14th June 2023 (cloudy, cool morning, hot, sunny afternoon. Breezy) 41km

 

Woke this morning to the first cloudy day we've had since being here and to the sound of little feet in the vestibule.

It was one of the eight ducklings out and about at 5.30am. Obviously Norway is not "public toilet friendly" for ducks either, as it came and had a shit in there.  I chased it around camp trying to get it to pay 20kr, but he wasn't having any of it.

By 7.14am we had finished charging the phones, but could only get the power bank half charged as the power went off part way through. I thought it was the camp owners having seen us hanging out in the kitchen so long last night and eating breakfast in here this morning, probably decided we'd well and truly had our 70 krones worth and it was time to get the "Kiwis" out o' dodge.

Looks like we're about to be packing up a sodden tent as there's quite a dew this morning.

As I was sweeping out the tent, as we have done on all our cycle tours since 1986, I realized,  sweeping is a lot like marriage. If you get rid of any shit laying around on a daily basis and keep your situation tidy, it not only sets you up for a good day, but you don't have any of that mess to sort out, when you fall into bed that night.
Aah listen to me little grasshopper !!!

Cycled off heading toward Grimstad. The weather was perfect for cycling. Light cloud but not quite allowing the sun to reach its full intensity yet. The riding was easy and we were just enjoying the day. Not too far along, we stopped for a couple of muffins, as breakfast had been eaten at 6.30am and we were a bit peckish.

Just because we hadn't seen clouds in so long, we decided to photograph them.

Riding into Grimstad the first building we saw was a beautiful old church. Built 1849, but soon too small for the community. In 1889 they built the present structure which caters for 1440 parishioners and is the second largest wooden church in Norway.

For us, that was the only highlight of the town. Called into the info office to ask what Grimstad had to see and were given walking and bicycle tours....(Hello......), which didn't really give us anything else to see. Maybe we've just been spoilt with what we've seen so far.

Grimstad....a pleasant little town but nothing more.

Grabbed some food for lunch and took it down to the front, thinking it may show us something we'd missed, but somehow we found ourselves in a bit of a wind tunnel and it was a bit cool.
Enjoyed pate on bread rolls and a 'skolebrod" (sally lun with custard) with coffee.

Looks like these guys have made a lot of money from strawberries!

Then we made a slow journey to Lillesand, taking our time as we wanted a quieter day today.  About 5km out from Lillesand we spy a track leading through the bush onto some rocks and into the water.  What a beautiful spot for a dip, which was probably round 20 C, both air and water temperature.

After our swim, we lay on the sun-warmed rocks, absorbing the heat from above and below, letting it lull us into a snooze. We were drifting off to sleep when we heard some machinery somewhere doing something with rocks, judging by the din.

Pete wondered aloud, "What do you think is going on with that racket?"

I knew it was dangerous, but I couldn't help myself, so I answered, "Well I'd say they're.... breaking rocks in the hot sun." Sure enough Pete came back with, 🎶 I fought the law and the law won, I fought the law and the law won 🎶. 

So that was about 3pm. I have heard that same line about 20 times in the last 3 hours. He sang it while we got dressed, he sang it while we cycled to the campground. He sang it while we put the tent up and also while we walked round the supermarket. It's my own fault. I knew I was at risk of Pete developing his first song of the day from that small introduction, now I have to suffer the consequences......or lead his brain to another song to get him off repeat mode!

The final part of our ride into Lillesand was a quiet coastal lane where a lot of the locals appeared to be doing what we'd just done....cycling to a swimming spot and spending an hour or two there swimming and sunbathing on the rocks.  They were dotted about all over the place.

We came round a bend and saw a teenage boy in our lane maybe tending to another who was laying down on a towel.  We briefly wondered if there had been an accident,  but as we got closer, we realised they were just sunbathing....on the road!  You think you've seen everything and then.... It was a quiet road but cars were using it!

Riding into Lillesand

Rode straight up to the campground and checked in and sat eating an ice-cream while watching a Dutch couple put up their tent in what was now a strong wind.  They did a good job so now we had to bring our best game or risk looking like a first timer if we got it wrong.  Nailed it with control and finesse.

By this time, it was 4.45pm. A cycle of 1km into town for dinner and breakfast and back to the site to relax with a Carlsberg and some nuts and chips.

Dinner was delicious, but no thanks to the camp hot plates which wouldn't work, so once again we reverted to our trusty stove. Back to the tent for coffee, before a shave, shower and a wash of some clothes, then hitting the sack.