to haugesund – public holidays are busy

Leaving early suits me more to get a full days cycle in. It was not too cold either and I cycled on in and through Leirvik. The cycle route that takes you from Leirvik to Langevag is very hilly. Of course I knew there would be hills in Norway but more in terms of long climbs uphill and then long descents. The route here is very up & down and up & down – constantly changing gears, it is nice and you do get to see lots of small villages and Norway type stuff but it can get annoying as there is not anytime to do long stretches either up-hill or down-hill. Arriving in Langevag was a big relief to see the ferry boat. It was very hot too. A food shop was close by so I made what felt like a ‘supermarket sweep’ of the shop taking everything that would satisfy my hunger. I missed the ferry by 5 minutes by mistake but was able to sunbath and then other cyclist arrived too so we caught up and talked about ‘the hills’. The ferry trip was very nice as the sun was shining brightly – this brings out the colours of the water to make it look that really nice turquoise blue colour.

The route from Buavagen was much flatter and smoother and there were decent distances to get some speed. Made it to Haugesund in a shorter time than expected. This weekend there was a public holiday so everything was going to be closed from the Saturday through to the Tuesday. This was a big problem as a cyclist, as you tend not to carry much food to help with the weight. As it turned out in general there were places that you could buy food from. So it was not so much of a problem as I had been told when leaving Bergen. Anyhow, got to a food shop and then headed to the campsite to pitch up for the night. As it was a public holiday the campsite was packed beyond belief – you could not get moved and it looked like a gypsy site. The sun had shone most of the day and it was a really lovely evening to have some heat in the air.