Kristiansand, Norway

F.Y.I. - Photos are now clickable and much higher quality thanks to GOOGLE! I love those guys.

I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Kristiansand where we arrived last night after a 101 km ride from Farsund. After 5 days of cycling Heather and I both needed a rest. So we are staying in a cheap motel (590 kr!) in the city for the next two nights. A little about our journey here and the last few nights in Bru...

So on Tuesday night we headed back to the family cabin on Bru and did indeed eat whale meat. It was excellent. Kind of like a cross between a really good cut of beef and maybe a little liver or something. Not fishy at all. Very good. We ended up eating, drinking and talking till about 3 in the morning with Per and Anne-Grethe. And, as with each previous night, we were invited and encouraged to stay another evening. This encouragement to stay kept us in Bru until Friday when we decided we absolutly must leave or we would not see the rest of Eurpoe! On Thursday night we had a large bonfire to celebrate Saint Hans day. Some of Anae-Grethes family came down to Bru for the evening. I do not think anyone cares too much about Saint Hans as this is the least religious country in Europe but it corresponds well with the solstice. The thing to do on Saint Hans day is have a big fire. So we did.

Saint Hans Day & my 30th Birthday fire!


We got up on Friday and made breakfast for the group which consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon, bread and a fruit salad. This was quite different from the usual bread with cheese and meat and possibly soft-boiled egg that we had been having. I think they enjoyed it. In any case, we caught a bus through the 6 km and -232 ft below sea level tunnel to Bru and spent the rest of the day cycling down the coast. We saw some beautiful scenery, crossed an old suspension bridge, went through some really dense forest (on the coast) and say lots and lots of sheep and cows.

A fun spot on the North Sea Cycle Route! But hard to cycle.


Some really densely managed trees on the coast.


Cycling along the coast. Why no houses? The beach is all car sized rocks.


On Friday night we ate dinner in a small cafe in Virgestad. While we were waiting for our food some locals invited us to site with them "if we were lonesome." We were not lonesome but jumped at the invitation. They invited us to camp in their garden which we turned down and we headed to the Brusand Campground. Should have camped in the garden. It cost us 150 kr (like $25) to stay in the campground. Their idea of camping over here is different too. You get showers, tv, kitchen, laundry, a store, and all sorts of other stuff that doesn't seem like camping to me. So no more campgrounds for us! We decided to make the most of the money and spent the morning showering and enjoying the lovely beach there.

Breakfast on the beach at Brusand.


The view of the coast from Brusand.


We cycled out of Brusand vowing never to camp in a Norweigan campground again. We cycled past some really interesting terrain on Saturday. It is like being in the Alpine Lakes but you can see the coastline. You are above treeline at only 200 meters!

The strange coastal alpine area.


So that night we decided to take advantage of the "any-man's right" and camp for free. We were headed down this road in Rekkefjord to see if we could find a place to make camp and ran into a local who directed us down an adjacent road to a nice place. We had it all to ourselves and ate crackers, fish and cheese for dinner.

Our free camp in Rekkefjord.


On Sunday we cycled past many small towns on the coast. These towns were usually at the end of a fjord and didn't even have a store or post office. Some looked to be vacation homes, others were permanent residences. Very beautiful place. Make me want a boat to explore the endless inlets. You could spend a lifetime and never see all of the coastline of Norway!

A typical small Norweigan fjord town called Sorlandset.


And then the hills started getting really steep. So steep that they had to make tunnels in the 1900's so that people could get from one fjord to the next. This of course makes for difficult cycling and with me carrying all of our stuff (minus the 2 water bottles and 2 sleeping bags on Heather's bike) it was tiring.

An old tunnel through Jossinfjord. A new wider one is now in use but you can still cycle through the old one.


So Norway has this thing about taxes, oil and tunnels. On Sunday we saw more construction projects than you can imagine. Think of a place with a population the size of Washington (~4.5 million) spending money on the following: 3 Narrows Bridges, a dozen or so Viaduct replacement tunnels and maybe 4 12 mile long floating bridges all in the same year. This seems to be about what the Norweigan Government is doing. I don't know where they get all the money. It's crazy.

