Exploring Stavanger

Talking to Gemma and Alex last night, and then getting the things we've brought with us distributed properly between bike bags, meant we turned in rather late. Woke to blue skies and a gentle breeze.  We decided to spend today exploring Stavanger and the special offers available to DNT members from their comprehensively stocked shop in an underpass on the way into town.

The P&O cruise liner Orianer was docked by the old wharf in the centre of town, which was very busy with tour groups and visitors. The white wooden buildings looked lovely in the sun. The museums are well worth a visit but we decided to pass up the ferry cruise to Lysefjord on cost grounds. We are staying tonight in a pleasant hut just down the road from the hostel, a bit cheaper  and a bit quieter too.

Cloud surfing on the Preikestolen

A very memorable day out yesterday with fine views on the two hour walk up from the Preikestolhytte  car park and for twenty minutes on the Pulpit Rock itself before the cloud rolled in and left us in whiteout conditions.

We bought combined bus and ferry tickets for 250 and 125 kr each on the ferry to Tau which leaves from the Fiskeperterminal in town. The journey by ferry takes about forty minutes with around 30 scenic minutes on the bus  before reaching the HI hostel and newish DNT hut at the start of the path. The actual walk up took us about two hours.

The path is excellent with boardwalks over muddy areas and rock paving over the majority of the route so I had made the right decision in favouring a pair of Rockport sandals over my walking boots when packing for this trip.

It rained off and on during the climb. I regret keeping the camera under wraps until we were close to the rock because the views are spectacular with some airy balcony sections over long drops.

The views from the top were fantastic.

The cloud rolled in quite suddenly. It began to rain heavily. The cliffs around us were soon running with water. We stayed for some time until it  was clear that the rain had settled in before regretfully starting the descent. The 1830 bus arrived at the car park shortly after we did and whisked us back to the ferry. We cheated and took a taxi back to the hostel from the docks in Stavanger.

Cooked a boil in the bag meal of meatballs, mashed potatoes,  and redcurrants after a hot shower and spent a very pleasant evening talking to Alex and Gemma from NZ who are near the end of a three month trip that began in Beijing and will see them in Iceland next week.

Reunited!

Well things are going much better now. The airport service desk rang to say that they had flown the missing holdall to Stavanger and they sent it on to the hostel by courier for 0930. It is a bit torn but everything arrived despite the large hole. We quickly changed into merino wool tops and rain jackets and then walked into town in heavy rain to find the ferry to Tau for a bus to the Preikestollehytte. The ferry leaves every half an hour and tickets for the round trip are  250 kr for adults and 125 kr for children. We are now on the bus to Jorpeland.

Replan - lost bag

Well, we checked the remaining bags in ourselves successfully and boarded the 1645 flight to Stavanger. Landed in heavy rain at Sola. My worries about the two front Brompton touring bags were confirmed when they failed to show. The service desk delayed the inevitable conversation as long as they could but eventually the staff were quite helpful. Fortunately I also had photos of the missing bag from earlier in the day so we could provide a good description. They tell me it may take up to three days to appear though. Unfortunately our toothbrushes,tent, raingear, MSR stove, and various electronic items are now missing.
We took a taxi to the vandrehjiem for 410 kr and I got to practice my Norwegian direction giving since the Russian driver didn't speak any English. We were on fast rain-swept E-roads into town and Stavanger wasn't immediately distinguishable from any other European town. The hostel consists of several single story buildings and is very utilitarian, with lots of fire doors and people mostly locked in their rooms it would seem.
After a walk to the local Joker I cooked polse in spaghettisaus and we turned in after a dessert of half a packet of Bixit. Good to be back here but we have some challenges ahead.

Stage three hitch - and no free lunch

No such thing as a free lunch, is there? On the plus side, we made it to Oslo and the sun is shining here. Unfortunately, the new Dreamliner aircraft that Norwegian chose to use today took so long to board in London that we missed our Oslo connection. 

