Wednesday 20 February 2008
New year , new plans
After our fantastic honeymoon trip to Norway and Sweden, (the blog should be fully updated with some photo's in the next few weeks) we are now getting itchy feet (or should be wheels) and have decided to tackle the Eastern European frontier. Unfortunately we will not have the luxury to take 3 months out this time, so it will be a still respectable 1 month cycle. The full plan is at present still under development but Cracow is where we pln to start and the rest is open to last minute changes.
Monday 23 July 2007
Goodbye Norway
As predicted since our last updating attempt the facilities for internet related activities have been very thin on the ground. So just a quick overview of our activities over the last 3 weeks since we left Trondheim. We caught a train North to Mo i Rana as the stretch did not get particularly good reviews. We had an unexpected meet up with two people from Kirsty's homearea. We had hoped for a fresh start after our rest in Trondheim but were hampered by the fact that Kirsty's front pannier broke of and went through the front wheel taking out two spokes. It being Sunday we were a bit at a loss what to do, luckily Kirsty's was OK just a wobbly wheel. We decided to find a campspot for the night and were walking up a quiet lane when we noticed we were being followed by a car, we feared the worst but... it turned out that the guys in the car (who were keen cyclist) had seen us and worked out thar something was wrong. They took of with the front wheel and were back in 30 minutes, our Norwegian angels. We headed North over the old coastal route RV17 past stunning mountain scenery heading for Bodo. Just outside Bodo it was Daan's turn to have bike troubles the rim of the back wheel split, after limping into Bodo we were again very lucky to find a cycle shop that had all the right parts. This enabled us to get the afternoon ferry to the Lofoten we decided to visit one of the smaller islands first (Vageroy). We spend three fantastic days on the island walking around and relaxing although one day was rainbound in the tent. We did not see the thousands of puffins promised in the brochure but we did see specially bred Puffindogs (Lundehund) for hunting the puffins they have six toes, a bendy neck and can close their ears againts the dust in the puffin burrows. We also spotted several white tailed sea eagles.We then continued onto the main Lofoten and exited from Solvaer back to the Norwegian mainland. We passed through Narvik we we had another minor mishap when Kirsty's wheel got stuck in the railtrack luckily only a scuffed knee and slightly shaken. We continued to The Nowewegian - Swedish border and after getting trully soaked stayed at a hostel in Riksgränsen just in Sweden. We had hoped to catch a train to the Southern parts of Sweden but found out theat after a recent take over of the rail company bikes are no longer carried this led us to cycling nearly 80 miles yesterday to an enlarged version of Rannoch moor the landscape just remains the same for kilometers on end but thanksfully it is relatively flat. We are now in Kiruna and hopefully can take a bus further south as apart from it being slightly boring this place is also a nightmare for the mosquitos.
Saturday 7 July 2007
Trondheim
Day 36
Well we have finally got some internet access and some time to update the blog properly so I thought I should work my way backwards. we are currently staying with a really nice couple in Trondheim who are on the warm shower list, which is a list of cyclist all over the world who are willing to let you come camp in their garden and use there bathroom and washing machine. It has been lovely to stop cycling, we had planned to spend the day in Trondheim but we are both so tired that we are just pottering about the house, we need to do some repairs to the bikes before we head on for the next section so we are planning an afternoon of repairs. Unfortunately my bike seems to be taking a bit of battering so far I have broken the fron pannier rack which is now held together with some elastoplast, I have slow puncture in my front tire and my back tire is bald, yesterday we bought a new back pannier rack for my bike as the existing one had snapped in half! Daans bike is fairing much better with only the bolt for his stand having broken.
Day 35
we only had 35 miles to do today to get to Trondheim so we thought we would be in for a nice easy cycle, and we were for most of it. We had camped in midge hotspot the night before so we decided to get up early and get on the bikes as fast as we could then stop for breakfast at the first town we came to. Which was fab as we were on the road for 8:00am. We had thought it would be a bit of a head down and cycle sort of daya s the road we were cycling on was the E39 is the main road north, however we made a fantastic discovery, which was that the old E39 still runs alongside the new super highway. The Norwegians are fantastic in the is way when they want to improve a road they don't widen it or rebuild on top they build a totally new seperate road then they convert theold one in to a cycle road. In this case the road is still used by locals for access to villages etc but we were lucky if we saw 20 cars all day! Then to make things even better the old road runs all along the coast which is totally stunning wheras the new road runs through the hills with no where near as good a view. We fairly flew along the first 20 miles, then the temperature started to rise and with it came this really strong hot gusty wind which was like cycling into a wall so the final 15 miles were a bit more of a grind. We then had to go find a bike shop to buy a replacement pannier rack and tire for my bike, luckily the had a rack which is supposed to take 25kg like my last one, however like the last one it is also made of aluminium so I guess it will also eventually break. I am planning on upgrading to tubular steel once we get home, but we were just so realieved to find a shop that sold something as touring cycling is not really a big thing in Norway.
Day 34
Wow we set a new daily distance record today of 68 miles, we had such a fantastic cycle and both of us could have carried on further except thath it was around 11pm when we stopped and I was getting very sleepy and starting to swerve a lot on the road so we decided to make camp. I was amazedat how well I had managed with the days cycling. My fitness levels seem to have finally started to improve and I have noticed that my average speed is also getting better. when we started this trip my comfortable speed whilst on a flat was around 12 miles per hour and a few days a go I noticed I was going up a slight incline yet my speed was 13.7 miles per hour. I can now comfortably cycle next to daan at between 16 and 17 miles per hour. We stopped today at about 5pm in town and made a monster dinner,
which reallys et us up for the long evening cycle, however we were a bit low on water so when we got to a junction where it had a sign for a WC going in the wrong direction Daan decedide he would take the water bottles and cycle down to get the water then cycle back up, in the meantime I would cycle on and he would catch me up, I cycled on and afetr 10 miles I stopped to have some cake as a reward for staying ahead of daan for 10 miles and I planned to wait for him but the midges were ferocious so I had to cycle on, then after another 5 miles I stopped for another cake stop and as there was a toilet at this stop (which wasnt marked on the map) Idecided to wait for Daan at this poin, he took another 10 minutes to get to this point. I was really impressed with myself becasue when we started this trip Daan would have easily caught me with 3 or 4 miles. We then cycled on together, it was fabulous as we were cycling in the evening the temperature had dropped so it was really pleasant to cycle and the roads were really quite. We are really heading intop midge\mosquito areas now and it is getting hard to find camp spots where we dont get eaten alive.
