Bømlo to Haugesund - 27th May


The small campsite in Leirvik was my introduction to the NAFcamp organisation.  The NAF is the Norwegian equivalent of the AA or the RAC, but they also produce an excellent campsite guide with a very good general map of Norway. The guide is free from any NAF campsite.

I met Gunther on the campsite. He was a little gloomy. Seventy years old, and estranged from his family, he warned me that the decade between sixty and seventy had aged him twenty years. Even so, he aimed to cycle 2000km every month. He was pessimistic about the weather, too, but as I cycled away from Leirvik over the huge bridges that led to the island of Bømlo the sun came out. The road snaked around the heads of small inlets of the sea and it rained off and on, but in a not-unenjoyable way. I stopped at a petrol station for coffee and sat in the sun to let my jacket steam dry and a passer-by ordered me to turn my face to the sun. I was wasting a golden opportunity!

Orchids on Bømlo

The island of Bømlo is very beautiful. The road rises and falls steeply between jagged outcrops of rock, dotted with small lochans where waterlilies grow. They weren't out yet, but the marsh marigolds were gleaming golden yellow in almost every ditch. There were primroses too, and violets, and wood anemones and cuckoo flowers, but the flower of the day, of the week even, was the dandelion. They were everywhere.

On the road to Haugesund

At Langevåg I arrived at the ferry terminal to find the timetable obscured by condensation in its glass case.  There was no one about so I sat down in the sunshine to eat my lunch.  I'd just started making a cup of tea when cars started rolling up, closely followed by the ferry, so I packed up quickly and got on board.


Back on the mainland the road was still quiet and beautiful, but less steep, and I cycled through the afternoon to the campsite just north of Haugesund.  It was closed for the winter.  That didn't stop someone from showing up to collect money though, and to dispense keys to the toilet block, and wifi codes.


It looked like rain. The map on AllTrails is here.

Tips:

  • NAF for campsite guide and map.  
  • Closed does not always mean closed.
  • Visit a Tourist Information office when you can and pick up as many ferry timetables as possible.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When is a campsite not a campsite? - 29th May

Image
The North Sea south of Kvernavik The campsite in Stavanger was in a public park, so dog-walkers strolled among the tents and motorhomes. It rained all night, leaving the motorhomes stuck deep in the mud and my tent surrounded by water. Luckily everything was dry inside, and the sun came out so the tent was dry outside too, by the time I set off. I followed cycle paths to Kvernavik, where I rejoined the official route, and then turned south into a very cold breeze. The route hugged the coast, and there were some interesting surprises, which I leave you to discover. Today was the day I decided that, sometimes, the road was preferable to following the route where it used gravel tracks. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss the section through Hå, but further south there was a very bumpy bit that involved a lot of opening and closing of gates. After a couple of kilometres of that I took to the road.   Romantic, but bumpy I get the feeling that the official NSCR seeks out entirely
Read more

By bus and boat to Stavanger - 28th May

Image
Between Haugesund and Stavanger the original North Sea Cycle Route has been diverted.  This is because the ferry which used to run between Skudeneshavn, just south of Kopervik, and Kvitsøy, north of Stavanger, has been replaced by a tunnel.  Wikipedia tells me there are over 900 road tunnels in Norway with a length exceeding 750km.  In most of those tunnels you cannot ride a bicycle, though even if you could, you probably wouldn't want to. I had been wondering what to do about this diversion when Gunther, who I'd met in Leirvik, told me he'd simply put his bike on a bus in Stavanger and it had taken him to the tunnel exit just north of Kopervik.  I'd then had a conversation with an English cyclist who had been unconvinced about the existence of a ferry between Nedstrand and Stavanger.  This persuaded me to take the bus, and even though it cheated me of a nice ride and ferry trip it was an interesting experience. The fact that it poured with rain all day and I didn&
Read more

Getting to Bergen - Bike v Baggage Handlers

Image
In the summer of 2015 I cycled around the North Sea. I started in Bergen on 25th May and finally reached the northern tip of Shetland on 28th September having stopped in London for a month or so in the middle of the trip. I say it was summer, but it was snowing and raining in Bergen at the end of May, and it was so cold in Denmark at midsummer that I needed gloves and a wooly hat to walk on the beach.  Then, when it did get hot in Germany, there was no sea deep enough to swim in.  Nothing but mud and more mud.  But more of that another time. The website dedicated to the North Sea Cycle Route has closed down, so I've placed links to the guidebooks I used at the bottom of this post.  The most useful general blog I've found about travelling by bike is Tom's Bike Trip .  I don't want to repeat what others have written, but there are a few things I discovered that might be helpful to you if you're thinking of making this journey, especially if you've not been
Read more