GS.no Day 9 Heia (380km)

We are making a mad dash for Lofoten islands before Gertys holidays run out. A mad dash here is 900km is 2 days. Given our average speed over 9 days has been 53kmph this was no easy feat. Speed limits here are ludicrous for summer they are so slow that a mobility scooter would be a viable vehicle for travel. A lot of the time you are buzzing along in 2nd trying to remain under 50kmph and when you do get to give it a squirt to say the max 80kmph some selfish bastard in a motor home is swerving along at 60 with a strain of pissed off motorist behind it.

Any way we left Kristiansund in sunshine and after three hours and 160km we arrived at Trondheim for a coffee in the old part of town. From there it rained all the way until we could ride no further being limited by the wet and cold. Our bed for the night is in Heia Kro (Kro = Pub) about half way to Lofoten.

View from near our coffee stop in Trondheim.

GS.no Day 8 Atlantic highway - kristiansund (150km) 4hrs

A Short day today. Our only real direction is to ride the Atlantic highway. 

But first a quick side trip the the Troll wall a famous 1000m climbing face of loose rock and ice with an overhanging top of the route. Unfortunately the top was in cloud but apparently that's not unusual. I guess it's a cross between nth face Eiger and the hideous Scottish wet winter snow climbs.

Trollveggen

Extremely low speed limits 50-60 most of the way made this ride pretty frustrating. The first glimpse of the Atlantic and the "Highway" was the smattering of low lying rocky islets strung along the coast. It's green and pretty and we have bright sunshine. The high way is only about 60km of islets linked by bridges which is impressive but as a motorcycle ride it's pretty lame, soon enough your in a massive tunnel on the way to Kristiansund. It's a bit like the sky bridge between Stanmore tops and Woollongong in Australia, ie looks great in the motorcycling mags but when your on it its not as impressive and it's all over in a øjeblik (eye blink).

Kristiansund was about as far as we could bother so we scoured the tow for a centre. Alas it's missing the town has no real centre and it took us several spiralling laps breaking a few road rules to find an open cafe with wifi. I understand Kristiandsund was heavily bombed during WWII which would account for the lack of charm.

We found great accomodation at place called "Homes" (owned and run by the very talkative Johanas Holmes who lives upstairs). It is a set of rooms in a converted basement for 100auds. It was clean basic and 1/3 the price of anywhere else. Guests also have use of his fantastic garden where we sat and chatted to other travelers before a squadron of myge (midges) descend and lay siege. 

On arrival we noticed a large Turkish presence so expected there might be a great Turkish restraunt. Sure enough right on the waters edge we found one and had some extraordinarily tasty Turkish fare and a bottle of Italian red. 

GS.no Day 7 Geiranger and Trolstein 192 km

Here we are ready for the motorcycling roads Norway is most famous for. First off Geiranger. It starts off in an alpine glacial wonderland then plummets into Geiranger fjord. From there one climbs out slowly behind numerous motorhomes. (living proof that we "humans" are ultimately selfish). Then it's down to another ferry crossing.

From the ferry it is a slow climb to the top of the Trolstein. At the top I stopped to take the mandatory photo but Gerty (in the lead) completely missed the tourist centre and rode down to the bottom. Realising her error she road back up again to meet me then we continued down together. 

Now the first half off the day was brilliant riding, However, the hair pin bends and loads of slow traffic of the Geiranger fjord and Trolstein switchbacks are not a brilliant ride. Don't get me wrong it is beautiful but it's way too crowded to be a great ride. Gerty however loved Trolstein doing it twice, not so much for the curves but for overtaking recklessly on the straights.

 

GS.no Day 6 Sognefjellet til Lom (218km 5hrs)

Beautiful day to day with brilliant riding. Sognefjellet is another motorcycling and tourist dream road. I'll just let the pictures tell the story but traffic was light and riding was great.