Day 33
We cycled from Bådlen to Auren today it was a bit of a tough cycle at times due to the wind, which was really bizarre as it was blowing really hard but it was really warm air, it was sort of like cycling into a giant handdryer. We met a nice Spanish cyclist today on the ferry to Kristiansund, he seems to have about 60% less baggage than we do, however he seems to be sleeping on camsites and only carring the food for each day, Daan and I really need to focus on a more minimilst packing system fopr our next trip. Today was the day that my back pannier snapped in half at the barcket which holds it on to the bike. Daan managed to wedge it together enough to let us continue with teh cycle and limp our way to Trondheim. We stopped at one point as there is suposed to be a DNT hut not far from the road, so again I took the easy optiona nd staid with the bikes whilst Daan went see if he could find it, unfortunately we do not have the maps for this area. Whilst daan was away I met a nice Dutch couple who hada campervan and they come to Norway every year, when daan eventually appeared back haveing been unable to find the hut they invited us in for coffee, which was very nice, from the stories they told us I think they travel around picking up strays like us and warming them up with hot drinks. We camped near the sea shore that night and there was loads of fish jumping out of the water,
Daan really wanted to get the fishing rod out but we were just to tired.
Day 32
Today we cycled over the Atlantkerhavsvein which basicallya really high bridge. I was a bit worried when we stopped at the bottom of the bridge as it looks like it just goes straight up and you dont see and of the second half of the bridge almost like those bridges which split in the middle to let boats pass under them. Howvere once we were on it, it wasnt so bad and I managed to get to the top really easily. Daan has a friedn who he has known since university who lives in this area, he had lost touch with er but had looked her up on teh internett before we left and it turns out she has a restraunt really near the bridge, so we thought we would call in on the of chance that she would be ther. And she was, I think she go a bit of a shock when Daan walked passed the kitchen window and said..hello Quirien! The restraunt has only been open a year so theye are still having to put in a lot of work, but it is absolutely fabulous they found the site then they found an old house that was for sale they bought the house and took it down transportedit to the site and rebuilt it as a restraunt. The restaurant is called Bjartmars Favorit Kro, we had fabulous hearty fish soup and delicious pie, it was so good, Quirien was able to sit and chat for a while as we happend to have called in between the busy times, which was lucky, she then invited us to stay with her and her partner Jarle and their 3 year old son. Which was lovely so we went for a wee cycle around the area and went so see some rock carvings then went to their home for the night. It was fanatstic we did 41.25 miles today, and had a lovely relaxed day.
Day 31
we did 40 miles today and I was feeling a bit lethargic. We caught the ferry to Molde and then had a bit of monster climb out of Molde. We camped on a beach which was full of mussels and cockels so we harvested loads and added them to our dinner. It was delicious. the mussels were huge, its very odd they do not really eat them in Norway even although they have such great supplies of them.
Well we have finally got some internet access and some time to update the blog properly so I thought I should work my way backwards. we are currently staying with a really nice couple in Trondheim who are on the warm shower list, which is a list of cyclist all over the world who are willing to let you come camp in their garden and use there bathroom and washing machine. It has been lovely to stop cycling, we had planned to spend the day in Trondheim but we are both so tired that we are just pottering about the house, we need to do some repairs to the bikes before we head on for the next section so we are planning an afternoon of repairs. Unfortunately my bike seems to be taking a bit of battering so far I have broken the fron pannier rack which is now held together with some elastoplast, I have slow puncture in my front tire and my back tire is bald, yesterday we bought a new back pannier rack for my bike as the existing one had snapped in half! Daans bike is fairing much better with only the bolt for his stand having broken.
Day 35
we only had 35 miles to do today to get to Trondheim so we thought we would be in for a nice easy cycle, and we were for most of it. We had camped in midge hotspot the night before so we decided to get up early and get on the bikes as fast as we could then stop for breakfast at the first town we came to. Which was fab as we were on the road for 8:00am. We had thought it would be a bit of a head down and cycle sort of daya s the road we were cycling on was the E39 is the main road north, however we made a fantastic discovery, which was that the old E39 still runs alongside the new super highway. The Norwegians are fantastic in the is way when they want to improve a road they don't widen it or rebuild on top they build a totally new seperate road then they convert theold one in to a cycle road. In this case the road is still used by locals for access to villages etc but we were lucky if we saw 20 cars all day! Then to make things even better the old road runs all along the coast which is totally stunning wheras the new road runs through the hills with no where near as good a view. We fairly flew along the first 20 miles, then the temperature started to rise and with it came this really strong hot gusty wind which was like cycling into a wall so the final 15 miles were a bit more of a grind. We then had to go find a bike shop to buy a replacement pannier rack and tire for my bike, luckily the had a rack which is supposed to take 25kg like my last one, however like the last one it is also made of aluminium so I guess it will also eventually break. I am planning on upgrading to tubular steel once we get home, but we were just so realieved to find a shop that sold something as touring cycling is not really a big thing in Norway.
