3rd July 2023 (drizzling and cold) 0km

We have had many requests from our readers to learn how I make sumptuous feasts every night when we have limited carrying capacity,  no refrigeration and shops closed every Sunday.  The answer of course, is the equipment,  so I thought I would show you all the components of my kitchen.

The stove fits neatly inside the pot.

Now extensive as it may be, even to the point of extravagance, in my defence,  we have to fuel these highly tuned bodies with top quality nutrition so they can do what is expected of them.  

I also have to be able to churn out these meals quickly.  If Pete has more than three hours between refuelling,  we'll he's like an electric car trying to last out between charging stations in NZ.

So uncle Ben's 2 min rice is usually a staple.  Fun fact, in NZ you can often buy 2 x uncle Ben's 2 min rice for $5, over here, one pack for $5.  In NZ we have about eight different flavors, over here it's one, Mexican.  Although I did come across a different one a few days ago, Rice with Vegetables,  but I'm saving that for a special occasion.  Maybe Pete's birthday in a month's time.

Throw into that either some chopped up frankfurters, or kjottbollers (Norwegian sausage balls) or the evergreen tinned mackerel and you've got yourself a quick easy meal. Every now and then we fork out $5 for a small bag of spinach to throw into the mix. 

Bread usually accompanies every meal just to help fill Pete up and we are impressed with the supermarket bread slicing machines.  Delaying the slicing until the last possible moment ensures freshness without the use of preservatives.

They are also a very useful deterrent for any misbehaving children and we have yet to see a Norwegian toddler having a tantrum in a supermarket.  We have noticed a higher than average amount with only one arm however.

Well, you might remember our closing photograph on the 29th of June of our two treasured keepcups, filled with the finest coffee on a slab of granite overlooking a river with delectable chocolate muffins at the side.  Well two days after that shot, Pete dropped my keepcup on the floor,  smashing it to smithereens.   You might think, "who buys a glass cup to take on a bikepacking tour?"  But our cuppas are very important to us on the road.  They're a chance to take a break, to sit and take in your surroundings and savour the flavour of whatever you're drinking. Whether it's tea, coffee or soup, glass doesn't retain the flavour of it's predecessors so even though not entirely practical,  it's a small luxury we afford ourselves.  Besides,  we didn't buy them, Brody did.  And they have done the job beautifully for six years,  so it was quite gut wrenching to lose one.
So imagine how we felt just two days later when he managed to smash the other one while doing the dishes.  He also managed to slice his finger open in the process of cleaning it up, so I guess I've had my pound of flesh.  So another visit to a Co-op supermarket for a replacement today.

Remember the story of Rapunzel?

Letting down her hair, so that the handsome prince could climb up to see her?

Well, we have something similar going on inside Vango, the tent.

Every morning, I find strands of long golden (well....slightly pale yellow....well...moving on) hair, all over the tent.

Now many husbands, in a confined space, may get a little agitated by that, but not me. Using my initiative, I've decided to do what Elton John did years ago and get a hair transplant.

Because I'm not rich like him, I'm going the handyman way and have already begun collecting bags of hair, that would otherwise have been shed aside.

Still working on how I'll attach it to my head. We have superglue with us.

Any thoughts readers....?

It's currently 14c outside and drizzling.  Time to make a run, or in our case, ride, to the supermarket, 2kms away for the days supplies. The forecast today isn't good, but let's wait and see.

So, what to do in a very confined space on a wet day.

Well, there's the obvious.

Multiple sessions of rampant sex (because nothing screams desire like close confines, wet tent, sleeping mat that squeaks every time you move and wanting to keep your socks on)

Pilates

Naked yoga by Pete (Photographs not available at time of print)

Eating and drinking (Never enough when long distance cycling)

On the way back from the shops, we cycled past the Alesund Football stadium and was surprised to see a statue of John Arne Riise out front.  He played for them for two years back in the 90's, before being picked up by Monaco and then of course to 8 years with Liverpool. 

So we saw very little on our way there and back, but did see two big cruise liners.  The fjords are massive tourist magnets in Norway and well catered to in the cities.  We are most certainly going to see the city and if not today, we'll wait until tomorrow when the weather should be better.  In the meantime we are thankful we got to the supermarket and back before the rain started again.

In the days to come we will be riding to Kristiansund (not to be confused with Kristiansand, where we have already been).  Just prior there is an undersea tunnel which we are not permitted to ride our bikes through, so we have to arrange a bus to take us.

