Day 25-1. Græsli to Røros.
Distance D 105.20 km Max 52.5 km/h Time 7.38:21 Average 13.7 km/hDistance S 105.16 km/h Max 52.5 km/h Time 7.15:42 Average 14.4 km/h
Considering how late the previous day ended, today started relatively early. We were up and out of our tent at around nine, enjoying the peace and quiet of our personal campsite and some morning sun filtered thought the trees. An hour and a half later we were packed up and ready to go and made our way slowly onto the main road.
Once there, I took a photo of the sign to the campsite that, last night, near dusk had been only just visible from the road. Looking back the way we had come, I noticed a cafe on one side of the road called "Den lille café" which seemed very closed. On the other side of the road was a small IT business I'd spotted last night. It was Monday morning but all was quiet here in Gręssli. Quiet was not a bad way to start our day and the first few kilometres of the day turned out to be on relatively flat open roads. The scenery was not so very different from the end of the day before but there was more cultivated land here. Towards the end of one long straight we saw the road rise up in the distance and we we knew we would have to start climbing soon.
This was the first test of the day, a moderate 6-9% climb up over to Ås which started about thirty minutes after we'd started cycling just after Aunet. This had given us time to warm up a little and the climb was not so severe nor was it terribly long. It was quite pretty here too even though the sun had all but disappeared. Twenty minutes later we saw a sign for Ås i Tydal and the top of the hill just beyond it. Just as the descent started I noticed a slightly dillapidated house with trees growing from the turf roof. The remainder of the descent to Ås was on a cycle path and ten minutes later we stopped at the local Co-op to pick up some biscuits, chocolate and coffee. Damae picked up a 500g pack of coffee as it was the mild Co-op own brand and wanted a good supply of it. She'd forgotten that I only had space for a 250g pack in my coffee storage pot. I grumped for a moment and then found a way to pack the coffee in my rear pannier.
On a normal day this would be time for an early lunch stop but we'd started rather late. So we had a quick bite to eat and some chocolate before hopping back on our bikes and returning to the RV 705. The usual adage about what goes down must go up came into play and as we left town we struggled slowly up the hill, our muscles stiff from the short stop. We started on a small section of cycle track, but as so often happens it petered out as we left the centre of 'town'. Just after I stopped to let Damae catch up.
We decided to cycle on for at least an hour before looking for a spot for lunch. The route was not especially demanding and the sun was shining between the clouds more often. This part of Norway was lovely and green and there were farms every now and again. We were now following a river upstream and the clouds and sunshine conspired with a small waterfall to produce a view worth stopping for. It even looked like the sun was going to come out. As we approached Stugudal the sun came out properly and we started looking for a place for lunch.
As the river started broadening and turning into a lake not so far from Stugudal Landhandel we spotted a beach next to the Stuggusjøen. We doubled back a couple of hundred metres from the Landhandel and parked our bikes just off the road even though the road was wide and flat. "Better safe than sorry" was our thought. Sheltered from the breeze by a small wood it made the ideal place to brew up and have some lunch. We sat in the sun enjoying our late lunch listening to the sounds of the Norwegian countryside. It was gone two by the time we wheeled our bikes back up to the road and started with a gentle downhill into Stugudal.