Day 34
Wow we set a new daily distance record today of 68 miles, we had such a fantastic cycle and both of us could have carried on further except thath it was around 11pm when we stopped and I was getting very sleepy and starting to swerve a lot on the road so we decided to make camp. I was amazedat how well I had managed with the days cycling. My fitness levels seem to have finally started to improve and I have noticed that my average speed is also getting better. when we started this trip my comfortable speed whilst on a flat was around 12 miles per hour and a few days a go I noticed I was going up a slight incline yet my speed was 13.7 miles per hour. I can now comfortably cycle next to daan at between 16 and 17 miles per hour. We stopped today at about 5pm in town and made a monster dinner,
which reallys et us up for the long evening cycle, however we were a bit low on water so when we got to a junction where it had a sign for a WC going in the wrong direction Daan decedide he would take the water bottles and cycle down to get the water then cycle back up, in the meantime I would cycle on and he would catch me up, I cycled on and afetr 10 miles I stopped to have some cake as a reward for staying ahead of daan for 10 miles and I planned to wait for him but the midges were ferocious so I had to cycle on, then after another 5 miles I stopped for another cake stop and as there was a toilet at this stop (which wasnt marked on the map) Idecided to wait for Daan at this poin, he took another 10 minutes to get to this point. I was really impressed with myself becasue when we started this trip Daan would have easily caught me with 3 or 4 miles. We then cycled on together, it was fabulous as we were cycling in the evening the temperature had dropped so it was really pleasant to cycle and the roads were really quite. We are really heading intop midge\mosquito areas now and it is getting hard to find camp spots where we dont get eaten alive.
Day 33
We cycled from Bådlen to Auren today it was a bit of a tough cycle at times due to the wind, which was really bizarre as it was blowing really hard but it was really warm air, it was sort of like cycling into a giant handdryer. We met a nice Spanish cyclist today on the ferry to Kristiansund, he seems to have about 60% less baggage than we do, however he seems to be sleeping on camsites and only carring the food for each day, Daan and I really need to focus on a more minimilst packing system fopr our next trip. Today was the day that my back pannier snapped in half at the barcket which holds it on to the bike. Daan managed to wedge it together enough to let us continue with teh cycle and limp our way to Trondheim. We stopped at one point as there is suposed to be a DNT hut not far from the road, so again I took the easy optiona nd staid with the bikes whilst Daan went see if he could find it, unfortunately we do not have the maps for this area. Whilst daan was away I met a nice Dutch couple who hada campervan and they come to Norway every year, when daan eventually appeared back haveing been unable to find the hut they invited us in for coffee, which was very nice, from the stories they told us I think they travel around picking up strays like us and warming them up with hot drinks. We camped near the sea shore that night and there was loads of fish jumping out of the water,
Daan really wanted to get the fishing rod out but we were just to tired.
Day 32
Today we cycled over the Atlantkerhavsvein which basicallya really high bridge. I was a bit worried when we stopped at the bottom of the bridge as it looks like it just goes straight up and you dont see and of the second half of the bridge almost like those bridges which split in the middle to let boats pass under them. Howvere once we were on it, it wasnt so bad and I managed to get to the top really easily. Daan has a friedn who he has known since university who lives in this area, he had lost touch with er but had looked her up on teh internett before we left and it turns out she has a restraunt really near the bridge, so we thought we would call in on the of chance that she would be ther. And she was, I think she go a bit of a shock when Daan walked passed the kitchen window and said..hello Quirien! The restraunt has only been open a year so theye are still having to put in a lot of work, but it is absolutely fabulous they found the site then they found an old house that was for sale they bought the house and took it down transportedit to the site and rebuilt it as a restraunt. The restaurant is called Bjartmars Favorit Kro, we had fabulous hearty fish soup and delicious pie, it was so good, Quirien was able to sit and chat for a while as we happend to have called in between the busy times, which was lucky, she then invited us to stay with her and her partner Jarle and their 3 year old son. Which was lovely so we went for a wee cycle around the area and went so see some rock carvings then went to their home for the night. It was fanatstic we did 41.25 miles today, and had a lovely relaxed day.
Day 31
we did 40 miles today and I was feeling a bit lethargic. We caught the ferry to Molde and then had a bit of monster climb out of Molde. We camped on a beach which was full of mussels and cockels so we harvested loads and added them to our dinner. It was delicious. the mussels were huge, its very odd they do not really eat them in Norway even although they have such great supplies of them.
Thursday 28 June 2007
A month gone
As the computer access facilities are getter more and more sparse as we are heading up North and into the mountains just a quick overview of our activities recently since our last update from Bergen. We are in Aurland at the moment just north of Flåm.
We have spent a week walking from hut to hut in the Hadrangervida which was hard work as there was still loads of snow on the ground , we walked in the snow for about three days and got very wet on the first day wading through a river trying to reach (and we did) one of the huts. We then cycled on from Kinsarvik towards Haugastol which is the start of the famous Rallarvegen cycle path that follow part of the mountain section of the Oslo to Bergen railway. Again snow made things quite difficult we ended up pushing the bikes through the snow for about 5 kilometers but finally after 28 km (18 miles) reached the station of Finse at 1222 meter, due to the conditions i.e. snow and freezing fog we decided to skip the next section cycling and take the train to Myrdal. From Myrdal we very steeply descended towards Flåm through a wonderful lush mountain valley beside a rushing stream flanked by waterfalls on both sides. We are now heading up again towards the Jotunheimenmountains.
Monday 18 June 2007
Bergen
Just a quick update as we are both frustrated in our attempts of updating the blog being twarted by the very strictlyy 30 minute chuck you off policy of the local library. Once we find a more lenient compter spot we will give a full update. Since our last update from Egersund we have cycled up the west coast broadly following the Northsea cycle route. We both enjoyed our too short break from the cycling in bergen and are very glad that the tropical weather has changed to a more temperate and normal state.
We are heading North east now and plan to do a few days walking in the Hardranvida mountain range.
