Fjord lands

The Fjord Lands.

After seeing the beauty of the fjords on the ferry yesterday, we were keen to get up and moving, so we broke all speed records to be on the road by 9.08am. We had another overcast morning to contend with, but quickly made our way down the west coast, across the south and into the islands main city of Leirvik.

*This name might appear similar to those following the blog, as to the name of the capital city on Shetland Island, Lerwick. That's because it is. A lot of the names of towns on both the Shetlands and the Orkneys were given by the Vikings on all their crazy, long, open ocean voyages, and the ensuing pillaging and plundering that took place. A magnificent old church we visited in Orkney was actually built by the Vikings originally, and is known as St. Magnus's Cathedral. The name Leirvik and all its other spellings translate to 'Muddy Bay'. *

Our aim in Leirvik was to find info on cruises that head into the fjords so we could see all there is to see.  After a frazzled info lady had thrown 15 pamphlets at us we found that the tour we were most interested in hadn't actually started for the season yet, and didn't start until next Thursday. With today being Friday that left us with the options of filling our week with day trips, or riding further up the fjord itself and catching the tour boat at one of its stopping points further down the line.

This option was chosen and would have us exploring a few more islands, catching another ferry and seeing a lot of the more open areas of the fjords. Before going much further we had to stock up on supplies. Never hard to do in these southern areas of Norway, as there's usually 1 or 2 supermarkets in most little towns – RIMI 1000, REMA, SPAR, KIWI, CO-OP...

To get off the island there were 2 big bridges (1km each). The first bridge was pretty much north to south which was good, as there was a hefty northerly wind blowing us along. This bridge ended on a little rock, and turning to the right we then had the second bridge heading east to west. This bridge we walked, for safety against the cross breeze. This was the first wind we had noticed in Norway, and with our path for the next day taking us south, this northerly was more than welcome.

This night (Friday, 12^th June) we found a little picnic sort of area on the side of a lake. It had a knee high wooden fence bordering it from the road,, giving the impression of private, but the gate was open and there was a rescue ring there giving the impression of public. The big house across the road was the only one near us, but a knock at the revealed that no one was home at the moment.

So we set up camp and were soaking our feet in the lake when a car drove past very slowly with a few sets of eyes watching us closely and pulled in at the house. After drying the feet and heading to the door again we were met by a young tradesman who said that yes the land was private, but if we were only there for 1 night then it was ok to stay. Nice.

The next day the northerly was still blowing with a huff and a puff and for most of the day was blowing with us. This wind helped us to coast the 25km into Bomlo. There were a few big climbs along the way, one of which was a bit too long for Nadia, who had to resort to pushing.

The views we were receiving made it all worthwhile though. It reminded me a bit of the Greek Islands, with the barren looking rock dominating the landscape, and the sparse vegetation doing its best – perfect goat terrain. We even scored our first uninterrupted views of the North Sea.

 A kiwi fruit at the top and the promise of a long downhill, mixed with the sun on our backs had us up and going again, and after getting a few basic supplies from town we were on the ferry at Langevag and relaxing on our way back to the mainland at Buavag. This half hour ferry ride cost us about 6 Aussie dollars each, with bikes, which makes the ferries in Norway about the cheapest things in the country. Thankfully, all the ferries so far have been roll on – roll off, which means we don't need to unload, which is handy.

Once back on land the choice was made for a scenic route up and around the headland to the north, instead of heading straight to the main roads we knew we had to take later that day. This extra loop took us through some quaint little gatherings of houses, all done in the very traditional style of Norway – small square 'doll house' like buildings, painted in red or blue. A lot of houses here have their own national flags flying. Interestingly there are 2 types of national flag – the big, square standard flag with the full Norwegian blue and white cross on the red background. The other flag is an elongated triangle, once again with a red background. This flag doesn't have a full cross, but just straight lines of white and blue. We were to discover the difference when talking to a lady in an info/gift shop the next day. The big square flag is for important events and dates, such as weddings, funerals, birthdays, graduations, etc. And when it is flown, it can only be flown between sunrise and sunset. The smaller triangle flag is just for national pride I guess you could say; just to show that you are Norwegian. A very proud people to judge by the number of houses with flags. Back in Oz, I look at houses that fly the Australian flag and think 'you goose', but here it's the done thing.

Reaching the main road after this loop was a shock at the amount of traffic heading north to Bergen, or south to Stavanger. There mightn't be many people, but they seem to all be going places.

