Geiranger Geiranger

Another sunny port, another stunning morning with literally countless huge waterfalls falling into the fjords our ferries tootle along, sometimes we even cycle!

The pictures have arranged themselves in a slightly random order, so consider it a little timeline treat...

Oh and with 10 days left, if anyone has any photo requests (weird and wonderful most welcome), fire away to +447817 065091, go crazy...

There was a dash to the ferry.

There was an epic cereal arrangement.

There was a bigger camera than mine.

There were chairs.

There was water, and mountains!

There was fine dining.

There was a bigger boat than ours.

There was not a campsite.

There were Cheerios

There was rapid growth

There was another use for gaffer tape.

There was a road with a Fjord.

There was "Unlucky Punk."

There was evening

There was morning!

There was a crazy market with a catwalk competition and old ladies dancing in circles!

There was a valley

There was a tiiiinny weeeny Dunphy

There was Trollstigen sweat.

There was MANGO ICE CREAM!

There was Ecuador. In Norway.

There was a bike.

The bike was Charlotte.

How do I leave caption modeeee?!
Well anyway, 5 days to Bergen we reckon and looking forward to it, ciao!

On a brighter note...

I'm not just going to leave it there though, things have brightened up since then:

• My recovery coke and apple used up my last pennies to within 5p!
• My indestrucible camera proved itself by surviving the 30mph fall!
• The precious Werthers Originals were the first item recovered after the bag-burst!
• The following ferry was free!
• The campsite was on the doorstep of the ferry terminal!
• We met 'Lakes Dave' at the campsite (riding north) who let us use his mob to ease home nerves and gave us some great tips for the route to Bergen (thanks Dave!)
• We managed to hold down food and water last night!
• It's raining today! (While we're warm indoors in Trondheim)
• Managed to buy a cheap replacement phone in a shopping mall!
• We're in the best library ever built (museum/gallery/awesome design & features)
• We changed our Swedish money to Norwegian!
• We've become uncharacteristically interested in any kind of shop....because it's a shop!
• We might even have a celebratory Curry / cinema trip / Irish bar excursion this afternoon, the joys of civilisation!

And to prove it all...

Wool warehouse anyone?

So all is well, we're back fit and fighting and enjoying a lovely overcast midsummers day in Trondheim ready for our ride to Bergen over the following week.

Expecting some massive fjords, hill climbs, tunnels and a couple less ferries.

So for now... Har deh bra!

(if you've tried the quiz from the previous post...)

Question 1: 1424km
Question 2: 6h30m
Question 3: 7 hours, 30-40 min intervals
Question 4: 35km
Question 5: at least 8, some unrecovered!
Question 6: yes please.

When is rains, it pours...

It had to happen sometime...

Well, not literally, because until this morning we haven't seen a drop of rain in over 2 weeks! But regardless of the weather we had our quota of bad luck in one hit over the past 24 hours or so, and that can only mean one thing.....

....time for some audience participation!

Question 1: How many miles does a typical Dunphy rear spoke last in Norway?

Something's missing...

Question 2: How long after drinking dodgy stream water will you see it again?


Question 3: For how many hours, (and for a bonus point!, at what intervals) will you be seeing it again?

The first to fall... 5.30pm

The second to fall...

Question 4: How many KMs must be ridden over mountains the following morning to the nearest shop? (Bonus point!- with how many clouds in sight?)

Question 5: How many parts does a typical Nokia 6070 break into when dropped at 30+mph onto Norwegian tarmac?


Question 6: Isn't that enough?!!

Meadowlands and another 9 ferries!

Again...what a week!

Now in Namsos and ready to write having recovered from a coco-pop, chocolate milk and tinned apricot induced high, doesn't take much these days...

We've well and truly left the rain and wind of the North behind and had (nearly) unbroken sunshine day and night for over a week, the spandex tans are coming on, pix to follow!

Highlights from the week:

• Willy- our danish fisherman friend, who laughed at my pitifully small knife (thanks Jane...!)
• Long sweltering climbs and breezy descents through pine forests with huge waterfalls
• Leaving the arctic circle- it's been good...
• Not seeing a shop for over a day of riding (well timed with a bank holiday)
• Rolling onto a departing ferry Die Hard style in Nesna (well, it felt like it...)
• The Birds of Norway: Car Horn bird, Type Writer bird, Squeaky Dog Toy bird, 'Nerf' ball bird...
• A coach load of Germans spectating our quayside breakfast
• Riding over 400km in flip flops
• Catching a starfish! And many cod- best cooked in butter & foil on embers...
• Free coffee with our ice creams just because the lady on the till was making some...
• The completely picturesque pasture lands of middle Norway, hot breezy meadows, fjords & mountains, sweeeeeeeeeet!
• Being invited to a great local production of STOMP after strolling into a closed library to use the internet...

Here's a glimpse:

Goodbye Lofoten, hello Route 17!

Willy!

Wolverine much?!

11pm

Ferry induced elation!

Water water

Dunphy on deals...

Starfish!!!

Gin Essens- Fundamentally not Gin.

Pingu styleee!

The view from our tent at 2am

Thank you map.

Got wood?

We'd like to personally thank the Norwegian highway Agency for blasting huge holes like this through many many hills all across Norway, your work does not go unnoticed!

Well we nearly just got ejected from the library but the guy said he's closing up late and we can stay another hour, gotta love Norwegians!
...scratch that, he's putting on a production and has invited us to some of the spare seats so when we've finished not being kicked out of the library in favour of a free show we'll be on our way!
Well that was suitably mad! Love this place...
Catch you soon!