A Capital Midsummers Day

STOP PRESS: The Yankees are out of this year's American League series. Our favourite Sox start their campaign for the Pennant this Friday. Stay tuned. Now back to Norway in June....

Day 15 (with a bit of 14 too!)

Well I took a little licence last week because the day did not end in Lillistrom. Instead we hotfooted it (literally) out of the hotel and across to the railway station for a quick run into Oslo itself to orientate ourselves for the morrow.

The Rough Guide suggests that Oslo city centre ‘embodies the urban elegance of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: wide streets, dignified parks and gardens, solid buildings and long, consciously classical vistas combine to lend it a self-satisfied, respectable air. Oslo's biggest single draw is its museums, which cover a hugely varied and stimulating range of topics: the fabulous Viking Ships Museum, the Munch Museum, the park devoted to the bronze and granite sculptures of Gustav Vigeland, and the moving historical documents of the Resistance Museum are enough to keep even the most battle-weary museum-goer busy for a few days’.

We arrived in Oslo central station and from there as we progressed up Karl Johan’s Gate (street), the Rough Guide was again spot on in describing it as beginning unpromisingly with a clutter of tacky shops and hang-around junkies but things soon pick up at the corner of Dronningens gate. That was how we found it and we made our way along until we got to the Hard Rock Café. Outside there were hundreds of bikes all lined up along the pavement in one of the biggest displays of bikes we had ever seen.

Apparently, this congregation of bikes only takes place once a year or so. We took the above photos on a camera phone. We had a meal in the Hard Rock café, spent so long over it that the souvenir shop closed and so we had to made a note to return tomorrow to get the obligatory pin for BP.

I was intrigued by the pedestrian lights in the city. Each had two red men. Still can't figure why. If you know do leave a comment please. Whatever about red men, what about the Red Sox? Tonight’s game would be described as the Boston Bats Bash Braves (my Dad would have loved that headline) as they hammered the Atlanta team 11:0. Meanwhile the Colorado Rockies were in the process of sweeping the New York Yankees. On 21 June 2007, the Sox had a rest day but were then 46 to 35 games ahead of the NYY. Go Sox! (I bet you don't know whether you are coming or going in time zones at this stage!!)

A rest day for us too. Albeit only from the bikes. We hiked around Oslo taking in the sights and getting the few presents that we could bring back.

A visit to the National Museum to see the Scream by Munch, Norway's best-known artist who died in 1944, aged 81 was a must. Munch painted a number of variations of this painting and it has had a chequered history. As I mentioned earlier, the National Gallery's Scream was stolen on 12 February 1994. Suggestions that it was taken by a Norwegian anti-abortion group turned out to be false. After three months, the painting was offered back to the Norwegian government for a ransom of $1 million. This ransom was refused, and the painting was recovered in May of the same year following a sting operation. Ten years later, another version of the painting, the Munch Museum's Scream was stolen at gunpoint along with his Madonna. Once the painting were gone, the Munch Museum closed for 10 months for a $6 million security overhaul. A reward of a quarter of a million euro was offered for it's return and ultimately three men were convicted in 2006 for the theft and jailed for between four and eight years. In August of 2006, Norwegian police announced that the two paintings had been recovered. The paintings were said to be in a better-than-expected condition with only a minor scratch and two minor holes.

Afterwards we visited a modern art exhibition housed in what was, for all intents and purposes, a plastic bubble. See picture above. We though it was HOT. No wait, that was only the heat inside the plastic tube. Otherwise it left us cold. Wonder where AJ gets his appreciation of modern art from??

Meanwhile the Irish Times was reporting that today in London a self-portrait by the Dublin-born artist Francis Bacon was bought (from the heirs of a European collector who acquired it in 1980) by an anonymous telephone bidder for €28.71 million at auction in Sotheby's. Bacon painted Self Portrait while coming out of a severe depression caused by the suicide of his lover George Dyer in 1971. It shows the artist dressed in boots and an unbuttoned shirt in lavender room and is the only full-length Bacon self-portrait ever to go on sale out of the 17 such works Bacon painted after 1956

Like the Dutch the Norwegians have a 'rent it here and leave it there' bike scheme in the city which seems to work very well. You get a card which enables you to release the bike from its stand. You register it again when you leave it back at the stand nearest your destination.

