13th June 2023 (sunny and hot) 62km

There is a bird that makes a noise like a machine gun. It began early this morning.    Fortunately, my stress levels are good at present and I didn't feel the need to chase it around the camp, naked, yelling, "Shut up you noisy bastard or I'll wring your freaking neck"

It was 6am, the sun was well up and the prospect of another beautiful day was guaranteed. I whipped over to do some washing while Julia worked on editing the blog.

Stripped out the tent, cleaned the bike chains and lubed them and pumped the tyres. Then we got stuck into breakfast. Coffee to follow and packing away of gear and we were ready for another day.

Had a quick chat with Iyav, such a lovely  guy,. This is one of the main reasons we do these trips, for the people you meet. He was telling us that the other Dutch couple who were here are cycling around Scandanavia for three months and the man was 78 years old. Amazing, and inspiring!

At 9.15am we hit the road. Undulating, with the odd steeper climb, but we were refreshed. Lots of lakes, beautiful, stunning, with lots of rocky islands and trees. Finished with a tunnel and long climb into Tvedestrand. Tunnel was wide and well lit, climb was not as good as the flat.

The lovely little village of Ostera

Visited a supermarket in Tvedestrand for a coke and to buy some lunch.  We were thrilled to find 150gm of slivered salmon for $5NZ so bought some of that to eat when we find a nice lunching place. Spoke to a few locals who were interested in where we were going, before heading out of town to look for a place to eat.

Tvedestrand 

This afternoon we had picked out a more direct route as we were getting a bit sick of not making too much progress in the direction we wanted.  The 421 was very direct and pretty flat, therefore it was a bit boring.  At least it was mainly on cycle path next to the road, or on the reasonably quiet road itself.  But because we were off the main tourist route, there were no handy picnic benches so we had to make do with an abandoned truck stop for lunch at 1.30pm.

At least it had shade and somewhere to sit. It even had a toilet round the back if you were brave enough to use it!

Pushed on to Arendal and got there about 4pm and went to get some shopping and some more cash. Can't remember the bank, maybe DNB. Anyway I  get 2000kr out at five and a half percent! Only once. I won't be accepting that again. You work too hard to hand your money over like that. So different bank next time.

 

8

Had a nice little break in Arendal, just cruising through and taking photos.   A nice town with a bustling vibe.

Had some good surfaces today and this ride was very good. Decided that 5pm was long enough today, we'd already done 62kms, so because this area is quite densely populated, we chose a campground on the lake. Julia went in to pay.....$70....does it come with dinner and breakfast?

Set up the tent and then while Julia showered I hosed off my front wheel, which had duck shit all over it....oh yeah...it keeps on getting better. The mobile  muck spreaders have encircled our tent and are currently awaiting a free meal. Well, let me tell you ducks, for $70 you may well be on the menu.

It was my turn for a shower now, so I took all my laundry in with me and washed it in the unlimited hot water. To my calculations, I reckon I used close to $70 worth of hot water. I'm having another shower in the morning and I'll just let  the water run over my body and lap it up.

Had a lovely dinner of some sort of stew ?   then because I was still hungry, sardines on a bun....delicious. All dishes washed and then into coffee and chocolate.

A gentle breeze is blowing our newly washed clothes dry, whilst hung over various parts of our bikes, as we don't bring pegs and a line.

When we stayed with Petter, Ivan his son, introduced us to the Norwegian version of Kit Kat. Named Kvikk Lunsj, it blows Kit Kat away. Not as sickly sweet, it is delicious.

Julia has been busy planning our assault on Kristiansand where we will rest a couple of days, before we turn North and head for Tromso, then we'll know what mountain climbs are.
However, for tonight, we are calm and feeling rested. It is a beautiful night and we may even take a stroll.