The start of the day

Stop for another glacier pic

Typical road in the section

Glacier moraine 

GS.no Day 5 Single track to Hoyanger (251km)

HNorwegians body love tunnels. Part Viking part mole they burrow through mountains to avoid long roads. Today's route took us through so many tunnels we lost count. Some small and unlit, some so huge they also containined round abouts at underground intersections. They all felt colder than the outside temperature even though the Beemers temp gauge showed little difference.

We rode in rain from 10am - 4pm with only a couple of coffee stops. Why so long? Well our route took us on an extraordinary single lane road hugging the side of several fjords and gorges. One had to sit in an overtaking bay to allow oncoming traffic to pass. At one stage we rounded a corner only to screech to a halt to miss an oncoming bus that took up the entire road. He couldn't back up as is customary for cars as the was a queue of cars behind him. So we had to. Now for those of you that don't ride motorcycles, they don't go backwards, you have to push them backwards on tippy toes which is extra taxing when the bike is fully loaded.

The scenery was spectacular but the rain and wet roads had me hating it until the scenery won over after an hour or so. Mid afternoon the rain turned torrential and we were now getting cold so it was a little less tolerable. Finally we boarded our first fjord hopping ferry to Larvik where we grabbed a coffee and urgently booked the nearest hotel. 50k later we we showered and fed in a cosy hotel in Hoyanger.

View from the hotel

GS.no Day 4 Heroes and Hardangervidda (954km)

M Ryukan, is the scene of the famous "Heroes of Telemark" WWII sabotage mission. A squad of UK based Norwegian commandos parachuted into the wilds of the Telemark region to destroy a heavy water plant at the Vermok power station and thus delay the German nuclear bomb research program. Their xc ski based approach and daring entry to the powestation to blow up the heavy water apparatus directly is legendary. But that was not the end of it as they got word that the Germans were quickly rebuilding the plant. They we then tasked with a second mission to destroy all stockpiled heavy water that was being transported by train. The best option was destroy it on the ferry that took the train across a fjord and it worked but at the cost of the lives of most of the civilian passengers.

Today is very special for me. I have whatched and read so much about this mission and today I got to visit the Vermok power station. Whilst the heavy Walter factory Section had ben destroyed and demolished after US bombing the  power station  was in perfect repair and is now a meuseum. It was fantastic visit not only for e war history component but the power station itself was interesting. As soon as I walked in it smelt like a hydro station and bought back memories of my time working in the Snowy Mountains Hydo. When this station was built in 1919 it was the latest in the world. 

Basically an its an engineer/xcskiier and war history buffs wet dream.

Our afternoons ride was across the aplpine area, the Hardangervidda. This is glorious alpine country reminded me of the lake districts, Scotland and even parts of the Kousciosco national park. It's a xc skiing dream with little lodges every where. And, as seems to be the tradition here  most of their roofs were covered with grass. This is ist here an ingenious traditional thermal insulation approach or a bone idle approach to maintenance.

We made a brief stop coffee stop at Geil, a huge ski resort bristling with Lycra clad Noweigians in salomon shoes and running jackets. From there it was a short ride to our destination Eidfjord where we took a cheep room at a camp ground as it had started to rain again. This last section took us through our first tunnels. The Norweigans bloody love tunnelling. One tunnel today corkscrewed its way down and down as a means to get us to the valley floor. 

We stayed in the attic pictured here

GS.no day 3 Rjukan rain

Contrary to weather forecasts it pissed down last night. Seriously tropical rain that tested the tents mm rating with a few drops getting through. Consequentially it was a very late start rain stopped at 10. Tent dry and chicks away at 12.

Curvy glorious wet roads and oncoming camper vans taking up 2/3 of the road made it a little uncomfortable, but an hour or so saw us in our first real coffee shop denoted by three motorcycles parked out side. The coffee was great so we stayed for two and recharged our devices un aware more rain was on approach. As we left it started bucketing down again. Visibility was bad and water on the road was deep enough in places for a bit of aquaplaning.

