"North to Alaska, north to Alaska......."
Woops. Let's try. " North to Nordkapp ......."
No, doesn't sound quite the same. However North it was and the compass on the GPS stayed ranging between North East, North and North West all day. And so also the next day.
But once again let's go back. We head out of Molde thinking we had left the area of high mountains and deep fjords. Not so. We continued winding thru mountains , under mountains and along fjords.
Then it was inland and towards the city of Tronheim. A bit a Americana on the way and heading the other way
We stop at the town of Steinkjer for the night at the local " Best Western". I have a telephone Board meeting at night so it is a wait to 11.30pm for the meeting.
Day two and it is a 600 km day to the town of Bodo. This distance is the same as Auckland to Wellington so it was a full day with about ten and a half hours on the bike so it was a tiring day.
And I not only followed a Porsche but overtook him.........
Nice open roads
Then it is to the Arctic circle which is a compulsory stop for a photo and a compulsory sticker purchase. It was just four years ago that we crossed the Arctic circle on the way up to Prudoe Bay in Alaska
Who is the pretty boy then?
Just about 30km south of the Arctic circle the GPS goes both black and blank so it is back to looking at maps again. Which way to the North Pole?
The GPS saga was interesting. At the Arctic circle stop I cleaned all the contacts with Diana's nail file. It still would not work. So off to Bodo we go sans GPS
We then go thru an inevitable tunnel. I say inevitable as there had not been a tunnel for at least 100km. Just as we leave the tunnel there is a small half hearted flicker of life from the GPS. Clearly to me it seemed it was a case of there being light at the end of the tunnel as far as the GPS is concerned just when there was actual light at the end of the tunnel. But of course being north of the Arctic circle this time of the year means that there is always light at the end of the tunnel even when there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Confused? So am I! No wonder the GPS was struggling. It was probably a mental breakdown
We get to the hotel. What is wrong with the GPS ? Diana gets on to google. We find that it is sort of going at 20% of normal illumination which is " no bloody use" as you cannot read the screen. We reboot it. We change the setting. We bang it and thump it. No avail. I even think that Elizabeth who liveth in the GPS might have got upset about Brexit.
Next morn we are down at the ferry terminal bright and early to catch the ferry to the Lotofen Islands ( with bike). We get talking at the ferry terminal to Herve from Switzerland who is also on the bike. We ask him if he has had a similar GPS problem. He has ! He has solved it ! He has our undivided attention. He explains that you have to reset it when it is in the bike holder with the power on from the ignition. We try it. Eureka! It springs into life again. I would have kissed Herve if he had of been Italian instead of Swiss. But I remember that the Swiss are more Germanic than Italian ! So we give Herve a kiwi badge, promise him free beers for the next 4 months and grant him New Zealand citizen if he wants it. In descending order of use to him!
The we are off to the Lotofens. We pass the oil platform support vessel
And leave a beautiful harbour
Only to come to some beautiful islands
And closer to the port where we get off
After we get off the ferry we ride south for 4 km to the town called "A". The A has a little squiggle above it but we will not worry about that detail. It seems an "A OK" sort of town! I remember from somewhere that there is also a town in Norway called "O". It must be a big town as I am sure they call it "The big O!" I wonder to myself what the people do there ?
Anyway back to the scenery! We pull into the cod fishing town of Reine for the night
. A prettier little town I challenge you to find anywhere. Let the photos speak for themselves......
At the local restaurant I order Whale for dinner ( as I did not try it in Iceland where they also have it) and Diana orders Halibut. "Haha, my fish is bigger than yours" I say. I also ask the waitress for my dish to be whole and preferably filleted but I think that gets lost in translation! The whale was nice. It was apparently Minke whale. They have been catching whale here for centuries and centuries and it is all under strict management so it was quite different to the Japanese whaling scenario. Mind you, let it be recorded that I only ate my whale for "research purposes"!
All in all another great day in Norway
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Herve the GPS man ��
Herve the GPS man ��