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196 km – 13-24° C
I woke up still tired from yesterday. This mornings porridge was too big to eat at once but we made it fit somehow. The chain cleaning was begun once more a bit more thoroughly and I wiped my visor clean to not suffer sunblindness as badly as yesterday. We crossed the bridge which seemed sketchy yesterday evening without any problems whatsoever. Today’s route consisted of many climbs and descents and the description for TET Norway spoke about “minor crossings, rocky sections and a strenuous ascent to the Tronfjell”. As so far no difficulties were mentioned beforehand I was slightly anxious on what was about to come. But first me made it down into the valley and into Grimsbu where the gas station not only looked like it belonged into the 70’s but also was closed. So we drove into the next town (8min) and got some gas at a regular self service station and due to our late start we were already in the mood for a break. Back to Grimsbu we had a coffee, filled up our water and shared a pizza at Grimsbu turist senter. Man and machine filled we started – now for real. After some nice forest trails we climbed in height out of the valley and into the mountains. On our way down we passed by some mountain bikers carrying their bikes uphill on a rock filled steep descent which brought the ABS on my bike to its limits. This was one of the most difficult sections of the TET, and the most rocky by far. Steep slopes downward, only rocks from the size of a golf ball to the size of a basketball. Soon after an RV crossed our way and we had to stop to let it pass as it’s driver seemed eager not to brake. We shook our heads contemplating the possibility of the RV getting up our way down and saw our water crossing for today
But this one turned out not to be difficult as it was shallow not fast flowing and almost devoid of any bigger rocks. The kind of stream you can cross with your RV. We followed the road some more and finally ended up taking the road up to Trofjell. It was steep and had some washboards every now and then but not difficult in our dry conditions. Benni joked about being able to get this one up on his street motorcycle with almost treadless tires. The steepest section was covered in tarmac, as all of the rest was gravel. But we already rode muddy single tracks in forest with some stones and grass, which were more steep. Although some vehicles did park before the steepest and last section and the people were walking the last meters.
It was still super scenic. At top there were two buildings (both big antenna stations, seemingly one emitting station and one recieving station with a polygonal white ball on top – reassembling the old station on teufelsberg in Berlin) and we chose the one to our right as it was less crowded. The last 100 m to this one were in pretty bad shape. When we arrived a Norwegian family was looking into the valleys with some binoculars and the father inquired about the Power of Bennis motorcycle. Powerful indeed. (Niklas was quite amused about the ‘very german’ answer – but I did not know what to reply instead) We prepared a coffee and enjoyed the spectacular view and on our way out had a short chat with another norwegian dad who wondered how we ended up at this particular place. This was apparently the second highest drivable road in norway, but not too known all over norwas. As the kids were playing close by, Niklas could understand them quite well – swedish and norvegian are not too far apart. We drove back down and it was already turning into evening. We pressed on for a bit. We were getting a bit tired and took a break at a lake.
Where Benni took a nap and I just relaxed and read for a bit. We decided to drive on for a bit but to take the next better camping site. After some roads through farms and fields we crossed a bridge across a river and to our right down the street to the banks of the river we saw a shelter. Jackpot. Benni was still a bit sleepy and parked his bike on the side of the tiny trail. I eyed the descent for a bit and paddled down, at least in one go. We set up camp and I washed myself and my clothes in the clear, cold and nice river. We had parboiled rice with some freeze dried soup for dinner, it was not an optimal taste experience. I dropped my bike (just very shy of all my gear) while cleaning the chain on the side stand – lesson learned better use the main one for that. In the evening the river looked quite magical, the camera doesn’t really do it justice. I had to conclude, after the second consecutive night, that sleeping right next to a steamy river is not my preference, as the constant noise annoys me. Which surprised me as highway or car noise does not.
