#ufat

I've cycled with a bulgarian cyclist for a few days, then we parted ways in Karasjok, for she went to Inari and Rovaniemi, while i opted to follow the finnish-swedish boarder.

On one night, there were increadible Northern Lights (i know the picture quality is bad and some are upside

Down, but that's how it is...)

Also, I crossed over to finnland, cycled there for one and a half day, before crossing over to sweden, because some cyclist told me about the increadible luxury of closed huts with fireplaces for wild camping.

What i heard about finnland is true so far (long straight roads with birches, birches and birches) but the birches are all in firey colours and it is beautiful.

(little note for the daniel (that's your name right?) in den nicht mal zwei tagen, die ich in finnland verbracht habe, haben mich zwei finninnen angesprochen)

So, quick explanation: I will now every now and then post posts titled, well, " update from my actual timeline" where I will post short summaries of recent events, such as milestones i've reached or sth, since i'm very far behind with my actual blogging... Those will be tagged with 'ufat'

Now over to my first ufat:

I have reached Nordkapp (i told you, i am far behind on my blog!) and yesterday night, i saw an aurora borealis!

I cycled on the Swedish side of the boarder for as long as i could without taking too much of a detour (all the way to övertornea, i think the name was).

There are not that many bridges over the river that marks the finish-swedish boarder and I met a guy who told me how to get to the next brigde (in aareavaara) and he said: " just go to the place with the many a's", which is very good advise to remember that name, except if you look up the names of places in that region, you'll understand why it isn't that great...

The man also told me he was an elk hunter and that it was elk hunting season and it seems to be a very popular activity in these parts of Sweden, given how many hunters I saw.

Then I crossed back over to Finland, soon after pasding the polar circle, and was surprised to see houses for the following several kms.

The weather stayed more or less the same, cloud covered skies, cold and not a day completely without rain, though after the first few days, never wet enough to soak my shoes, for which i am very greatful.

But clouds and light rain means no solar power, and therefore I ran out of power on my phone and had to spend three hours freezing at the arctic circle waiting for my phone to charge (the tourist house there was closed, but it had electricity on the outside).

Cycling on the finish side was not that nice for it was mostly along the E8, a vrmery busy road and in some places, as I discovered some day after nightfall, not allowed for bicycles.

But since the country is mostly flat and the landscape not particularly interesting, I could do quite a lot of distance a day and was in oulu very soon, where I was hosted by a oind family.

It is after that that shit started hitting the fan.

The next day, the weather was very wet and I had discovered a very nice web series, plus my electronics were still not fully charged, so i didn't leave quite so early. And then i first headed into town to buy new supplies (i had finally changed the breaks on my bike and taken care of it the previous day, and now needed some new spare parts), before heading out more or less along the E75 (about as bad as tge E8, but for a long time there was a cycling path next to it) and getting all the way to Kempele, before I noticed i had a flat tire. Annoyed, for i had just this morning finally put more air into my tubes, I got off my bike and started with the repairs. Only, my new tires are a lot harder to get off than the previous ones and i broke one of my tools trying to do so. Eventually, after good half an hour, I got it off and took the tube out and, since i didn't feel like repairing it, took out my spare tubes. And for the first time i noticed that they both had a small ventil and I know that my pump only works well with the big ones, so I took out the repair kit and the old tube and got to work. But the patch decided it would rather stick to the foil than to the glue, so I was no closer to being on my way and my frustration grew. Having no other choice, I used the spare tube and somehow got the pump to work, however, no matter how hard i tried, i couldn't put the tire back in. Add to this that my phone didn't cooperate and you'll understand my frustration. So I was sitting on the side of this small village road, crying in anger, frustration and despaire, when finally someone stopped and asked if I was okay. I explained the situation to her and she told me that she'd get her husband - she lived only two houses away - and he'd be able to help.

And he was. When all was fixed and my bike loaded again, they invited me in for tea, that turned into supper, that turned into a place to stay the night (and if you are reading this, know that I am very greatful for what you did for me! )

You'd think that after all the bad luck of the previous day, I'd get a bit of a break from it, but no.

I had barely done 10km when i noticed that my back tire was flat again. And no matter how much I tried talking to it, first asking nicely, then begging it not to be flat and finally cursing it for bit listening, my tire remaind as empty of air as it was. At least, by that time, the rain had stopped.

So, having no other choice, i unloaded my bike, turned it upside down and took out the wheel. The tire hadn't gotten any easier to take out, but i was i bit more careful and didn't brake any tools this time around. I was a lot more frustrated though, and nearly destroyed my phone when it refused to work properly after i had been sitting there for maybe half an hour, with barely any progress to show for it. And this time, no one stopped to offer help.

After over an hour I had miraculously managed to get everything back in place (and this time even remembered to check for the cause of the flat tire and disloged the pointy stone that was the cause of my troubles) and was back on my way, but not before the rain started again.

Also, it became harder and harder to pedal, like my bike was constantly breaking, but it wasn't until the next day that I realised what the problem was.

I had been cycling in the rain for a while the day after the one when i fixed my wheel for the second time, when i decided to investigate the strange sounds my bicycle made and why the chain was acting so strangely. After a little bit of trying abd probing, i noticed that one of the gears on the thing that you use to change gears (i don't know what the proper term is) was barely moving any more. So i tried oiling it. It didn't help. I cleaned it as well as i could with a little stick. Still no change. Oiled it again. Nothing. So i gave up and cycled on, all the while trying to think of what else i could do.

I stopped again, tried cleaning it more profoundly with a thread (you know, like dentists keep telling you to do with your teeth and i assume you nod, and maybe do it once or twice and then never again), then with a needle, but it lead to no betterment. So i asked my parebts what to do. They told me I had to get the part replaced. Only the next cycling shop, as far as I know, was in Jyväskylä, and that was still several hundred kms away. And later that day, you'll never guess what happened: my fron carrier broke!

So, tired of all this, I did the required 50kms and instantly looked for a place to stay, where i repaired the carrier and took the gear apart, to clean it more thoroughly. It seemed to finally work.

The next day, i discovered that, while it was certainly better, it was still far from good.

So after 50km, i gave up and hitch hiked to Jyväskylä.