This has been the best weather day of the trip, and probably the best scenery too – though last week much of the Fv.17 route was great even in cloud.

The campsite was very busy, with more tents than on any other site. Most campers seemed to be young, beautiful and Norwegian – here for hill walking – and travelling by public transport (there is a good bus service). Tents were packed tight and I feared the worst, but all were well behaved and I had a good night.

The first village, Reina, is one of the jewels of Lofoten. It is perched on a group of tiny islands, connected by whalebacked bridges, and all packed tight into a circular bay rimmed with gigantic cliffs and jagged peaks. Absolutely magnificent!

At this stage I was in shorts and short-sleeved jersey for the first time since cycling out of Trondheim. But then the road turned north and became exposed to a cold sea fog that was being blown across from the seaward side of the island – where the road was heading. I had a ‘down’ few minutes as I found myself unexpectedly back in windproofs – view gone – and a cold headwind (about 8C I would guess). Coffee in a campsite helped, and then 30 minutes later I was out of the fog again and the temperature jumped 10 degrees. The next few miles round a huge bay were just sensational.

Next there was a 1.8km tunnel – but this one dipped down 150m under the sea to connect two islands. Luckily it had a British style pavement with a kerb, because the traffic was coming thick and fast, and the gradient was steep down and then up.

A few more great views on the run in to Leknes, where I bought food.

Then on over a climb to reach a very good campsite by a lake – except the wifi which is lousy. I plan to make this my base for the next two days. Unladen cycling – there’s an idea! Then I’ll retrace today’s ride on Friday and get the return ferry on Saturday. It was so good I am already looking doing it in the other direction!