We do have two 90 kr meal vouchers from the airline counter in Gardemoen though, which is e almost enough to buy half a burger each in the restaurant ... and a booking on a flight later in the afternoon.  This is, what, the third trip when we have been rebooked and spent the afternoon drinking coffee in the departure hall?

Our bags were on the point of being checked in when it became apparent that we were too late for the Stavanger flight. One bag had already gone onto the conveyor, and was apparently relabelled for the later flight after a telephone call while we regrouped before applying new tags ourselves to the other three, which we dropped off at the oversize counter located in aisle G. 

We are now sitting at the gate, hoping the bags are reunited with us today. A lot depends on the unknown handler who may or may not have changed the tag on the first bag on our behalf...

Stage Two ... goes pear shaped

Deboarded at Gatwick Airport train station successfully. Manhandled the 50 kilos of luggage up to the departure hall in the South terminal and onto  a pair of trolleys. Check-in for Norwegian with kiosks went fairly well, as did dropping off the bags at Oversize. But we came unstuck at the X-ray machine where the queue was moving faster than usual (the staff have challenging targets to meet and the queues were long). I was just leaving the security area when just to be on the safe side I asked P to hand his passport back to me, and we discovered it had gone missing.

It was last seen in the tray going into the x-ray machinery. We checked our pockets twice before asking staff for help at the line, and when they failed to find it we disconsolately trailed over to the service desk to report its loss. I have rarely seen P looking as distressed as he did then.

Andy on the service desk did a second check of the line then started looking through security tape footage ... their cameras are very comprehensive... but this takes quite a while.

Just as our stiff upper lips were begining to quiver,  the passport reappeared.  It had been brushed off the tray by the rubber strips on leaving the scanner. Phew!

Stage one complete

Pleased to report that Stage One - boarding the early morning train to Gatwick airport - is now complete. We were back home from Heathrow at 2120 last night with just enough time to wash clothes needed for this trip and to repack for cycling. We have everything in just four bags, two of them transit bags to keep the number of checked items to two each. After four hours sleep we are in a bit of a daze though and hope that the airport does not hold too many challenges.

At Annecy

With one week to go before we leave for Norway, we thought we'd get in trim with a sauna in the French Alps - if today is an indicator, the daily temperature is going to be in the mid-30's with azure blue skies and plenty of Factor 50. This will  compensate nicely for temperatures of 10-15 degrees and lowe hanging cloud in Norway. We are staying in the Hotel Allobrogues near the centre of town.  I've been for a stroll while the others napped (we were up at 04:30). The old town is just a few hundred metres away and the Saturday market stalls are up - heavily pedestrianised, it reminds me of a cross between Sarlat, Venice, and the old centre of Stockholm. Very glad we chose to book rooms here in the centre with parking en suite, because the town is a maze of narrow one way streets. It does turn out to be a lovely place to stroll around and window shop in though.

Finse station webcam

I'm sure you've already seen this, but if you haven't and you know our itinerary you can keep an eye out for us waving at you in the picture from this live streaming webcam at Finse station, providing that you've got Flash installed :-)

Finse Hytte

Finse on the Rallarvegen is well away from the road network but Stan has helpfully pointed out to me that it does have a DNT hut with a campsite attached.  Our DNT membership has expired, unfortunately.  Without membership,the prices for dormitory accommodation would be in the region of £42 for the two of us without meals, or £150 with breakfast and supper provided (well, this is Norway).

Finse DNT hut in a whiteout, by Oliver Hansen

Camping may be an option because the track is apparently free from snow today - may all change by the time we arrive though.

I'm not sure what we're going to do for provisions on this stretch of the trip, but looking at the bikes I can see we aren't going to be able to carry much in the way of food - possibly nuts, crispbread, cheese, butter, packet soup, dried pasta, dried fruit, and oats for the stages until we're back alongside the road? A meal out would cover the costs of rail tickets between Bergen and Gol though.

