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Where am I?:^mistymornings-->Cycletouring-->Scandinavia 2006-->Day 17

Day 17 part 3. Kongsberg to Hvåra Bru.

At Hvittingfos we stopped for groceries at a Co-op. Two people started talking to us, the first was an old gentleman with an entirely impenetrable dialect of Norwegian. I am not sure what we managed to communicate but it made me feel terribly inadequate in terms of the little Norwegian we had learned. The second person was a lady on a bike who started in Bokmal and then switched to English after it became apparent what our Norwegian was like.

She was a cycle tourer who live in Hvittingfos and liked to go to France in particular for her cycling. She said she was regarded as a bit weird as she commuted with her bike even when the weather was inclement. We had a quick chat where we explained what we had done on our tour so far, and heard that you can get winter tyres with spikes for bicycles. Cool! Then off in the rain as by now it was definitely raining instead of trying to.

From here down to Hvåra Bru it rained constantly and there was no place to stop on the route itself for a cup of coffee let alone to shelter from the rain. As a result we pushed on past the time we should have stopped for dinner and a half hour afterwards I started feeling rather wobbly. We paused at the side of the road and had a quick meal of fresh bread and cheese. I stuffed it hungrily into my mouth and began to feel a bit more human.

By the time we reached Hvåra Bru it was raining heavily. We were once again glad we had bought some good panniers. There was supposed to be a campsite nearby, but it looked like it was on the other side of the valley. We crossed the bridge and then turned back up the valley on the RV 40. It started climbing and we still could not see any sign of a campsite. After a couple of kilometers on this busier main road we saw a Shell petrol station and drawing up to it saw a couple of campers in the field behind it.

We shuffled and dripped our way into the warmth of the shop and yes this was the right place to be for the campsite. It turned out to be the cheapest we had stayed at the whole trip. When we commented the owner said she couldn't bring herself to charge what other places charged. We put up our tent in the rain, and cooked a light meal in the shelter of the outer tent. It was not especially cold and when the rain eased we opened one of the doors to look outside. The cloud cover was so low that it was hard to say if it was mist or cloud.

Between the heavier showers we went and showered. The shower block was neat tidy and warm. It looked as if it had recently been re-done and everything worked fine. We were both a bit fatigued and took full advantage of the showers to ease stiff muscles. We really liked this campsite and if we are there again would stay.

By half nine we were ready for bed and put up the inner tent. The light with the mist and cloud remained fascinating lending a magical atmosphere to the otherwise mundane place. The rain continued on and off through the night waking us every now and again.

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