Cycling the Kystriksveien - Day 11 home cycling Kystriksveien, 2006 Day 11 Updated 26 November 2006.

07/08/06 Ørnes

The trip along the coast is smooth but the low cloud and squalls spoil the views somewhat. Furthermore the globe that marks the Arctic Circle on the small island that we pass was blown into the sea during a violent winter storm last year, and only the bracket remains, looking a bit forlorn!

The Polar Circle monument, missing its globe now

Shortly afterwards P. and I race up on to the deck to watch the Kong Harald pass by on the port bow, with the usual mighty blasts from the ship's horns on both vessels as accompaniement.

The mighty Svartisen glacier is lurking somewhere in there

On arrival, Ørnes is awash with rain when the Nordlys pulls in - we are the only ones to disembark into the torrential downpour and the cruising passengers look down on us curiously as we get ready on the quay. Fortunately we aren't riding far, we just cross the road and pull up at the Ørnes Hotel, the only place to stay in town. We book in at 09:30 and sleep for much of the day, making a brief sally to the bookshop in the mid-afternoon for a new toy car for P. and a pack of cards. In the evening we repair to the Viking pub opposite the hotel, which I remember kicking my heels in several years ago while waiting for a smaller ferry to Vasdalsvik when riding down the RV17. They feed us up on pizza, burgers and chips, and two bottles of beer, all for Kr. 420, and then we turn in, amazingly falling asleep again to the sound of rain pelting on the windows at 9pm. So the day has been a total washout, but the hotel has turned out to be a welcome place for sitting out the rain.

home cyclingKystriksveien, 2006 Day 12

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