Further comments from Katherine

Not much to add, other than I much more appreciate the off road sections of cycling and special cycle tracks we had in the other countries. Riding along roads with a lot of traffic, especially lorries, was not fun. The section we did on the road that was being repaired was strictly illegal. There was no warning that it was impassible until we were almost on it and it would have meant an extremely long alternative way round, going back up the hills we had just come down. A man working on his car in his front garden, said that since it was after 7 pm, there would be no one working on the road and we should be able to push our bikes through. He was right. One advantage of always being late. During the day time we would have had no option but to go back and do an extra day's cycling.

Finding a campsite was then a problem. There weren't any for a very long way. Theoretically you can camp anywhere in the countryside (not people's front gardens). But you want to be where it is reasonably grassy and can't be seen from the road. That means you can't see it either. We cycled on with it getting later and later, no sign of a hotel, B & B, hostel or anything else. In the end we got to a camp site at 11pm. Put up our tent and fell asleep. In the morning we found that there was no reception and a notice said it was free if you were staying less than 4 nights and not in a big group. So our 'rough camping' turned out rather good. Norway seems better off for campsites along the way. But we will see.

Does the wind ever stop blowing round the North Sea? And how does it know which direction we are cycling in? We have had it almost constantly against us whichever direction we go. We can tell we are not making it up by the direction the wind turbines are facing and the direction the flags are flying. Flags are very popular in Scandinavia.