Scandanavian Tour

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Left a beautiful campground, Ronningen campground along a salmon river. We were worried about the weather so made a reservation at the Hostel in Trondheim, about a 40 mile ride. We both studied the maps and the Dutch guide, and wrote out the route so we wouldn't have to open the ipads in the rain. We got an early start, 8:30. The early morning sprinkle stopped and we had a beautiful ride for about an hour. Then it started! Heavy rains with a head wind. We were confused by the road signs at the town of Orkanger in spite of our map studies and ended up about 20K off route. We were soaked and cold and took refuge under an overhang of a vacant(?) buildIng. We decided to ride into a small town with a gas station and ask for directions. Of course not easy because we knew we were on the wrong side of the Fjord and the only way was to turn around and ride back. Still raining hard and lots of hills. We met an angel. We ordered hamburgers and explained our situation to the young girl working there. She offered to drive us back almost to Trondheim once she finished work in about 2 hours. Then a farmer came in and said hey, the express passenger ferry was just 400 meters down the road and we would be in Trondheim in 35 minutes. Of course we would still have to wait 2 hours for the ferry to arrive. They were such a big help and we had a great time talking with them. We finally said our good byes and headed down to the ferry. As we were waiting, a man came up and told us where we needed to be be and waited until we were on the ferry. It was her father!!! She had called him and asked him to make sure we got off ok!!!! Amazing people.

Of course the adventure wasn't over. The cold rain continued and Trondheim is a big busy city. Lots of questioning people for directions, but we finally found the Hostel. Crazy time there! Ok, we're tired, wet cold, and hungry now and we have 6 panniers, handle bar bags, tent, helmets etc. A lot of gear. We check in and are directed to the third floor. Load everything into the elevator and up to the third floor. Drag everything to the door and the lock to the 'apartment' doesn't work! I go down and she says oh yes they had trouble with that lock! After some squinting at her terminal she sends us to a room on the 4th floor. Ok, we hump the gear up to the 4th floor. Great we get into the 'apartment', but the lock to the bed room doesn't work. I'm getting cranky! She says we'll have to go to another part of the Hostel with old fashion key locks. I'm not doing anything until the room and the locks have been checked and there's no issue. She at least offers to help move our stuff! Finally we're settled in!

We meet a couple motorcycling and they tell us rain tomorrow afternoon, but then good weather for the next 2 weeks and warmer!?!? We'll see

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Comments

[Jessica]

Great post!
Sounds like an adventure!!! Stay dry ;-)