Flekkefjord, Norway Tuesday 10th August

Just had our shortest day cycling - just under 20 miles, and tent up by 2 o'clock.  But they were very demanding miles - and we managed to cycle all the hills today (apart from the very steep one out of the campsite first thing this morning!!!). 

When I last wrote the blog we were camped on a very busy campsite next to the childrens playground. This photo was taken on the Sunday morning, about 8.45 am - so very quiet compared to the evening before - not sure how blood wasn't spilled between the kids watching them then.

There was a poster at the campsite about trolls -couldn't resist this picture... (dare I say - saw this and thought of you, mum !????.....)

A tough morning's cycle up steep gravel tracks, always harder work than when on a paved road as more tyre resistance - you end up pushing the bikes up slopes tat you would be able to ride up if paved.  The top of the hills are always a great disappointment as well- no wonderful views to prove where you have got to etc - but none the less a very welcome sight.  As soon as I see a hill the whole of my head starts dripping sweat like a fountain - by the time I get to the top I am dripping wet, and if I haven't taken my cycle helmet off the foam that lines it is like a soaking wet sponge that then continues to dribble water (sweat) down your face for ages after.  My hair looks like I've been under the shower. I have a small towel which I mop up with as I go along - but my face is really sore despite this - like nappy rash....  2 x 500 foot climbs on gravel later we were both very glad to see this view.......

Then you go round the corner and see that you go down - but there in the distance you see the road going up again ...

The morning was made worse by a later than normal start as we had scoured the town of Lyngdal where we had been camped looking for a supermarket or shop to buy some food for the day.  Was a Sunday, but this has not been a problem for weeks now - the supermarkets have always been open all day - but not in this part of Norway it would appear.  We've got out of the habit of buying for 2 days on a Saturday just in case. 

Arrived in the town of Farsund, expecting to find a supermarket open there - but no - just an icecream kiosk.  Was a hole in the wall bank there but Roger thought we would be OK for cash as just under £100 in Norwegian money on us at the time.  There was no suitable campsite this night so we knew we would have to find somewhere to sleep - but expected we would be able to pay by card.  Sat by the sea, Lyngdalsfjord enjoying the sun, ice lolly and what food we could cobble together from the panniers.

The ride after lunch was pleasantly flat- marred only by the blustering and strong headwind that had sprung up.  We were no at the extreme south-west tip of Norway -and at Borhaug at long last turned the corner so that we are (in general terms at least) heading northwards once again after 2 weeks or so of cycling in a south westerly direction.   

Found a direction sign to a 'hut' and called at the house indicted.  For about £70 for the night we could stay in a house near by - followed the lady on her bike back into the small village we had just cycled through and there it was -  a picture book house for us to stay in overnight.

What a delightful place - oh how good it would have been if we had been able to find a food shop open....  had some pasta and a packet of sauce and half a courgette so managed a fairly good main meal but missing our normal snack or two when we arrive at a camp site, especially as we'd had a relatively unsubstantial lunch.  There had been some bloke living in the house, who had 'run away'! according to the limited English of the lady who owned the house.  She took a whole load of stuff out of the fridge - we noticed there was some milk there and asked if we could have it (for Roger), and explained about the shops being shut - but she didn't seem too keen.  Paid her in cash and she went back to her house for some change - came back with some milk from her own fridge and four slices of ginger cake.  She left all the stuff from the fridge inthe barn like place next to the house and said she would get the bloke to pick it up????

Later we had discovered a frozen loaf of bread in the freezer that the woman had forgotten to look in ,so decided that if the bloke didn't turn up and ask for it we would take it out to defrost overnight and take it with us the following day - as no supermarkets on the route until we got to where we were going to camp 30 miles later.  We had a little flora margarine left (bought to fry our eggs and fishfingers with a few days ago) so we would have to survive on bread and marge for the day!!!  Which is what we did .....

There was a stove in virtually every downstairs room - the lady said the house was a very old one - over a hundred years old - not quite the same concept as an old house in England?  Perhaps 100 years is a long time for a wooden house though? 

Been well restored though - and had a lovely modern bathroom with both a bath and a shower.  

And there was a tele with satellite so could watch American tv with Norwegian subtitles - what a treat after three and a half months just to relax on a comfy settee and 'blob' after a long soak in the bath.  Shame I did the washing the other day (£10 to wash and dry a load) as there was a washer in the cellar as well- plus a dishwasher. Upstairs were two bedrooms - each with a main room with a double bed in, and wit a small side annex on both sides with a single bed in each.  All with lots of thin cotton curtains and frilly holders for them.  

Would no doubt have opted to stay for a second night but a. not enough cash left to pay for a second night, and b. no food to eat - so would have meant a 10 mile cycle to the nearest town to get cash and food - so might as well cycle on.

