AM I IN TOYTOWN?

I have two curious pictures to show from today. Below is the tiniest car ferry that I have ever been on. Andy, who is cycling from Stavanger to Esbjerg and doing a slightly different route to me, and I have teamed up for a while and we were the only passengers on this ferry. It takes three cars or 60 people. Unfortunately Andy and I were held up losing 20 miles yesterday because this ferry does not run at weekends. However it was a fun ride and well worth the wait.

How about this for a boathouse? It seems to be supported only at the back. It is real and not an optical illusion.

Yesterday, Jaana left me but not before she undertook a 20 mile dash to catch a bus. I was struggling to keep up. She was really motoring. Now I have teamed up with Andy from Chester. He has just retired from the day job. He is a super fit guy and enjoys his cycling. His bike has Rolhaff gears and these are reputed to be the best for long distance cycling. I also met up with a Norwegian enthusiast and a New Zealand couple on a tandem.

There are still plenty of hills and although I am on the bike for 9 to 10 hours a day, it is difficult to put in the distances that I would like. There were some real steep slopes towards the end of today.

For the records, I have reached Brevik. Tomorrow, I hope to pass though Larvik, home of Thor Heyadhal, who I think is the greatest maritime explorer of the 20th century.

KRISTIANSAND

This was taken in an estate agent's window in Mandal. I don't think the house had a garage but it was close to a cycle lane.

Mandal was beautiful and its setting was between two fjords so we spent a short time walking around it before setting off again. With one exception where there was 8km of rough track/steep hills, the cycling was much easier for both days. Kristiansand is a big city and port. I struggled to find much that interested me here and Jaana wanted to move on quickly.

My half way point is now passed and I have cycled 1,923 miles. I liked Birkeland, Lillesand and Arendal where I am now. Grimstad seemed too commercialised for me. I only have brief glances so I might be wrong. We met a guy from Cornwall yesterday who cycled here along the South coast, then all the way from Boulogne. Then today we met a Dutch guy who is doing my journey in reverse.

Tomorrow, Jaana leaves me and I cycle East towards Sweden

FARSUND AND MANDAL

We continue on our journey around the Norwegian coastline. The route includes some wonderful beaches.

We drift in and around fjords. We climb many hills between them and find that many roads here are dirt tracks. Sometimes, like today, we career down a big hill to cross a bridge where a fjord is at its narrow point only to find that we are heading far out to sea on a promontary. But it isn't a promontary as land appears unexpectedly from nowhere and another bridge is crossed. Sometimes a dirt track is so steep, I walk down as well as up because of risk of sliding and falling off.

The communities are small and many rely on summer visitors for their income but there are many harbours that contain commercial ships and these strangely are not out of place in this landscape.

We meet more long distance cyclists. Wiep comes from Holland and is cycling in the opposite direction to me. We are both at our half way points and swop experiences. My companion, Jaana, is enjoying Norway. She comes from Finland. Norwegians speak English and Swedish as well as their own langage. Jaana speaks fluent Swedish and can translate when their English is not so good. Another English cyclist is just ahead of me and he started in Stavanger.

These are not days for big mileages as the landscape dictates what we can do. This ride is an adventure that I am relishing. I will be half way tomorrow. I hope the second half is as good as the first.

FLEKKEFJORD AND BEYOND

We left Stavanger after lunch after having visited the Oil Museum. We loved this city. However finding our way out proved a challenge in its own right due to lack of sign posting.

We rejoined the North Sea Cycle Route eventually and now commenced some of the most challenging cycling I have done.It started easliy enough with tracks alongside the coast which yet again was intensely beautiful. So far, the North Sea coast has proved itself to be scenically on equal terms with some of the finest scenery in the World that I have seen.

The real challenge started yesterday when we set off inland on a mountain trail suitable for lightweight mountain bikes and not heavy touring bikes. There was about 20 miles with many short but mighty steep hills. It was rugged country shared only with wildlife. It continued into Egersund. After a very late lunch, a tarmac road took us up into more hills and then down to the coast and this was dotted with small fishing settlements .

Today's ride was one that burned the legs. We climbed about 4,000 ft but it was not all in one go. These hills were steep. We buried our prides and walked. At the top, you shot off downhill, sometimes through tunnels. We were weaving around fjords so at one moment we were at sea level, then up to 900 ft, then down again. The road was narrow so when a lorry came, we had to get on to the verge. On arrival at Flekkefjord, we were greeted by the horn of a monster ocean going tug that was in port.

