MAGPIES

DAY 8

After a lazy afternoon sunbathing the boys went to the tent, prepared for tomorrow’s 90 k’s stage from Salt Creek to Kingston S.E. Anders and Lasse decided to get up early and set the alarm to 06:00.

It was an ice cold night, and Lasse had decided to sleep with his wool long johns, something he really regretted at 03:00 am in the morning. They are lying back-to-back, each with their own sleeping bag of course, but they need to stay close so the little warmt that is spreads. When their backs don’t touch, the cold is unbearable. The boys had never imagined that it would be soooooo cold.

The tent was soaking wet after the morning dew and the morning sun hadn’t yet reached the tent when the boys woke up. The tent is tamped in the tent bag and the fingers get stiff from the cold. Anders walks in on the dilapidated toilet right by and thaws his fingers under warm water. 07:30 the boys are on their bicycles, 30 minutes late. They are cycling 90 k’s and want to get as far as possible before the headwind picks up.

Anders’ knee functionality is now 70 %. Those two resting days might have saved the whole trip for him. Though he still not can stand and pedaling, which have led to his rear-end getting no rest when cycling hour after hour. Lasse bronchitis is better, but also he has his challenges with the bicycle seat, and therefore stands up pedaling about 50 % of the time. The strain of the thighs is getting bigger and bigger, and today Lasse went to the famous basement to look for more Energy for the last 20 k’s. “I don’t have anymore to give now Anders” Lasse says towards the end of one of the many seemingly endless plains. “Oh yes, you do. When you think you are tired, that is when you begin on your reserves” Anders answers diplomatic. “I want chocolate milk when we get there” Lasse closes with.

Another epic moment was when the boys was attacked by a magpie. While they were cycling the magpie dived towards the helmets, again and again and again. A little bit of panic and a lot of laughing of the incident. Lasse managed to capture some of it on the GoPro camera (see video below).

They arrive in Kingston S.E, it is a bit windy but the weather is beautiful. The tent dries quickly in the wind and the guys order a large pizza. Anders plays Norwegian radio from the NRK-app for the first time in this trip. The channel always news (Alltid Nyheter) covers the election and the counting of votes is almost done. Trump was elected and the boys can for the eternity say that “I was at Kingston Caravan Park when Trump was elected president!”. The boys have a lot on their heart when it comes to the election, but that we can get into later.

Tomorrow a stage of 50 k’s awaits. The weather forecast says that it soon can come rain, that will be interesting, but first another good cold night.