We are heading North east now and plan to do a few days walking in the Hardranvida mountain range.
Days 10 - 16
day 10
We cycled back into Egersund this morning to do some shopping etc. we went to G-sport Sykkel shop to get daans bike gears looked at as they were still not working properly. We weere helped by a fanastic bloke who took one look said ah yes i know exactly the problem they haven't been set right since you first got it, 2 minutes later and hey presto they were working great, he then has a look at my bike as I feel the handelbars are a bit low, however it turns out I have no more room for adjustment as they are set at there highest and I would need to get a new stem only they didnt have the right ones in stock. He then sent us on our way refusing to take any payment as he siad he liked to help out mad tourist...what a cool bloke!
We also went to the other part of G-sport where a very nice man gave us a demonstration on how to use the fishing reel, I think we have an idea now but i am still not totally confidant. We staid in ergsund until well into the afternoon waiting for the temperature to cool of. Once we set off we scycled along the old railway track which beacuase of it being narrow gauge was lots of ups and downs, I had expected a nice easy flat cycle. We then joined the old highway to Ogna which was also extremly steep at places, in fact today both Daan and I had to get off an push the bikes as the hills were so steep adn covered in this really loose fine gravel which meant that as soon as your speed dropped then your wheels just spun around and you didnt go forward. In some parts the hills were so steep that I couldnt even push my bike up them and Daan had to come help me. We set up camp in the middle of a pine forest on a large clearing, we had cycled 31.5 miles and were both fairly tired.
Day 11 We had planned to be up early today however we didnt quite make it and were woken up when about 40 small children walked over around and through the tent, they were out on a nature walk with school and it appeared we had set up camp right in the middle of the walk way. When we emerged they all sort of stood around stairing at us like the latest exotic animals in a zoo, it was rather bizarre. Once we got on our way we realised it was going to be a hard day as it was reallly windy, we stopped briefly at Obrestad lighthousew then went a little further to the Old parsonage in Hå, whwich is a community museum like place with exhibits about teh pearl industry and jewellery makeing that used to happen there. They also had a n exhibit of Russian posters from 1945-65 which were fabulous and a rather scary exhibit of female artists in the area. we staid for about 3 hours as we couldn't face the wind and it was nice and warm there. We then headed off along long flat roads whcich should have been easy cycling only the wind was so strong I didnt really see very much as I just tucked in tight behind daans bike and tried to stay in his slipstream so miles went by and all I saw was daans rear mud gaurd and bottom, which I guess for a honeymoon isnt such a hardship.
We cycled back into Egersund this morning to do some shopping etc. we went to G-sport Sykkel shop to get daans bike gears looked at as they were still not working properly. We weere helped by a fanastic bloke who took one look said ah yes i know exactly the problem they haven't been set right since you first got it, 2 minutes later and hey presto they were working great, he then has a look at my bike as I feel the handelbars are a bit low, however it turns out I have no more room for adjustment as they are set at there highest and I would need to get a new stem only they didnt have the right ones in stock. He then sent us on our way refusing to take any payment as he siad he liked to help out mad tourist...what a cool bloke!
We also went to the other part of G-sport where a very nice man gave us a demonstration on how to use the fishing reel, I think we have an idea now but i am still not totally confidant. We staid in ergsund until well into the afternoon waiting for the temperature to cool of. Once we set off we scycled along the old railway track which beacuase of it being narrow gauge was lots of ups and downs, I had expected a nice easy flat cycle. We then joined the old highway to Ogna which was also extremly steep at places, in fact today both Daan and I had to get off an push the bikes as the hills were so steep adn covered in this really loose fine gravel which meant that as soon as your speed dropped then your wheels just spun around and you didnt go forward. In some parts the hills were so steep that I couldnt even push my bike up them and Daan had to come help me. We set up camp in the middle of a pine forest on a large clearing, we had cycled 31.5 miles and were both fairly tired.
Day 11 We had planned to be up early today however we didnt quite make it and were woken up when about 40 small children walked over around and through the tent, they were out on a nature walk with school and it appeared we had set up camp right in the middle of the walk way. When we emerged they all sort of stood around stairing at us like the latest exotic animals in a zoo, it was rather bizarre. Once we got on our way we realised it was going to be a hard day as it was reallly windy, we stopped briefly at Obrestad lighthousew then went a little further to the Old parsonage in Hå, whwich is a community museum like place with exhibits about teh pearl industry and jewellery makeing that used to happen there. They also had a n exhibit of Russian posters from 1945-65 which were fabulous and a rather scary exhibit of female artists in the area. we staid for about 3 hours as we couldn't face the wind and it was nice and warm there. We then headed off along long flat roads whcich should have been easy cycling only the wind was so strong I didnt really see very much as I just tucked in tight behind daans bike and tried to stay in his slipstream so miles went by and all I saw was daans rear mud gaurd and bottom, which I guess for a honeymoon isnt such a hardship.
Monday 11 June 2007
week 1 part 2
Day 4
today was off to a bad start as the stove would not light so no breakfast, we decided to pack up and head on for a bit then stop and attempt to fix the stove. We found a nice marina with picnic benches where we could sit and get the stove woprking again. It was justa bit of grim in the fuel line but it took a joint effort to get it apart and cleared we then enjoyed a nice cup of tea and some breakfast. We then headed for Jørpeland where we found the public library and updataed the blog etc. It is again a very hot day, it has become almost impossible to cycle between 12 and 3 as the heat is just to much, this has come as a bit of a shock to us as we had planned on a pretty cold wet holiday and as such have not brought a lot of summer stuff. My sleeping bag comfort rating is around -5 so i am sweltering at night. We had a major climb out of Jørpeland and I hit my low point of the trip and got of the bike about a quarter of the way up the hill and sat at the side and cried. It was just so hot and so steep. Daan was great and talked me back on to the bike, once we got to the top we stopped for some extra banan and peanut power. this seem to help me on a bit and the cycling got a bit easier. We were cycling along the RV13 which was a wee bit busy so we had to cycle in file rather than next to each other. We then had a bit of a decent along this very small road which was covered in very fine loose gravel and the bends on it were so steep,ly cambered it resembled one ofthese speed cycling racinging circuits, it was absolutely terrifying, but at least it was down hill. we were aiming for Songsand but we eventually gave up near woodstock as the uphills just got to much and were both fit to drop. we later realised that one of the problems is probably that we are not eating enough for the amount of work we are doing. we only mangaed 18 miles today but i think 17.5 of them were up mountains. we got atop speed of 33.8miles which I was very impressed as most of the down hills have to many bends to get up to any speed withought risking dropping over the edge into the nearby fjords!