 Gerty had a little complain about me riding slowly but it was I that had to peer through the rain, meet head on traffic and estimate unmarked tight corners all she had to do was follow my tail lights and avoid the flaming wreckage should I  stuff up. ( not many tight or decreasing radius corners are marked here as there are too many)

Around 4 we checked into a budget guest house in Ryukan to dry out and soon after went out for a Norwegian attempt at Chinese, which turned out not too bad at all. 

Rjukan is in a valley which in winter has no sun whatsoever. An enterprising resident has designed and built 3 sun tracking mirrors atop the mountain to reflect a patch of sun light at 80% original strength onto the town square. This provides a patch of 60 square meters of sun for the residents to catch some Vitamin D.

Said mirrors

GS.no Day 2 DK to NO 245km (+3.5hr ferry)

We said our fairwells to Anne at around 6am then rode the hour or so to the ferry terminal at Hirtshals. The trip lasted 3.5 hrs so I took this opportunity to catch some ZZZZs on the deck along with hundreds of others sunbathing on the helideck.

We arrived at Langsund at 1:30. What a contrast to Denmark with steep rock walls rising out of the water right from the ferry terminal. Straight off the ferry we rode the scenic route to Dalen in 26 deg sunny weather. There are very few straight roads here and by Dalen we had seen fjords, mountains, typical Norwiegian houses dotted a about said mountins and had started to wear the sides of our tires (which don't get much of a work out in Denmark)

We checked in to a campsite in Dalen, sorted the tent etc and headed to a little cafe on the fjord for a sensational steak and alcohol free beer. NOTE: The Norwiegian blood alcohol limit for driving is ZERO so they have very good alcohol free beers which are also much cheaper the the usual 20AUD for a .5 litre draught beer.

Waiting for our first of many ferries

Scandies catching a few rays while they can

Our first camp

Gerty sampling the first of many non alcholoic beers

GS.no Day 1 Kolding til Hou(Hals) 241km

Today marks the beginning of our 3 week motorcycle tour of Norway.

The usual fannying around and last minute purchases saw us having a farewell coffee at our fav Kolding coffee shop at around 1 pm. That's 3 hours later than planned. From there we squirted up the freeway to stay at a east coast seaside town by the name of Hou. Gerty had arrange for us to stay with a colleague of hers, Anne. Anne was great, offering great hospitality, great food, great walks around the area and a great person for Gerty to discuss academic stuff (this is a role I cannot substitute for).

Rømø ramble

Rømø

Dansk 101 - Check your baby at the door

This is a great one, so cute.

The Danes leave there babies in their barnevogn (baby van) outside to sleep. It is common to see a line of baby carriages outside a cafe in the snow and rain all with happily sleeping children inside.

Apparently the kids love this and sleep soundly healthily. It also is apparently healthy as they are less likely to catch colds from the over heated and under ventilated internal environments here.

My neighbours have just had a new baby girl Nora and I get to say hello each day as she sleeps outside here apartment.

Børn asleep outside a cafe

Babys chill'n (literally) outside the castle

lile Nora on a play date with here friend out side my neighbours place

Winter is comming - Last ride

The winter has been mild up until now. I have been on various short rides in Nov/dec but only to the shops or language school etc.

I did attempt a ride out to the country on one sunny day after language school but turned back as it was too cold for my Kevlar jeans. I also rode once when the Beemers temp indicator was flashing sub 3deg warning at me. I needed to get to school so I braved it and apart from a few ice patches in holes it was fine.

My BMW insurance covers the bike over winter which is unusual here as all other companies do not cover you for winter. However, as a wise man once said if you are staring down a snowy icy road wondering if your insurance will cover you you are really worrying about the wrong thing.
It is now consistently under 0 degrees, the lake is frozen over and just today we had some beautiful snow fall.

So that's it for this season.

