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August 9 Wednesday sunny Bicycle touring Norway This morning I reheated the fuel tube and shoved the cable back in. It comes out easily this time. I repeatedly scour the fuel line by reaming the cable in and out. A test firing upon reassembly works magnificently. We load up our bicycle touring gear and pedal off happily. We stop in Seljord, Norway, for an ice cream. An old granny on a four-wheel scooter goes by, alternately pushing the scooter and then stepping up onto its side rails to coast. We wait for our Kiwi bicycle touring buddies, Arran and Rebecca, but there is no sign of them. (Later, we found out they had been waiting for us at the next store under a tree a couple of blocks up, but we had come into town on the opposite end and missed them.) There is a small road with little traffic on the south shore of the lake. There is a larger road on the north side of the lake with trucks and more traffic. Sharon wants to go on the smaller road, but I think Arran and Rebecca would bicycle the large road because it's probably smoother for Rebecca's sore bum and a shorter, more direct route, and they'll probably stop somewhere along the road for lunch. Sharon tells me to pick. I choose the large road. We bicycle off on the large road, going up and down, high above the lakeshore. As we're bicycling along the less scenic more traffic road, undulating up and down, we look across and see the small traffic-free road running flat along the opposite side of the lake along the shoreline. The small road looks wonderful for bicycle touring. We arrive in the next town without coming across our bicycling buddies, Arran and Rebecca. We buy groceries and then eat in a park while keeping a watchful eye out for Arran and Rebecca. We figure we must be ahead. We wait in the park for a couple of hours -- all the while Sharon is lamenting that she could be swimming in a nice cool lake, instead of waiting in the middle of town in this heat. Finally, having bicycled back through town to see if Arran and Rebecca had arrived, Sharon and I are just deciding to bicycle on when they come along. Guess what? They bicycled the small south road and found a fabulous golden beach where they swam and had lunch. So much for my handy-dandy guess work. The kicker? They decided to bicycle the small road because they know we like small roads. So much my intuitive insight into other bicyclers. Near Ullfoss, Norway, we bicycle a road to another lake. We cycle by some farmers' houses on a one lane gravel road to the lake. A pair of cabins are nestled in the pines above us, but no one is there. Two men are across the inlet swimming -- they're butt naked. That's the trouble with touring on bicycles -- they're so darned quiet? Rebecca picks some rhubarb and makes a tasty mash. Our Whisperlite stove is still having problems. I take it apart and clean it again. The wind dies down as the sun sets. Arran says the only time there is no wind in New Zealand is when it blows equally from the north and south at the same time. As we are cooking, the woman who owns the cabins and lives in the farmhouse farther up the lane comes to tell us we can't camp here. She speaks no English and our Norwegian is a little weak. But sign language is still working. Luckily, I took all those lessons while bicycle touring in Italy. She indicates we can camp across the inlet where the nudees are. We wonder if we will have to take our clothes off to stay there. We can hear the nude bathers singing and playing a guitar now. The woman starts to leave and then comes back. She indicates we can camp up here too, if we want. I go with her. She points out a flattened grassy area by the rhubarb patch. Looks like a great free bicycle camping spot. We set up our tents there with a great view overlooking the bay. |