We were not the only long distance cyclists on this route today. We met two from New Zealand who are cycling 36,000km around Europe, then a Swiss girl who cycled here from Zurich and there was another guy who did not stop. As I write, I think it would be good to have a short rest.

NORWAY: MY FIRST 3 DAYS

I am in Norway and I have found someone inside a bubble! Is this person completely mad?

I am 3 days into this part of my journey and so far Norway is everything the advertising pictures say. It is incredibly beautiful. I am cycling across islands linked together by ferries and monster bridges. The scenery is rugged with forests, rocks, lakes and the North Sea is weaving in and out with enormous tentacles, My friend, Jaana, joined me in Bergen and had an instant problem when her pedal sheared from a new crank. Fortunately, a bike shop dropped what they were doing and replaced the offending parts.

Bergen is a bike friendly city and I cycled 12 miles from the airport almost entirely on cycle lanes. In fact, everywhere seems to be bike friendly. Cars stop for cyclists at junctions and crossings in such a way that they go to jail if they don't. Little children either walk or cycle to school where there are numerous cycle racks.


Jaana is one of a small group of friends and we all go cycling together. Here she is setting off into a forest

We met Martin yesterday. He lives in Oslo but has no car. He had to work in Bergen on Wednesday and his next appointment is in Stavanger tomorrow, so he decided to cycle there. This is about the same distance as Plymouth to Bristol but has many more hills. We cycled with him for about a day and we learned many things about Norway. Jaana is from Finland so we shared some Finnish and British culture with him. Martin thought his wife might like badger, my ever patient mascot, so he sent her a photo. Martin's wife said the picture was not good enough so badger had his picture taken a second time .

Badger is doing fine. He has got over the shock of the scarecrow in Norfolk, the ostridges in Scotland and the wind in the Shetlands. He is taking Norway in his stride and is very happy to find out that other badgers live in Norway and for his photo to be sent to Oslo. Unlike me, he is not all weatherbeaten. In my case, my daughter, Jo, keeps on sending me messages to put on moisturiser. This bloke does not do moisturiser but I am told it is normal these days. Maybe I should if only because daughters are always right.

SHETLAND IN SEARCH OF AN OTTER

Sandie and I arrived on the Shetland Isles on Sunday morning.

Our first view of Lerwick was thick fog so we cycled for an hour unable to see anything. This was rectified for the next two days with some strong winds that enabled us to see the islands wonderfully. They are full of remote hills, moorland, lochs and tiny villages. The coastline is rugged and there are lots of small islands. This is Simon King country who spent much of last year here for the BBC filming otters and killer whales.

The people we met were extremely friendly and we were taken on a tour of otter haunts. We cycled 96 miles around the coast. Our most Northerly point was reached at Sullom Voe and in the South it was Sumburgh. We saw lots of seals and Shetland ponies but sadly no otters or killer whales.

A new industry farming mussels has been formed. This has proved a great hit for the eider ducks who dive down to perhaps 4 metres and help themselves to this easy source of food. Needless to say the farmers are not too happy.

Sandie left yesterday while this morning I cycled to Sumburgh Airport for my flight to Bergen. I had the novel experience of cycling across the main runway to reach the terminal building. There were traffic lights in case a plane was coming.

I have now arrived in Bergen. I have now completed 1,522 miles of my journey.

THE DIVER'S TALE

Sandie and I completed our cycle route in Orkney last night. There is no ferry to Shetland on a Friday so we have an extra day. Yesterday's ride was 61 miles as a circular route from Kirkwall and it passed many of the stone age sites for which the islands are famous. They are also famous for trout fishing and we watched a fisherman land a trout while we had our first break of the day. The picture below has a story that had us entranced on our third stop.

This is Tingwall ferry terminal which is tiny. Contractors were doing some work to a slipway. We watched as a diver walked into the water beside a crane which was sitting on a barge. He had an air tube connected to the land. What happened next was that the crane lifted a huge concrete plank and placed it in the water right beside the diver, who appeared to be acting as an underwater banksman. A man who was holding the diver's air tube then walked off leaving the diver alone below water. A ferry appeared and pulled up right beside the submerged diver and crane. The barge had just done a wobble moving the plank. We were very worried about the diver who seemed to be fixing the plank. We waited with baited breath. The ferry departed and a few moments later up popped the diver. All was well but we could not help thinking that the episode had the air of Spike Milligan about it.

Tonight we leave for Shetland. Accommodation is sparce there and we have booked into a remote cottage on West mainland which is close to our route. I try to update this blog every two days but it relies on wifi. Where we are staying is renowned for otters so time permitting we will try and spot one. I am doubtful if there is wifi though so the next report will be as soon as possible after that.