... up top 28 June

We have been off-line for several days now, since we were in Kristiansand. Just that we have not had contact. We have been going through a less populated part of Norway and the camp sites and other places we have stayed in have not given the same opportunities.

A quick run-down on how we got on, and other posts for other things.

Leaving Kristiansand, we cycled to Mandal, on the coast. We took a coast road out of Kristiansand and it was very beautiful. Maybe the chief event during this day was me falling of my bike, later, and denting the rear wheel, so it is a bit skewed as one rides along. This wheel was expensive, so a nuisance! The tyre was worn enough to be bald and should have been changed. It was the next day! But the bloke in a cycle shop said it was quite usable; he could straighten it, but not for a couple of days. So we carried on. The campsite in Mandal was near the sea and pleasant. We continued the next day to a guest house in Spangereid, where we left all our heavy stuff and cycled on to the lighthouse, the Southern-most point in Norway, and where one sees the rough sea from the Skaggerak meeting the North Sea. It was rough and very windy. Back to the guest house as the North sea trail went on from there and not Lindesnes.

Next day again very windy against. Through Farsund to a village called Stave, where we had booked an apartment, there being no campsite. This was quite luxurious and not expensive, but it was only one night. The wind was a shame, because this was one of the few flat areas and we did not enjoy it much because of the perpetual “blow”. We found an unusual museum just before arrival, full of stuffed animals and birds and the woman in reception was from London.

Next day, saw bronze age carvings in the rocks, pretty well identical with the ones we saw in Sweden. The the firs bit of really tough “up and down”. Up a valley from the sea to Kvinesdal, but we went up it on the hills one side and down it on the hills on the other side. And the hills were very up and down and maximum heights were over 200 metres. Mainly, the roads were quiet, sometimes dirt roads (well maintained) except at one stage when we did a magnificent descent at speed to a motorway junction on an ordinary road; before this turned left and up a really long upward stretch! Down to Kvinsdal town, and a puncture. After mending this, up and up to a very simple campsite by a small lake. This was advertised as a NAF campsite, but that seems to refer to some camping association in Norway! The next day was really the big one in terms of climbing, having a total of more then 750 metres of climbing in several separate stages. On the higher sections, the scenery was truly magnificent. The descent into, and climb out of Jossingfjord was dramatic. We have done so much hard braking going down steep and long hills. We have also done so much walking up long hills. The day was about 60 km but felt much more! It ended in a campsite near the sea. The day after, s much shorter ride into Egersund, where the rain caught up with us and I am writing this in a campsite cabin, where the internet has failed and the rain is poring down outside.

Tom