Prologue: The day before we leave.
Distance Cycled 5km.
The train is air-conditioned cool, the warmth of the heatwave has diminished slightly. I'm travelling down to Maastricht a day before we leave for our 2006 tour of Denmark and Norway. A borrowed Brompton (Damae's) is locked up in the cycle area, hopefully not missing me too much. The Dyane died with Damae and Mia in it, on the way to Belgium for a short holiday. So my overnight bag (Damae's Brompton Touring bag) is heavy with tools and a new petrol pump. If I wasn't arriving so late I would have cycled the 35km from the station to where she is staying a second time. You know I think a Brompton could make a fine tourer given a few more gears.
The plan is to cycle the NSCR in Denmark from Flensburg to Hirtshals there taking a ferry to Kristiansand. Then train to Stavanger and pick up the 13 from Tau to Voss. From Voss over the Numedalsruta to either Larvik if time is short or to Sarpsborg if we have more time to spare to see Marielle in concert.
If Larvik is our destination then we'll take the ferry back to Hirtshals cycle to Kolding via Skagen and Fredrikshavn. If we end up going to Sarpsborg then we will cycle to Strömstad in Sweden take the train to Göteborg, and then the ferry to Fredrikshavn. From there to Kolding. Going back via Larvik Hirtshals would be nice to be able to say we have done the Danish bit of the NSCR and I understand that the view from Skagen is wonderful.
We think we have prepared more this year in terms of cycling trips. All our cycling on the touring bikes has been done fully laden so we are used to how they handle and how to pace ourselves. We have had two 200km trips one with a group of 10 people the other down to a birthday party in Breda (where we camped wild) and back in scorching weather.
Several short trips mostly on Friday nights coming back on Saturday morning have helped us with setting up and packing up camp more quickly. We're down to a comfortable 90mins from first stirrings to bikes ready to go (including making and eating breakfast). These short trips are great and seem to lengthen the weekend by a whole day. We hope to be able to carry on doing this into the autumn.