Bømlo to Haugesund - 27th May
The small campsite in Leirvik was my introduction to the NAFcamp organisation. The NAF is the Norwegian equivalent of the AA or the RAC, but they also produce an excellent campsite guide with a very good general map of Norway. The guide is free from any NAF campsite. I met Gunther on the campsite. He was a little gloomy. Seventy years old, and estranged from his family, he warned me that the decade between sixty and seventy had aged him twenty years. Even so, he aimed to cycle 2000km every month. He was pessimistic about the weather, too, but as I cycled away from Leirvik over the huge bridges that led to the island of Bømlo the sun came out. The road snaked around the heads of small inlets of the sea and it rained off and on, but in a not-unenjoyable way. I stopped at a petrol station for coffee and sat in the sun to let my jacket steam dry and a passer-by ordered me to turn my face to the sun. I was wasting a golden opportunity! Orchids on Bømlo The island of Bømlo...