Day 5
I am so glad we stopped where we did yesterday as this morning we walked a few metres up the road and had the most amazing outdoor was. there were these huge waterfalls and great big expanses of smoothed rocks it really was like the bathroom of the Gods, I washed my hair and it was totally dry in under 15mins which may give you and idea ofthe heat already. We had a little more uphill to do today until we got to Lyngsvatten then it was down hill all the way to Songsand. The road just stops at the pier so you have to be a bit careful to use your brakes early, Songsand is a really fabulous little village with a little school that looked just like the one in the Waltons. On the pier is a little waiting room \building, which we decided we would make our room for the night to save putting up at the tent as the ferry that we were to catch the next day left at 6:50 and we didnt fancy trying to pack up that early in the morning. The waiting room had a sign on the door sayinmg please keep closed or else the goats will come in, and they were right there were about 15 goats who seem to sit about on the pier and around the waiting room until some secret signal when the all troop of back up the hill. We decided to take a walk ato the DNT hut at Bakken so we could see hwat it looked like, it was about an hours walk along the coast which involved some preety serious scrambeling over rocks and along chained pathways, but it was well worth it just for the stunning views of the fjord. Once we got there we dicovered that next to the hut is an old farm which is owned by the community after the previous owner got up and walked out. there is no services to this area and there were two mebers of teh community who where there to bring in the seasons supplies of gas bottles, loo roll etc they had got the ferry in that afternoon and had a litle lift which they use to bring the things up to teh farm, so after helping them with some chores ...Daan got the worst job of helping empty 2 cells of teh composting toilet and I got teh job of helping a rather cak handed It guy fix a loose drain pipe, they invited to stay for dinner whic turned out to be a graet feast of shrimps , mayonnaise salad and braed along with vast quantities of alcohol. we then sta outs ide in around a bonfire and had a jolly evening. We headed back down to the pier at around 10ish which was a little scary as daan was rather merry and this was no stroll in the park however we made it down with realatively few misshaps. Id id however have to persuade Daan it was not a good idea to scarmbel down the ricks into the fjord top harvest mussels as 1. he would likely fall in 2. there was no way I was letting him near a petrol stove with a match in his current state of merry ment and 3. if we kept them till tomorrow we would probably get shellfish poisining and die! he eventually accepted my arguments and we headed back to our beds. Just as we settled down Daan pinted out this rather annoying noise of a generator and said "do you think that will be running all night as it is really loud and I wont get any sleep" as I tried to respond to him he started to snore extremly loudly, needless to sya I got no sleep that night and Daan got plenty. only cycled a total of 14 miles but we ran out of road so not much we could do about that.
Day 6
Very early start to the day to catch the super fast ferry which litteraly throws itself into the harbour you jump on beforet he gangway is fully down and it speeds of. Daan loved it he took some graet pictures it really was like being on a sppedboat ferry. I currled up inside and tried to catch up on some sleep. Only to soon we arrived at Lysebottom and started our climb and oh my what a limb...remeber we hada super early start and as such had no breakfast but as it was so hot we decided it was best to ush on and eat in the shade latter. Well this climb which includes 27 switch backs and a 1.1km tunnel which is uphill. We made it to the cafe whcih is called the eagles nest this is about 640km above sea level, and I had realised we were going high when buses of base jumpers went passed. most people going up really cheered me on as I struggled up. We were erewarded to find that the oublic toilets had showeres so we werwe stright in, I quite quicky realised I was recovering as well as I should and very soon had my head down the toilet trying to be sick only there was absolutely nothing inside me to bring up. Daan was great he got me tcuked up in teh shade and made me some mash potatoes which he ended up having to spoon feed to me, and a cup of peppermint tea. I don't remeber feelins so bad before. I think it was a combination of lack of sleep, lack of food adn mild sun stroke. we basicallys ata about for the rest of teh afternoon, the restraunt opened up as there was some big bust trips coming in so we went in and had suasage and fries whchw as delicious. We had planned to walk to teh Kjeragbolten that day but I really wasn't in any condition for a 5 hour round walks. So as soon as I felt up to it we cycled further on which was still up hill for a long way we eventually got to the top which was 932m...that would count as a munro...and I cycled up it!! We meet some guys who were on a works team building exercise which involved cycling up the hill, althought the had a the lates gear adn super lightweight bikes they seemed to walk up the hills and free wheel down, I think they got a bit disheartened when Daan very casually cyclwed becide them for a while chatting whilst not looking like he was putting in any effort even with the bikes fully loaded then Daan just cycled ofgfa dn they all got off and walked. It helped me a lot as I keep comapring myself to Daan and getting frustrated and how hard I am finding it, but tos ee these guys give up made me realise that Daan really is extremly fit adn at least I haevn't had to walk up any of the hills yet I just keep taking my braeks and pushing on. We eventually got to the sign post for the DNT hut Børsteinen. And we new we had at least a 10 minute walk in, so we decided to walk to the huta dn see if it was open before we trekked allteh kkit in. Unfortunately when were about half way there we have to cros sthe water whcih has large lumps pf floating ice, and the bridge has been swept away in the winter. Daan showed his mountain goat skills by leaping across the water, i decide to stay on this side until he has checked out the hut, after a few minutes he comes back saying it is perfect, so we decide to head back out and get the bags, unfortunatley on his return leap of the water he misjudges domewaht and plunges in up to his waist! he turns blue rather quickly, so I run back to the bikes for dry clothes and the stuff we will need for the night. whilst Daan strips out of the wet clothese and huddles ina small dip in the ground. Once we get him into some dry clothes, we then both succesfully cross the water however I do accidently drop his trainers in and have to splash in after them, so we are both now wet a cold. Howevere when we get to the hut we realise it was so worth it. It is jsut fabulous, we get the log burning stove going to dry out the clothes and then set about preparing an fabulous 3 course meal, it was fantastic, latter on Marcus arives he is from Switzerland and is walking from hut to hut, he had come in from the other direction from us and had also taken a cold plunge traying to cross a different part of the water. We fed him some wedding cake and coffee and he soon warmed up.
