Saturday 2nd November 2013

Well today I had to go out because tomorrow is going to be wet all day. As lazy as I am I can't do two whole days doing nothing but slobbing watching the telly.

I also thought I'd up the amount of kit to take to see what that would be like.

I took my hand saw, large BG knife, trangia (inc mug and matches) + 1 liter meths, sleeping bag, first aid kit, poncho tarp, 3 liters water, waterproof trousers, windproof jacket, thermal trousers, waterproof cover for the cycling helmet, insulated seat, extra warm hat & gloves. Because I wasn't sure how long I'd be out or how dark it'd be in the wooded sections I also had three flashing units on the back and the main headlamp on the front.

Was quite a weight that lot.

Not long after setting off I realised the bags are still a bit far forward, especially on the left, when they're loaded up. I had to stop at the bus stop and do slight adjustment to force it further back. Helped a little but I'm going to have to try and get something made to handle it better.

The temperature on the front door thermometer was reading less than 5degC while I was getting ready. Despite this I only had a thermal top and the usual cycling jacket on top, while I had the cycling shorts with long socks on the lower half. This was because I knew I'd be sweating within about 1-2kms.

The sun was bright and quite low in the sky even at noon(ish). The flashing lights were lit so that I didn't disappear in the glare or shadows. Quite a few people overtook me on the way up to Solli Gnord, but only in cars. Didn't see many people on bikes that's for sure.

As I went through some of the shaded sections of road, on the way up, there was frost still on the grass and it actually looked like there was ice on the tarmac.

As usual I got to Solli Gard about 45mins after setting off. The extra weight not helping, particularly on the steeper sections. The section just as you get into Solli Gard was particularly hurtful to the knees.



I had left before lunch and was hoping to get some sort of snack at Solli Gard. Unfortunately I had forgotten, again, that they don't have anybody serving there. It's self service.

Inside the building, which has been set up to look like the old style farmhouses I guess, there are a number of items just on plates etc. Help yourself and leave the cash in the box. The coffee and tea water were in small flasks so didn't think they'd be too hot. Didn't have either as I was planning on hot tea when I stopped at the lake anyway. I just had a cookie and a glass of squash.

Just in front there is a Norwegian fire pit.

It's made from three metal legs in a tripod, with the bed hanging from a hook on each. There is also a length of chain hanging from the top to hang things over the fire. This length of chain is not fixed in place so that it is easy to adjust the height.

As I entered the wooded sections behind Solli Gard I could see that the temperature was colder still, despite the sun being out all morning. There was frost on the ground and the pools had sheet ice on them. Won't be too long before the temperature gets too low for a jolly without some serious planning

On the first steep downhill section I was finding it hard to look too far head if I went at full chat. Even with the shocks engaged on the front, it was quite hard on the arms. I think the extra weight at the back was making it faster. The left pannier is not currently held into the bike, so any swaying sent the bag away from the frame making it a bit unstable.

I did have the GoPro running, but because it was mounted on the handle bars it was just too shaky to be kept. All the movies from today have been deleted in fact. I might have to look into a chest harness to see how that'd work. The helmet mount is a little too high, and obvious. Got very little in the way of photographs actually.

Still haven't memorised the route completely, despite this being the fourth time I've run it. I had a little side trip and back after the first step descent. Initially I thought I'd see where it went but after checking the ViewRanger app decided to head round a track I knew.

Eventually got to the usual stopping place at the lake and saw a fraction of the people I thought I would. Despite it being a bit cooler, at les than 5degC it was bright and clear, out of the wooded sections. I did see a guy in a wheel chair being pushed by his missus, which was quite an achievement given the state of the tracks.

As I was going round I didn't see any obvious dry wood so didn't have anything to start a fire with. I set up the Trangia and had a couple of cups of tea instead.

I did strip off the tops and hung them on the bike in the slight breeze to dry bit while I waited. I put on the wind-proof from my bag.

While walking after drinking my tea I accidentally dropped my MP3 player in the lake. Unfortunately I din't get down quick enough to stop the bubbles escaping and I think it's completely knackered. I was quite fond of that little thing, as it had an external speaker which meant you didn't have to use headphones with it.

It was getting quite chilly at this point so I thought it prudent to start heading back.

In the low light conditions through the wooded sections I was worried I might hit a bgt dent in the track at high speed. There was one section where it was a close call, and I nearly went over the front end. Slowed down and put the weight even further over the back wheel.

In all I spent just under 4 hours out of the house and completed 20km/12miles. Not very fast admittedly but exercise none the less.

If I can get out a little earlier next time, I might try and go a bit more East after leaving the lake, towards Slependen, just as a bit of a change. Depends on the conditions.

