13th July 2023 (rainy morning, cloudy, mild, occasional drizzle) 28km

As I lay in my sleeping bag listening to the odd drops of rain on the tent, I wondered if we'd be going anywhere today.

The busy campground at Flakk.  This is just the tent part.

Usually we're the only tent at a campground. 

There were about 150 campervans here.

We were all packed up by 7am and over into the kitchen area where we ate some banana on bread.  We tried to kid ourselves it would be like banana bread. It wasn't, but it filled a gap.

Fortunately we'd been able to pack up a dry tent, so it was just a matter of waiting out the rain before catching the ferry to the other side of the fjord.  As we were finishing breakfast, a German guy called Mattheus came in to eat and we ended up chatting to him for an hour and a half.  Very interesting guy and he's taking a rest day today, hoping to get a bus into Trondheim and see some of the sights.  Spoke about cycling, nature and living outside, although today with this weather, it doesn't seem so appealing.  

There was a break in the weather so we jumped on our bikes and pedalled over to the ferry terminal. After landing from the ferry, we cycled 7kms from Rorvik to Vanvikan, where we had to stock up with supplies.  We had blueberries, banana, prunes, cereal, yoghurt and milk and it was delicious.  Ate at a bench outside the supermarket and then pushed on for Lersvik, another 30kms away.  This is supposed to have a place you can freecamp, but don't know about facilities.  The weather was drizzling for most of the ride and the sky looked ominous.

Because of the weather and wanting to get to Leksvik before the rain, we weren't taking many shots today, although the scenery didn't really compare with previous days. 

Had one short tunnel to contend with and then we were out into the town of Leksvik.  Not really much of a town, but it's funny how a nothing place can produce something memorable.

We arrived about 3.30pm and the forecast was for rain in half an hour and looking at the sky, that was more than likely.  The blackest cloud was hanging over the hills we were supposed to be going over.  To get caught up there would be stupid. 

We found the supermarket and grabbed some more groceries and as we were leaving, I saw a young mum with her three kids and asked if she spoke English.  Of course she did.  Turns out, she was with her husband and grandmother and was staying at her grandmothers cabin.  She looked for info about camping on her phone for us as we spoke, (which we had already done and come to the conclusion there was no camping round here).  All the while her grandmother was talking to her in Norwegian.

The upshot was that her grandmother suggested that we come and stay at her place, where we could pitch our tent.  It was agreed, Julia and I finished our shopping, rode to the cabin, pitched our tent and shortly after, the family returned.

It seems that Elen, the 86 year old grandmother, was born in the big farmhouse on the land, which was stunning, but now lives in Bergen and just comes here for holidays.  The young mum, also Elen, after guess who, along with her husband Horvard, live in Oslo, with their three kids of 8, 6 and 2.

Julia here: Timing is everything and we really have been incredibly lucky on this trip, with both the weather and the ferry crossings.  But so many other little moments as well.

Today I woke at 6.30am and could tell by the way Pete was already stuffing his sleeping bag in it's sack, he'd had enough of sitting around and wanted to hit the road.  I followed his lead and we quietly packed up the tent and got the bikes loaded, just in time as the rain decided to arrive.  We pushed our bikes under what little cover there was and settled ourselves at one of the two park benches in the kitchen,  well before anyone else was awake.

Just getting up and packing up straight away meant we could pack up a dry tent whereas nobody else managed that.  With several bikepackers in the camp, the cover we scored for our bikes was highly sought after, as were the kitchen benches.  As the rain settled in for the morning,  so did we, and invited Mattheus from Germany to join our table when he came in from packing up his tent.  He was having a rest day so none of us were in a hurry and enjoyed a second coffee with him and a good chat.

We had seen the rain was supposed to ease off at 11am so at 10.45am we walked across to catch the ferry.  Straight on, no waiting round, no getting soaked.  The cycling was pretty straight forward but when we got to Leksvik, again our timing was perfect.  Even though it was supposed to rain at 4pm, it kindly held off until we had got the tent up and all our stuff inside.  In fact the sun almost shone through the cloud layer at this point so we grabbed our can of Carlsberg, chips and cashews, sat on the rocks overlooking the fjord and just enjoyed the peaceful view.  Peaceful for us that is, not so peaceful for the big heron competing with the seagulls for the best fish viewing post in town.  They were constantly flying at him and chasing him, squawking and squealing as he arced around the sky, offering his own indignant squawks to the cacophony.  That show should keep Pete entertained tonight!

The rain was still holding off so we decided to go for a walk down the beach, knowing we were tempting fate a bit as the sky was 50 shades of grey, many of the darker variety.  But this setting is quite idyllic with the rocks on the beach all sorts of patterns and colours and the ever changing light dancing across the hills opposite, the colours moving from blue to grey to green.

When we got back, still dry from our walk, we jumped in the tent to make dinner as the first drops of rain began to fall. Perfect timing.

After dinner,  it stopped raining and I made coffee. We sat and watched the sparrows flying down to perch on the long reed heads, gently swaying on their delicate branch while picking off the seeds.  We could see the rain moving across the surrounding hills, and watched as the tide moved gently in, washing the rocks with soft miniature waves.  A very peaceful setting. Now back to Pete.

So here we were, in this field, with the sea in front of us, a rocky shore to walk and a sky looking more threatening by the minute.
After a wander along the shoreline we ran into two German bikepackers we'd met this morning in camp. Told them about the iffy freecamp spot and shortly after we could see them turn up to it, from our viewpoint.

After eating our dinner and pastries for dessert, sat and watched the scenery change colour and at one point the view across the fjord looked exactly like the Welsh hills, that Julia and I used to see every morning, when we lived in West Kirby, where I spent my latter teenage years.

It's been a lovely day. We've spoken to some nice people and had some time doing stuff off the bike.
A big climb tomorrow could be accompanied by rain, but as I always say

"Here comes the rain again, falling on my head like a memory, fallin on my head like a new emotion"

I'll write a song with those lyrics in it one day. And make a million😁
Goodnight.