The rains have been coming down, so utilised one of the cabins at the Viking Campsite as a dry store, even with the poor weather, the N.R. 60 really hurts the eyes. Every time you round a corner, you think it couldn’t get more stunning, and yet it does, with glaciers, waterfalls, steep roads and switchbacks. Quite a lot of tunnels on this route, we popped out of one and it was all ice, snow and clouds. Decided on a route with a ferry, which is always fun, to avoid a 25km tunnel, plus I found my first stave church with carved dragons and general woody loveliness.

Towards Hardangervidda, hoping to see reindeer and fiddles, via Kieåsen (Goat Hill) which is a wonderfully narrow road on timed entry/exit. It does have a pretty spooky 2.5km pitch-black tunnel, which was cold and steep, but popping out the top, you see old farms and a viewpoint over the stunning Sørfjord. Back to Fossli waterfall and onto a track to spot reindeer, alas, unsuccessful, but did lounge about on the lichen, which makes for a surprisingly soft seat.

Through incredible tunnels on the N.R. 13, one (the Vallavik tunnel) has a roundabout in the middle of it, lit up, looking like something out of Close Encounters! Utterly bizarre, super worth it for the madness.

More rain overnight with that rookie error in leaving ones helmet downwards in the tent, so it was cold and wet putting it on in the morning.  Had a wonderful walk the previous night though the woods on the old pilgrim/farmers road, saw a load of Fjord Horses, which are super cute and sturdy, waterfalls and a possibly lynx sighting, although I’m blaming the odd late night light!

Slight shocker in the 20 NKR cost for a shower, but after a chilly wet night, sometimes you want some luxury. This also included cooking up our morning porridge in the kitchenette. Found more stave churches – well worth a stop off.

Onto the N.R. 13 to Stavanger, but the way was blocked by a fairground lorry stuck over a bridge – oops. Much standing around looking at whether we could do some Hollywood stunt type riding and going horizontal under it, but decided that maybe a better option was to turn around and head back up – a luxury not afforded to all the other vehicles stuck in the queue. Onto the 134, but boy, is it now cold and very wet. It would appear this road takes us onto the glacial plateau (of course), still skirting Hardangervidda. The route takes us through ice, clouds, rains and many tunnels, one of which we stop just before heading through for an emergency brew up and Li-Klenning, huddling in a doorway.

Headed along the N.R. 9, a much nicer road, with some cracking spots to stop on. Alas, the one we chose was a favourite spot for Norway’s pesky midges – a lunch of elk polse, cheese and sundried tomatoes was ditched in favour of hitting the road, trailing a black cloud of bitey misery behind us.

Arrived in Evje, north of Kristiansand for the ferry to Denmark. After skipping quite a few miserable spots found “Campsite Odden”, pretty de-luxe for us and we felt like we were messing the place up with our tiny Vango Spirit Lite amongst the huge ritzy campers. After a stop at the local Spar for beers, the charming dude in reception helped us get our ferry tickets, but it was quite a lot of malarkey, the stress of which caused me to spill my drink – disaster. At least we were able to sit in one of the kitchens with Wi-Fi, chairs, tables, games, and those all important plug sockets, getting ready for a 5.30am start.

Images: A stave church; Vallavik tunnel (photo by Vegvesen.no); Hardangervidda; Fjord Horse; stuck lorry; breakfast of champions; Gotta love those switchbacks; at the top of Kieåsen; view from the back; we chose a boat instead of a tunnel, wise move, no?