Friday 18th Oct 2013 - 1st crash of the season

Well today was a bit exciting.

Set off this morning in sub-zero temperatures but clear skies so not too dark. I noticed a bit of frost on the landlord's car. Clue #1

The road looked wet. Clue #2. At position #1 I thought I'd have to take it easy because there might be ice on the road.

I was going slower than normal down the hill and a car was quite close behind me. I decided to pull into the bus stop at #2 to let them pass. They did, but only eventually as they were going soooo slowly. Clue #3

After they over took me I came back onto the road and followed them round the two 90° bends as we proceeded down the hill. I was frustrated at how slow they were going. Still clue #3.

As the van in front accelerated a little bit, on the flat by the vet's I also put my foot down. This is where I slipped onto the left side of the bike. Position #3.

As I slid along, I almost managed to get back onto my feet. Thankfully it was smooth black ice as it meant I didn't scrape too much off the clothes. Later I found out that the left pedal had been flattened.

As I was picking myself up I heard some skidding going on behind me. Initially I thought it was a car heading my way, but when I looked round it turned out to be another bike slipping over as well. Looked like they'd seen the car stopped behind me with its hazards on and tried to goa round it.

What struck me most was how black he was. Black bike, black hat, black top, black leggings and black shoes. There didn't appear to be any reflective material and certainly no lights in evidence. If he hadn't have fallen over I doubt I'd've seen him at all.

In comparison I have a bright yellow rain jacket, white helmet with two flashing lights (one red, one white), two pannier bags with reflective piping and a flashing light on each. At least people would be able to see me if I crashed and was unable to get up on my own. Doesn't stop the inital crash of course but reduces the risk of it getting worse.

In the shower at work I noticed some scrapes and bruises to my lower legs. Left neck muscles not too good either. Still alive though.

So that means it's the end of the current tyres, which have been hard used during the season and don't have much track left on them anyway. Spikes will be put on tomorrow morning before I go or do anything else.

Can't do it tonight as I'm going out socialising in Sandvika.

6th October 2013 - Lakeside walk

Yesterday I bought a bigger rucksack so that I could experiment with carrying stuff I might need if I decided to go into the woods during the winter time.

This morning I had decided to go for a walk around the local lake. The plan was to stop part way round and cook the sausages and bacon over the trangia or an open fire, whichever worked best.

The only fuel I could find at a petrol station a couple of weeks ago was white spirit. Not used that before in a trangia, but it is advertised as being multi fuel so thought it could be that bad.

Loaded the bag up with a poncho, knife, saw, water, stove, fuel bottle, gaiters and extra layers of clothes. My issue has alway been that I can walk, but when I do I sweat. If I cut down on the amount of clothes I just get cold on the surface, but still get wet. To try and obviate this problem I decided to just wear a single thermal layer with a buff neck collar. Didn't really work as I still got wet with sweat and in the cold temperatures it got chilly quite quickly.

I had decided to go around the lake anti-clockwise because near the end would be a nice little area to do the cooking.

As I got to the entrance for the lake walk it was obvious there were a lot of people out for their Sunday walk. Joggers, speed walkers and the odd cyclist joined the mass of families. Even the smallest kids were carrying rucksacks.



Setting off at 1145, I stopped off at the cafe after about 20mins to get a warm drink. There were waffles on offer but I decided my fry up would be enough.

A short way on from the cafe I went down to the beach so that I could have a look at the little toe on the left foot. The nail needed a bit of trimming. Hadn't been a problem up til now, but the walking boots were obviously pushing the toes together more than normal.

The weather was clear and sunny if a little chilly and the path seemed to be crowded. There didn't seem to be that many places to sit and enjoy the view, unless you're prepared to sit on the ground, so I got round most of the walk in about 1.5 hours.



The sun was in my eyes for part of the walk and I think clockwise would be the more sensible route next time so that I can see the path more clearly. It was quite slippery on the exposed roots in places.



When I reached my proposed cooking location there was already an extended family cooking polser (hotdogs) over a wood fire. It is a popular thing to do on a walk over here and I'd already seen a larger fire earlier in the walk.

 I tried to get the trangia stove going with the flint and steel but it just didn't want to light. I even tried soaking a bit of cotton wool in petroleum jelly, but even though this lit  it didn't get the white spirit going.

I didn't think I was going to get anything cooked so had an orange instead.

Not long after that abortion the family left. I moved into their location which still had some smouldering pieces of wood, to see if I could get a wood fire going instead.

It was a no go. The wood I collected, after a brief search, was too wet and just wouldn't catch, even with a burning glob of petroleum jelly acting as a source. Even with some local assistance suggesting moss and dried bark off the trees it just wouldn't catch again.



