SAMAYA x ANTONY VINCENT & JEANNE-LOUISE CARO

 

 

Antony Vincent and Jeanne-Louise Caro, two outdoor adventure enthusiasts, spent ten days bikepacking through the Lofoten Islands with their bivy tent tucked into their panniers. Dive into their conversation, which invites us to rethink our ways of traveling.

 

Jeanne-Louise Caro: We did our first bike trip last year, taking a nice little tour of Switzerland. That trip made us reconsider a lot of things, especially our desire to buy a van for traveling. We enjoyed the freedom that bike travel provides so much that we don't want to travel any other way now. We are learning to travel differently and appreciate simpler things. We were tempted by Norway.

 

Antony Vincent: We were hesitating between Iceland and Norway. The volcanic situation in Iceland helped us choose. We drew a lot of inspiration from bike routes in Norway available online and planned the rest based on what we absolutely wanted to see during the 10 days we had.

 

JLC: We were mainly cycling, but without a performance goal; it was really just to get around. When we arrived in an area we wanted to see, we would park the bikes and continue on foot. Plus, at that time of year, there were very few tourists, which allowed us to have these legendary places—often hyped on social media—all to ourselves. The roads were almost deserted; we were truly immersed in nature. Over there, we could bivy wherever we wanted, setting up the tent in magnificent spots like deserted beaches at the edge of the Arctic Ocean, which was pretty crazy.

 

AV: The small villages we passed through were at least 70 kilometers apart, which did require some organization on our part.

 

JLC: Typically, I knew I wouldn't necessarily have my little morning coffee every day!

 

AV: We had to be well-organized because, since many grocery stores were closed due to the off-season, food wasn't always available everywhere we went.

 

JLC: We hadn't planned our route down to the kilometer, which allowed for some pleasant surprises...

 

AV: For example, we discovered that ferry crossings were free for pedestrians and cyclists. So we were able to go to Senja Island spontaneously. It's a magnificent, natural island where we didn't cross any cars and were able to ride along the Arctic Ocean. We got a bit lost there, which made the trip different and was really cool.

 

JLC: In the same vein, when we arrived in Norway on May 17th, we were surprised to find out it was their National Day. The atmosphere was festive, and we were able to enjoy the moment with all the locals dressed in their traditional attire.

 

AV: That was the only time we encountered so many people.

 

JLC: We met a man named Raymond who opened his home to us for our first night, during which we introduced him to crozets. He completely disrupted the itinerary we had started planning a month earlier by inviting us to stay at his second home in the center of the island for a few days.

 

AV: It had a truly positive impact on our trip. We faced some major bad weather in the first few days: hail, rain, freezing temperatures, and strong headwinds. Jeanne-Louise was so cold that we stopped in public restrooms or bars several times, wrapped in our sleeping bags just to warm up.

 

JLC: During those few days of bad weather, we stayed at Raymond's place, waiting for the next weather window that would allow us to continue our journey.

 

AV: Leaving Raymond's house, we went from freezing temperatures with a lot of wind to 17 degrees Celsius.

 

JLC: The first few nights in the tent weren't that easy. At that time of year, there is constant daylight, and it took us a few days to get used to it. We would sometimes wake up thinking it was 9 AM, when in reality it was 4 AM!

 

AV: And conversely, at 10 PM we still had plenty of energy and could head out for a hike. It was quite disorienting. Aside from these adjustment periods, we were incredibly happy to be riding through mystical landscapes that blew us away every single day.

 

JLC: What was great about the Samaya INSTANT2 we slept in was the double opening on the sides, which allowed us both to have access to the outside and enjoy the view at the same time. No more rock-paper-scissors!

 

AV: Plus, it was so compact that we could easily slide it into our bike panniers without it taking up all the space.

 

JLC: This way of traveling is so liberating in its simplicity that we are already thinking about our next bikepacking trip for next year!