22nd June 2023 (morning drizzle, sunny afternoon) 0km

Before starting our planning of our trip to Norway,  I didn't know where any of the cities were situated except Oslo and Bergen, so I thought a map would be a good idea in case any of our readers were similarly geographically challenged. Our daughter Briana is plotting each night on a map so I asked her to send me a screenshot, which she has done (below).

She has also marked in all the places we intend to go.  You can see we plan to go to Alesund next, which is about 500km away from Roldal where we are currently, but we will play things by ear.  Much will depend on the weather, which so far we have been very lucky with.

I didn't have a great sleep last night and consequently felt pretty knackered this morning and not up for the mammoth effort it will take to get out of this valley.   It was also drizzling this morning so we decided to have a rest day, which Pete has managed to eat his way through. 

We have done a bit of washing, bought some better insect repellent and soothing gel for once you have been bitten. Currently I have about 30 bites, mainly on my face, hands and forearms, which was also a factor in not being able to sleep last night.

I had a little nap after a walk up to the garage for ice-cream.  It was going to be coffee at the garage but we got so hot on the walk up there, ice-cream it was, licorice for me....yum, cappuccino for Pete so he could still get his coffee fix.

I've been reflecting on the various input we've had from friends and family and how grateful I've been for each little piece.  To Keren for putting me onto lightweight Turkish cotton beach towels.  To Elsie for cutting and hemming my beach towel so I could have one for showers and one for beach.  They pack down so small and dry so quickly.

We have both given thanks to Brody every day for researching a new phone for his Dad and then helping me talk him into parting with $2000 to buy it.  Also thanks to Brody for his backpack cover, which I don't think he knows I have, but fits perfectly over my rear drybags.

Thanks again to Keren for sending me the link from Facebook for my dry shoe covers which I thankfully haven't had to wear yet. They are different to my Drysteppers,  more suited to walking through a wet campground.  I'm not sure how robust either item is, which is why I have both. They both pack down lighter than an extra pair of shoes.

All these little things help to make day to day living off a bike, that much better, so thanks!

Pete: As I get older, I have discovered two new entities existing on earth.  We can't see them, but they are with us, most, if not all the time. The older I get, the more they are there.

As a child, they were probably referred to as goblins or elves. They had a mystical aura about them and stories were told for generation after generation about these little creatures.
Parents would speak of them of a night making you pull the covers up, not only to keep you warm, but to protect you from them.
Nowadays, approaching the twighlight era of my life, I have been introduced to the more older version of those mystical beings.
They are called
" Messin with your head" and "Pain in the arse".
Sometimes they are there and act individually, or sometimes in sync with each other. Examples may be:
When your wife tells you that something is in one of her bags on the bike and can you please find it.
After looking for ages, you discover that "it's messing with your head", because no matter how hard you look, it's not there. It's then joined, the angrier you get, by "a pain in the arse."

They can operate individually of course, like when Julia leaves hair by the bucket load all over the tent. That's when I notice "a real pain in the arse" has arrived.
Or it might be when I am trying to figure out something and the answer is right in front of me, but I still can't see it. That's "messing with your head" sitting there smiling away.

Woke this morning at 4.16am to whip over to the loos and noticed Julia's front light was on. Switched it off, but it was back on when I returned. ("Messin with your head" was up early). Tinkered with it again and thought it was okay, but when shooting over for breakfast later, I discovered it was on again. (What a pain in the arse). Anyway have removed it from bike and all is well. We got a lot of rain last night and everything is sodden.  I'm picking water has got into the light. It will still work, but we'll remove it in bad weather and just bring it out for the multitude of tunnels. 

Was a bit concerned over Julia this morning.  She woke and was laying there with the tent spinning. I know she's not a big drinker and we've got into the habit of sharing a large can of Carlsberg every night, so probably a bit much for her. She was coming right as we were finishing breakfast at 8.45am.

Checkout time is 12pm, but we'll see how Ju is feeling, she may need another day to recover from that hangover. The weather will also be a factor. No use climbing not to be able to have the views.

At present it's 11am. The pass we have to go over is visible now from the campsite and it's a good climb out of here. The wind has helped to move a lot of the dark cloud cover and the weather is forecast to improve to full sunshine for the next three days.

We haven't had a rest day yet, so this could be the day. We bought a pack of cards yesterday, I just don't want to ruin Julia's trip by taking her to the cleaners all the time, as anyone who has played cards with me can testify to...???

We read a bit more about the history of this church and it says it was built in 1200.  They got a cross carved of oak in the 1300's and it was said to sweat on 6th and 7th July every year and the sweat was said to have healing powers.  So for 500 years pilgrims came here every July to get some sweat.  Pete thinks we should hang round for a couple of weeks and sell ours off.

So 12pm has been and gone. Wind is picking up, great for drying both tent and clothes and hopefully clearing away remaining cloud over the pass, leading to some more spectacular scenes tomorrow.

 

Since we left Haukeli, Julia has had itchy bites on her hands, arms and face. She's hoping it's not bed bugs from the cabin we stayed in, which, by the state of it, wouldn't surprise me. Or was it mosquitoes. I didn't suffer from either attack, although I had my share of midges at the overnight rest area.

Gave Dave and San a FaceTime call earlier. Both are good, as are the family and life in general goes on as normal in New Plymouth. Great nowadays that we can talk and see everyone as though we're next door.

This afternoon the whole camp cleared out, so that left us on our own. It's presently 5.30pm, we have just finished a Carlsberg with cashews and some chips.

Julia had a nap this afternoon, whilst I sewed a N Z flag onto my shorts. It was an iron on one, but began to remove itself, so not much else to do.

We are definitely on the move tomorrow and the weather has cleared enough from the mountain range for us to see the long and winding road we have to take...did I mention steep....we'll  let you know next instalment.

About 6.30pm I thought it was time to take Julia out to dinner, after all we've been eating supermarket food since we started cycling. Roldal is a small place, but I managed to find a lovely table for two at a very popular place, even though they were very busy.
It was the regular haunt of both locals and tourists, so the word had obviously spread.

It was The Shell....that's right, the Shell service station. There we feasted on burger and chips and it was delicious.  I nearly thought of getting a litre of oil to go, but their prices were far too high.

Back at the tent after picking up breakfast for tomorrow, we wandered across to our usual place in the kitchen, to blog and have our evening coffee....when... Sacre Bleu!!!
We'd been invaded by the French.
Three vans outside, it was obviously a planned attack. Seats were all taken and even though they were eating dinner, the guy never offered his seat to Julia.
I offered him out.....handbags at ten paces, but he obviously recognized a  well loaded handbag and declined. Hence we drank our coffee and ate our pastries, (not French), in silence, although I did launch into a rowdy rendition of God save the King and Julia and I spoke loudly of the second world War and capitulation and how the only thing that Monet was ever famous for, was the song that Abba wrote for him....Monet..Monet...Monet.

By 8.15pm, the battlefield was once again deserted of French, having cried off at the first sign of a glass of Merlot, whilst the hardy cyclists pedalled on upward, upward, ever upward in search of another pass to conquer.