Day 7
We decided that we would walk/hitch back down to the eagles nest and do the walk to the Kjeragboltena s we could face the cycle back up ( I say we but it was mostly me and daan was kind enough not to push me) We were in some wasys a bit unlucky with getting a lift as we had to walk for about 2 hours but yo really cant complain about walking when teh scenery is just so stunning. Eventually a German couple in a camper van gave us a lift the rest of the was and Daan had a nice chat with them in German. We then walked up to the Kjeragbolten this is a great big bolder which has dropped and is wedged between to cliff faces you can walk out on it and are standing hundreds of feet above the fjord. Daan wasnt to keen on the cliff edges at first and got a bit queesy when I went to close...it was truly spectacular. the actual bolder bit was okay but here were other view points that would take your braeth away. I watched some base jumpers for a ehile, whilst Daan wondered off. Once we got back we took advantage of the showers again, then we got a lift from two very burned norwegian girls back to teh turn off for the hut. Once we got back to the hut Marcus had left us a little note and a prsent of some powdered rum punch for the cold nights and a eyes mask for daan in the light nights as he is finding theis constant day light aa bit of a problem. So 0 miles sycled toaday but a fantastic walk.
Day 8
We weer both a bit sad to leave the lovely hut but time came to press on we had a huge braekfast of porridge then rice inorder to try and prevent any more reccurances of the previous days. The good news is that we were mostly descending for the rest of the day with only a few minor uphill bits. We stopped in Sinnes to buy some essential supplies as we had eaten pretty much everything we had. We made a discovery of banana goo whcih is banana, oil and sugar so super banana turbo power , it is pretty nice when added to milk in the drinks bottle shaken for a few minutes nad you have a fab milk shake. We stopped at Dogrefossen for lunch, This is meant to be a really impressive waterfall but it only a meer trickle at the minute due to teh hydropowere system adn the lack of rain. We had decided to hold of buying extra food until Tonstad as this si s alrger town and would be cheaper...big mistake, it turns out that on Staurdays the supermarkets shut by 3pm, so we were very low on food. We then had a climb out of tonstad having raelised thatwe were down to our last packet of risoto and then had just resurfaced the road so it was like cycling on toffee. I was really strauggelinga nd when we go to a picnic stop part way up the hill I had to stop luckily Daan was waiting for me a took my bike as I would have jsut fallen off otherwise. We found som shade by the stream and decdide to sit out of the sun for a while. Once we finally got to the top I was feeling pretty feeble and was just commenting on how Is eem to finding the hills harder rather than easier and I didnt understand why my fitness was not improving, when Daan told me to turn around and there was a warning sigh explaing that it was 10% gradient so that made me feel a bit better. We set up camp at eth junction of Moi, and iw as mightly gald to be back in the tent. We cycled 46.17 miles today with a new max speed of 34.9
Day 9
It is os hot today we had to get out of the tent at 7am as we were boiling. We had agreat cycle all down hill to Egersund, it was nice as it wasnt really steep downhills so you still had to pedal but you felt really good about it. When we arrived we used the public toilets to freshen up and I got to put on my clean blouse and look like a girl for the first time this holiday, it felt lovely. We then went to the nearest cafe for some food, I oculd tell daan was exhausted as he was jsut right this will do, wheras normallyw e have to look around for ages to find the prefect palce to eat. We ordered large fries each adn might me they wer large, we also ordered a prawn sald for me and a hot dog for daan, the girl looked confused when we orderd and it soon became clear why wene Daans hot do arrived with prawns in mare rose sauce all in the one bun, itw as rather funny amd we split it up, between us. After a walk round the town and a snoooze on a bench we cycled on to Eigerøy and stopped athe beach. We spent the rest of the day alteranating between sunbathing on the beah and hiding in the shade. Daan then went foraging to supplement our food supplies as we only had a packet of pea soup left and not much water, he collected lots of winkles which we boiled in salty sea water, then spent about and hour tweeking them out of their shells. Along with this we had sea kale and porridge with some mayoinnaie, it was one of the best meals we had so far. We then went for acycle down to the light house, whcich was lovely cycle/wlak although we were both pretty tired by the time we got back, we set up tent on the shore front rather close to some trees inorder to try and get some shade in the morning so we didnt get boiled out of the tent. we did 36.5 miles today with a new impresive top speed of 39.9 miles per hour
today was off to a bad start as the stove would not light so no breakfast, we decided to pack up and head on for a bit then stop and attempt to fix the stove. We found a nice marina with picnic benches where we could sit and get the stove woprking again. It was justa bit of grim in the fuel line but it took a joint effort to get it apart and cleared we then enjoyed a nice cup of tea and some breakfast. We then headed for Jørpeland where we found the public library and updataed the blog etc. It is again a very hot day, it has become almost impossible to cycle between 12 and 3 as the heat is just to much, this has come as a bit of a shock to us as we had planned on a pretty cold wet holiday and as such have not brought a lot of summer stuff. My sleeping bag comfort rating is around -5 so i am sweltering at night. We had a major climb out of Jørpeland and I hit my low point of the trip and got of the bike about a quarter of the way up the hill and sat at the side and cried. It was just so hot and so steep. Daan was great and talked me back on to the bike, once we got to the top we stopped for some extra banan and peanut power. this seem to help me on a bit and the cycling got a bit easier. We were cycling along the RV13 which was a wee bit busy so we had to cycle in file rather than next to each other. We then had a bit of a decent along this very small road which was covered in very fine loose gravel and the bends on it were so steep,ly cambered it resembled one ofthese speed cycling racinging circuits, it was absolutely terrifying, but at least it was down hill. we were aiming for Songsand but we eventually gave up near woodstock as the uphills just got to much and were both fit to drop. we later realised that one of the problems is probably that we are not eating enough for the amount of work we are doing. we only mangaed 18 miles today but i think 17.5 of them were up mountains. we got atop speed of 33.8miles which I was very impressed as most of the down hills have to many bends to get up to any speed withought risking dropping over the edge into the nearby fjords!
