26th June 2023 (sunny, hot morning, overcast afternoon, rain) 0km


"Hello children.  Today we're going to talk about Norway.
Did you know that they have different kinds of animals in Norway?  One of them is the seagull, which you can find on the fjords"...

"Or anywhere Peter is, miss"

"Yes that's right...and why is that"?

"Because it's a noisy bastard and squawks very loudly with lots of other seagulls, forming a chorus of very loud noisy bastards miss"

"Very good.  Can you think of any other animals we have in Norway that could be noisy?"
"Yes miss"  " Sheep, .....with bells on"

"And why would sheep be wearing bells?  Would it be so they don't get lost in the fields"?

" No miss.  It's so that they can join the noisy bloody seagulls to keep Peter awake"

"Well done"

 " Just as well we don't have any train tracks here, isn't it"?

"Well miss".....

Went to bed at 9pm. We went over to the loos at 11.46pm. By then, I had fully mastered three different languages of seagull and was proficient in the theory of sheep bell ringing.

After returning to the tent, I'm not sure how long I lay listening, it seemed like hours.  It wasn't just the noise, but the volume.
I must surely have dropped off, but at 3.46am was awake and wandered back to the toilets, more to move and stretch my legs than anything else.

My eyes felt heavy and the bags underneath them looked like the lost baggage counter at Heathrow Airport.  Julia woke at 6am and began some updates on the blog.  I managed some kip and woke an hour later, wondering how I'm going to make our next climb tomorrow, on limited sleep.  Today is another rest day.  This little town is a gem in a cracking location with the supermarket only about 200m from the campsite. 

Didn't rush this morning and used a washing machine for the first time, because it was only 30NOK, or $5NZ. We've just been hand washing every day. With the sun blazing this morning, reaching 28C, the washing was dry within the hour as we went off for a swim at the little beach by the harbour.

 We were lazing in the sunshine, when two Frenchies from near Biarritz rode up, fully laden. They looked the part and after a chat, we found that Clement and Lise, are riding to Helsinki and back, taking six months. They are 37 and 38 years old and will be staying in the campsite tonight.

Picked up lunch. Salmon slivers, sourdough bread, not quite the same without butter and tomato. Followed by two treats, which are now a daily occurence and bugger what those fitness trainers say🚴🚴‍♀️🚴‍♂️

The weather by 2pm was decidedly overcast, but it was also a welcome relief from what had been, a burning sun.  Hopefully, if we do get rain, it will be light.  If we do get wind it will be a tailwind.  And if I see a flying pig, it will be a piggy bank, ready to rain a cloud of Norwegian krone on me.

About this time our French compatriots rode into camp and grabbed themselves a cabin, offering to charge any of our phones, powerbank etc.
Who said French /English relations were poor.

Our plan, now that it has cooled down a bit is to go a shooting...a shooting we will go.  Had a wander but the weather didn't know what it was doing, so we just snapped a few, but the ones we got last night are better, so here's a sampling.

 









Check out the slate slabs on the roof!

We are now sitting under cover over by the kitchen. The rain has started in earnest and we are slowly losing sight of the fjord, which is exactly the way we are heading tomorrow. Uh oh...!!!
The forecast for the next week is for rain in varying amounts. This may well slow our progress to snail's pace, but at least we are ahead of schedule as it stands.

One point that needs to be mentioned is how patriotic the Norwegians are with their flag flying. Virtually everyone seems to fly the colours of the country.  From square flags to pennant flags (I'm told by Julia. I have never heard of a pennant flag, but since her Dad flew flags for Africa and the fact that she's never wrong, I'm going with it)

Rain has passed. Our French friends came back from the supermarket and chatted to us for a while. They are taking a ferry to Bergen the day after tomorrow, then they'll ride across to Stockholm, ferry to Turku in Finland and ride to Helsinki, where they will finish.

Our German friends sent us on our way a few days ago with some mint schnapps.....much appreciated!


It's now 6.30pm and after a short break in proceedings, we are back to constant rain again. Not looking good for a nice ride according to the long term forecast.  Don't mind some rain, but we have supposedly got a 750m climb tomorrow which will put us right up by the snowline again, so definitely do not want to be getting caught out on a mountain pass.  Not only a bit dodgy but also because the views will be non existent. And I'm not climbing 750m to not get a view.

About to have some dinner, so it's time to cook some lambs and shoot some seagulls, so I can enjoy a comfortable night's sleep.

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