Day 5. Haugesund to Ølberg contd.
The relative ease of the terrain allowed for good progress to be made that day. This was also helped by the long ferry from Skudeneshavn to Mekjarvik. The ferry to Mekjarvik was a lovely 'mini cruise'. The ferry stops halfway at the Island of Kvitsøy (supposed to be nice for a couple of hours) turning 180' in the process before carrying on the other way.
The sun was up again the clouds few and far between. Sat outside again and watched the beautiful seascape go by. We thought about going to the nearby Island of Rennesøy but not being sure if we were going to keep to our daily average we pushed on. In retrospect we could have taken it easier ending up with three free days at the end of the trip. Maybe we should do more of the touristy diversion next time we come this way.
On leaving the ferry we hit a small section of unmetalled road taking us away from the main road busy with ferry traffice. In keeping with form for the day the changeable weather changed briefly from sun to a shower. We stopped to put on some rain gear and within 5 minutes had to stop again to take it all off.
We'd already decided not to go into Stavanger and Sandnes prefering to take the westerly of the two route options. Influencing our decision was the availability of campsites in the section and the desire to enjoy the remoteness of the landscape and sea views. As a result we ended the day at the campsite at Ølberg on the west coast having cut off a couple of minor loops on the route.
I remember this as a nice campsite albeit a bit full sited behind a small set of sand dunes. We arrived quite late, umed and ahed about where to put the tent finally settling for a spot close to the toilet block. The sky put on another good show, angry clouds and lots of contrast this time. I had a wonderful shower later in the evening I put one token in and after more than 15 minutes of lashings of hot water got bored and turned the thing off. It was still going strong when I did.
Damae made use of the laundry room, but our clothes did not dry out fully. This was probably due to Damae using a cool drying cycle concerned that our synthetic clothing and towels would not survive the heat.