We ‘did’ Oslo that day, including a trip to McDonalds and ended up in Dolly Dimples, where we ordered a half ’n’ half 40cm pizza i.e. two toppings on the one base. The waitress did not note the half ‘n’ half and we were given the full pizzas at no extra cost. Made no difference, as we could not finish them!

After a lovely day in Oslo, the weather forecast suggested rain tomorrow.

A Stone in my Shoe

STOP PRESS. While you were away the Red Sox finally secured their first American League East title in 12 years. On 29 September 2007, they beat the Twins, 5-2, to reduce their magic number to one, and an hour later the Yankees put it at zero by snatching defeat from certain victory by wasting a three-run lead in the ninth and losing to the Orioles in 10 innings on a bases-loaded, two-out bunt single. As regular readers of this Blog know, after taking first place in the Division on April 18, the Red Sox never let it go and have now won their first division title since 1995. The AL Division Series are now set, with the Angels to play at the Red Sox and the Yankees at Indians. What’s more the Sox finished with the best overall record and secured the right to select the seven-day series starting on Thursday. Dare we believe in a World Series? We'll keep you posted. GO SOX. Oh yes ..Norway…..

We would do 370 kilometers this Wednesday 20th June 2007, the 14th day of our trip. The Blog is being written up months after we finished and returned home. Just as well B kept notes along the way or many of the details would be forgotten by now. The moral for today (we can get it out of the way quickly and then you can relax) is to ask the price before you purchase. No point in D keeping an eagle eye on all the prices and labels if you do not play your part too. OK, OK, OK , Norway is not in the EU and does not have to comply with pricing regulations. Maybe that is the reason the Fjeldstue does not post its prices for meals. The place is in the middle of nowhere and choice is at a premium (that’s another clue). There is a general assumption that when you booked you will also want dinner and we went along with that, as you know from last week’s Blog. B swallowed hard again when he got the bill and tendered his Visa! In future ask the price! Of course from this distance the meal, which was of great quality, is still remembered but the price forgotten. Now, digest all that and take from it whatever moral you wish!

On this bright warm day we made our way along Route 29, then Route 27 then the E6, E4 and finally Route 22 to Oslo (well Lillistrom, actually, if you want to be picky). All suggested by John Clarke the night before and we were glad to have taken his advice. It was a fantastic route over mountains and on quiet roads that we had to ourselves and the weather just got warmer and warmer.

We diverted to Ringebu to visit the Stavkirke (Stave Church). Now, before this trip I had no idea what a Stave church was. B has discovered them in his research, or perhaps he knew of them all along. Either way he was determined that we should see one. These are a type of wooden church built in Norway in the Middle Ages. The literature suggests that it was contrary to Canon Law to raise churches entirely of wood, and that that the Roman Catholic Church demanded the use of stone as the main material. Even if it was established practice to build in stone, there seems to be no documentation showing that such a rule was ever given as an order. An Irish Ordo from before 900 AD shows that wooden churches were given the same ritual as those in stone which seems to suggest that the Irish at least were OK with wood. While the earliest of those constructed in Norway date from the beginning of the 11th century, when Christianity began to spread through Norway, most of the 600 or so churches eventually date from the 12th century.

Ultimately, as congregations grew large, Romanesque buildings replaced these extraordinary wooden churches. They are the only ‘temples in wood’ to survive in the West and foreign influence has been adapted to native form and to local needs, in a country with vast areas of forest and a scattered population. The exterior might remind you of a pagoda, but the pagoda, with its stepped masts and cantilevered roofs, aims at an exterior effect whereas with the stave church, on the other hand, the interior, as a place of worship is of primary importance (That is the sting in this tale!).

The church at Ringebu, built around 1220, is one of 28 surviving stave churches and is one of the largest. It was converted into a cruciform in approximately 1630 and restored in 1921. Originally the churches were built around posts sunk into holes in the ground but these were vulnerable to rotting and few have survived although evidence of the old post holes have been found beneath the present church. (WHAT?: They built over the traces of the old wooden post holes: now where else is that to happen ???). Reminds me of my Paris to Rome trip when S (Bro) admonished me for enthusing about Roman viaducts while condemning new motorways. From his engineers perspective both were constructions which cut through valleys: time was relative.

