18th June 2023 (sunny and warm, breezy) 83km
Anyway, having waited and waited, nobody showing, just as we're about to get busy, a guy turns up.We acknowledged him, but he just gave us a look and left.
Nothing more until we'd put the tent up inside the shelter, all the gear inside, we're settling down to sleep and a woman and her daughter turn up, but left us alone.
As Julia drifted off to sleep, I lay awake listening to noises from cars and one particularly loud, obnoxious sounding guy.
I slept on and off until 4am, when we were both woken by the sound of two guys stood outside the tent, talking like it's midday. They carried on for five minutes then drove off.....really.....4am....
Neither of us had a good sleep. The wooden floor was harder than the flagstone we'd slept on. In the morning it was cold and a dew had formed, great weather for midges. They were around as we ate some brie and tomato on bread and had a coffee, but though still bothersome, nothing like yesterday.
You'd have thought we'd have a better sleep in our own hotel,
Even if they got the spelling slightly wrong.
More Tip Top fact finding
Cycled off at 6.15am looking for a quiet road which we would take 40km around a lake. Missed it first time, but fortunately we weren't too far down the road. The morning cycle was awesome. Magnificent scenery, virtually no cars and we got a quick skinny dip in there too.Would have been there longer, but the wind had come up and the water was cooler today.
Grass roof houses are quite popular
All to ourselves
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We were stopping regularly for photographs as the views were tremendous. Eventually, we arrived at the end of the lake and there was a perfect rest area, with free toilets.
Decided to have some lunch and catch up with the blog.
After we'd eaten, we rode to the other side of the fjord. This time, another quiet road mainly through forest and a little farmland. It's great how Norway has catered so well for cyclists. It allows time to ride without having to worry about cars and trucks bearing down on you.
About 15kms along, we decided to cross the river to see if a shop that we'd seen online, was open for ice cream. It was only 2kms out of our way and we figured the distance was nothing in the grand scheme of things.
The shop however wasn't open, but a craft shop was. I asked the lady if we might fill our water bottles and she cheerily replied "for 25kr you can, as this is special Ose water. Ose is the name of the village. Apparently they bottle the stuff, a bit like Evian water. I nearly said to her, " If you think you're getting 25kr out of me for water, you're out of luck", but realized she was joking.
The same lady was a textile designer and has written eight books on the various aspects of it and currently she has an exhibition of her weaving work, not far away from here.
She also informed us that the restaurant about twenty meters across the lane, sold ice creams, which was far more exciting to two weary travellers.
This cute building was in the village of Ose, built in the 1600's.
So...water bottles filled, ice creams purchased, we cycled up the road where we found a very nice Norwegian bus stop to take refuge from the sun, whilst we ate ice cream. Then it was back across the river to the quiet road.
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Unfortunately, this road soon turned to gravel and the scenery was mainly trees. Which was probably just as well because when we got out of the trees, the rock faces on these huge mountains was, like this morning, very impressive, so we were still shooting a lot.
By 3.30pm, I was running out of steam. A banana sandwich just wasn't enough, even followed by half a muffin and an ice-cream. I was flagging. It hit me in an instant. One minute I was plugging along and the next I was watching Julia moving away.
Fortunately, shortly after we came upon highway 9, the main road, so decided to ditch the gravel and motor on the most perfect tar seal we have seen. How come we can't get New Zealand roads made like this? Even their bloody cycle track alongside the road was made of the same stuff.
This led us into Rysstad, where first stop was a sausage in a roll and chips for $14, which we shared. I was running on empty and needed topping up.
Leaving the service station, we cycled to RysstadSylv, a very nice hotel and camping.
Paid $60 for a pitch (you can see why the last two nights were out in the wild) and ended up right on the lake's edge. As you will see in the shots, the view is stunning.
It began to rain as soon as we took all the gear off the bikes. Fortunately, there was a shed structure and we dived inside.
Then we decided to take a chance and set the tent up under cover again, just in case we get more rain in the night.
Up to the showers which were extremely plush. Shave and shower, limitless hot water. Funny what you look forward to on the road. Once done, into the laundry to scrub some clothes and get them outside, since the sun had reappeared, perfect to capture the beauty of this spot.
Found the wifi was better than we first thought, so uploaded yesterday's blog.
By 9pm the cloud cover was back and the odd midge...let's hope they aren't too bad tonight.
Decided to have some lunch and catch up with the blog.
After we'd eaten, we rode to the other side of the fjord. This time, another quiet road mainly through forest and a little farmland. It's great how Norway has catered so well for cyclists. It allows time to ride without having to worry about cars and trucks bearing down on you.
About 15kms along, we decided to cross the river to see if a shop that we'd seen online, was open for ice cream. It was only 2kms out of our way and we figured the distance was nothing in the grand scheme of things.
The shop however wasn't open, but a craft shop was. I asked the lady if we might fill our water bottles and she cheerily replied "for 25kr you can, as this is special Ose water. Ose is the name of the village. Apparently they bottle the stuff, a bit like Evian water. I nearly said to her, " If you think you're getting 25kr out of me for water, you're out of luck", but realized she was joking.
The same lady was a textile designer and has written eight books on the various aspects of it and currently she has an exhibition of her weaving work, not far away from here.
She also informed us that the restaurant about twenty meters across the lane, sold ice creams, which was far more exciting to two weary travellers.
So...water bottles filled, ice creams purchased, we cycled up the road where we found a very nice Norwegian bus stop to take refuge from the sun, whilst we ate ice cream. Then it was back across the river to the quiet road.
.jpg)
Unfortunately, this road soon turned to gravel and the scenery was mainly trees. Which was probably just as well because when we got out of the trees, the rock faces on these huge mountains was, like this morning, very impressive, so we were still shooting a lot.
By 3.30pm, I was running out of steam. A banana sandwich just wasn't enough, even followed by half a muffin and an ice-cream. I was flagging. It hit me in an instant. One minute I was plugging along and the next I was watching Julia moving away.
Fortunately, shortly after we came upon highway 9, the main road, so decided to ditch the gravel and motor on the most perfect tar seal we have seen. How come we can't get New Zealand roads made like this? Even their bloody cycle track alongside the road was made of the same stuff.
This led us into Rysstad, where first stop was a sausage in a roll and chips for $14, which we shared. I was running on empty and needed topping up.
Leaving the service station, we cycled to RysstadSylv, a very nice hotel and camping.
Paid $60 for a pitch (you can see why the last two nights were out in the wild) and ended up right on the lake's edge. As you will see in the shots, the view is stunning.
It began to rain as soon as we took all the gear off the bikes. Fortunately, there was a shed structure and we dived inside.
Then we decided to take a chance and set the tent up under cover again, just in case we get more rain in the night.
Up to the showers which were extremely plush. Shave and shower, limitless hot water. Funny what you look forward to on the road. Once done, into the laundry to scrub some clothes and get them outside, since the sun had reappeared, perfect to capture the beauty of this spot.
Wow O Wow, worth the 60 NOK charge to stay at this camp!
Found the wifi was better than we first thought, so uploaded yesterday's blog.
By 9pm the cloud cover was back and the odd midge...let's hope they aren't too bad tonight.
That Scenery has made the choice of Norway bang on, really enjoying the blog while having breakfast. the extra load on your bike must make it harder from previous rides Peter and of course no juicy steaks to build up on. Take care and " Carry On Cycling "
ReplyDeleteYes a juicy steak would go down very well, but having said that, so does every mackerel sandwich!
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