White All Around

10:05 AM

Awake at 4:00 AM? It’s light out. We can leave—then I’d have a whole day ahead of me!

OW, my shoulders and my BACK!!! Oh well, my back has always been an issue.

6:00 AM, attempt two. 8:00 AM, attempt three—do everything very slowly, packing the bag. 9:00 AM. Zip it shut! What am I going to do? Keep walking or take another night to recover. Come on now—the body has to do what I want, not the other way around.

After a few kilometers I found my rhythm. A few hours later I nearly jump out of my skin when a cyclist rides up next to me—a Pole. He apologized; apparently I had put on a face that looked seriously disturbed. With broken English we still managed to communicate pretty well. He had cycled from Poland to the Nordkapp in 20 days, and he said that a certain Karen is also walking the E1. She would be about 18 km ahead because she started one day earlier.

Video compilation:

1:59 PM

And then you reach the point where you have to descend and can no longer keep following the road. White—nothing but white! Just to be safe, I turn on the GLONASS satellites on my Garmin watch, so I know I’m walking with meter-level accuracy. And off we go, into the deep snow. I sink down to my knees, but it’s manageable.

360 photo snow plains:

360 photo rest point:

White—now it’s very white. Every now and then I take off my glasses, but then the white becomes really unpleasant. The kind of white that hurts deep inside your eyes. Suddenly I spot footprints from someone else. Thank you, Karen! Saves a lot of GPS checking.

360 photo tracks:

4:19 PM

Total: 42 – 27.4 km.

Almost at the end of this stage, the glue on my water filter comes loose. Damn—used it for just 2 days, while it’s supposed to handle 1,000 liters. A warranty issue, only I’m not exactly nearby!

360 photo water:

Video leaking water filter:

The decision is made quickly: I hitchhike back to Honningsvåg. Well… hitchhiking!!! After 50 passing cars, campers, buses, and trucks, someone finally stopped and dropped me off at the hostel.