Day 76 the last track in Europe

It's really early when I wake just after 4am.... Seemed a good time to catch up on the blog! 

Also to get out of Oslo! 

Walking through the early morning dark to central station

to catch my last train that I can use with the interrail pass! For about £600 I've travelled 12,362 kilometers by the time I reach Oslo international airport, that's bloody good value!!!

Intentionally I'm early really early! I haven't flown in nearly 15 years and yes I'm nervous, Not being a fan of heights!

Still it's an opportunity to face my fears, and at 9.25am we take off..... I won't deny I'm sweating, and breathing deeply! 

It doesn't last an hour in and I've chilled out enjoying the sunshine above the clouds

descending into Reykjavik international and it's become normal, future flights will be that much easier.... And the next being further is only a few weeks away, when I get around to booking the flight!

Picking up a bottle of whisky at duty free, to circumvent the cost of alcohol in Iceland, and I'm ready to be picked up by the camper company! Nice organisation and lovely staff! This is Eliska who picked myself and two others up

really cheerful lady, she dealt with setting me up in my little camper

a nissan Nv200, and I was first away! 

First stop the Bonus supermarket, that Eliska had recommended, loading the van for a few days I enjoy the autonomy of not being dependent upon a city for a while!

Driving out I have two stop at a roundabout (successfully negotiating the wrong side of the road!) the reason I stopped? 

Finally a Viking sword with a Petersen type O Pommel!! 

i didn't know at the time but there's a Viking museum nearby, that I'll have to visit on my last day with the camper! 

For now I travel around route 44 circumnavigating the airport on minor roads while I get reaccustomed to driving, stopping at Brimkettel lava rock pool

not planning on bathing today in this fierce sea! With sea spray on my face that tastes of sulpher! And the dried crust of black lava all around me I'm in a strange world! And in all it's ways I'm sure it will get stranger!

I stop at the famous blue lagoon spa with huge protective walls of lava to protect it and the nearby thermal power station for future eruptions.

I didn't go in I'm pretty tired and have forty minutes to drive to my campsite..... Which is free!!! I wonder how often that will happen!!

but now I can sit in the warmth of the van with it's diesel heater going and cook (reheat!) a lamb curry! 

With whisky accompaniment I'm in my happy place, and sleep comes, I'm two time zones further west than when I left Oslo and with an early start it's been a long day! 

day 75 historic adventure!

Not just historic adventure, memories from my youth and innocent times 😊

One theme that unites all of today's objectives is that they are both nautical adventures/adventurers! And that their aims albeit shorter than mine are true adventures with the hardships and risks to life that modern travel has taken from this and will likely not be written into my travelog, who knows tho perhaps they will? 

A quick breakfast on the run, I'm out the hostel and catching a bus from Hausmanns bru just around the corner to Bigdøynes! An easy trip out, going over ground I've travelled before through this I'm now pleased to say pleasant city, never trust first impressions!

Onto the Peninsular through Bigdøy,I go past the Viking ship museum that's currently undergoing building work until 2026.... A return visit perhaps? 

The first visit is to the Kontiki museum, telling the stories of the many voyages of Thor Heyerdahl as he built and tested the seaworthiness of ancient designs of ship to understand the spread of humanity through the Pacific, the first was in the balsa wood raft back in the 1940's called the Kontiki after a South American chieftain who sailed east to escape capture after defeats in war ... Who knows if he made it! 

But this boat was design to see if could have survived

this is the actual raft Thor Heyerdahl used! Proving it's capability travelling from Lima to Tahiti.... Just... It wasn't in the best condition when it arrived, but it arrived... Pure adventure with all the risk! 

The next two adventures sailing the Ra which failed quickly sailing from Northern Africa due to poor construction and the Ra2 which sailed from

Morocco to Barbados using mostly the trade winds to blow them along!

this is one adventure that I remember from my childhood! As a kids we used to make models of this ship from dried grass and sailed them to destruction in local streams! Happy simple times 🥰.

Thor Heyerdahl himself really pushed his boundaries being a poor swimmer and actually scared of the sea!! It takes a special kind of person to pursue his understanding of past technology/history with these constraints! 

But pushing to the extent of your ability and succeeding or failing is the theme of the second museum named after the ship The Fram used for many explorations by Roald Amundsen 

a ship designed for travel through Antarctic ice and even becoming icebound... It has a short curved hull designed if stuck in the ice to not be crushed but pushed up out of the ice until it's either possible to free the boat or a melt allows escape! 

Making this the perfect ship for his most famous adventure to the south pole! 

Where on the 15th of December 1911 he beat Scott leading the British endeavour by nearly a month! 

And got his team home. 

The ship did eventually become unseaworthy and after a period of decay was restored to the current state, and becomes the fascinating museum piece it is! 

You can explore the interior looking over the engines 

electrics

and even Amundsens living quarters!

space was indeed precious! 

Taking a few minutes to look over the fyord before heading back to pack for leaving Norway tomorrow!

day74 more Viking swords!

Well I start today with two things on the agenda so breakfast down I'm out the hostel to try out the local tram system, rude not to its right outside the hostel! 

Google maps is invaluable for seeing the timetable! And on I hop!, not seeing any way to pay I take the chance and get a free ride into town, alighting near 'the Kongelige Slott' the royal palace, walking through the royal gardens/park I get views of the city

and through the trees the palace itself

which isn't my objective, so back out of the gardens and two streets away is the coin shop I'm looking for, happily it's open, after a long wait where a lady was selling her family silver for scrap, I purchase a 2 skilling piece! Not that different from one I found in Norfolk last year, but it it's different enough and pretty cheap so I'm happy!

dating back to the Kalmar union it has Danish as the country but it's an Oslo mint perfect!

