Day 5

Only 20:45 yet seems like we should be in bed. Oh, wait a minute, Knutr is! No TV to keep him quiet, so I have an extra hour or so of his snoring instead.

Day 5 was another great riding day, with the weather staying fine again. This is all set to change for tomorrow though on our way into Bergen. No surprise there then.

The day started on the ferry quayside and me chatting, first to a Norwegian truck driver ( with a very fluffy collie dog) and then some Yanks, who had been in our hotel. I had another chat with them on the ferry, enough to find out they were from Philadelphia, here for 12 days, doing some hiking. We'd just disembarked when Tomton threw another wobbler (piece of shit!) and we had to remove some waypoints for it to pick up the correct route again. The journey was littered with some very long and dark tunnels, coupled with some magnificent fjord views and another, shorter ferry ride. The pair of crossings cost about £15.

Our first stop was for fuel, the second at Vandalsfossen falls. These are 180m high and there are a lot of steps to climb, if you want to get nearer the top. I did it, though by the time I got down, I wished I'd left my jacket with Knutr. A bit down the road we stopped in Sauda, for more fuel, just to get us back on track with our scheduled stops (we skipped it yesterday) and for lunch. Hot dog today. From there the road got interesting, getting very narrow in places and taking us up above the snow line, where there is a surprising amount of snow still lying about. We stopped for photos and I made an ice ball, as it's not really snow, all fluffy and soft. The route was also littered with animals, namely sheep. Needless to say, despite my best efforts, one jumped across my path. Luckily, I was barely moving and expecting it anyway. Might have been a good bartering commodity at the guest house though, If I'd hit it. One lamb for 4 pints my good man!

The scenery, as I've said before, is simply breathtaking and you could quite easily stop every few miles, or less, to take that next great shot. Going through a tunnel with a 1 in 8 descent is quite something too. As I said, these guys are the masters when it comes to tunnels. The last 20km or so ran us on the east side of the Hardanger fjord to our guest house at Ullensvang. The last couple though, were pretty much off road, as roadwaoks had removed the surface of the road, leaving lots of loose gravel. Reminded me of the Moki Dugway, back in 2013. Anyway we survived and live to ride another day.

Tomorrow (Day 6) is a short day, only about 100 miles. That's so we can get some sightseeing done in Bergen, including riding the Floibanen (funicular) to the mountain above the town. By the sound of it though we be staring straight into the rainclouds! :-(

That's it for now.