The stone foundation of the stave church supports four horizontal wooden beams, from which rise four corner posts, or staves. The posts are joined together by four upper crossbeams. Thus, the basic boxlike frame of the church is formed. From this framework, timbers extend outward, supporting a series of uprights, or masts. (Indeed, these churches are sometimes called "mast churches.") In this way, open aisles are created on all sides of the nave (For your next Table Quiz, note that brides do not actually walk down the aisle at all!!!) . The sanctuary itself is a small shed projecting from one end of the nave. Outer walls are formed of upright planks (which distinguishes them from log cabin type constructions). There may be four or more ranks of masts, with an equal number of triangular frames rising above them, gradually diminishing in size.

They would not allow photos inside, and to our eternal shame, we did not support them by paying in. We slipped away quietly...or as quietly as motorbike engines allow.

Our next stop was in the home of the 1994 Winter Olympics: Lillehammer. In 1986 the IOC voted to change the schedule of the Olympic games so that the summer and winter Games would be held in different years. To adjust to this new schedule, the Lillehammer Games were held in 1994, the only time that two Games have been staged two years apart. (You can learn so much here!) The 1994 Games were extremely well organised and the Norwegian love of winter sports added to the spirit of the occasion.

Local hero Johann Koss won three speed skating events and set a world record in every one. Vreni Schneider won a complete set of medals in alpine skiing and Manuela Di Centa earned medals in all five cross-country events. Myriam Bedard won both women's individual biathlon races. Gustav Weder and Donat Acklin became the first repeat winners of the two-man bobsled. Pairs skaters Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov returned to repeat their Olympic victory of 1988. Dan Jansen (USA-speed skating) had experienced nothing but disappointment at the Olympics. His last chance was the 1,000m in Lillehammer. He was on world record pace when he slipped during the penultimate turn. Fortunately, he steadied himself and powered on to set a world record and win a gold medal at last. The composition of the Bosnia and Herzegovina four-man bob team was: one Croatian, two Bosnians and a Serbian - the best possible example of the Olympic spirit at the worst of times. Oh, and while the Games were opening on 12 February in 1994, a gang was stealing Munch's Scream from the National Gallery: don't worry though, it was recovered the following May!
We found our way to the Lillehammer Olympic Park, which includes Håkons Hall, Lysgårdsbakkene Ski Jumping Arena, Birkebeineren Ski Stadium, Kanthaugen Freestyle Arena and Lillehammer Olympic Bobsleigh and Luge Track. In Håkons Hall there are sports facilities for handball, football, volleyball, badminton, squash, fitness training, indoor climbing and golf along with the Norwegian Olympic Museum. In the Ski Jumping Arena you can, apparently, take the chairlift to the top of the big ski jump. Allegedly you can try most of the sports during the winter and even in the summer you can try a unique bobsleigh on wheels. We saw the museum and were disappointed with it (although as you can gather we did pay attention to notes on the history of the event!!) . I saw the sign for the chairlift but let is pass. We missed everything else.

I knew it then and writing it up confirms it: at this stage in the trip fatigue was starting to set in. We were not paying attention to the finer details any more. Some of the quality of Norway was slipping past me. Physically, the tiredness was manifesting itself for me in a sore shoulder. If you have read Primo Levi (and if not I recommend ‘If This is a Man’) you may recall how in all the horrors of the concentration camp a stone in his shoe was enough to distract his mind from everything else. The humna mind is such that a small pain obscures the bigger picture. In Levi’s case it helped him survive by enabling him to concentrate on that one overriding problem which he knew could be easily solved. The pain in his shoe helped obscure the bigger horror. In my case the niggling shoulder pain distracted me from everything else so that it got to points over the next few days that, no matter what, I just wanted to stop to rest the arm for a few minutes. It annoyed the hell out of me and when we tried to ‘push on’ it only made it and me worse!

In that way, regrettably, I failed to fully appreciate the beauty of the forested mountain landscape that was, once again, a change of Norwegian scenery and one of the few days when we were not ‘by the sea’. I was relieved when we finally arrived in Lillestrom, just outside Oslo, the Norwegian capital.

