Norway and the Fjords but a bit chilly at night

After Oslo we travelled across the country and nearly killed ourselves under a truck, as we've already said! We spent 4 days in Al and went walking up in the high country. Snow, lakes and dirt tracks got us to the middle of somewhere but we aren't sure precisely where. We had a brief basic map of the trail we were going to follow but after 30mins of walking we had somehow lost it and been following what we later realised was just an animal track across the mountain. Anyway we carried on for the rest of the day, beautiful waterfalls and glacial streams all around, after our little boo boo earlier in the day we had 4 water crossings to negotiate. Very stony and freezing cold water, I had to put my hat in the stream on one occasion otherwise I'd have been flat on my front. Sarah managed to get a photo just before I nearly fell. While laughing out loud!

Beautiful country with little remote settlements by lakes only accessible via water or walking over the mountains. 

Things were a little basic in the Al campsite we had to wash the old fashioned way, hand clothes washing. Sarah managed to get a blister from the pleasure of wringing out the washing, unfortunately, they didn't have a mangle. Honestly, I had been doing my own wash, stamping on my underpants in the shower(I would beat them on a rock but the water is too cold), and washing my heavy shorts. I just finished before Sarah, who had done hers and finished mine. So thought I'd take a picture for posterity's sake! This far in land and high up the nights are cold so had to wear bed socks, I must be getting old!

Our drive to Bergen should have been an easy 3 hours but after an hours drive over the A50 we had to turn round and drive back to our starting point as there was an accident in the tunnel ahead and the road was closed. So over two hours later and we hadn't moved one inch closer to Bergen. The roads are full of tunnels in Norway, they like trolls here and you see models of them everywhere. They also like garden gnomes, I wonder if that's why they build so many tunnels? The first tunnels we travelled through on the A50 were very thin, Anna you would not have enjoyed them, Sarah started to get a feeling of chlostrophobia they were so small and looked unfinished as if they could collapse. These were the ones of course we had to go back through so Sarah was not so pleased, cursing the fool that had had an accident further down the road. Back on the main highway we traveled through two 7 km long tunnels and they both had roundabouts in them, believe it or not. One even came out half way up a sheer mountainside along the Hardanger fjord near Eijfjorden. To put the sight in perspective we had earlier passed a cruise ship moored in Eijfjorden next to the road, which is also a sight to see all that distances inland, the bridge had allowed this enormous ship to pass underneath it with a mass of room to spare. Anyway after 8 and a half hours we arrived in Bergen. 

Bergen is steeped in history and has a small part of its original dock preserved as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The great thing is it's still in use today. The front of the warehouses have modern shops esconsed in them now and each house, or warehouse as it was, has reams of little store rooms stretching back away from the dock. One is set aside as a museum and kept as was centuries ago with dried fish etc. These properties were owned and run by the German Hanseatic League, a group of entrepreneurs who ran trade from Central Europe to countries both north and South via the sea. By all accounts they were a secretive group who wouldn't let outsiders in thus retaining all the trade and wealth to themselves and other members of their league. The Hanseatic League held sway all over this part of Europe for over 500 years while towns and cites mainly remained as independent entities within countries. They bought grain, wool and other necessities from farmers in more southerly latitudes and sold it to the Scandinavians for dried fish, fish oil and timber which in turn they exported to the south. It was only when nation states started to exert themselves that the league was diminished as local cities were no longer able to bargain solely for themselves and suffered the additional burden of central government taxation. 

Its a very attractive and well preserved part of Norway, clearly the Norwegians take a lot of pride in there heritage. 

Dock front warehouses in Byrggen (Historic name for the area)

Seedy alley's between the warehouses now used as small niche shops selling such things as furs and bone/ metal jewellery and the odd glass of lager (as spelt by Dave "larger") remember the beer blog or should that be bear blog!

The fjords, it goes without saying, we're beautiful we have oodles of images and spent an entire day driving around Hardanger Fjorden and Scammanger Fjorden I don't think we realised the time and didn't arrive back at our base until after 9pm. We had a very late tea that night!

On the ferry back from Bergen to Denmark we got this great view of the Hardanger Glacier. Up there you can go skiing all year round. 

