29th July 2023 (sunny and warm) 10km

5.36am.

Woke to a lovely morning, with a heavy dew.  Not sure what we'll do yet today, but probably move further north.  Both had good sleeps after our sleep deprived day, but even that was worth the eventual outcome.

Moskenes campground.  That's Vango on the little hill.

The coastline round the camp.

It's hard to describe the amount of camper vans on the road in Norway.  We think New Zealand has a lot, but it's on a whole new level here.  So what you end up with,  are a lot of older drivers getting behind the wheel of these mobile houses, some of whom, shouldn't even be driving, full stop.  Suddenly, they are in charge of guiding a 10 or 12 metre vehicle through narrow streets.  We have witnessed a number of mishaps.  Today we saw a big shiny new bus, being used as a camper, have it's big wing mirror torn off by a caravan trying to manoeuvre past it.

Julia had a great sleep and woke two hours after me, at 7.30am.  Had breakfast on the deck of a cabin situated directly behind us.  We noticed that the French family in a tent 30 metres away, were using it for meals, also.  But the early bird catches the worm, our French friends. We enjoyed a very nice breakfast of croissants, baguette with jam and some sweet pastries to follow.
Sorry....that was the Frenchies..boo boo

We decided to stay another night.  Weather's great and we want to explore around here.
Whilst Ju posted the blog, I face timed Dave.
Interested to hear that he and San developed Covid recently.

We weren't too sure what we wanted to do today, but our legs were tired and a bit sore so we didn't want to exert ourselves too much. We also needed groceries, so set off in the direction of Reine, with togs (just in case) and a vague idea of a track around a small fjord on the way.  Stopped at a very busy carpark which most people were using to access the Reinebringen steps. We walked across the road looking for a track that supposedly went round the fjord.

As we climbed up the small bank at the back of a gravelly area, we noticed a number of freecampers perched in different spots in the area. We hadn't gone far when we saw two of the campers down by the water, having obviously just been in. We asked what the temperature was like and the girl said it was pretty good. We got chatting and it was lovely and warm and the water looked so inviting that we quickly abandoned the idea of a hike and got changed into our togs instead.

Evelyn and Lassi offered us the use of their beach slides so we wouldn't cut our feet on the limpets, so we happily dived in. We reckon it was about 17C and it felt awesome. Had a good swim around, more chatting, grabbed a photo and then it was time to go to the supermarket. 

We are so glad we took that opportunity because on the way back, that spot was in shadow and the wind had got up. We definitely got the best of it this morning.

We had planned to walk around one side of this fjord. 

But I think you can see how we got distracted. 

Evelyn, Lassi and us. Lovely young couple. 

Had to tear ourselves away from this idyllic spot.

The Reinebringen steps were very busy as we cycled past.

It was a perfect day, until we got to town where the wind was quite strong and cold.

I wonder how long you have to live here to get sick of this view.

This supermarket being in such a touristy location, doesn't close on Sundays.  We asked God what he thought about that.

"Well, obviously times are tough and people need to make their thirty pieces of silver.  I've got to say I was a bit cross when I heard about it.  But it's no use crucifying people, when they're working themselves to death.  I heard my lad talking about the opening hours the other day and I said,  "For Christ sake, will you stop hanging around and change some of that water into wine. I'm gasping for a bevvie".

Back at camp for a much needed lunch. Bread, with cheese, avocado and tomato.  Followed by an almond chocolate pastry with coffee.  The afternoon was spent writing and exploring our locale.
Had a brief nap on the rocks before "hopping" back to the site for "5.zees in the warm sunshine on our deck.

It's amazing that the body can even find a way to fall asleep on rock.

Just chatted about what we might do tomorrow as the weather looks good for the next four days.  I sent my photos through to Julia's phone, we did a bit of research on possible new tents and then it's 7pm and time for dinner.  A repeat of last night cos it was so delicious.

When the sun went off our table at 8pm, we had to retire to the tent for coffee and muffins as the temperature plummeted. Cosy in our tent we continued our planning meeting and think we'll stay one more night here as there's quite strong northerlies forecast tomorrow which we seem protected from here.