Day 5
I am so glad we stopped where we did yesterday as this morning we walked a few metres up the road and had the most amazing outdoor was. there were these huge waterfalls and great big expanses of smoothed rocks it really was like the bathroom of the Gods, I washed my hair and it was totally dry in under 15mins which may give you and idea ofthe heat already. We had a little more uphill to do today until we got to Lyngsvatten then it was down hill all the way to Songsand. The road just stops at the pier so you have to be a bit careful to use your brakes early, Songsand is a really fabulous little village with a little school that looked just like the one in the Waltons. On the pier is a little waiting room \building, which we decided we would make our room for the night to save putting up at the tent as the ferry that we were to catch the next day left at 6:50 and we didnt fancy trying to pack up that early in the morning. The waiting room had a sign on the door sayinmg please keep closed or else the goats will come in, and they were right there were about 15 goats who seem to sit about on the pier and around the waiting room until some secret signal when the all troop of back up the hill. We decided to take a walk ato the DNT hut at Bakken so we could see hwat it looked like, it was about an hours walk along the coast which involved some preety serious scrambeling over rocks and along chained pathways, but it was well worth it just for the stunning views of the fjord. Once we got there we dicovered that next to the hut is an old farm which is owned by the community after the previous owner got up and walked out. there is no services to this area and there were two mebers of teh community who where there to bring in the seasons supplies of gas bottles, loo roll etc they had got the ferry in that afternoon and had a litle lift which they use to bring the things up to teh farm, so after helping them with some chores ...Daan got the worst job of helping empty 2 cells of teh composting toilet and I got teh job of helping a rather cak handed It guy fix a loose drain pipe, they invited to stay for dinner whic turned out to be a graet feast of shrimps , mayonnaise salad and braed along with vast quantities of alcohol. we then sta outs ide in around a bonfire and had a jolly evening. We headed back down to the pier at around 10ish which was a little scary as daan was rather merry and this was no stroll in the park however we made it down with realatively few misshaps. Id id however have to persuade Daan it was not a good idea to scarmbel down the ricks into the fjord top harvest mussels as 1. he would likely fall in 2. there was no way I was letting him near a petrol stove with a match in his current state of merry ment and 3. if we kept them till tomorrow we would probably get shellfish poisining and die! he eventually accepted my arguments and we headed back to our beds. Just as we settled down Daan pinted out this rather annoying noise of a generator and said "do you think that will be running all night as it is really loud and I wont get any sleep" as I tried to respond to him he started to snore extremly loudly, needless to sya I got no sleep that night and Daan got plenty. only cycled a total of 14 miles but we ran out of road so not much we could do about that.
Day 6
Very early start to the day to catch the super fast ferry which litteraly throws itself into the harbour you jump on beforet he gangway is fully down and it speeds of. Daan loved it he took some graet pictures it really was like being on a sppedboat ferry. I currled up inside and tried to catch up on some sleep. Only to soon we arrived at Lysebottom and started our climb and oh my what a limb...remeber we hada super early start and as such had no breakfast but as it was so hot we decided it was best to ush on and eat in the shade latter. Well this climb which includes 27 switch backs and a 1.1km tunnel which is uphill. We made it to the cafe whcih is called the eagles nest this is about 640km above sea level, and I had realised we were going high when buses of base jumpers went passed. most people going up really cheered me on as I struggled up. We were erewarded to find that the oublic toilets had showeres so we werwe stright in, I quite quicky realised I was recovering as well as I should and very soon had my head down the toilet trying to be sick only there was absolutely nothing inside me to bring up. Daan was great he got me tcuked up in teh shade and made me some mash potatoes which he ended up having to spoon feed to me, and a cup of peppermint tea. I don't remeber feelins so bad before. I think it was a combination of lack of sleep, lack of food adn mild sun stroke. we basicallys ata about for the rest of teh afternoon, the restraunt opened up as there was some big bust trips coming in so we went in and had suasage and fries whchw as delicious. We had planned to walk to teh Kjeragbolten that day but I really wasn't in any condition for a 5 hour round walks. So as soon as I felt up to it we cycled further on which was still up hill for a long way we eventually got to the top which was 932m...that would count as a munro...and I cycled up it!! We meet some guys who were on a works team building exercise which involved cycling up the hill, althought the had a the lates gear adn super lightweight bikes they seemed to walk up the hills and free wheel down, I think they got a bit disheartened when Daan very casually cyclwed becide them for a while chatting whilst not looking like he was putting in any effort even with the bikes fully loaded then Daan just cycled ofgfa dn they all got off and walked. It helped me a lot as I keep comapring myself to Daan and getting frustrated and how hard I am finding it, but tos ee these guys give up made me realise that Daan really is extremly fit adn at least I haevn't had to walk up any of the hills yet I just keep taking my braeks and pushing on. We eventually got to the sign post for the DNT hut Børsteinen. And we new we had at least a 10 minute walk in, so we decided to walk to the huta dn see if it was open before we trekked allteh kkit in. Unfortunately when were about half way there we have to cros sthe water whcih has large lumps pf floating ice, and the bridge has been swept away in the winter. Daan showed his mountain goat skills by leaping across the water, i decide to stay on this side until he has checked out the hut, after a few minutes he comes back saying it is perfect, so we decide to head back out and get the bags, unfortunatley on his return leap of the water he misjudges domewaht and plunges in up to his waist! he turns blue rather quickly, so I run back to the bikes for dry clothes and the stuff we will need for the night. whilst Daan strips out of the wet clothese and huddles ina small dip in the ground. Once we get him into some dry clothes, we then both succesfully cross the water however I do accidently drop his trainers in and have to splash in after them, so we are both now wet a cold. Howevere when we get to the hut we realise it was so worth it. It is jsut fabulous, we get the log burning stove going to dry out the clothes and then set about preparing an fabulous 3 course meal, it was fantastic, latter on Marcus arives he is from Switzerland and is walking from hut to hut, he had come in from the other direction from us and had also taken a cold plunge traying to cross a different part of the water. We fed him some wedding cake and coffee and he soon warmed up.
