Norway 2007

Thursday/Friday - The long trip home.

Fri/Sat - Sun - Mon - Tue - Wed - Thu/Fri

Thursday 27 June 2007

We were all up at 06:30. The beds were stripped and the sheets dumped in the bin just outside our door. Then the bikes were loaded, leaving us just time for a quick bite of breakfast. By 07.38 we were riding down to Bergen docks to meet the ferry. Because we'd left the ferry port further up the road when we first arrived, I thought the entrance would be around the same place. Wrong! We rode straight past the entrance.. after realising our mistake, we turned around and came back to join the queue.

N60.39830 E5.31989 (map)

08:31 It was overcast and raining lightly, everyone was keen to get on board and in to the dry. Bit by bit we edged further up our queue, bypassing a hoard of the bikers who'd arrived well before us. We were ushered through the booking kiosk, then customs and finally on to the boat.

N60.40012 E5.31569 (map)

The decking was wet and slippery as we rode through to the front of the boat, before parking the bikes and strapping them down. Oddly, since five days ago the number of shiny new ratchets straps on the wall was quite diminished, I wonder where they went?

09:00 and we're on our way

10:43 After wandering aimlessly around the ship we all meet up in the Bake'n Coffee Cafe, but boredom was set in big style. Far in the distance I could hear my bunk calling me, Martin... Martin... come for a lovely refreshing sleep! How could I resist, that fresh comfy bunk in our cabin suddenly seemed very inviting after spending the previous five nights on a settee :-)

12:38 Haugesund. Well at least someone's still up and around because I was still in the land of nod when this picture was taken. According to my tracklog this was a quick turn around here, docked 12:38 and away again at 12:52

Finally we're all awake again and sunbathing on the stern deck. Actually it was quite breezy this trip, but as there was nothing else to do we toughed it out, I don't suppose drinking cold beer helps too much :-)

15:51 After docking in Stavanger we noticed this odd looking ship the 'Bourbon Mistral', she's a PSV (Platform Supply Vessels) with an Ulstein X-Bow, according to the internet this gives her (and I quote) "We have proven that a ship with the ULSTEIN X-BOW runs smoother, she can hold higher speed and therefore be the fastest to the destination, and she is also more comfortable for the crew".... Wow!!

16:20 We've left Stavanger now and finally heading home, for anyone interested, this was the route of the ferry through the Fjords (in green) if you want to download the tracklog its available here

18:50 Feeding time, This shot was taken from the queue for the hot food in the Seven Seas Restaurant, to be honest I just couldn't be bothered, knowing what's on offer from the out bound trip I actual gave up and left the dining room. I ended up in the Bake'n Coffee Cafe again, and after queuing there for 20 mins I ordered a tea with a piece of cheese cake for 63kr - £4.38, The tea in a foam plastic cup was OK actually, the cheese cake which looked great, was pretty bad :-(

Later in the evening a few of us went to see the film '300' telling the story of how 300 Spartans stood against the might of the Persian army. Certainly an unusual film in the way it was presented but with a true story line and brilliant fight scenes it was very enjoyable. After the film we spent the rest of the evening in the room by the cinema as we had on the way out, it's a bit dark in there, but a few cans from the duty free shop and good company passed the evening well enough.

Friday 28 June 2007

We'd had a very good night's sleep, the cabin we were in this trip was a few decks higher than the way out and very quiet. A little later an announcement came over the Tanoy, 'please vacate your cabins'. Here we go again... we managed to hang on till 09:20, but as no one was prepared to feign illness or death, when the cleaners knocked us for the sixth time to leave the cabin we gave up and went on deck :-(

Once on deck it was really quite shocking to see so many people with there luggage sitting on the floors and the stairs. It looked like a refuge ship.

We decided to go down to deck three where the car deck access was, and wait it out there. While we were sat by the lifts we started betting on which of the three lifts would arrive on our deck next <Yes, it was that bad> and if it would be full of kids <which they often were> I lost heavily :-(  Eventually a crew member appeared heading for the car deck. We sneaked after him Indian style and found the access door open, it was probably way too early, but we had nothing else to do, so in we went. Wow, what a heap of bikes, where did they all come from!

After unstrapping my machine, I went bike spotting and found a neat line up of 70's Kawasaki two stroke triples in stunning condition. Way to go lads, ride on!