While driving back to Bergen we came across this powerful waterfall with the opportunity to walk behind it while staying reasonably dry. Take a look at the guy in the pink shirt near the base to get an idea of its immense size

The ferry was a first chance to sleep in a proper bed, not an air mattress where Daves feet hang off the end. To top it off we also had and ensuite, no going out in the cold to use the loo in the middle of the nighT. Another sign of old age. The crossing according to the captain was smooth, rocky I would say but as I was laid down managed ok most of the time, only the pinball effect walking down the corridors. Arriving back in Denmark saw beautiful weather and a flat run to Esbjerg. We were settled in just after lunch for a relaxing day. We went into the small town to the international market where they sell speciality foods and clothes, nice to visit. The shop keepers are very trusting as they have loads of their products hung outside for you to look at. Definitely have nothing left if they did that in the UK. The following day we went out on our bikes and rode through the nearby village to the beach. The architecture is a mixture of traditional and modern, a really pretty place. Dave made fun of me when I offered to take the pannier saying I was already slow enough without a bag to slow me down more. There's love for you. I'm just appreciating the relaxed life style and scenery (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it). It is amazing though to see the oldies out on their bikes doing their shopping etc.

After a few days in Esbjerg we set off to our final destination of Amsterdam. WOW what a long day, 10 hours travelling, set the tent up, tea then bed, we were shattered. As you can guess today has been a very lazy day, lie in, late breakfast, trip to the shop, collected our free bread rolls and writing emails and blog. Good excuse it's been raining on and off most of the day with thunder and lightening! Tomorrow we are cycling into Amsterdam and will hit the historic sights and museums plus the obligatory McDonalds for a drink and abuse their free wifi AGAIN! We will have to send them a letter of thanks when we finally get home.

Happy Birthday Dad

Have a happy birthday Dad. We'll see you both in a few days time. Have abreast day.

All our Love
Sarah and Dave
XXXXXXXXX

Happy Birthday Little Dude!

Happy Birthday little dude, hope you enjoyed your holiday and didn't have any accidents this year. Have agreed day and don't forget I want to see a picture of the cake.

Happy Birthday Ciaran

Lots of love

Auntfie Sarah and Uncle David

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX😎🍰🎂🎈🎂🍰😎

Scandinavia- Well Denmark and a little of Norway!

After an overnight sleep, or not in the car waiting for the ferry to Gedser in Denmark we drove up to Copenhagen. The overnight in the car was a planned descision but boy not one to do again in a hurry. We thought packing the tent up at 3am in the morning would not be a good idea as the ferry was due to leave at 6 am so we needed to be at the port for 5am. However, the campsite in Copenhagen was great, spacious and all the home comforts including really hot showers and a little internet. We continued our car resting policy by cycling in and out of the city each day thus giving 'Ocho' a well deserved rest. He's still going strong despite over 2.3K miles driven so far. 

Copenhagen has many beautiful sights which we discovered on our walking tour around the city after dumping the bikes outside the tourist information with, and I'm not kidding, about 2000 other bikes. Copenhagen is even more of a cycling city than anywhere else we have been, everyone cycles. We have been passed by people with delivery boxes in the front with IKEA furniture stuffed in them we also went past one family with mum cycling dad and a child sat in the front box. Sarah was once again the tour guide with our planned route around the city. We only got lost once this time! But we did see some interesting architecture we would have otherwise missed. 

We started with a roam around Has Christan Andedsons various houses in the old docks area. We believe he lived in at least three of these houses throughout his life, Number 8 was one but can't remember the rest right now. However, I do remember the oldest property was built in 1698. 

Here's a view of the houses from the docks. Needless to say it's very touristy now! 

The royal palace and the neighbouring church, The Marble Church were impressive (see image below) we Also visited the National Museum of Denmark (about 3.5hrs) which had a great display of Denmark's prehistory. 

Of course any visits would be complete without a visit to the Little Metmaid (the real Little Mermaid, that is kids, not Disney's version). She was donated by the brewer Carsberg who fell I love with the story while watching the ballet and donated the statue to the city in 1912. The sculptor modelled the image on his wife. Since then she has been abused several times, lost her arm twice, her head once, had a bikini painted on her and more recently was dressed in a bhirker. 

The Danish have a love of spired buildings highly decorated with gold, copper and other metals. This is the spire atop the Danish Stock Exchange building, we particularly like this one as its shaped like a Narwhal tusk. 

After our first few days in Copenhagan we decided to stay an extra day and visit the North Zealand coastline and surrounding area. Two of the places had impressive castles this first one is Fongstein Castle (below) which included extensive public gardens and further below is Csstle Königstein, the home of Shakspears Hamlet. It was built at the narrowest entrance point to the Baltic Sea so that the king could collect taxes from passing ships. In return he promised to support and defend the town. At that time he owned both sides of the passage, nowadays the opposite side is in Sweden. 