A new tunnel that leads to a suspension bridge, like 8 more tunnels and a few more bridges. Must cost at least a few hundred billion US dollars.


We arrived very tired in the town on Flekkefjord and looked for a grocery to re-fuel. As it was Sunday nothing was open and we ended up eating some really shitty hamburgers. It did the trick though and we made it out of town a ways to a old logging landing where we decided to camp. We had a lovely view from the camp but there were quite a few midges. We are always hoping for a little wind in camp to keep the bugs away.

The town of Flekkefjord. All the houses and shops were white. They did this in the 1800's I guess. Trendy thing at the time because white paint was 70 times more expensive than the traditional oranges and reds.


Our camp outside of Flekkefjord. I had to collect some grass and make a soft spot since the ground was so hard.


We cycled out of camp on Monday hoping the hills would not be as bad as the previous days but... they were. We went through some really beautiful areas but short-cut the cycle route a bit by sticking to some more direct but busy routes. It was a wise choice as the lady in the tourist information office told us. We made it into Farsund and enquired at some hotels about staying there but they were like $150. This place is too damn expensive! So we headed towards the beach and found what we now think is a nature preserve. Not too sure if we were allowed to camp there but I can't read Norweigan. So we did our best to leave no trace.

View from camp in Farsund.


Breakfast in Farsund. Had to try the baked goods. Yummy.


On Tuesday we had hoped to make it halfway to Kristiansand. Given the previous days relatively short distances (like 50 km) and big hills (over 3400 ft total ascent previous two days) we thought two days would be enough. Not sure if it was the thought of a cold beer, a shower or that we strayed from the cycle path but we made it over 100 km to Kristiansand! In that 3 day stretch we did over 10,000 ft vertical ascent. We now have some hope for Switzerland but must get stronger.

Eating lunch in the main square in Kristiansand.


We are spending today catching up on work, email, blog and other things. We were just at the photo shop to get our digital photos put on CD because none of the internet cafes or libraries allow CD burning. Copyright issuesI guess. At the photo store we were invited to go on a boat trip to Grimstad with the guy who was helping us. So tomorrow night we will check out Grimstad. Heading to Oslo via train on Friday as it's getting expensive in this country. We were planning on cycling all the way there but now we are thinking it might be nice to move on. I think we have gotten a good taste of the Norweigan people and geography.

Hope all is well wherever you are! We will write more when we can...

Had a great 30th with

Had a great 30th with a bon-fire in Bru and a seaside cycle to Brusand. Camping in Rekefjord near Hauge tonight. Only 700km to Oslo!

Photos from Scotland to Bru

Here are some photos to accompany the previous post.

The view from camp in Glencoe, Scotland


The Scottish Highlands from the train to Glasgow


Fixing my wheel which got out of true after only 275 miles! Larry N. - told ya!


Our cabin on the Fjordline Jupiter where we crossed the very calm North Sea


During our brief stay in Bergen Norway we happened to see the King and Queen get of of their really nice yacht, the Norge


The ship we traveled on, the Jupiter


Abandoning ship at the Oil Museum


The Bergersen Family cabin on the island of Bru just North of Stavanger


The Family. I am related to Per Bergersen on the left. He is my second cousin once removed.


That's it for now. More soon...

Bru, Norway

God dag from Norge! It has been a while since we have been able to update our blog from a computer and guess what: I forgot to bring the darn camera cable today so there will be no pictures in this post. Hopefully we can upload some more photos soon!

While we were in Manchester we stayed with some very nice people that Jim McLaughlin met while he was there. Chris and Anna made us feel at home, cooked us a wonderful "pasta bake" that Chris doubted because the noodles were funny. Turns out that Anna had bought the noodles and they were wheat-free. Good cook and good food and if you are interested, the wheat-free noodles tasted the same to me. I spent Saturday the 12th at the Manchester Science Museum which was interesting and Heather went to a hen party (bachelorette party) with Anna. I watched an excellent BBC program on the Natural History of the British Isles and got inspired to go to Scotland. I highly recommend this show and you can get it on DVD's. The way the show was put together was really good and it's funny to see how the British do a science show. Much different than how it's done in the US.