Then there was a bit of an accident with a chap unstrapping his 1200GS... Having undone my bike I was just looking in that direction when the GS suddenly stood up, seemingly of its own accord (he'd released a strap, twang!) but it didn't stop there, it continued going over and toppled on the next bike <Ouch!> I was too far away to help, but a couple of others who were closer helped him lift it off. I could see a look of shock on the faces of those around, after all, bikes are more than mere machines to their owners, oh dear :-( After a while the rider of the other machine turned up with his wife, amazingly they didn't seem that bothered (I have a sneaking suspicion it was a hire bike) after a few words everyone looked happy (Or at least not concerned). Eventual the ferry docked, and after a great deal of faffing we finally rolled off at 11.35, after passing through customs we split up and went our separate ways home.

12.00 Except for Patto and me, we took a detour on the way home for a slap up dinner at the Wear View Diner, fry up for patto, steak pie & chips for me, followed by jam rolly polly and custard, much better than the food on the ferry, and a fraction of the price too!

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Well that's about it for this trip, I hope you enjoyed reading this. Perhaps it will entice you to make a visit to Norway, I hope so, you will enjoy it :-)

Fri/Sat - Sun - Mon - Tue - Wed - Thu/Fri

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Norway 2007 Info Page

Cost:

Because we were staying in a hostel and mostly cooking for ourselves, our trip to Norway didn't really cost us any more than a trip to France or Spain staying in B&B or hotels. Fuel is roughly the same price as England. Refreshments bought from filling stations and shops were perhaps slightly cheaper than many cafes in Europe, so don't let the price of Norway put you off, if you're careful, you will be fine. Just remember, if you stay in a hotel you will be stuck with the cost of eating out.

Our accommodation: Montana Hostel Bergen

Located on the outskirts of Bergen, a shared room for five was 230kr - £19.60 each per night, but check out the price for ensuite rooms, its not too bad at all!

Hostelling Norway: Norske Vandrerhjem

Norwegian family & youth hostels, currently 66 hostels listed (of which the Montana is one)

Food:

Restaurants are very expensive, buy food at the local Co-Op and cook your own.

Cooking together at the end of the day isn't the chore I thought it might be, it can be great fun!

Drink:

Alcohol is very expensive, its currently around £8 a pint on the front in Bergen so buy at home or on the ferry and bring your own.

This is one commodity where you will never have enough, so chuck out some more clothes and re pack with beer.

Cafes:

As on our last trip to Norway, we found virtually no cafes, but no matter! look for a supermarket, shop or filling stations with a view and a picnic table. Some shops and supermarkets sell hot drinks as do most filling stations (along with hot dogs and other treats!)

Language:

Everyone we spoke to, could speak English, even right out in the sticks, but don't take that for granted.

Road tolls:

We didn't notice any around Bergen, but, from what I've read, they tend to be free for bikes.

Speed cameras:

There were a few speed cameras around Bergen City, all the ones we saw were, I believe, of the forward facing Truvelo type. BUT, ride with caution, especially around towns and villages, if caught speeding, you could face an extremely heavy on-the-spot fine or worse. We didn't see any speed traps.

Norwegian Ferries:

There are lots of ferries, none we used were really expensive and many have cafes below deck, even the ones on short 10min crossings! The frequency of ferries does vary, from how busy the road is, to the time of day. If it's a main road, you shouldn't wait too long, but if it's a minor road and it's midday you could wait an hour or longer.

Fjord1 for information and ferry timetables generally North of Bergen.

Tide    for information and ferry timetables generally South of Bergen.

Tunnels:

There are lots of tunnels, let me tell you of a few different kinds...

Unlit tunnels.

Wet  tunnels.

Cold tunnels.

Very narrow tunnels

Tunnels with Trolls in them.

Tunnels with poor road surfaces.

Long tunnels on busy roads, warm with the smog of car exhausts, <Gag! - yuk!!!>

Enter unlit tunnels with caution, you may well be blind for the first few seconds... With the number of tunnels on some roads, wearing sun glasses may not be the best plan, I found using a tinted visor that can be flipped up worked pretty well.

Currency:

Norwegian currency is the krone (Crown), often shortened to kr, ie 150kr.

Coins:         50 ore, 1, 5, 10, 20 kr

Banknotes: 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 kr 

Check on XE.com for the latest rate of exchange

Mobile Phones:

Everywhere we went on this trip we seemed to have good mobile phone coverage via Telenor and very often Telenor 3G, pity England isn't as well covered :-(

Fri/Sat - Sun - Mon - Tue - Wed - Thu/Fri

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