Cycle Touring Insurance from Cyclosure & Butterworths

Any recommendations here?
After reading Jon Houseago's cautionary tale about the perils of insuring with AXA, a well-known UK company providing a really poor service, I decided to bump up the level of cover we're taking out, especially because the replacement cost of the bikes would run to a couple of thousand pounds. I can also envisage the scenario of Nordicdude needing repatriation to the UK after coming a cropper on a steep section of the Rallarvegen, when 16" wheels meet a deep rut or boulder at speed, or me repeating my trick of riding into something solid while rooting in my handlebar bag.

   

.oO There goes my holiday!

Following recommendations on the CTC forums, Cyclosure have won the tender for travel insurance after I dropped them an email (their website is good, but wasn't working too well today). They are specialists in event insurance for amateur cyclists and seem to have a good understanding of customer needs, being cyclists themselves. Yes, they cost more than insurance from the High Street retailers, but I think it's worth it for peace of mind.

Cover for the bikes themselves is now arranged through an annual policy from Butterworth's, the CTC's other recommended insurer - I'm just reading the small print now, because this one costs around 10% of the replacement price for each Brompton...

Along the Rallarvegen by Brompton

The Rallarvegen or "Navvy's Road" was built between 1902 and 1904 during the construction of the Bergensbanen, the railway line linking Bergen and  Oslo.  This car-free road runs between Haugastøl and Myrdal and then down to Flåm on the Sognefjord. During the short snow-free period between May and September it is a very popular cycle route. Most arrive at the start of the ride by train, but in 2013 we will attempt to arrive by bike from Stavanger, during a tour that will ultimately take us by folding bike to Oslo via some of the most scenic attractions in the south of Norway.

We are planning to camp and on the basis of previous experiences are carrying a roomy two-man tent and four-season sleeping bags with Thermarest mattresses. We may stay for a night or two at huts on camp grounds but expect to economise because these typically cost 500 - 750 kr for a shed with bunks and no running water.  Our route is based on spending about 12 nights away and using the odd bus and train to link up the best cycling sections - we'd rather ride than use public transport, but we know we'll never be able to cycle the whole route in the time available. More on the route in the next blog post.


I've toured in Northern Norway before by Brompton bike and appreciate the need for low gears and creative packing.  For this trip, the two bikes have had their chainsets upgraded to use smaller chainrings from Stronglight. Bubble (ridden by Nordicdude) has a 39-tooth Thorn chainring installed in place of the 50-tooth stock ring, and Squeak (ridden by me) has 34/46 chainrings supplied by Spar Cycles. The 34 tooth ring is the smallest that Stronglight make, and gives a low gear of just 22.4 inches - pretty low - at the expense of reducing my top speed on the small ring to around 11.5 mph (or 14mph if I put the chain on the bigger ring and go into top gear).

In both cases, the original bikes were six-speed touring Bromptons with M-style handlebars and touring racks with dynamo lighting. Apart from the gearing, we've also changed the seatposts on the bikes - I ride with a titanium seatpost and Nordicdude has a telescopic one. The telescopic seatpost allows the seat to be rapidly removed when packing the bikes into their travel bags, which are supplied by Carradice (via SJS Cycles).  For added comfort, the handlebar grips on Squeak are made by BioGrip (previously available from Rose Versand, similar to Ergon bar-ends).  Bubble has stock handlebar grips.

To carry luggage, we follow the advice provided by Laura and Russ at thepathlesspedalled.com in their handy guide to touring with Bromptons; we use the Brompton touring bag on the front of the bikes, and carry our clothes and sleeping bags in a 30 litre rucksack on the back, secured to a short length of dowel that is tightly strapped to the saddlebag mounting points on our Brooks B17 saddles.
For added luggage capacity, both bikes are fitted with a front handlebar bag - Bubble has a 4l bag that FW Evans have started selling this summer, while Squeak has a slightly modified Altura front bag with the mounting plate for the bar bag repositioned so that it is towards the bottom of the rear of the bag; this is straightforward to do because the plate is bolted rather than riveted on the Altura bag, which uses a Rixen and Kaul attachment system.