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...

I landed in Sweden at 3.30 in the afternoon and set off southwards. My English friends from a few nights before had recommended a campsite near Tanumshede and I wanted to get there that night. It was further than I thought, but after the first few kilometres the roads were wide and empty and there were no hills.   It slowly dawned on me that I might not see another hill until I reached England.  The NSCR led through farmland – not a holiday home in sight that I could see, but the route was, for the first time, 20km inland from the coast, and no doubt that helped. It felt very empty compared to the part of Norway I’d just left, and the feeling was intensified when I saw four huge grey cranes rise up from a field by the roadside and flap slowly overhead. In the small town of Tanumshede I had trouble finding an ATM.  Norway’s minibank had become Sweden’s bankomat.   Then I had trouble finding the road to the campsite.  I no longer had the detailed map...