Saturday 7th July. 49 miles

To Saltstraumen

It was meant to be a bit of a rest day, so I had a lie in until 8am. Nice after my social evening chatting to the other campers the evening before. But now the hills and a very craggy route. Up and down mountain passes, through tunnels, down to fiord level and then back up again. Initially rain but brightened up.
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I passed runners who were doing a 30 km. route around a mountain. They originally had being going up as well, but that bit was cancelled due to the mist.

I am now only about 20 miles from Bodo- gateway to the Lofoten islands.

So the plan is to leave early tomorrow have a quick look around the city then get the ferry to the southern end. I then cycle North and get the ferry back to the mainland further North All part of the route 1 Eurovele Route. A bit like island hopping the Western Isles, starting at Barra and leaving at Stornoway. - hope I get some of the same weather!

Another reason for stopping was the traffic. I think people have reached Bodo on the motorway then headed towards the coastal hills at the same pace. I did pass one crashed car being towed away.

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Monday 25th.71miles

I returned to Ulsteinvik from my detour campsite. I went into the Remix supermarket, which looked remarkably like a Lidl, although being Norway, the prices are higher. Then it was the main road to the next ferry at Hareid. There was a shared route cycle path which was nice, but I got off it to give space to a group of nursery age children who were walking along holding hands in lines of 3 . Coming off the ferry, my road became busy. Alesund not far away is a surprisingly large place and I hit the dreaded E39 the main arterial road/duel carriageway going North. There are cycle paths and between mio and me we got through.( Though why mio took me off the cycle path, hrough an industrial estate only to return to the same road is questionable). My route then led me along quiet roads up a fiord side, round it and back down the other side. Then I cycled 3 sides of the square which made up a peninsula in order to avoid a large tunn...

Sunday 10th Jun

I seem to have a lot of gear to take with me. Plus a lot of cables and leads, for phone, camera, etc. I leave for Orkney on Wednesday with Keith then am booked onto the overnight ferry to Shetland on Saturday. Will cycle as far north in the U. K. as roads allow, then I take the Loganair flight to Bergen on Wed. 20th Am taking my warm but bulky Norwegian sleeping bag - if I can fit it somewhere!

Wednesday. 50 miles

Bude to Kristiansund. 50 miles Alongside the Atlantic coast, over bridges, round a fiord and through a tunnel. The tunnel was built in 2009 and is 1.5 kms long and very deep. So deep that I could feel my ears pop. It does not allow cycling, so you have to take the bus through. A Dutch couple I met who also went thru' the Tunnel by bus. A sunny day, passing fishing hamlets. A bit like the North Coast route around Scotland- camper vans and a surprisingly large number of sports cars. I am having problems finding the centres of towns, I just think there are no small shops in rural Norway. There are plenty of supermarkets on the outskirts of town. Also I have seen no seals, dolphins or the like. Just the one otter on the first day. Lots of seabirds through, and there are puffins on the outer islands.

Cycling North

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