Tomorrow was a rest day, and I was glad of that!

Meanwhile, back at the Plan.

Day 13


Remember the Plan? Wonder how it gets put together? The opening gambit is a straight line between the start and end points. Then check the map, the more detailed the better, and adjust to get the best route. We were using the 1:335000 scale Bil-og turistkart from Cappelens kart (Sheets 1, 2, 3 and 4). (Did I say already that S, neither pink nor bro,nor M, got these for us while studying in Norway: thanks again S4). Then research the area some more. Internet clearly has made a difference over recent years and V, who aided and abetted this trip from the outset, was kind enough to supply endless cups of coffee and biscuits while we spread maps, books and wirelessly linked laptops across her kitchen table. That woman has the patience of a saint. Thanks V.

Well, as part of this research we read the Rough Guide: two editions no less. Got to keep up to date you know!! The Rough Guide has always been key to my trips. I think the guide book you use says a lot about the kind of trip you do. The RG always seems to deal with the aspects I am interested in: using other guides turns out to be a waste of money for me. But hey, if you think different then …comments on the usual electronic postcard to…comments please! If you have not got the hint by now I’ll give up.


OK we are working from Lee, Phil The Rough Guide to Norway, fourth edition, July 2006 Rough Guides, London. I hope they will excuse me as I quote at length from page 183: Kongsvoll (to prove my point on the Internet you can read this piece and a lot of the book at their website for Rough Guides).

Beyond Hjerkinn, the E6 slices across the barren uplands before descending into a narrow ravine, the Drivdal. Hidden here, just 12km from Hjerkinn, is KONGSVOLL, home of a tiny train station and the delightful Kongsvold Fjeldstue ( 72 40 43 40, http://www.kongsvold.no/; Kr800-1000), which provides some of the most charming accommodation in the whole of Norway. There's been an inn here since medieval times and the present complex, a huddle of tastefully restored old timber buildings with sun-bleached




reindeer antlers tacked onto the outside walls, dates back to the eighteenth century. Dinner is served in the excellent, reasonably priced restaurant, and the complex also includes a café and a small park information centre. The inn is a lovely spot to break your journey and an ideal base for hiking into the Dovrefjell National Park, which extends to east and west. If you're arriving by train, note that only some of the Oslo– Trondheim trains stop at Kongsvoll station, 500m down the valley from the inn – and then only by prior arrangement with the conductor.

Now once you had read that would you not put a pin in the map and decide that there would be one of your overnight destinations. And so it came to pass. The pin stuck resolutely to Kongsvoll. Well if not a pin then at least a pink sticky! As a result, on this cold bright day our target was the 368 kilometres from Grong (not in the Plan) to Kongsvoll. We were up at 06:30 for breakfast. Breakfasts in the different hotels were all interesting and varied. There was a smorgasbord (if that’s not too Swedish for your tastes) of different food, slightly differently prepared at each destination. Today we even had caviar.

We were on the road at 08:00 hrs. Each day I had a list of the key points and the distances between them Velcro'd to the handlebars. (In our 2066 photos I can't find a good picture of them though). Motorbiking does not make using a gps on the go a very practical proposition, or at least that has been my experience to date. Comfortingly other bikers on the route were using similar primitive but reliable notes. The first notes for today were simple.


E6 South 15 k
L 763 Snasa


That should have brought us along the E6 for 15 kilometres then left onto Route 763 signposted Snasa. The target was to go East of Snasåvatnet lake. So we whizzed by the exit to 74 after 10 k. But 15 k came and went with no sign of a left turning. I was worrying inside my helmet. Then the lake appeared to our left. Damn. That lake is the best part of 70k long and if you don’t cross to the North of it there is no turn until you get to Steinkjer (remember there?). The whole idea was to avoid using the E6 again and rely on minor roads (the desire to do so comes from our cycling days). I lost confidence and went to pull into the right as we passed 18k: maybe I should have taken route 74. And Sod’s Law, as soon as I slowed, the turn to route 763 came into view. And a fine route it was too. We thoroughly enjoyed a pleasant spin through agricultural Norway. Gently rolling hills and increasing forests. Perfect roads, all the more so as the surface was freshly laid.


