Day 13-2. An evening cycling. Barmen to Sylte contd.
Just as every climb must be followed by a descent the rain was followed by a wonderful lightshow. Whilst we were a little disappointed by not finding the campsite, the scenery, the sunshine and the relatively easy going made up for it. However as eight o'clock became nine we started wondering just where we were going to camp tonight.
There then followed a rather disconcerting search for a place to camp. Although Norway is big most of the land in this part of the country was being cultivated or was covered in trees. We nearly stopped where there was a small patch of grass in a wood but decided to push on. As the sky darkened in the Norwegian sort of way we became a little disconsolate. At half past nine we found a grassy field next to the road across the bay from the wood and decided this was far enough.
After we'd put up the tent Damae managed to find the owner of the land and asked him if it was OK to camp there. His answer was "I'm going fishing tonight so I don't need it, feel free. There's a tap outside my boathouse if you want some drinking water." This made both of us feel more relaxed as neither of us has got used to the Allemansrett. We finished unpacking as a few twilight mosquitos and cool air forced us to don our raincoats again. Still the sunset was wonderful, changing slowly in the way it does on the West Coast and we finished off the evening with some cocoa.
Instead of cycling the twenty kilometres we'd planned to do, we had covered almost fifty. Although it was a bit late we were happy to have thirty kilometres in hand, and our wild camping spot was lovely. Our 'this would be a nice place to live' sensors were busy as we fell asleep to the sounds of water lapping on the shore and outboard motors spluttering their way across the fjord.