For the first time we have been a little disappointed in our location. Was looking forward to Alesund (which is renowned for its modern architecture after being rebuilt following a fire in the early 1900s). When we woke the cloud was right down hiding the mountains across the bay and barely lifted all day but we decided we would risk possible rain and went into Alesund on the scooter, dressed up against the chilly (iced ?) wind. Only 5 km and one very short tunnel (fortunate. I Don’t do tunnels !) into the city but then we found a big problem. Where on earth do you park a scooter in Norway ? Only a couple of other motorbikes, no scooters and we know better than to park by the bicycles after our ‘reprimand’ in Oslo. Went ... read more

Left Bergen in rather nice sunshine but weather deteriorated the further we drove and eventually we were driving in some pretty nasty rain. Cannot complain, as weather has been rather good to us so far and we have had lots of lovely sun and not much rain at all. Trouble with driving in the rain is that you cannot see the fantastic scenery around you, just all the drops of water on the windscreen. A pity as the route we took was lovely. We were basically going north up the coast but that is not actually possible in Norway with its multitude of islands, peninsulas and fjords every mile or so. Instead we had to follow a winding route over bridges, under tunnels, across fjords via ferry, all with a backdrop of high, cloud-topped mountains, masses ... read more

Very early start today as a long way to travel and we knew our route involved at least one ferry. Within 5 minutes of leaving the campsite we were climbing up up and away. Spotted the Heavy Water factory when we were part way up our first mountain. It was perched on the other side of the ravine - a building of quite beautiful design and proportion. Our 200 mile drive across to the west coast was spectacular. At the end of it we had concluded that the Norwegians are like moles, and wet ones at that. They must spend half their time on water and the other half underground in tunnels. Never seen so much water anywhere (and we have been to quite a few watery places). Fjord after fjord, each one more beautiful than ... read more

Day in Oslo sightseeing NORWAY Spent the day in Oslo. Went in on the scooter, carefully avoiding both the motorway and the cycle track routes. Having only a small map it was better luck than judgement that we found ourselves in the centre, near the cathedral so we parked by a cycle parking stand and walked round from there. We visited the simple but beautifully decorated cathedral, admired the round parliament building and the many fountains and statues strategically placed round the city. Took a walk up the hill to see the Royal Palace and the changing of the guard then back down to the harbour which we enjoyed immensely. A complete redevelopment of the old docks area this is now a very modern architectural marvel with some lovely use of water features, flowing shapes and ... read more

Weather forecast was excellent. Woke up expecting blue sky but found grey all over. It did improve later and we saw some blue sky but the wind increased through the day and the wind was icy. So that was summer then ! Used the motorhome to go out for the day as a bit too far for the scooter and that was an excellent decision as we would have frozen in that afternoon wind. Did our first shop of the trip using two supermarkets in Sindal. Had to ask another shopper which was cream (good thing everyone speaks English) as when we were in Hungary I mistakenly bought cream cheese instead ! Surprised to find beer and wine (and indeed the food) at quite reasonable prices - had been let to believe it was mega expensive. ... read more