This was the first time we had to ride on one of the 'E' roads. This was E39, coming down from up north somewhere off our map, all the way to Kristiansand on the south coast.

We were intermittently on the road and the bike path which popped up every now and then. We found a big servo along the way and stopped to fill the drink bottles, get an ice-cream and purchase a better map.

So far in Norway we haven't bought any chocolate. This is due to the price of chocolate, with a chocky bar costing about 3 dollars, and a block about 8 dollars. What is that all about? I think this is the longest I have ever gone without chocolate, and if it goes for much longer I might perish.

After changing from the E39 to the E134 we were heading east. The E134 goes inland all the way to Oslo and seems to be the most direct route from Bergen. This also makes it one of the busiest roads in Norway, and severely lacking in bikepaths unfortunately. So with heads down and bums firmly planted in the saddle we waddled along with big old trucks and monstrous campervans barrelling past, with occupants most likely cursing us in many differing European languages.

After eventually finding a bikepath we relaxed and started hunting for the night's campsite. Our newly purchased map was working beautifully and it was telling us that up ahead was a place called Dagsland. That sounded funny enough to us to warrant camping there for the night, but some timely advice from a local fella enjoying the sun on his deck had us heading to Lie Beach, which was much closer than Dagsland, and turned out to be a very nice little beach a long way up the waters of Grindefjorden, with soft green grass, a wooden shelter, toilets and running water. We shared this campsite for the night with 3 German campervans. There are lots of Germans in Norway.

Heading down to the pier I found a heap of mussels clinging to the rocks, so I spent the next hour happily collecting our dinner for the night.

Sunday started slowly. We didn't have far to go before reaching the starting point of our tour, and still had a few days to play with. So after studying the map for a good length of time we were away at 11.30. Here again as with most campsites and ferry ports, the first few hundred meters were straight up, to get away from the shore and up to the roads which track around the coast.

It was a very relaxed ride this day and just on 30km we passed a sign for a beach, so we pulled in, headed down the very steep hill and found ourselves with a beach to ourselves, once again with toilets and this time we even had a volleyball court.

There were no mussels this night, so it was back into our bags of goodies. Most nights we are munching on rice or pasta with veggies and packet sauces – basic, healthy and nourishing.

This being our first Sunday in Norway, we weren't to know that not only did we have a day of rest, but most Norwegians do the same thing too. Admittedly we aren't in a built up area, but all the shops we passed today were closed, including 1 supermarket on the highway. We didn't actually see anybody else until late in the afternoon when our beach was invaded by a big group of kids and parents who ran amok for a few hours and then disappeared back up the hill.

 

Our distance was back up again the next day (51km) and we hit the 1,000km mark of the trip! Hooraa to us and high 5's all round. To celebrate (prematurely) we bought some souvenirs and even lashed out and bought a readymade lunch for the first time. I also bought a fishing rod, to hopefully get us some more free dinners along the way.

Shortly after the 1,000km mark we found a beach on private land that the owner allowed to be a free campsite. He's even made a toilet and shower room for visitors, with steaming hot water, and all for free.

There were already a few German campervans in residence, and as the day was very cold and windy, we pitched our tent pretty close to the back of one campervan, trying to utilise its windbreaking ability. It was probably less than a minute after we had the tent up when 2 old ladies came across from 1 of the campervans and gave us big mugs of hot chocolate-chino. I don't like coffee at all, but this stuff certainly hit the spot.

After a good chat to these ladies, of which 1 could speak very good English, we got dinner organised, and then headed over to the campervans to chat some more to our new friends.

It was also decided to enjoy a rest day here the following day.

This turned out to be a very pleasing day indeed, with the sun out all day (but still a cold northerly). The new fishing rod worked very nicely and I'd landed 2 decent size mackerel after 15 minutes of fishing off the rocks. The ladies bustled over and showed me how to fillet the fish and explained different ways of cooking it, and yes, even provided samples from their fridge. I was happy with 2 fish for Nadia and me, but 1 lady thought it wasn't enough and brought us a big Tupperware container of some other type of fish her husband had caught the day before.

The rest of the day was laundry, showers, mucking about with cameras, sewing and reading books.

Then fish for entree and dinner. A very nice day indeed, and topped off with a phonecall from Simon and Jon at home to say that Jon had booked his tickets and was officially coming to join the trip.