Lyngdal, Norway Saturday 7th August

Not many campsites in the area we are in now, so where there is one it is chocabloc with caravans, campers, tents and children.  Squeezed into a small corner next to the blow up bouncy trampoline area - not exactly a haven of tranquility!!!  Over 30 miles today cycled between campsites - had three days or so of well under 30 mile days to fit in with the available campsites, so seeming to take forever to move along the coast on the small overview map.  Getting into fjord like terrain now, higher hills, steeper ascents and descents.  Gravel sections are variable, but if we can we take a paved road instead - not enjoyable coming downhill on the heavy steering bikes down rain runoff gullies with painful looking fall off areas!!! The brakes struggle to stop the bikes on the downhills on the paved roads, even when you are going relatively slowly down them so even more scary on the gravel tracks!!
Two little Norwegian girls are trying to have a conversation with me through the open back door of the tent - they can't understand why I can't understand what they are jabbering away at me ....
We had a 220 metre hill today (along with many many others) - the highest so far - and yes, from sea level - a very steep hill in places so even though a paved road, it was 'take your bike for a walk' time once again - even Roger got a sweat on him - so you can imagine how dripping wet through I was by the top... Almost worth it for the mile or so downhill straight to the busy campsite down by a lake.
Weather has been very mixed and unpredictable - from heavy overnight rain to beautiful sunshine.  Yesterday it kept changing from very hot when the sun was out, to very chilly when the sun went behind a cloud.  You had to decide whether to dress for the cool and swelter when the sun came out, or dress for the heat and freeze when the sun disappeared.
Had the first puncture today since Aberdeen - my back wheel suddenly went down - a small hole in the inner tube - protected area by the kevlar puncture resistant strip we line the inside of the tyres with - looks as though may have been a small defect in the rubber that has finally given up the ghost.  Didn't take too long to sort out before we were on on our way again.

View of the bridge in the distance into Kristiansand, from our campsite Wednesday evening.  At least the bridge sloped down in our favour - from left to right (unlike the bridge at Dundee (? think it was there)) - until Roger reminded me that this meant we would have to cycle up to the height to get onto the bridge itself.

A view from slightly closer to the bridge...

The cathedral in the Market Square (Torget) of Kristiansand, with a statue of a poet (Henric Wergeland) near by and some gardens laid out by the brother of the poet.  A lovely spot for an early lunch sat in the sun by the fountain.

Up into the forest - and the hills ....  - this is a shooting range we came across - the targets are on the other side of the deep and steeply sloped valley - presume there must be some sort of electronic feedback to let you know what you hit! - a long way to clamber down and then back up to read thetargets otherwise....

A typical view through the trees- felt a bit like the scene in Where Eagles Dare, when they are looking down over the surrounding area after skiing down from where they have parachuted in.  here is a small village of houses through the trees.

A very expensive campsite, for a grotty field next to a road- you were charged the same whether you had a campervan, caravan, large tent or small tent.  A bad deal for the cycle camper - in our experience the more you have to pay the worse the deal is for the cycle camper - you get charged lots and put on crabby sites away from the few facilities you need eg the loos, kitchen, showers etc.  This was taken the following morning - you'll notice a small green tent in the shadow of the trees at the back - another neighbour from hell.  Mr Norway, aka 'Gob on a Stick'.  He could speak good English and latched onto a German family the night before (he was camping on his own) and never stopped talking (common language was English) to them - giving his words of wisdom on all sorts of subjects in a very loud voice.  He had a small van with him, parked by the tent- but played deep throbbing, full of base music exceedingly loudly. Our tent was where the photo was taken from, so you can see we were quite a way away - but the ground was vibrating even there. He didn't take the hint when a  Dutch guy camping near him said he was off to bed because he was tired- just put the music up even louder so we could all share it with him....  He did turn it off at 11pm - when most campsites say you must be quiet from - so it could have been worse, but when you want to go to sleep and the music is thud thudding away .... - Sue is not a very happy camper ... definitely exceedingly grumpy in fact.  You might be wondering where his van is when I took this photo - he'd gone off to the shop after 15 mins of 'Gob on a Stick' advice yet again to the poor German family.

Shows a little of the sort of terrain we are cycling through... you can see the road through the trees in the distance in this photo.

You never quite know what you will see next as you cycle through the small coastal hamlets of holiday homes...

Reminded me f Chris Evans .... Now why would someone want this in their garden???

Lots of flies buzzing around, so the horses are often well protected by natty fashion numbers - I love the ear protectors on this little outfit.

Just to show how adaptable we are - lunch taken sat on some old telegraph poles in an old quarry area.

Lovely campsite last night - beautiful evening.  Just after we arrived the German family from the campsite the night before turned up (in the foreground of the photo below, sat on the wooden poles) - and Roger immediately went up to them and started doing a repeat on them of Mr Gob on a Stick ..... - had to drag him away as he completely missed the fact they wanted to put their tent up and not talk to him.....  They kept well away from us after this.....

The campsite had three small toy tractors for the children to use, with their own special parking area ...

We're long out of books to read now - we've left them along the way to get rid of the weight for the hills.... Roger has at long last discovered the joy of listening to books on the ipod - so I've lost it to him - and he's now answering me in a loud voice like he tells me I do when I'm listening.  He keeps falling asleep though and missing big sections of stories....  Me - I have to listen to it in the dark in bed to drown out the noise of his snoring, do my blog on the computer or Sudoku (a Norwegian magazine of them, but the joy of them is that it doesn't matter).

Another day, another stop at the supermarket for our daily fix of consumerism....

This is Vigeland, a small town full of very strange sculptures.  It would appear that Gustav Vigeland is a famous sculpter- with a large museum dedicated to him in Oslo.  This one appears to show a figure hurling a child statue ????

Another strange one in the roundabout in the centre of town...

and I found this one, on the pavement, very gruesome somehow - very strange piece to have on show in the public thoroughfare ....

Yet more views as we started on the ascent of the 220m hill today - no views as you get higher up - just lots of trees .....

The end of our long descent down the hill to the lake at Lyngdal - some large ships on the water, so can't be a lake -it's the top of a fjord, so therefore the sea....

View from the campsite - looking much more tranquil than it actually is....

Some more tough days to come - gravel, hills up to 280m, fjords to cycle u, around and back down the other side.  Reckon we should be in Bergen in 2 weeks time, so hope to be home by Wednesday 25th August - just had an email from Les and Alice Gould and they will be visiting 'up North' then on their trip over from Spain where they live now.   Will depend on how easy it is to fly home with the bikes.