I know, you have read this far (thanks for that) but you are really worrying about how the Sox are doing in the 2007 Divisional Championship. To tell you the truth, so am I . How can they have been leading since June when, on the day we did this spin, they had a 9 game lead and then stall with the finishing post in sight and allow those damn Yankees to catch up? Well on 24 Sept the Yankees finally lost a game so the Sox are clinging on to a 2 game lead and the magic number, agonisingly, is still 5 - (for the record it was 85 on 19 June!) so a bit to go yet. Well not far actually - only 6 games left but the Sox are at home for all and the Yankees are away for all. Will that make any difference? Stay with us - we'll have a result before this Blog ends!

Meanwhile back on 19 June, we stopped briefly in Steinkjer – outside a hobby shop which sold model aircraft and quad bikes and then moved on again, back on the E6 until we were back in Hell. It was dry now and we got some photographs. We also took the opportunity to have very nice coffees and cakes in the local shopping centre. This was important. It was really cold that day and it took us a bit of time to thaw out. I can still feel the cold three months on. Its probably even colder there now. We stayed a bit longer and had another coffee and another cake just to be sure we were warm again. For insurance B bought liners for his gloves in the sports shop. He reports that they worked really well. (Maybe that’s why he does not have heated grips)

We then pushed on, along the E6 through Trondheim and, as we moved south, the weather picked up and it became much warmer. As conditions improved so did speed and we had a great spin from here stopping only for lunch in Soknedal.

There were really great views all the way to Kongsvoll where we checked into the Fjeldstue, our mountaintop hotel, for the night. Fjeldstue means literally “mountain living-room” and these timber buildings were built at a walking distance from each other, across the mountains in order to facilitate pilgrims heading for St. Olav’s Grave at Trondheim. We walked around the area, and made a point of going as far as the train station.

At dinner we met John & Joan Clark from Yorkshire. They once owned a woollen mill and gave us a present of bobbins from the old loom which John had ‘turned’ into ball-point pens. We spent a pleasant evening chatting to them, and I met my match in terms of researching a trip. Joan joked about how for John the planning was as much part of their car trips as was the driving. I saw myself reflected in his enthusiastic pouring over maps and guide books as he suggested variations from our Plan based on his route from Oslo to here. Fair play to you John you did us a great service. Your email address bounced its messages back, so if by chance you read this: thanks again.

Dinner was excellent. We had a seafood starter (which B ate!!). For main course we had veal steak fillets (ok, ok, ok I heard the lecture at the whale stage) with pasta & fresh veg. All was going well till JohnC insisted on finding out what was in the little dishes. It was nice but what was it? Turns out it was sweetbreads. Apparently these are the thymus glands of calves or lambs less than a year old. Like kidney they have to be precisely cooked: too little and they are mushy; too much and they are grainy when overdone. For dessert we had caramelized apple-tartlet & ice cream. Fabulous!!! The surprise would come in the morning!

B makes his mark!

Day 12


Before we start. Happy Birthday to the two readers of this Blog who celebrate their birthdays, albeit an ocean apart, this Thursday 20 September. Now C if you can puzzle that one out you deserve another prize!
OK, now I'm ready. Lets Go! In each journey comes a stage when you just have to get from A to B. Today was a day like that. We were back on the E6. Heading south but we had covered all this ground before, albeit travelling north and in wetter conditions. Our original intention had been to go to the Snasa Hotell but when we checked with the Tourist Office last night it was booked out. The two women at the office spent a ling time trying to get us an alternative and eventually booked us into Grong. We also discovered that Oslo was heavily booked and could not get an alternative. We decided to get an early start and went as far as Mosjoen Tourist Office to get Oslo sorted. Well actually I felt we should stop in Steinkjer but fortunately once on the road B realised I had underestimated the distance and pulled off the E6 and into Mosjoen.

