NORTH SEA SUMMER

The ride from Bakkaåno to Flekkefjord is one of the hillier sections of the trip around south-west Norway. The road snakes around the head of Jossingfjorden, hugging the side of a vertical cliff and plunging through a dark tunnel.   Good brakes and decent lights are essential. The tunnel is unlit and without lights you will not be able to see where you are going. My own lights, as you may have guessed, were not that great. The campsite at Egenes near Flekkefjord is one of the oddest I stayed on. The tent sections are either a small stony area of hard-standing on top of a small hillock, or a narrow piece of grass verge outside the main campsite. The poor facilities for   tents were almost made up for by the helpful friendliness of the owners. All night I listened to squalls of hail and rain blowing around the lake and the hills.   The Bakkaåno to Flekkefjord map is here. When I set off in the morning it was cold and wet, the wind strong from the north-west. F...

The headland west of Lomesanden The campsite at Lomesanden is hidden away behind a giant industrial site making aluminium castings. There is a wide, curving sandy beach sheltered to the west by a headland crowned by WWII German gun emplacements, so it’s very safe! The site was about 3km from the town of Farsund and when I cycled into town I found a huge new roundabout on the edge hosting two large supermarkets.  This proved to be a pattern in Norway, as I suppose it is in the UK. Sometimes three supermarkets shared a roundabout.  They were all a little different in price and range of goods available, but I wouldn’t want to spoil any traveller’s fun by telling them which was which. On Monday I took a day off from cycling - and cycled into Farsund.  It was mostly closed – partly because it was still winter and partly, I think, because it was Monday.  It’s quite a small town with a population that clearly grows a lot in the summer when the holiday...