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Where am I?:^mistymornings-->Cycletouring-->2008-->Norway.-->Day 38

Day 38-1. Larvik to Hirtshals.

Distance D 7.55 km Max 42 km/h Time 0.30:24 Average 14.8 km/h
Distance S 8.12 km Max 38.5 km/h Time 0.4:37 Average 14.0 km/h

Something was not quite right, as sounds had started drifting into my semi-consciousness. When they didn't stop, I woke up. German was being spoken in hushed tones outside our tent, accompanied by the sounds of another tent being emptied and then dismantled. It looked like Williams and Jongkind's 1st Law of Cycletouring had just been invoked once again.

The two Germans who had arrived yesterday evening in a Renault Kangoo with two bikes hanging off the back, presumably taking the same ferry we planned to, were getting ready to go.

Early.

VERY early.

As in FIVE IN THE MORNING EARLY!

We were both awake by now, as I suspect were the other inhabitants of the campsite. After about twenty minutes of noise we heard car doors shutting, then an engine starting and the car leaving the campsite. We wondered what on earth they were doing. I mean the ferry didn't leave until eight in the morning. Even on bikes it only took fifteen minutes to get to the terminal. In a car, it would take no more than five.

We tried vainly to go back to sleep but by ten to six it was clear we were awake. We crawled out of the tent to find a half moon in a clear blue dawn sky. The tent was as wet as it could be, a heavy dew covering it and everything else in sight. In the East there was a glow in the sky, at least it was going to be another gorgeous day.

We didn't bother making breakfast as we had made sandwiches for today last night, so it was just a case of packing up and leaving. Twenty minutes later we were ready to go and said goodbye to Vasvik campsite. We made our way past Nesfjorden for the last time and were treated to a glorious late summer sunrise. Fifteen minutes later we stopped to record our long shadows, like the ones we'd seen on the campsite in Midsund and then rolled on to the checkin. By twenty to sevenž more than an hour before the ferry was due to leave, we were standing in the cold damp air at the front of our own little queue. We were cold and damp too.

Above us, the almost orange glow of the sun provided some sort of distraction. It reflected off all sorts of things, panelling on the new Color Line building and tall cranes standing idly in the harbour. 'Our' Germans were already in the queue when we arrived, they had the good luck of sitting inside a warm car at this unreasonably early time of day. I should have walked over and asked them if we could sit in their warm car too, but it didn't occur to me at the time.

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