This was an unusual town I thought. A bit like what American frontier towns might have been like. There seemed to be lots of space available and the buildings were all low and similar. Finding the Tourist Office proved to be a bit of a challenge. I walked the main street a couple of times without success. Although it was a little after nine the place was just coming to life. Traders were setting up for a market day and I was unlucky that those I spoke to could not speak English. This was unusual. Local teenagers waiting to get into class were like teenagers everywhere and gave me funny responses in Norwegian which were beyond my comprehension but had their mates in peals of laughter. Eventually one said ‘we don’t know’. Fair enough, the town is small enough so I walked on and just as I got to the edge of town there it was … but not open yet. The notices sugggested it would be open at 10. I walked back to the bikes and we brought them to the Office. The scene here was reminiscent of an older Ireland. The regional bus arrived and waited until a woman cycled up to it, chatted with the driver and collected her parcel: would Bus Eireann do that now? 10:00 came and went with no sign of the Office opening. We were just about to give up when a girl arrived and opened up. It was worth the wait as she put a lot of effort into getting us accommodation just outside Oslo in Lillestrom. This booking-ahead practice really does take the pressure off accommodation seeking upon arrival.

Back on the bikes and we retraced out route to the point where we had entered Nordland some days earlier. We met some guys from York who were heading north and had a pleasant conversation with them over a coffee. The weather in England was bad; had been raining continuously for over a week. They also suggested an alternative routes in an attempt to avoid the dreaded M62.

Our next stop was at the Laksforsen Falls where we had more coffee and sticky buns. Laksforsen is a very wide and scenic river waterfall on the Vefsna River, tumbling some 16 metres in height. The falls, mentioned in the Rough Guide, are very popular but we were glad of the large car park, excellent restaurant, and souvenir shop. The word "laks," by the way, is Norwegian for "salmon," and this place was once a popular salmon fishing spot. Fossen, I think is the usual word for waterfall and the use of "forsen" reflects a mixture of Swedish and Sami influences.








Today was 18 June 2007. That day the Boston Redsox were playing the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field in Georgia. Coco Crisp tripled his season home run total by hitting two solo shots, but the Red Sox couldn't overcome a poor start by Curt Schilling in the series opener. The multi-homer game was the first of Crisp's career. The Sox lost by 9-4. Despite the loss the Sox had won 44 and lost 25 games to that point in the season and were ahead of the Yankees who had won only 35 and lost 32. The exhortation of the Sox fan is to BELIEVE! They (we) needed to do that in the years to 2004 as they never managed to win the World Series in 86 years. Tough on loyal fans! But faith was rewarded in a memorable series in 2004 which ended in Boston winning the World Series championship at Busch Stadium against the St. Louis Cardinals. In the process, the Sox set a record with their eighth straight postseason victory. Critically four of those had been against their arch rivals the NYY (Yankees). I&R kept us posted with the results as we progressed along our route. At this point we continued to believe! Today (if you get my drift) is also exactly three months on and now, with 11 games to go the Magic Number is 9: I hope ye are all Sox fans now!

We made Grong at about 15:30 hrs and checked into the hotel - Vertshuset. We has a really good room compete with balcony. A popular hotel with the fishing community, the whole village seemed to be dedicated to fishing; every other car carrying a couple of rods.









B made good use of the spare time we had available and cleaned his bike. Mind you, as the picture on the left shows, it had lost the shine with which it set out from Dublin. That's a handprint in the collected dust of Norway that had gathered on the pannier. And the bike made an impression on Grong too. It sank slowly into the tarmac outside the hotel, leaving an imprint as a reminder of its presence!



We had difficulty getting web access at the hotel so we tried the local library. There ‘Beata’ looked after us really well and helped us in our search for our final hotel bookings. During the course of this she told us she came from Tromso, which is a long way north of here. Like others we met, she was looking forward to the day she could get out of Norway! Many of the young people we met had the same attitude.


The next photo is a reminder to respect the fact that tankers need to get access to the valves at a petrol station. The car, in a large and mostly unoccupied car park, had decided to park next to where the tanker driver needed to attach his hoses. After much bouncing and shoving the car was moved!!



We had done 288 kilometres that day in sunny dry and cold conditions. How better to end the day than by maintaining standards with a liberal application of polish to the boots while having a pint on the balcony.

Back in Dublin the papers reported that the outgoing Green Party leader, Trevor Sargent, was declared himself absolutely happy with the Taoiseach's word on his personal finances when it seemed Mr Ahern was to give evidence to the Mahon tribunal in two weeks' time.

P.S. Next week's Post may be late. Let there be NO PANIC!!