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!)