29th June 2023 (sun and cloud, warm) 40km

 

After a good sleep, woke at 6.30am to overcast sky, as predicted on the forecast.  The rain had ceased, that too had been estimated to stop around 5am and because my last couple of hours were restless, I'm picking they were pretty much bang on.

Vango had survived another night, with rain constant in the early hours, so the fly sheet was soaked, but inside, our cosy little space was dry.

At present we are about a week ahead of schedule, so we have time up our sleeves.  In this game though, especially being so weather dependent, not just for riding, but for photographs, we feel we must ride when it's dry.  We were very tempted to stay another night at this campground,  simply because it's so nice and we're feeling a bit tired, but with nice weather forecast, we packed up and hit the road.

Rolled out, heading for Naustdal about 10.15am. Tent all dry and Vango repair still in place, so we will risk not having to buy another tent just yet.

The ideal outcome would be that in two months when we finish, Vango is retired to a tent rest home, where they are placed at the side of a lake, surrounded by trees and lots of other retired tents, to enjoy the elements and talk fondly about the owners they had and how they looked after them (except for snapping their poles).

Began by riding through a pedestrian and cyclist only tunnel.  It was obviously only recently completed and had a perfect hotmix surface, neatly painted with a pedestrian lane and a cycle lane for each direction.  

We were the only people in it, so obviously we had to test the acoustics.   The classic football song, Olé, olé olé olè, o-lê, o-lé, led into Day-o, daaay-o, daylight come and he wanna go home.  To finish off, it was the Dolan/Pavarotti ever popular, "just one cornetto....give it to me....delicious ice-cream,  from Italy.....vanilla and chocolate dream, give me cornetto, from Waaaalllls ice-cream!

Goodbye to Forde

The next tunnel we had the option to go round or share with the traffic on the rather busy Highway 5.  We opted to go round, but were a bit nervy when our sealed bike path turned into nothing more than a grassy driveway.  There was a small gap in the guardrail where we could push our bikes through and rejoin Hwy 5. Almost straight away another tunnel, another road around. Except this one comes to an abrupt halt.  Rocks and fallen trees covering the path, so we had to backtrack to the road and go through the tunnel.

16kms later we are in Naustdal. From here we have a 500 metre climb into the mountains, as the next tunnel on the main road was 6km long and cyclists are forbidden to ride through.  If you attempt it, the authorities apparently halt all traffic flow and you are left to deal with some very angry motorists. Last night Bjorn told us this and said you would most probably end up in the paper as an example of tourist stupidity.  Would not fancy a 6km ride in a tunnel anyway. 1500 meters is long enough to deal with the noise, speed and close calls.  And we don't need Norwegian tunnel authorities to point out how stupid we are.  Every time we climb a mountain over 500m we think, "whose stupid idea was this anyway?".

Naustdal is the last chance to stock up with supplies until lunchtime tomorrow as there will be no shops on the road we have chosen - yes I had a tough job running that one by Pete.  So, it goes without saying, we're going to make sure we've got enough, by first of all eating everything in our panniers, before visiting the supermarket to reload.

We begin again on main road, but very quickly take a smaller road as we head into the hills. Lots of small farms in nice valleys.  Suddenly, we are climbing and this climb isn't the gradient we had yesterday.  The road splits, do we go left or right?  Right is down, left is up and up and up......
Any guesses which one we have to take?

An uphill slog means.....

Great views!!

Yes, it's another slog with the added worry as we pass a sign that says 'no exit'.  I assure Pete that MapsMe says you can get through and they have to have a biking alternative for the 6km tunnel.

We're getting close to the top and there is a sign saying "veg stendt....200m".  I don't know much Norwegian but I think it means "road closed."

We can see a tunnel at the top and pray it's still open to cyclists.....thankfully it is, although we can see why it is closed to cars.  The seal is full of potholes and there is no lighting.  It is probably only 200m long and still uphill but it saved us probably another 2 km of climbing, so we were very grateful for that hole through the rock.

We were obviously sweltering after such a climb and dreaming of an ice-cream, in fact the exact words were, "I could murder an ice-cream right now."

Well there was a split in the road at this point so I was just checking directions, when who should come by but Toffa in his ice-cream truck!  Well, his Norwegian counterpart anyway, approaching from our right and then driving downhill to our left in the same direction we were going.

I said to Pete if we happened to catch up to him, we should ask him to sell us an ice-cream.  I have no idea what he was doing up here as there was nothing up here at all.  Well bugger me if we don't come around the corner and he's pulled over!  I thought there's a man who has recognized two potential and very appreciative customers,  so we rolled up to his driver's window to ask if he could sell us two ice-creams please.

Then he uttered those fateful words, "No, sorry, I only sell boxes of ice-cream and I have none open."  He was not to know those would in fact be the last words he uttered. In a disappointed rage we pushed him off a nearby cliff and opened all his bloody boxes, inhaling every flavour and gorging ourselves in a full on ice-cream feeding frenzy.  Well we did say we'd murder for an ice-cream....or was it murder an ice-cream? My mind has been dulled by a sugar overload.

At least those were the thoughts that went through my head on the 6km downhill stretch.  I know Toffa would never have been so heartless, not to mention stupid.   He would have recklessly opened a box right there and then.

Cruising downhill in an ice-cream stupor.

Not long after the downhill ended, we rejoined the main road and flew along here with not too much traffic until we arrived at Stovebru at 3.30pm.   I had earmarked a campground here as there were no others for another 30km.

Endestad Camping is out in the middle of nowhere set amongst the trees and mountains.  The first people we meet are a German couple from Dortmund, Achmal and Pia, both teachers, travelling Norway and Sweden for six weeks in a camper van. They tell us the owner isn't here but it costs 200 NOK per night and it is ok to set up by the river.  River sends off warning signals, of midges and mozzies, but we have our napalm spray at the ready.

A short while later, the owner and a friend turn up dressed in Liverpool regalia.  Had a great chat with them about all things Liverpool. Not sure if the fact that Pete was born in Liverpool meant we only got charged 100NOK for the night, or was it because we only had two bikes and not a fancy camper like our German neighbours. Whatever the reason, this is our cheapest camp yet, about $14NZ with hot endless showers included and great wifi.

The camp owners are certainly huge Liverpool fans with one of them having the LFC crest tattooed on his arm and he also flies over twice a year to watch them play at Anfield. The same guy showed us his new 6.4 litre Dodge Challenger, which he's only had for a week, with 1000kms on it. Beautiful.

Had a coffee, some cashews and chips.  Julia showered whilst I wrote the blog, then we swapped and I washed some gear as well.  Then we settled into chicken and rice for dinner at 6.30pm. By then our flying friends were becoming active.  It's a very serene setting here and you would be fine if you had a car and could hide in that away from the little invaders whilst enjoying the scenery.

So, as the sun sets on coffee and muffins, in such a peaceful location, fully protected from the ever hovering midges, we are reminded why we love doing this.  Waking every morning, not having to think about anything except looking after and riding your trusty steed.  Whether that be a cruise along a spectacular Norwegian fjord (take your pick), or climbing a 1000 metre mountain pass.  You are here and living in the moment.

We have no idea how long we are on this earth, but to experience the beauty and majesty of this wonderful place, with rock millions of years old, you realise you are not even a blip in time.
But while we are here, we're going to enjoy every second.