be with you friend.

I got on the bus a bit later and had the most epic ride I’ve ever had. I mean really… I don’t even know how I should describe the scenery it was so otherworldly and epic. Slowly the road wiggled it’s way around the fjords with the sea pounding on the rocks, making them look like jagged stacks of paper. The sky hang low, loomingly dark, letting go of whatever water it could find. An hour and a half later I arrived in Honningsvåg, the last big settlement on this continent. Due to the horrendous wind camping was not an option and all the cottages were already filled with people equally stranded. So I headed for a hotel, battling the wind and rain for a kilometer. That stretch was enough to make me look like I’m half dead apparently as the woman from the reception first asked if I was okay before anything. But my, was she nice. We had a chat about Finland since she herself comes from Jyväskylä and she even gave me a free room upgrade out of respect for my cycling efforts. And so the day comes to an end, so close to the big goal – weary but oh so excited.

Route: Lakselv – Olderfjord
Distance covered: 65.56
Total distance covered: 2451.39

Day 45

I made it! Today was the big day. Maybe my proudest moment, maybe my biggest moment. I’m so overwhelmed with emotions and joy I’m getting ahead of myself. So let’s start at the beginning.

I got up quite early. Before going to bed I had a huge mental back and forth if I should take the bus for the last 30km to the Nordkapp or the bicycle. The road is extremely steep with a total of 680m elevation gain and the wind would be absolutely out of this world. Everybody warned me of it and often you would hear stories about cyclists having to get rescued by busses after being ruined by the wind. I woke up though determined to defeat this last hurdle, battle my way through. That ended pretty quickly though, as when I went to get my bicycle out the storage I was informed by staff that cycling up the road wasn’t allowed today to begin with. That meant waiting for the bus. And when it came it was time for the final stretch. My excitement was getting hard to tame and when the bus took us up the fjord towards the cliff it really started to feel otherworldly. I’m not going to try to put words to the scenery as I wouldn’t know where to begin but it truly does look like what I imagined the end of the world would look like. And when the bus pulled up onto the final plateau, barren of anything but rocks and short grass it truly felt like walking towards the precipice of the world. And as I walked through the Nordkapp centre out onto the other side towards the globe monument I was flooded with this immense feeling of pride and accomplishment. Joy, happiness, disbelief, awe – so much just bundled up inside of me I am still not fully grasping it. This was it! Years and years of dreaming about it, planning, fighting through horribly difficult times, anchoring myself on that vague dream, months of meticulous planning, months of anticipation and then 2500km and 45 days later, this was it. I was standing at the end of the continent, the planet smashing me with it’s raw unrelenting power, winds so strong it was hard to walk forward, the waves crashing into the cliffs around me. I was so in awe of the sheer infinity of the universe and the small fleck that was me. I spent quite a bit of time at the globe, trying to grasp, enjoying the moment, admiring the view, talking to some other people taking pictures there. Quite a bit of time meaning probably around twenty minutes before I had to seek shelter from the sheer unrelenting freezing wind and rain that picked up. So I spend a long, long time inside writing post cards and just bathing in this amazing bubbly pool of emotions before eventually going out one more time, saying goodbye to the place that was my lighthouse for so many years now. A bus ride later, a couple of phone calls with the people most dear to me later, I sit here writing this entry, still just overwhelmed with joy and pride. I really did. I really did.