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Where am I?:^mistymornings-->Cycletouring-->2008-->Norway.-->Day 36

Day 36-1. Horten to Larvik.

Distance D 80.75 km Max 51.5 km/h Time 5.35:47 Average 14.4 km/h
Distance S 80.93 km Max 51.0 km/h Time 5.12:12 Average 15.5 km/h

The day started grey, cool and damp. Perhaps we shouldn't have hoped for fine weather today. There was no way that we were going to get the tent dry, the heavy dew saw to that. Our day also started late, which was not surprising given the late arrival last night. Still, the showers were good and it took us just a little longer than our normal ninety minutes to get on our way.

After the slow start we cycled the short distance to the Midgard Senter, and by half past eleven we were getting to grips with the small MP3 players that the museum supplied us with. They players were loaded with English commentary that added information to the boards placed near each of the exhibits. It worked rather well and we stood in our own little worlds engrossed in the stories and information coming out of the earphones. I was rather taken by the telling of tales of the viking gods, never having been exposed to them before.

Whilst we were there a party of English tourists came in and had a guided tour. One lady, after reading one of the information boards took out a felt tipped pen and proceeded to cross out a superfluous letter in the English translation. Damae challenged her about this and asked her why she hadn't mentioned the spelling mistake to the staff at the museum. Her dismissive answer was that 'they' wouldn't do anything about it. Damae was especially taken aback by this act of vandalism, and act possibly born out of a lifetime of 'knowing better'.

A little while later having looked at everything in the museum we went to the cafe near the entrance. We had a piece of cake and a cafe latte both were very good indeed and called it lunch. Whilst we were sitting there a lady came and started chatting to us asking about our holiday. She liked to cycle although she drove large trucks for a living. We mentioned our interest in Norway as a place to live and she reacted positively, which was nice.

It was ten to two by the time we left the Midgard Senter. It was worth a visit and the sun had come out whilst we had been inside. Our desire for fine weather had been answered. The only possible blot on the horizon was that we still had maybe eighty or ninety kilometres to do, in the lovely rolling southern Norwegian landscape. We wondered just when we'd get to the campsite.

For now, it was a case of retracing our route towards Sandefjord. We pootled along the coast in the glorious sunshine, enjoying a glorious tailwind, passing white houses with well tended gardens. Just after Munch's house it was time to let gravity take us down that steep hill in Åsgårdstrand. It was fun, although we had to slam on the brakes at the bottom. Åsgårdstrand looked lovely in the sun and we stopped for a few minutes to take in the view. Then it was off towards Tønsberg again, passing that large red tanker in the bay for a second time.

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