16th June 2023 (sunny and very hot) 38km

About two hours before turning in last night, we heard very loud music. The level you would hear at an outdoor festival.  Sure enough, a quick Google revealed this weekend, beginning tonight, there is a music festival on here and what we heard was definitely a sound check....one two..one two.

That has changed our decision to stay another day. Kristiansand will be packed and although we may hear some good music (although we checked online and the only band we knew was Europe) the last act tonight doesn't start until 11.45pm.  That's going to be at least 1.45am finish, so we'll  pass on that.  Call us Granny and Grandad.

Slept well and both woke at 5.45am.  With the new plan in place of heading for the mountains, we were up and washing clothes in the hand basin, with hot water, by 6am. Immediately following, it was showers then a cuppa on the big kitchen/dining deck they have here.  It's approaching 7.30am and there is no one about, so we are once again charging our gear.

Because we're not sure of the situation we'll  find ourselves in this week, the blogs may not be as regular.  However, we do realise that the paying public have expectations. On that note....we have yet to receive any payments, so get a move on. After all, we are on the Taranaki Daily News best seller list.

The eagle eyed might spot that's a bernese mountain dog.

Breakfast, delicious as usual. We'd packed half our gear before washing our stuff, so off to the beach for a refreshing swim. As we went to dive off the jetty, there was a huge jellyfish in the water, with tentacles of two foot long. As you might imagine, we gave it a wide berth, but once you were in the water, you had no way of seeing it as it was submerged.

Tent all packed and we said a fond farewell to Rohligeden camp and rode into Kristiansand for a look around.

If we hadn't just been for a swim, we'd have gone for another here at the beautiful city beach.

So why did you want me to move over a smidgen hon?

A town combining old and new, it's typical of modern cities anywhere. Mc Donald's and Starbucks are common place. What did strike us was the amount of very nice new apartments everywhere.

Picked up some lunch to eat along the way and also some more tent pegs. Guy tried to charge me 20kr extra. I don't think so mate, this ain't my first camping trip.

As we were withdrawing money from the ATM, we noticed the temperature clock showing 35.6C. It was stifling hot and cycling away from the beaches was tough, however we are following the river, so all is not lost.

We followed a cycle track by the main road for the first 10km and stopped for some lunch by a school, as we found both shade and a rock to sit on. Salmon here is so cheap, so it's becoming a regular.  Always enjoyable, eating that is, especially after riding.

Not far on from lunch we came upon a swimming spot, where two Dutch couples were chilling.  They were really nice and when we asked if it was okay if we swam here and not private, they gave the standard reply "Of course".
The water was cooler than the sea, but oh, so refreshing after the humidity of the day.
Finished with a brief chat then cycled on.

Swim number 2

We cycled on to the town of Grovane and treated ourselves to an ice-cream which we ate in the shade of the band rotunda. We had a chat to a local lass who was out walking her cat on a lead. As we were chatting, we could see thunderclouds building in the direction we were heading and hear the odd rumble.

Not much further on, we lost the National Cycle route 3 we had been following and getting us back to it involved climbing some big hills, which in that heat were not appreciated.  At least we seemed to have skirted the thunderstorm.

Both of us were hot and bothered, but at last, what goes up, must come down.

Whizzing down one such hill, we saw a sign for a rest area, with an info board, so figured we'd  confirm our position.
Not only did it do that, but it became our freecamp for the night. An older German couple from near Bremen, who have been to NZ three times told us that they were staying in their camper and it would be fine for us to pitch our tent. They also invited us to have a drink with them later.

Had to have a dip in the lake on the other side of the road first as it was stifling. It was such a relief to get in, but it was colder than the sea or the swim we had earlier.

Back to put the tent up, gear unpacked  and questioning whether or not we were going to get soaked as the thunder clouds had started building again and had been grumbling in the sky for an hour.  Had a hot pot with bread for dinner and then went over to Deiter and Frauka's van for a drink.

Nice little freecamp for the night.

Pete blogging with the dark clouds gathering above him.

Had only just got there and the heavens opened. There was a good downpour and I was glad I'd gone around the tent and fixed the guy ropes in place, as we haven't needed them up to now.

Vango, (the tent) looked as though it.... (doesn't identify as he or she) had stood up to the downpour well, however now we saw the ugly side to Norway in the wet/damp.

We were glad we had timed our visit to Deiter and Fraukas camper when the rain hit, but were alarmed to find even their fancy camper with screen doors couldn't keep out the midges.  We hoped the zip on the tent was doing a better job as it was very uncomfortable sitting there, trying to have a conversation with these two lovely people while these midges were flying into your face, hair and ears.

Luckily the rain only lasted 15 mins and after about an hour of chatting and drinking sparkling wine, we were back at the tent, which was infested with midges in the vestibule area.  We flagged our usual coffee making and scurried inside, where they hadn't yet found an entry point.  We realised that was us for the night, so nothing to do but get in our silk liners (too hot for sleeping bags), and settle in for the night.....at 8.30pm!