I was feeling fairly peckish at this point so just gave it up and headed back home to cook on the stove instead.



After lunch, approx 1500hrs, I got out the trangia again and decided to see if it would light with a match instead. It did, eventually, but it had a tremendously smoky flame that I don't think it is a good choice of fuel. It took approx 15mins of the centre fuel reservoir burning before the outer burner ring caught, at which point the smoke became intolerable. Have to find some meths from somewhere.

29th September 2013 - Walk aka Climb

Decided to go up to the top of Skaugumsåsen today to do some walking - Wikipedia here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skaugums%C3%A5sen

Feeling I haven't been doing enough walking while I've been in Norway. While the bike has been working I tend to cycle everywhere I've been so far. To work and back, shopping in town and even longer days out.

Skaugumsåsen is the mountain which stands above Asker in Norway. It is next to Semsvannet, the lake near to my house. It is visible from the front door to the left in the distance.

I have been asked a number of times whether I had been to the top yet. To be honest in the past it just looked too steep to even think about it.

Today I was going to give it a go. I had heard it would be about 1.5 hours. I wasn't too sure of the route to the top so had to rely on the ViewRanger app. again. 

As I got closer to the base off the climb it wasn't exactly obvious where the track was supposed to go, until I saw what looked like a path heading into the trees.I got out one of the walking sticks just in case I needed. As I was setting it up, I saw a small boy come out in front of his dad. Once he saw me, he stopped dead until he caught up.

Oh great. Here I am getting ready to hobble up using a stick and a toddler comes out from where I'm going. Sometimes I feel so out of place not having been brought up here.

I did however need the stick as the ground became steeper and steeper with more and more rubble. For most of the climb it was a scramble where I had to use my hands as well as feet.

Part way up I came across a structure which looked like a notice board. Couldn't see any aerials or power cables and it was painted green. This meant it was either military or they just wanted to hide it in the trees. I did ask a woman coming down what it was but she didn't know either. She was part of a group which included quite small children. Still amazes me how much they do with their youngsters, even small enough to be carried. Not sure I'd want to risk carrying a small person myself, especially as I was having to watch my own footing.

The climb took me about an hour to get to the top. Or what I thought was the top.



I tried to take a panoramic picture but as usual I have trouble seeing which bits I miss. Don't want to retake it too many times as the batteries on the phone were needed to keep the nav app going.

It turned out there were another two bits which were higher, and after taking pictures took me another 30mins.

While I was at the top I seemed to have a memory of being here before. Might have been 10-12 years ago when I was working in the old office for a few days. It was an evening walk with Clare Rew, Andy Thompson and a few others from the office at the time.





At the top, top there was a metal box, attached to a tree, with a visitors book. It had a QR code which I scanned just to see what it was.

Turns out to be an SMS instruction. As the Nexus isn't attached to a Norwegian network I couldn't do anything with it.

On the top there were these 4ft posts about 10 inches across I expect for triangulation surveys, and parents were getting their kids to stand on top while they took pictures. Again amazed.

I didn't hang around too long as I was feeling the sweat getting very cold and because I wasn't sure of the exact route back. There was apparently a gentler route down but it went away from Asker, so rather than risk getting lost in the woods I decided to back track.

It was even harder to go back down. The route back wasn't marked and I had to use the disturbed ground as a guide. Thankfully I still had plenty of light, despite leaving the house at about 1330hrs. I eventually got down. It was almost steep enough to warrant rope descents. The knees were feeling it to be honest.

It wasn't the longest walk I've ever been on, but not bad never the less.



 It is possible to see it at my ViewRanger page. http://my.viewranger.com/track/details/NTQxOTAy

7th September 2013

Well last night I finished off quite a bit of wine and probably didn't do me any favours on the bike ride I did today.

Saturday 7th September 2013

Actually woke up quite late in the morning. 1100 was quite reasonable and I felt bit refreshed than the previous week.

The weather report for the day was good but wasn't taking any chances so packed the new over trousers and waterproof poncho purchased yesterday at XXL.

Probably over did it on the weight side. Approx 15kgs worth of stuff including some small food and 2.5litres of water. I included warm and dry clothes as you never know in the hills.

The plan was to set off on a loop down from Drammen to Svalvik, crossing the fjord to Verksøya and then back up to Drammen, which I'd estimated at approx 50km.

I eventually made it to Drammen at 1300hrs and set off down the left hand side of the Drammen fjørd.

The first few km are still within the outskirts of Drammen and it's not until about 12km that the fjord and trees become visible or prominent.