The Beemer is now happily tucked away in the under ground car park which does not drop below freezing. I therefore lucky that I don't have to take all the winter precautions or options that others do. For example it is common here for people to board there bikes at a place that will keep them safe and above zero for the winter.

Many here find winter depressing it is so prevalent that we even learn about "vinterdrepression" in language school, how to recognise it, avoid it and or treat it. I however love it (so far) and the snow has a pleasing and cheering effect on me.

I'm keen for it to snow again in a day or so as I think that will then be enough to get the skis out for a trundle around the lake or in the forest. Its unlikely to happen but here's hoping.

Boats starting to freeze in

The birds have taken up skating on the Castle lake

The lake is now completely covered in ice

Snow clearing devices and their humble pilots have appeared from nowhere keeping all the pedestrian ways clear

Down town Kolding is absolutely beautiful with a dusting of snow

Fyrværkeri

Fyrværkeri (fireworks) are legal in Denmark (except for bungers or bombs). 

This week has been so much fun re living my early childhood as its been 30 odd years since fireworks were last sold in good old nanny state Australia. 

For two weeks I have been travelling around the town checking out all the markets and shops. I ve purchased samples and tested the products out in the kitchen as its raining outside. I've even modified  the Hex Hyl (Witch Howl) (see the yellow ones below) into an excellent explosive (Bunger) with the help of a 14 year old danish kid on  you tube. 

The choice of pyrotechnic goodness is a amazing here.  It ranges from high end batteries of professional grade fireworks ie a case about the size of a slab of beer that you light and stand back to watch a curated display, through rockets(rackets) of all sizes, down to throw downs (knadperler), hexehyl, jumping jacks etc.

Sale is legal from  15 dec through 31 dec and its legal to let then off between 27th dec and new years day. So I had a few weeks of going for evening walks around the lake letting of crackers, woohoo.

On new years eve it gets ridiculous. As soon as it gets dark (4pm) there are fireworks going off all over town. This builds to a crescendo around midnight when there are so many going off the sky is full for two hours and the smoke is as thick as fog.

The good lady Wilde and I took out meager (by Danish Standards) bag of fyrewærkeri down to the castle lake and spent a glorious hour or so letting them off. I purchased some rockets for the good lady and these were the highlight of our fun.

Our selection

Puzzle me this

It's been a bit wet lately so the good Lady Wilde and I have rediscovered jigsawpuzzles. We had a great time this week compulsively applying ourselves to this little beauty.

Australia William Robinsons Winter

Først Jule i Danmark

A selection from our first Christmas day in Denmark. We had a christmas at home in our wonderful appartment, where I made my version of traditional Danish fare. I must say it was delicious and the day was hygge (Danish word for cosy, relaxed, warn, friendly, safe, etc etc)

Gertys Hair dressers Christmas window

Our outside Christmas tree in our newly enclosed balcony

My attempt at traditional Danish Christmas lunch. Ribbensteg and rødkal

Our inside Christmas tree

Very Special YuleFrokost

I was extremely privileged to be invited to my landlords (Ivan) traditional YuleFrokost event last night. These 20 or so guys have been meeting every year for 30 years. They even sit at exactly the same location around the table each year and sing the same songs.

I was welcomed warmly and seated between Ivan and Hans (an old family friend of my aunt and uncle). I was mentioned in the speeches, and one of the jokes was specially translated to English for me. I believe Ivan's speech included something about me making a speach next in Danish but hopefully the Snaps was messing with my hearing.

The food was all traditional, ribbensteg, grønkal, herring etc and the toasts many. I must have had 10 shots of snaps just in toasts. Anyway I practised a little danish and some spoke english with me. I felt very welcome, although some must have just been tolerating my presence in this hallowed gathering.

I was one of the last to leave so helped tidy up then staggered through town to Greve axel. It had opened for the night club crowd for the last time. Nichlaus kindly gave me a free cone of fries to settle the munchies and then I was off to the irish pub to meet some friends for some cleansing ale. Needless to say I did not get out of bed the next day.