Back out and towards the palace (it's enroute !) I walk back through the gardens, passing a mother taking photos of her baby in a huge patch of crocuses! A sweet image that makes me smile, and the mother smile back! Nice 😊

Right at the front of the palace is the royal guard this lady is a proper smiler! 

though the gun looks very serious! 

The palace isn't open for visitors so a quick photo of the front and I'm away

And through the woodland downhill to my second objective the archaeology museum! 

Yep the ongoing Viking research! And this is a great repository for such finds! All on the top floor, there's plenty of other things to catch your attention this eternal calender is one thing nicely marked up in futhorc runes!

summer one side and winter the other! The days being marked off on the inside and religious festivals on the outside. 

Religious artifacts then catch my attention again with the portals of a few Stave churches that had been demolished after going into disuse....I dread to think what was lost in this demolishing as the portals are indeed works of art!!!

beautiful!!!

The incense burners are equally interesting

with little stave churches on top! 

Passing a display of fishing spears your reminded just how coastal Norway is

presumably whaling spears? 

Into the top floor and it's Viking heaven, starting with the largest Viking gold hoard found in Norway 

passing amongst brooches, sword mounts and a stunning gold spur!!

now that's bling!!!

Then I find what I'm after swords! A good collection to! 

tho once again I'm left feeling that the pommels don't match my find for quality!

Another Viking weather vane and a huge rune stone complete the display

i cross the landing into another display of gold! 

All sides of this display are lined with gold coins

which were a part of operation 'the heavy luggage' where fifty tons of gold where transported north and west out of Norway to the safety of Britain America and Canada as the Germans invaded in the second world war, the coins finally returned in 1987!

Museum done in walking back to the tram stop, passing the Oslo cathedral I have to take a look

once again a very local design to this church!

outside is a curious thing presumably from an earlier construction....I didn't find any info on it tho

From here I hop on another 'free' tram before stopping for food to eat back at the hostel.

My Dorm is actually full now! 

There's a black girl from London an Aussie chap and a native Mauritius girl from Paris, wow she was a great chatter! We talked all evening! 

Lovely way to finish the day! 

day73 back tracking

As the title suggests I'm going over old ground today, I'm heading back to Oslo, exactly the same route as the one to get to Stavanger so this will barely be a blog today!

The only thing I missed on the way West was a picture of the huge boulders with homes set in amongst them I mentioned in the previous blog ... So here one is!

Other than that I got back to Oslo got food and chilled.... 

Did a little admin on the Reykjavik flight then dozed off!

day72 Slartibartfast did a great job!

don't worry I'm not losing the plot! 

Actually stealing a bit from a plot!... 'The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy', pertinent in so many ways really! 

For today it's about the fjords of Norway! In the TV show back in the 80's slartibartfast was a designer of worlds! And yes he designed the earth and won an award for the Norwegian fjords! 

And so he should they're bloody awesome even in the rain! 

Another lazy start and I still managed to get to the meeting point for today! 

I'm off on a cruise.... Yep it's grey and raining! But I made the right choice of boat.... I'm in an enclosed catamaran! With a bar! 

it does have open decks front and back, this is so much better than the Rib (ridged open boat) that another group was getting into.... With wearing glasses and the rain I wouldn't have seen a thing!

For this tour it became rather magical in the rain! 

Today they extended their vaffeldagen (waffle day or feast of the annunciation)festivities for us! Sharing loads of free waffles and coffee!

An unexpected treat!

Following the Hagsfjordan past Tingholmen where the unification of Norway was written into law!

hence 'Ting' the Norwegian 'Thing' aka mee'ting'! I love how many links you find in words throughout Europe! 

Along the fjord banks are hundreds of holiday homes.... Not sold of to foreigners but held onto by the locals as they should be! and used heavily rather than once or twice a year.... Sensible people here. Under a large single span bridge

and we're in the Lysefyorden! Sheer rock faces of hundreds of meters wall the fjord

with one I can only call it a crevice that the pilot of the boat managed to squeeze us into!

pictures don't do it justice, you really had to crane your neck too look up! 

Looking across the fyord the spectral layers of cloud hang over the far bank

as we make our way to pulpit rock, which you couldn't see through the cloud but we were assured was up there!

that may require a trip back in the summer!.. . Well a summer! 

Further along the pilot again showed his skill/familiarity by getting the prow of the boat within a meter of Hengjanefossen a rather beautiful water fall

Yep glad I was wearing my waterproof!

Here the tour turns back following the terrain on the other bank, pulling into a small bay at Helleren

there's a story of a troll who failed to teach his cave before daylight leaving his heart fossilized in the rock! 

we do love a bit of folk law! 

From here back along the fjord to Stavanger passing what we're probably cormorants on low rock islands 

before entering the harbour and back into the town, a really nice tour and 63 euros was a good price I think!

I did manage to stand unwittingly blocking the road catching a picture of a compass rose pointing due north along the harbour not realising it was a roundabout !! 

a pretty fair mistake to make I think! 

A warm coffee called at the coffee shop after I'd dropped in to reserve my seat for tomorrow's train, before one again getting food and finishing the day chilled out at the hostel.