It was quite sunny and the sweat was stinging my eyes quite badly. I took the helmet off and despite owning it for many years realised that the forehead band came off and I could rinse it. I only had the water from the small bottle on the bike frame so only rinsed it a little bit. There was a sense of relief after rinsing it out and re-applying it.

Just after that I got a puncture. Bugger 13km in and got the first puncture. Doesn't bode well. It didn't take too long to find the hole and get it patched up. As I had the awesome pump it wasn't a hardship to get the pressure back up to normal operating pressure.

It was relatively flat until Svalvik. The temperature was quite warm. The going wasn't what I'd call exceptionally easy, probably due to the excessive weight I was carrying. Trying to get up to touring weight though so wasn't too upset about it.

What I did get upset about was the appalling way that pedestrian and cycle paths just vanished into thin air. Luckily the road wasn't very busy and I could cross to the road again without too much issue.

Picture taken near Svalvik.

At Svelvik I tried to find a place to get some food at a cafe or some such. I couldn't even find a polser shop. In the end I went into a Spar supermarket and bought some apples and a drink, just to keep me going in case I really got stuck.

I got to what is probably the shortest ferry ride I've ever seen. In fact according to Wikipedia it is the shortest in Norway. Actually seems odd they haven't dug a tunnel to replace it yet. It takes about 5 mins to get across but it was only running every 30mins.

I arrived about 15mins before it was due to run so didn't have too long to wait. It cost me 24 NOK for both me and the bike. Not sure of the breakdown as separate.

Once on the other side I thought I'd be able to find some sort of shop/kiosk to buy some food.

The only thing I found was a hill. What a hill it was too. I hadn't looked at the elevation before setting out and didn't know how far up it was going to go.

It was a slog. Lowest gears and just keeping the legs going. 

At what turned out to be about half way up I heard the distinctive notes of an ice-cream van coming from a side road. I crossed the road and joined the queue. I thought it a bit odd that there weren't more kids about. The adults who were there, seemed to be buying multiple packs. After standing for a few minutes I thought I'd better ask if it was actually possible to buy one!

The van was from a company called Hjem-Is.

The man who was dealing with the money told the woman helping that I couldn't. Bugger I thought, leave me standing there in my biking gear on a hot day with my wallet out and not mention that I wouldn't be able to buy one. Just as I was about to set off for the rest of the hill, the woman came out from around the front of the van with an ice-cream in her hand. I was about to offer to pay when she put her finger to her lips and waved me off. I said 'takk' quietly so no one would hear.

I headed up the hill and hid under a bush at the next junction, so that if the van came my way the woman wouldn't get into trouble. Despite the fact it was free it wasn't what I would've bought if I'd had the chance. It was a dry ice-cream sandwich.

As I continued up I was struggling with sweat getting into my eyes. Very bad stinging. I had to stop to wipe my brow clear more regularly than I'd've liked. When I got near the top and onto an actual path I took my helmet off. I assumed the chances of me falling off or being knocked over, going up hill on a path was very small and worth the risk.

By the time I'd got to the top I'd come up about 175m/580ft from sea level.



I took another break at the top and tried to rinse the head band again as I'd have to wear the helmet going down the hill.

At the bottom of the hill I found a petrol station. Luckily they had a toilet where I refreshed my water supplies and gave the head band a thorough rinse. Unfortunately it then fell apart.

I bought a hot-dog as it was now about 1600hrs and I was not a little peckish.

On the road heading back North there were plenty of slowly rising hills and then long drops. On these downhill sections I managed to get up to a max speed of about 46kph. Got passed by lots of older cars which Norwegians only take out in the good weather. Plenty of examples from the US.

I was starting to think I may have taken on more than was wise! Wasn't planning on giving up, just thinking about the pain in the morning.

At one point where the road does a 180 bend round the fjord I decided to take an extended break. On another day if I'd started out earlier I'd've taken a quick dip to cool down.

At this point I thought I only had 15km togo. Oops! Only 5km out.

On the last few kms I was getting more and more tired. The closer I got the worse the path finding got. There was a particularly bad one which went steeply downhill quite a way before I realised it wasn't the correct path but somebody's driveway.

Another one close to Drammen centre indicated that the walking/cycling path would be 5km into the centre. I sent Eileen a message saying I'd easily be in the pub by 1830hrs. As I got closer I didn't see another sign until I ended up in a railway sidings with no obvious route out to continue. Bugger. Not good. I had to back track to the 5km sign and find another route using the main roads instead.

Even once I'd found a set of bike signs they weren't consistent. I eventually had to ask somebody and use The Force.

I only just made it to the pub by 1830hrs. 5.5hrs in total for 38miles.

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http://my.viewranger.com/track/details/NTA4OTE4 .