Ivans (standin) Yule frokost. (Hans lower left)

Farvel Grev Axel and great coffee

Today my favorite cafe "Grev Axel" closes.

The owners Niclaus and Agne have become great friends and Niclaus my trusted cultural advisor. I have spent many days hanging out meeting wonderful locals, eating great food (including my inclusion on the menu the Aussie Burgrer) and of course the best coffee in Kolding.

As a fitting end to the Sprogskole (Language school) year and Grev Axels passing here I am in grev Axel with my mates from school for a final Coffee.

I will miss you Grev Axel

Now the search for a decent coffee begins

Danish 101 - Yule frokost

A danish tradition leading up to Christmas(Yule) is to have Yulefrokost (Christmas Lunch) parties. In spite of the name these can be anything from brunch through to dinner. 

Only traditional food is severed including;

• Ribbensteg (roast rib steak pork dish with crackling) 
• Grønkal (creamy Kale veggie dish), 
• Hviskal (creamy white cabage like mashed potatoe), 
• Yulemedister (a 40cm long pork sausage spiralled), 
• Slid (picked herring, and curried pickled herring), 
• Ruggebrød ( a dark rye bread in thin slices) 
• Rødkal (red cabbage often pickled), 
• Frykadele (small danish meatballs from pork and veal).

Of course this is Denmark so the beverages are not forgotten. Another tradition around Christmas is that most breweries release a limited run Yulebryg (Christmas brew) this just means that all the standard brews are increased in alcohol  content by 1-2%, are made slightly darker and come with suitably festive labelling. Snaps (schnapps) of various styles including Aquavit is consumed in shots at every toast during a meal ie every few minutes. There is also a glühwein type drink that is served warm named Gløgg. The one pictured has rum and chocolate in it.

At these events there are formal speeches usually covering the year past and traditional singing (every one is given a printed song sheet). Sounds awful but I really like it.

Our selection snaps, gløgg  and julebryg

Danish 101 - Skildpadde

The Danish may not admit this but they have a thing for turtles.

I'm not sure they have any real turtles anywhere but I reckon its their unofficial national animal. The official one being the Mute Swan. I think it may be because the Danish word for Turtle is so cute and one of my favourites. "Skildpadde" pronounced skill paddler. They have chocolates in the shape of turtles, cakes, soap and there's even a statue of one in the town.

Just when you though all this was cute and quirky, things started to get really fucking wierd. Look what we found at the supermarket.

WTF a 2kg can of faux turtle. Yep they have fashioned pork into fake turtle meat and jammed it into a bite size 2k can. The label is in Danish but I think the serving suggestions include a couple of hard boiled egg halves, a trough and a stomach pump.

Hand ball - KIV not KIA

The Sprogskole offered the class free tickets to the opening game of the Hand ball season tonight. So four of us embraced our inner Dane and headed out to the new arena in Kolding. Handball (Håndbol) is big here Denmark and especially in Kolding as the local team KIV Kolding-Kobehaven won last years Danish championship. I understand the Danish teams also do well in European competitions so it is definitely a Danish game.

To my surprise I really enjoyed it. The game has the cadence of basket ball ie fast, end to end turn overs and close scoring. It also includes all the American production vales of basket ball. Think non stop curated music (we will rock you) through out, young girls dancing in skimpy Lycra at every opportunity and mascots (KIVs is a dog) reving up the crowd.

We had standing seats up the back but it was the full experience right down to the one xmas beer per half (Yule øl) I think I,ll go again.

First Snow

 Awoke to my first Danish Snow fall. It was beautiful with light floating flakes falling most of the morning. Only a small amount has survied to the evening but it was still brilliant. Hopefully it doesnt snow tomorrow as I have to ride my motorcycle to Language school.

Snow on our balcony

Snow on the castle