So on Sunday we got on a train and headed to Glasgow Scotland via York and Edinburgh on a Virgin (Branson) train. Very nice and very fast trains. I think they go about 140 MPH or so. We arrived in Glasgow at 9 or so in the evening and thanks to our Rick Steves book got a room at a nice hotel for cheap. It's fun not to know where you are staying until you get there! In the morning we ate some cold cereal with ultra-pasturized non-refridgerated milk (we do this most mornings) and headed to the train station. Spent the next 4 hours on a train to Oban which is a small little town on the West coast of Scotland. We cycled the rest of the day to a place called Glencoe where we set up camp in a cloud of midges. This sucked. So instead of eating the food we had bought in Oban, we headed to a bug-free pub and ordered some haggis. There are pubs everywhere in the UK. In towns with 4 people there will be a post office and a really nice pub. Great country. Anyway, the haggis was not very good but Heather liked her leg-of-lamb. Glencoe was beautiful and I'll post photos when I can.

We woke up early on Tuesday and cycled to Fort William where we caught the train to Edinburgh. Cycling part of the West coast of Scotland was a bit out of our way but for sure worth it. We saw some active forestry operations which was interesting. They plant all the trees in perfect rows even on the most steep ground and they beat the hell out of the ground when they log. Interesting to see the differences. We planned to camp just outside of Edinburgh but when we got off the train it was raining so hard that we wimped out and pulled out the Rick Steves book. This was a good move as we stayed at a great B&B and the owner drove us downtown that evening to a pub where a bunch of locals just get together and play music. It was great fun.

Wednesday we planned to go to the Edinburgh Castle and then leave town but the train station wanted like $100 to store our bags and the Castle had no coat check so we got on the train and headed to Berwick-upon-Tweed back in England. This was really the first time that the bikes had been a liability but it saved us a bunch of entrance fees to the Castle so it turned out ok. We got to Berwick and then cycled south about 30 miles to Beadnell where we camped about 200 ft from the beach. It was the best camp site yet.

We had planned to cycle on Thursday but when we woke up it was raining so hard that we just stayed in the tent all day and then went to the local pub for dinner. It was much needed rest we found out as we both took naps. Traveling can be tiring! Friday we had to catch the ferry in Newcastle to Norway and it was 60+ miles away so we cycled 20 miles to the closest train station. We completely lucked out as the train we needed had already gone (according to the schedule) but it was 30 minutes late and we got right on! Otherwise we may not have made our ferry. We got to Newcastle (a very industrial city, think Pittsburg) and started to cycle 10 miles to the ferry dock. Of course, the one thing we had planned for the entire trip and Heather gets a flat tire! Heather patched the tube while I shopped for food for the ferry. Nice patch job but when I pumped up the tire the valve stem broke. I put the plastic protecter on which seemed to be holding and put both Heather's bags on my bike. We made it about 2 miles before the tire was totally flat again. With the ferry leaving in less than 1 hour and we are still 3 miles away it was a little stressful! I managed to put in a new tube and get the tire inflated in about 3 minutes and we made the ferry with plenty of time.

The ride across the North Sea was as smooth as it gets. You could have waterskied the whole way. We had a nice cabin with a view and slept very well. We arrived in Bergen the next afternoon and since the ferry was in port for 3 hours, we got off and explored Bergen for a while. Highly recommended, must go back. We got back on the ferry and arrived in Stavanger around 11:30 that evening. The ferry docked within view of our hotel so we cheked in and then headed out to see the nightlife. This place was out of control! Major party scene even for a Saturday night! It's funny too since a beer costs about 85 kroner which is like $15. Europe is different too in that text messaging in way bigger here than in the US. So these totally wasted people were comming out of the bars, reaching for their phones to check text messages (or send one) and then just falling over sideways! Very funny to watch. I saw this happen at least six times.