"Alas poor Yorik I knew him well" - never really liked Hamlet

We crossed into Sweden via the worlds most expensive toll bridge, £37.50. Boy that was a shock! We set aside 100 Danish Krona! (Approx £10) had to pay with credit card. The toll girl said that most people search through their bags and splits the cost across what ever currency they have left. Then drove up through Sweden to Oslo where we arrived to camp at, in Sarah's words, "a gypo's site", a free for all with no organisation and lots of unsavoury characters. We took a lots more care over our possessions during the two days in Oslo. However, the view was very nice over Oslo City from on the hill just outside. Once again we set aside time visit a museum this time the Folk Museum which had done a tremendous job of preserving old buildings from Norwegian antiquity. They had live demonstrations of traditional skills, this lady below was making waffles on a traditional oven. 

Actual street from 1860

Traditional Norwegian timber Church, rescued by the king in order to create a museum to retain traditional building and there construction methods

Inside a traditional 1700 Norwegian habitation 

The following day we set off to drive part way towards Bergen, on the way out of Oslo we nearly, and I mean really nearly, got squashed by a tanker driver as we pulled out in a tunnel. It took a few minuets to recuperate before we could drive on. No scratches though just lucky! The Norwegians like tunnels we must have driven through about 20 so far, some are tolls. It does make it easier for 'Ocho' as it saves climbing up hills. No such luck for Sarah when we go walking which is what we are about to do now. 

Keep well and we'll see you all in a few weeks. 

Germany

Hi sorry we've not posted for a while but wifi has been unavailable. Anyhow we have made our way through old West Germany and East Germany ( I we know it's been approx. 30 years since the Berlin Wall came down) Cologne was a pleasant stop over with a great cathedral both inside and out. Everyone cycles here, 60 - 70+ year olds down to tiny tots. Really impressive and puts us to shame over in the UK. In fact everywhere on the continent you see lots of people cycling. It's geared up with dedicated cycle lanes and bike parking areas. Needless to say both of us have made use of this facility.   Our little "Ocho" (car) needs all the help we can give it so apart from driving from one site to another in each country we let him rest. 

All going well here. Had a bit of rain a couple of times but it was only rough in Rugen. It's an island off the north coast in the Baltic Sea. Howling winds and torrential rain for 36 hours, didn't go out much!

Here's a few pictures of Cologne and its cathedral

View across the River Rhine

While in the city drinking a cup of Latte we came across this man blowing bubbles in the park. Look at the little boy getting ready to burst the bubble!

Before arriving in Rugen we traveled from Cologne to Saxony about 650km, near the Czech border. This is real fairy tale Germany with Bavarian style houses with little eye shaped windows in the roof and shutters plus flower boxes in the windows. We visited Königstein Castle, straight out of sleeping beauty. We had a short walk from the campsite to the castle but unfortunately we mistook a turning and it extended to a couple of hours plus many hours looking around the castle and the walk back made it a full day with our return to the tent around 8pm. 

Königstein Castle

The next day we went to Hollistein up in the hills and had a swim in a thunder storm for 1 hour. It was warmer in the pool than out of it! Then found a lovely authentic Biergarten in Porschdorf and had another Latte sat on the balcony in the now blazing sunshine. 

A day or two later we had a days walk through the Saxony sandstone cliffs and over the Bastei Bridge. Once again a mixed day of weather with hot sunshine interspersed with rain and one heck of a thunder and lightening storm as we walked over the bridge, which was to be the highlight of the day. Instead only one picture of people huddled in a rock arch half way across the bridge while the worst of the weather passed. 

Dresden was nearly demolished during the war but to see it now you would not know. The German taxpayers have been funding the rebuilding of it and many other old East German cities and related infrastructure. It's a credit to them as Dresden is beautifully restored and matched with modern architecture. 

We next traveled up to Rugen which was unfortunately not so impressive, probably because of the aforementioned bad weather. However, we did several walks and visited Hitlers People's Holiday Camp location on the coast, which is now being converted into luxury apartments and holiday lets. This is an odd turn of fate as Hitler never actually completed the project only now is it being used for the purpose it was designed. It stretches, one building after another for 4.5km along the seafront in Prora. Part of the old buildings still remain and are currently being used as a museum. This was our last day on the island and we have now moved along the coast near to Rostock and will be taking the ferry to Denmark in about 24 hours.