Blogs from Kristiansand, Southern Norway, Norway, Europe

So this year is a different year. I have no control over where we go, instead I'm letting a nice man with a big boat drive us to places. So we started the journey on Thursday with a dive to southampton, picking Seth up from nursery pre nap assuming that he'd sleep for the first hour..... He didn't. 2 hours in and very cheery but getting closer to actual bed time, we did a hard reset of the boy (services, changed, dummy, no peppa, hand holding) and finally he dozed. We negotiated the horror of Southampton (twice after a wrong turn) and found a co-op in the ghetto before finally getting to my friends house. Here we settled in for the night. The next morning was all too calm and organised, we should probably have expected ... read more

11th November - on board Aurora Embarking Southampton our erstwhile Captain informs us that we are already subject to a change of itinerary. Low pressure has been forming over Scotland and are forecast to hit the west coast of Norway on Sunday and Monday. This has meant our scheduled call to Andalsnes has been cancelled as the entrance to the Fjord makes it tricky to access in high winds. It's a shame because Aldalsnes would have been our first introduction to a Norwegian fjord. Apparently it is a typical fjord community surrounded by dramatic peaks and its painted houses give it a picture postcard charm with a backdrop of snow snow capped mountains. So our first port of call will be Kristiansand, which lies on the south coast of Norway in the Skaggerak Sea. This a ... read more

Kristiansand Norway 23-25 June 2014 We had another lovely drive from Treungen on 23 June, again, following a rivers & fjord to Kristiansand . We decided to call into the Kristiansand Zoo & Amusement Park before getting into the town as we wanted to see some Nordic animals, just in case we don't see any in the wild. All we have seen so far was one female elk. The park was huge. It had an Asian, Nordic, African, fishing, local farming, jungle, pirate and rides and games sections. We saw the lions being fed and then the Nordic animals (Lynx, wolverine, wolf, fox). We were there for over 3 hours but I am sure some of the families would be there all day as there were water slides and other rides. We saw lots of little ... read more

Norway was a trip that is worth taking. Norway is in north Europe and is on the western side of Scandinavian Peninsula. Norway has many natural resource's that they can use. Norway has forests, an abundance of fish, uses a green alternative by using hydroelectric power. with these resources Norway makes money by making boats, working with chemicals, metals, mining, fishing and selling fish. Norway is the second largest fish exporter only China exports more fish. Since i told you about the business i guess i should mention that the climate is pretty cold because Norway is classified as a Arctic Tundra climate, there are many prehistoric glaciers still around Norway preserved by the cold. Norway also has waterfalls. As a mentioned earlier in this blog Norway is on a peninsula and as we all know ... read more

A big hello from Norway - after 3 weeks I finally reached what was to be the start of my cycle trip!!! I just caught two ferries in the last 3 days. One from Gothenburg, Sweden to Denmark and the other from Denmark to Kristiansand, Norway. But just in case you were thinking that's a bit of a cheat seeing as I'm supposed to be cycling all the way, well I took in a couple of detours one to the very tip of Denmark and the other to an huge sand dune which has literally swallowed a lighthouse. Both impressive sights... more below. So it was with a bit of a heavy heart that I finally left Sweden. My last evening in Gothenburg at the lovely clean hostel I got chatting with a Portuguese guy living ... read more