Day 7
We decided that we would walk/hitch back down to the eagles nest and do the walk to the Kjeragboltena s we could face the cycle back up ( I say we but it was mostly me and daan was kind enough not to push me) We were in some wasys a bit unlucky with getting a lift as we had to walk for about 2 hours but yo really cant complain about walking when teh scenery is just so stunning. Eventually a German couple in a camper van gave us a lift the rest of the was and Daan had a nice chat with them in German. We then walked up to the Kjeragbolten this is a great big bolder which has dropped and is wedged between to cliff faces you can walk out on it and are standing hundreds of feet above the fjord. Daan wasnt to keen on the cliff edges at first and got a bit queesy when I went to close...it was truly spectacular. the actual bolder bit was okay but here were other view points that would take your braeth away. I watched some base jumpers for a ehile, whilst Daan wondered off. Once we got back we took advantage of the showers again, then we got a lift from two very burned norwegian girls back to teh turn off for the hut. Once we got back to the hut Marcus had left us a little note and a prsent of some powdered rum punch for the cold nights and a eyes mask for daan in the light nights as he is finding theis constant day light aa bit of a problem. So 0 miles sycled toaday but a fantastic walk.
Day 8
We weer both a bit sad to leave the lovely hut but time came to press on we had a huge braekfast of porridge then rice inorder to try and prevent any more reccurances of the previous days. The good news is that we were mostly descending for the rest of the day with only a few minor uphill bits. We stopped in Sinnes to buy some essential supplies as we had eaten pretty much everything we had. We made a discovery of banana goo whcih is banana, oil and sugar so super banana turbo power , it is pretty nice when added to milk in the drinks bottle shaken for a few minutes nad you have a fab milk shake. We stopped at Dogrefossen for lunch, This is meant to be a really impressive waterfall but it only a meer trickle at the minute due to teh hydropowere system adn the lack of rain. We had decided to hold of buying extra food until Tonstad as this si s alrger town and would be cheaper...big mistake, it turns out that on Staurdays the supermarkets shut by 3pm, so we were very low on food. We then had a climb out of tonstad having raelised thatwe were down to our last packet of risoto and then had just resurfaced the road so it was like cycling on toffee. I was really strauggelinga nd when we go to a picnic stop part way up the hill I had to stop luckily Daan was waiting for me a took my bike as I would have jsut fallen off otherwise. We found som shade by the stream and decdide to sit out of the sun for a while. Once we finally got to the top I was feeling pretty feeble and was just commenting on how Is eem to finding the hills harder rather than easier and I didnt understand why my fitness was not improving, when Daan told me to turn around and there was a warning sigh explaing that it was 10% gradient so that made me feel a bit better. We set up camp at eth junction of Moi, and iw as mightly gald to be back in the tent. We cycled 46.17 miles today with a new max speed of 34.9
Day 9
It is os hot today we had to get out of the tent at 7am as we were boiling. We had agreat cycle all down hill to Egersund, it was nice as it wasnt really steep downhills so you still had to pedal but you felt really good about it. When we arrived we used the public toilets to freshen up and I got to put on my clean blouse and look like a girl for the first time this holiday, it felt lovely. We then went to the nearest cafe for some food, I oculd tell daan was exhausted as he was jsut right this will do, wheras normallyw e have to look around for ages to find the prefect palce to eat. We ordered large fries each adn might me they wer large, we also ordered a prawn sald for me and a hot dog for daan, the girl looked confused when we orderd and it soon became clear why wene Daans hot do arrived with prawns in mare rose sauce all in the one bun, itw as rather funny amd we split it up, between us. After a walk round the town and a snoooze on a bench we cycled on to Eigerøy and stopped athe beach. We spent the rest of the day alteranating between sunbathing on the beah and hiding in the shade. Daan then went foraging to supplement our food supplies as we only had a packet of pea soup left and not much water, he collected lots of winkles which we boiled in salty sea water, then spent about and hour tweeking them out of their shells. Along with this we had sea kale and porridge with some mayoinnaie, it was one of the best meals we had so far. We then went for acycle down to the light house, whcich was lovely cycle/wlak although we were both pretty tired by the time we got back, we set up tent on the shore front rather close to some trees inorder to try and get some shade in the morning so we didnt get boiled out of the tent. we did 36.5 miles today with a new impresive top speed of 39.9 miles per hour
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