This has been a fantastic day – early morning mist and rain clearing to give a sunny afternoon. Fjords and coastline all just superb.
I managed to avoid the heaviest hour of rain this morning by having a second breakfast in a bakery at Namsos around 10am. Meagre fare compared with American 2nd breakfasts last year, but still very welcome. In fact its been positively busy today as I am returning to more regular tourist routes. I even found a rosdside cafe with staff wanting to chat. Had a chat with cyclists going south. And with a guy on the ferry. The first question is “Are you going to  Nordkapp?”.  “No” is not what they are expecting – so the guy on the ferry cheered my up by telling me that its a waste of time – very boring. Whereas Lofoten is stunning. My calculation exactly!

I had a little excitement when, at 2pm and only about 2 miles from my 2.30 ferry, a stream of traffic started coming the other way – off the ferry. It was out of sight, and I assumed it would turn and leave asap, as the Trondheim ferry had. So I sprinted (that’s a relative term on a 40kg bike – great win for Cav again today – got to watch the finish for the 3rd day in a row) the rest of the way – only to find that the ferry was spending 20 mins being refuelled from a road tanker.

By the way – the bike lanes in Namsos were superb – they even blast away entire cliffs to make space beside the road. And all they do at home is paint a pathetic white line 6 inches out from the kerb.

And while on politics – ish – the guy on the ferry’s other bon mot was the suggestion that my trip to Norway is just to see if there is life outside the EU!

Now I am in a campsite with a top 10 view of the fjord. Stunning. Can’t claim there is a beautiful sunset – I’ll be long asleep by then. Decent weather again tomorrow – albeit with showers. Then downhill to cold and rain I think. So I am making the most of this.