On the tunnel note. It's been thirty four years since last finding tunnels of any note and nothing has changed since then.  They are scary and very loud and with the noise bouncing off the walls, it also affects your balance.  So....why did we come to a country with over 1200 tunnels... ??  The Norwegian government currently have plans to connect Grimstad and Kristiansand by a tunnel which will be 38kms long.

By 11.30am we had facetimed my brother Dave and given him the 10 second tour of the tent.  Thought we should go and explore the town while it wasn't raining, but first, get the dishes out of the way.

Now I have to mention here that six years ago, our son Brody bought us two keep cups. They have been brilliant and travelled with us everywhere.  Two days ago I picked them both off the table and dropped one on the floor.  Being lino, I thought I'd get away with it, but no, it smashed. It was Julia's, so I gave her mine and replaced it with a cheap glass from the supermarket.  This morning I went to wash the other keep cup and dropped it on the actual sink.  Not only did it smash, but it sliced my little finger.  It was quite deep and at first I'm thinking that I'm going to need it stitched, but pressure and a good bandaid has stopped the bleeding.  Although because it's on the knuckle, I'm keeping my finger straight.  I look like I'm drinking tea with the upper classes.  So, in two days I have destroyed both keep cups (so sorry mate) and of course broken a pole on the tent.  When it rains , it pours.  What else do I need to get rid of....?Oh Julia......

Spent til 12.30pm in the lounge area charging and catching up with writing etc.  Apart from us there was a girl, probably in her twenties, who also looked like she was working on a journal of some kind.

Opposite us were three women, different ages. One maybe 50s, the other two twenties. They were definitely in the employ of the camp and from the accent, I'd pick them as Russian.

As I sat there writing, I was thinking about different accents and how they sound.

For example, French and Italian, always in the sexy drawer.

Dutch German and Swiss, (high German) always in the proficient category.

People from Ireland you could listen to all day (along with Morgan Freeman).

Russian however has a fast, rude ( jump to the front of the queue ) sound about it.

As I sat there listening, I was trying to get an idea about what they'd be talking about.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't lingerie or going to the beauty therapist, it was more like how to assemble a Lada (most well known Russian car) or take the tank tracks off a WW ll tank.

Not once in the hour we were there, did I hear any of them laugh, or see them smile.   Of course,  there's probably not much to smile about when assembling Ladas.

Boy....it's been a slow day.

Time for some lunch, Julia gave my hair a trim and then we had a kip.  It's actually probably just the sort of day our bodies needed.

After lunch, things looked up.  Turns out Pete does know his Russian, well he was pretty close.  Those ladies were actually talking about their Porsche and caravan and how they had seen so many bike packers on the road and how much fun it looked.  They were wondering if they would be able to do a swap with anyone.

So now we have a new mode of travel for the rest of our tour. Actually,  I think I may have dreamed that in my lunchtime kip.

We did think about going to look at new tents, but all the tent shops are 8km back the way we came.  We must be very tired as we just could not be bothered cycling 16km to look at tents on our rest day, especially with the threat of rain imminent.   Turns out it was a good decision as it has rained on and off all day.  And Vango is handling it all magnificently.

It was after 3pm when we woke, washed dishes and went to the lounge to find numbers had expanded from this morning with the rain continuing.  We can only be thankful for this lounge as it means we can sit on sofas or seats with tables until late.

And the speed today is moving.....
Late will be 5 o'clock🥱
Oh look at that....it's already 5.30pm.

Just reading a report that from this weekend, Australia's retirement age will rise to 67 years.  With a year and a month until I'm eligible, I am a little concerned with that.  We generally go along with Australian ways of thinking.
This time however, I believe we should take at least a good year to think about it....

By 8pm we had eaten and washed up.  Got talking to a Norwegian cyclist who was giving us advice on the route to take North, which turned out to be exactly what Julia had planned.  Although he was saying that he's never seen so many bikepackers on the road so early in the summer.  With this camp being full each night, as we move further north now I think we'll try to make camp around 3-4 pm, to make sure of a place.

We've been in the lounge when people have rocked up to this camp only to be told it's full and especially in this weather you don't want to be hunting for a freecamp.  To end the day, we're going back to the lounge to charge devices and relax outside of our tent.

Weather tomorrow is cloud with sunny spells and 13C. Brrrrr.