We had a pretty relaxed evening at the Lom campsite. It's a pretty good site with all the usual facilities that we've come to expect, which meant that after we'd cooked a fish pie and risotto and downed a couple of beers each, the best we could manage was slouching in the lounge in front of the TV watching Ingeeerlund slip one up the Ukranians. Or rather I did, being Scottish, the SGD doesn't understand football!
One of the main reasons for visiting Lom was that it was featured in the last series of the 'Hairy Bikers' Baking/Travel show, or rather the 'Bakeriet I Lom' was. I recall them getting stuck into making a batch of Norwegian 'Danish' pastries and, being quite partial to a nice bun, I thought that as we were going to be nearby we should drop in. Wow, if you like your bread and cakes don't come here. You may not want to leave. Anyway, we had 'second breakfast' and managed to prise ourselves away and waddle over to the bikes. I liked Lom :-)
"Did you eat'em both?"
Steve had sussed the route for today. We'd decided to take to shorter days getting to Oslo, which is why we had the morning in Lom. Out on the splendid 55 towards Sogndal. A stunning 140 km of twisting tarmac, commencing with a beautiful, long and steady climb up onto Sognefjell, the ride across which was above the snow line and breathtaking. A tricky decent down to Skjolden followed and it was then a long run alongside the Lustrafjorden, negotiating several tunnels en route to Sogndal (tunnels and ferries abound in this region of Norway).
A Tiger in the Mountains:
A Scottsman in the Mountains:
After another short ferry crossing (they vary, but generally cost about £5 for a bike) we picked up the E16 and then the 52 towards Gol, passing through the Hemsedal ski area en route. Great roads again and no traffic. Blimey, it's going to be a shock for us when we get home.
Dropped on a big campsite just outside Gol and, despite the weather being excellent, decided that for about £10 extra, we'd stay in a cabin. They feature on all the sites we've seen in Scandinavia and are basically small (2 or 4 bunk), very well equipped wooden huts. These had table and chairs, all utensils, a fridge and two-ring hob, plus a small electric heater :-). Nice after a sunny, but very cold at times, day in the saddle.
A few memorable encounters today as well: saw our first idiotic Norwegian driver, chatted to a friendly garage owner about the fiscal state of his nation compared to ours and a guy from Oslo who looked about 50, had retired and now spent his time travelling around Scandinavia fishing (I could see what Steve was thinking...), oh and a Dutch motorcyclist who was pass storming on a V Max. Brave man!
Bye the way, it's a beautiful evening here...again...
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