And what a spectacular day it was - very hard work but enjoyable - not that you will hear that word from Roger's lips.....

A mix of gravel and paved, reminded us at the coast very much of the west of Ireland - stopped off at a site where there are rock paintings of boats from 3000 years ago.  I'm surprised that they have painted them in though - makes them much easier to see but would be frowned upon terribly if you did this to any of the rock art in the Sahara.

(just to prove we were at sea level!!!)

Passed up the first gravel hill by two (young!!) Germans - a couple who were cycling from Kristiansand to Bergen - thought they would soon disappear into the far distance but kept coming across them as we got to the top or bottom of hills. Went past the top end of Framvaren, a fjord that has a very narrow inlet from the south not far from Farsund.  There is a 2 metre lip to it that means that the water in it doesn't get flushed out - and is supposedly very pure and unpolluted and is used for research purposes. Below 15-17 metres there is no oxygen so nothing can live there, and at the bottom the conditions are similar to those that produced oil in the far past.  A small stone table and bench perched above this lake gave us a welcome spot for our bread and marge lunch..... Hope you are feeling just a little bit sad for our empty bellies by now....

From sea level a 400 foot, then a 500 foot climb followed by a 700 foot one ..... and then another 700 foot one - not down to sea level though thank goodness in between.  Rewarded by looking down onto the narrow top end of the fjord we were following up - reminded me of Todmorden valley when you cycle along the top of the deep valley.  

A great gradual descent down into the back of beyond town, Kinesdal - noticed there were different groups of what looked like West Africans around the town - many looking as though they were 'high' on something.  A lovely church - with the usual well kept graveyard.

At long last found a supermarket - and after the very hard work of the day I decided I would have a Mars bar - or the Norwegian equivalent - for those that don't know I haven't eaten chocolate since my 50th birthday - over 4 years ago - so a momentous occasion.  Waited till we had climbed up out of the town (off route) following the campsite signs, then down the steep hill that took you back down to the river where the camping was - a very strange place, deserted (remembering all campsites recently have been chocabloc full) and a massive modern hall/stadium which was called a church.  An evangelist place, with massive photos on the side depicting Africans at a football stadium all going down from the seats onto the pitch - obviously at some sort of evangelist rally - was this the connection with the ? West Africans we'd noticed in town??  Finally found a lad who said we could camp - and opened up the disabled loo (good, with a powerful shower and lots of lovely hot water). 

We were camped next to an empty swimming pool, a volleyball net and a strange swing like structure, not like anything we have seen before.  Not really a child toy either.  A mecca for all the local teenagers and motor scooter riders in the evening to come and have a play on it any way, and make a racket till late - then roaring their engines to get up the steep hill out of the campsite and tooting their horns .....  We were joined by another (older) German couple - who we saw at a campsite a couple of days or so ago - so going at the same rate as us at least.  They were packed up and gone early this morning - but bumped into them later at the supermarket (had to visit it yet again....) as they had gone somewhere to have breakfast.  Kept bumping into them all day, plus the other German couple we met yesterday - all of us moving at a similar sort of pace - the youngsters get up the hills faster but usually then have a rest at the top ...  The older couple appeared to walkup all the hills with their bikes,but weren't that much slower than Roger and me cycling up them - but they could go faster than us on the flatter sections- so invariably got a head start up the hills ...  Glad when we parted company so you don't feel the competitive kick to get up a hill before them ...... - we decided to have an easy day as another 30 miles to the next campsite - we'll go there tomorrow - lots of high passes on the way as well.  Good luck to them doing it all in one day....

We all meet up at the same time - on a small flat bit in between two ascents.

Before we left the campsite this morning, Roger and I just had to have a go on the swing.  Here's the photographic evidence - did take some video but taking too long to upload it on to the blog.

Should say, saw this swing and thought of you - Janet and Barry - you'd have loved it.

By the way, I did enjoy my Mars Bar - the first few mouthfuls were every bit as wonderful as I had imagined they would be- but after that - I honestly think I could take it or leave it - and that's the way I want to keep it - so won't be bothering with it again for a while - and even then will only be after I've done enough exercise to warrant it!!!  Difficult to know what to eat though when you need a quick sugar boost to keep you peddling (or pushing) up the hills, so we've adopted a new strategy today - honey in a squeezable tube and sliced bread - seemed to work well for us both.

Looking up at the opposite side of the fjord where we were cycling yesterday!!!

There is very little tide effect here so the boats have 'garages'.

The track is blocked by a fallen tree....

... and the track appears to come to a very abrupt stop ....

Looking down onto the campsite

A good spot for the campsite tonight, by the side of a lake, with an automated wire for towing surfers and water skiers around the lake - with jumps for them if they want to use them.  The wind really got up as we arrived but settled a little now and drizzle.