Day 15

120 km, Schwerin-Heiligergrabe

The first thing we did in Schwerin was to get gel insoles for Isak, who has suffered from numb toes and has tried most other remedies that Google suggested. The gel insoles seem to do the job.

Today we gave the GPS a town much further away than normally, and asked it to take us there. It did, mostly on "pleasant" small roads (mostly full of pitholes=Strassenschaeden) throgh villages (Brunow, Berge, Ziegendorf) consisting of a church, sometimes a fire station, and houses. We probably went 80 km without seeing any kind of groceries shop or even a petrol station, and were wondering if anyone actually lived in the villages, or if it was all Potemkin facades, some of it at least. We later learnt that the eastern part of Germany has lost a lot of its population, not only after 1990, but the negative trend started in the 50's. Some states have lost over half its population since then.

Eventually, we came to a small town, Putlitz, where we found a Lidl shop where we bought salad, sandwiches, etc., and had a picnic by the side of their parking lot.

The last bit of the journey, some easy forty km in tailwind was now ahead of us, and it was just after 7pm. An easy job to get there before dark. We thought... Our Garmin flagship cycling GPS, the Edge 810, decided that the fastest route was via something best described as a three km long field of boulders, named Könkendorfer Weg. Thank you, Garmin. Please mark this road as unridable. The best way through this road was to walk on the side of the road, except for where fallen branches covered both the side of the "road". It made us long back to the Strassenschaeden signs of Ziegendorf, which now in comparison, despite its potholes, resembled the Autobahn.

Coming back to civilization 40 minutes later, we had to find accomodation as it was getting dark. This time, the GPS found us a few nearby hotels, just six km away. Racing against the Sun, we arrived to one of the them just after 10 pm.

Today's journey could win the Award "The Worst Roads of Germany". Oh myyy.. :D

Day 6

110 km, Skedsmokorset-Moss

We started our day with a fantastic breakfast that Kjetil served us. While we were eating, he washed and did maintainence on our bikes, which was well needed. ;-)

After we booked our flight tickets from Hungary to Sweden (since we cycle just one way), we wanted to book the Oslo-Fredrikshavn ferry but it was full, unfortunately. This meant that we had to stick to our original plan, which was to take the ferry 170 km away.

We arrived to Oslo around noon time, and we started our sightseeing tour, with Kjetil as our guide. The weather gods stayed at our side today, it was sunny and 21 degrees warm: real Norwegian summer!
Just to name a few, we have seen Norway's most famous park, Vigelandsparken (which is much bigger and more beautiful than Orsi has ever imagined), the Norwegian Opera House (Operahuset), the Royal Palace (which doesn't look like a palace at all), the government buildings where the bomb exploded on 22nd July 2011, and finally the famous Viking Ship Museum.
By the end of the sightseeing tour, the clock was already 5 pm, so we better started our journey towards the ferry boat.

It was fantastic to cycle through big fields and forests, next to little lakes, meanwhile enjoying the wonderful sunshine.
15 km before arriving to today's destination, we arrived to such a steep hill that we had to walk the bikes. Orsi didn't have enough time to detach the bicycle shoes from pedal, so she fall (Isak as well almost). Meeting the ground didn't hurt much, but one of the rear bags on the bike got damaged. By the time we fixed it, it started to get darker (which means pink sky).

In Moss you need to take a ferry (just 11 km) in order to continue your way to Larvik. Just before we arrived to Moss, the ferry left, so we decided to overnight on this side of the water. Being a Saturday night, the town is full of party people and loud music. We better not join them! :-D

Tomorrow morning we start with a short ferry journey to Horten, then we will ride to Larvik and take the ferry from there to Denmark.

Day 2

131 km, Oppdal-Otta.

This morning we started at around 500 meters above sea level. The first 37 km was going up-up-down-up-up-down until we reached the top of the pass through beautiful Dovrefjell at 1026 meters, higher than the highest point in Hungary. There were several snow spots on the mountains, creating a wintery-autumn atmosphere (at least for Orsi, for Isak it rather created a summer landscape due to the small amount of snow).

After that, it was downhill most of the way, luckily. Our top speed was 56 kmh (without pedaling), just before reaching Dombås. In Dombås we had to wait 20 minutes at the petrol station, due to the heavy rain. There we met a couple, cycling from Nordkapp to Lindesnes (Norway's most northern and southern point - a popular cycling trip for Norwegians). After that we went into the sport shop to buy new cycle gloves for Isak, then we continued our way towards Otta.
Beautiful scenery all the way, it feels like being in fairy tale - unless you meet a huge lorry heading to the other direction than you do.  It creates a strong burst of wind, so huge that you almost fall of the bike...
Bicycle paths, we miss you!! Can't wait to reach Denmark, Scandinavia's paradise for cyclists! 

Just before arriving to Otta, we met the above mentioned couple again. Always fun to meet other people with similar experience, it gives you extra energy! :-) By the way, when cyclists meet on the road in Norway, they always greet each other with a nod, wave or a friendly smile - or the combination of these three. :-) 

We try to reach Lillehammer tomorrow, so it's time for a good night's sleep - later than planned, again. :-D