In the morning we went to the Stavanger Oil Museum which was way cool. It also explains why we had an electronic water dispenser in our room and other luxurouius things. There is a lot of oil money in Norway. Everything is so nice, but also expensive. They have so much money from oil (and taxes) that there are bicycle crossings that go under intersections, tunnels all over the place to islands and if you can make it out of stainless steel, they do. Quite amazing.

On Sunday evening we connected with my second cousin - once removed and headed to the island of Bru to the family cottage. In the process we took a bus through a tunnel that was 6 km long and 232 meters below sealevel at its lowest point. Crazy. Bru is very nice and we are having a wonderful time with my relatives here in Norway. We spent all night Sunday and all day yesterday (till 3:00 AM) just talking and sharing stories with them. So interesting to meet people you are realated to and learn about their lives. Per (my cousin) works for a Dallas oil company doing exploration work. He takes helicopters all over the North Sea to different oil platforms and boats and drills wells to determine how much oil can be expected to to come from a certain field. It sounds very dangerous but exciting. We have been enjoying some traditional Norweigan food and tonight Per and Anne-Grethe will be cooking some whale meat. Can't wait!

That's it for now. I'll post photos soon (if I can remember to bring the darn cable!)

Cycling the East coast of England

Train to Oban, bike to camp in Glencoe. Bike to Fort William, train to Edinburgh B&B. Train to Berwick, cycle to camp in Beadnell.

Change of plans - off to Scotland!

Train from Derby to New Mills, camped in Hayfield. Rode to Manchester, stayed 2 nights. Trained to Glasgow, Scottish highlands in AM

Derby

We had a fantastic day yesterday cycling from Litchfield to Derby. The weather was perfectly sunny and not too hot which made for a very enjoyable ride. We spent last night with some engineering types here in Derby and had a wonderful night out talking about all sorts of things. Today we are heading up to Sheffield and then on to Manchester tomorrow.

Heather thought it might be interesting if we posted the routes we are taking. This link will take you to the Sustrans National Cycle Network page where you can see exactly the routes we have taken. Yesterday we were on route 54 in Derbyshire.

Stratford-Upon-Avon

Cycling between Oxford and Stratford-Upon-Avon.


We spent last night in Stratford-Upon-Avon (after cycling from Oxford a mere 62 miles) at a B&B. We Enjoyed Warwick Castle today which is a very nicely done and well maintained castle complete with wax figures and all the sights, sounds and smells of a 17th century fortress. We will camp in Lichfield tonight. Beautiful sunset.

Trying on the garb at Warwick Castle


Sunset at camp in Litchfield

Oxford

Here is a photo of us in front of the Hotel we stayed at in London.


We took a train from London to Oxford on Saturday and are now staying with a wonderful bunch of folks in Oxford. The gentleman who owns the home (Tom) is actually out of town but he offered to have us stay at his place anyhow. A couple of his friends are here from Poland and we have had a great time with them just hanging out and talking. Such interesting people! I think Heather has been talked into going to Poland to stay with one of our new friends. He is actually a forester in Poland and has a large house near the cost. May have to make a slight detour... but we knew this would happen!

The place we are staying in Oxford:


Tomorrow we are off from Oxford to Statford-Upon-Avon for our first real day of biking. It's going to be a long 62 miles I think! Fortunatly it is our longest biking day in England so subsequent days should be more leisurely. Hope all you party goers that went to Ara's last night aren't having too rough a day!

We Made It!

We arrived in London today via 777. Luke was very excited to fly in a nice and dependable Boeing plane. The flight was smooth and assembling the bikes was even better. We took the train into the city and rode our bikes from the train station to the Victoria/Westminster area where we are staying. We walked to Westminster Abby across the Thames river and around Parliment. On our walk we enjoyed the beating retreat parade which was to recognize the armed forces and the Queen's birthday. We enjoyed a delicious Indian curry meal and are ready to catch up on some sleep. Unfortunately we did learn we will not be able to send photos to our blog from the phone. So we will update images when we are at computers where we are able to download photos.