04.07.17
I'm on the ferry and can make preliminary status. It was another wonderful morning. After Western Jutland conditions, we may call it quiet. A light breeze from the north. We sit outside in the garden and enjoy the sun and the breakfast. Yet another "hotel overnight". Just a lot better than a real hotel. Where the part through Denmark really was just something to get over with, I now feel that I really made profit of it. It was also nice to have the camping equipment tested.
At 8.35 am - 5 min after the schedule, I roll down the gravel road heading towards Brugsen in Tornby, where I will shop for the ferry ride. Almost 2 days at sea, and I have two lunches included. So I buy at least 2 meals.
Continue on towards Hirtshals and the ferry only 3 mins behind schedule. To be safe, I've counted an hour to the 8-10 km. There's a regular noise from the back fender, but I won't take a look until I'm there ....
In a roundabout there are two roads that lead to the harbor, I ask an elderly man if he is local. He is considering it, apparently, but finds out that he is. But where the ferry to Iceland is, he can not say. "They're always changing things!" Yes, thank you, I know that. The future have apparently also come to Hirtshals.
We agree that it's probably the road to the right I shall choose, and further on it finally says "Smyril Line" with an arrow, and a trip around a couple of miles before I can overtake the cars on the inside - even until check-in. Cyclists have at least SOME advantages.
There are two other cyclists - an older German couple - besides me. And then a lot of motorcycles. It recalls the ferry to Hokkaido in Japan. There you were no real motorcyclist before you had been driving up the north island. It now seems to be the same in Europe.
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| LOTS of motorcycles - and ONE bicycle |
I assume that all of us up on deck 4 are going all the way to Iceland and that they to the Faroe Islands are down on deck 3. I tried the small gears on my way up the ramp. I have arrived early, because the ferry is working on Faroese time, so we won't sail until 12.30 and not 11.30.
Of the hundreds of cars involved, there were everything from ordinary Toyotas to expedition cars I have never seen before.
Here in the afternoon - far out on the ocean - my phone suddenly give a sound. In the middle of the ocean? It turns out to be Norway. I can start using it without extra costs, my phone company tells me. And as I get up on the top deck where you can get outside, I really see Norway's coastline in the distance.
I think I'm in control of everything I need to know. My couchette is on deck 2, which is deep down. Judged from the number of sleeping bags, we are only 3 or 4 out of the 9 berths.
On the lowest deck there is pool and gym. The pool is approx. 6 x 4 m, so it is mostly for children. I have not seen the gym. I have had ample exercise in the last 3 days. On deck 5 is "The Diner" where I have to eat the 2 meals I have bought in advance. The first lunch I have eaten - it was not exciting. On top - deck 7 and 8 - You can go outside. All the way up the front, it blows violently. I could not keep the camera still when I tried to take a photo of the coast with my strongest zoom.
I have not got the camera cord up from the car deck so you must wait for that photo.
ca. 14 km