Bike Tour in Norway (8)

On August 2nd, I injured my knee, and it hurt pretty badly. To make matters worse, the weather was turning ugly, with a storm brewing nearby. So the next day, we ditched the tent and moved into a small cabin. It was pretty basic—just two beds, a table, an induction cooker, and an electric heater—but it was warm and a lifesaver against the storm.

I tried warming my knee with the heater to ease the pain, but it didn’t do much. Anxiety started kicking in—not just about calling off the trip early, but also about how hard it would be to get back to Gothenburg with such limited public transit. Regardless, I figured I should check out a local clinic first.

The clinic was right across the street from our campsite (sorry, forgot to grab photos!). I got there around 9:00 AM on the 4th and felt pretty lost at first—there was hardly any English and barely anyone in sight. After hesitating for a minute, I decided to just walk right in. Figure even if I stumbled into the wrong room, I’d at least get some directions!

Fortunately, a staff member saw me and got me checked in. I was worried I’d need an advance appointment, but nope—turns out it wasn’t required at all. They told me to pop back in at 10:00. The setup here was quite different from home in China: doctors actually walk out to call your name, and you pay after seeing the doctor. Despite it being a small local spot, the doctor was extremely kind and sharp. She diagnosed my knee simply by bending the joint, no heavy machinery needed. She even looked up the word “bursitis” on her computer and pulled up a Wikipedia diagram so I could see exactly what happened.

The news was a huge relief: I could keep riding/going! I just had to cap my daily distance and take painkillers when needed. Best of all, the bill came out to just 149 NOK—I honestly felt like her care was worth so much more.

Now that the panic was over, we were ready to hit the road again, albeit with a modified route for my knee. Here’s where we went later that day:

We cycled for about 20 kilometers to the dock to cross the fjod to Stranda and then took a bus to cross a high mountain (yes we cheated!). To be honest, the weather was not that good and after getting off the bus we were soon caught by the rain. We had not choice but to continue until the next campsite in Sykkylven.

After my first time staying in a small cabin, I completely fell in love with it. So this time, we chose to stay in one again, which I really enjoyed. Since the weather wasn’t great, we stayed there for another two days, just exploring around and taking photos.