Statistics are not something I particularly care for when it comes to adventures or expeditions. But they can be fun, and are undoubtedly useful when planning such trips.
Here, then, is a light-hearted list of facts and figures from my journey though northern Scandinavia in the winter of 2010/2011:
- Trip duration: 27 days (3rd February 2011 to 1st March 2011)
- Starting point: Oslo, Norway (59°56’N 10°45’E)
- Finishing point: Bodø, Norway (67°18’N 14°33’E)
- Distance cycled: ~1,600km
- Longest day: ~110km
- Shortest day: ~40km
- Average daily distance: ~70km
- Rest days: 4
- Daylight hours at start: 8 hours 9 minutes
- Daylight hours at finish: 9 hours 49 minutes
- Highest temperature: +4°C, 1st March, Bodø
- Lowest temperature: ‑33°C, 13th February, Os I Østerdalen
- Highest elevation: 849m
- Most successive nights under canvas: 4
- Most successive nights indoors: 4
- Number of spontaneous overnight invitations: 3
- Number of couches surfed: 6
- Number of falls: 1
- Number of tyre spikes lost: 1
- Number of snow stakes donated by strangers: 6
- Strangest gift: Dried moose meat
- Best gift from a single person: 2 giant cheesy pizzas, 2 cans of tuna, 2 bananas, 2 cups of coffee, a cup of tea, a thermos full of tea and 3 hours of warmth and conversation
- Latest time still riding: 11:30pm
- Earliest morning: 6:00am
- Best meal: 2 pork chops, ½kg of chips and red peppercorn cream sauce
- Worst meal: 20 boiled fish-fingers
- Number of people met who didn’t speak English: 2
- Fjords gaped at: 1
- Northern Lights seen: 0
- Reindeer followed: 2
- Mooses encountered: 2
- Wolf tracks noticed: 1
- Worst moment: jacket’s zip slider snapping in half
- Most hideous road: Rv80 into Bodø
- Snow-mobiles listened to: hundreds
- Most useless item: tent pegs
- Most impressive piece of equipment: Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pro tyres
- Most disappointing piece of equipment: Baffin Mountain boots
- Blog posts written: 25
- Photos taken: 769
- Number of frostbite occurences: 0
- Packets of noodles packed: 20
- Packets of noodles eaten: 14
- Favourite roadside snack: Swedish-style pizza
- Biggest food-related mistake: thinking 1kg of cheese wouldn’t freeze solid
- Most pleasant surprise: didn’t die