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| 209 miles |
A lot of rain overnight but it had stopped when we surfaced, although it was still dull, cloudy and rather cool. Nothing to hang around for so after breakfast we set off - or tried to, but we were stuck! The rain had softened the ground where we were parked and all four wheels had sunk in; Bertie was going nowhere. Digging out wasn't an option so we tried forcing our sand ladders - well actually halves of an old plastic bread crate - under whilst trying to rock the van back and forth. The wheels weren't spinning, there was simply not enough oof to pull out of the ruts. Finally we just had to be quite rough and, with Bren adding a bit of a push, he pulled himself out; hopefully there's no damage to the clutch or transmission, it all seemed to be okay. The new all-weather tyres must have helped in not letting the drive wheels lose their grip, much impressed.
So we continued to the motorhome service point we were heading for last night; it was very busy but all we wanted was water so crept in, filled the tank and crept out again! Then carry on into the next part of our tour, joining one of the scenic drives promulgated on the Norwegian Travel website which we had programmed into Nellie - TomTom took a back seat now, just showing the road ahead although he gave no indication of the many tunnels we went through of varying length up to 8km. Low cloud and occasional poor visibility in the odd light rain shower meant that it wasn't a very good day for photos but a few weren't too bad and give an idea of Norway in gloomier weather. Still dozens of motorhomes and campers about.
Lunch was taken at a rest area/view point at Malstrom. The word maelstrom, meaning confused water, actually originates here as it is the site of said to be the fastest tidal race in the world where at high and low tides water is rushing either in or out of the fjords. Of course it was mid-tide when we were there but we did buy a couple of postcards that show it at its best (worst?). Departing, we found a supermarket just over the bridge so did a quick replenish of the larder before pushing on into a gradually clearing day. Once again Norway was doing its best to show us its attractive scenery.
Late afternoon we starting looking for a possible overnight stay, passing a couple of nice looking spots because we felt we ought to be further on but of course thereafter we found most of the suggestions in P4N were unattractive, had signs up saying no overnighting or were simply just closed. This is the danger of social media of course in that sometimes erroneous information gets pushed as fact; one persons opinion can differ hugely from another. Finally, over an hour later after vetoing yet another as nice but exposed we gave up and settled for a campsite just before the next ferry crossing we'd be making. It's not that we dislike campsites, most of them are excellent and have excellent facilities, but we don't need them, especially having been able to service the van fully during the previous 24 hours, and of course they charge, and don't they ever! Nevertheless we were made welcome at Camping Furoy and chose a nice firm (!) pitch with electric hookup. Maybe it was because it's Friday night but by early evening it was almost full.
The weather forecast is gradually improving over the next 24 hours and Sunday is better still but we'll carry on tomorrow as there is little point in just sitting in the van watching the rain!
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