Today’s stage had a lot of mixed terrain. I wonder if the people who planned this route (the north sea cycle route) had a clear idea of what they wanted to achieve. Sometimes it seems like they send you sightseeing, with signs pointing all the way through a city past every museum. Then the route follows a busy road with no bicycle track, only to go into a forest some time later, where you fight your way up and down the hills on gravel paths or worse.

Today I’ve had a little bit of all that, especially the gravel roads. Those slow you down tremendously, and the only thing I’m really happy about is that I didn’t go for slick tires after all. It would have been no fun on the gravel, and even less fun in the hills yesterday.

A night in a hotel definitely did me good, though. I started early and refreshed, and initially had a lot of energy and made good time. Then came first a long ferry trip, then gravel, then some really nasty hills, and at about 40 km in Valle, I was getting quite exhausted. Still, I made it to Krager?, just before the rain set in again, and in time to watch the exciting finale of today’s Tour stage. Poor Kurt-Asle, he really deserved to win this for all the work he did.

I’ve had a really good day, weather-wise. Physically, I’m not too happy with the last 20 km, and to be honest, I am getting slightly bored. I feel I’ve packed wrong, I should have left the camping gear at home and packed less clothes, washing shirts every few days instead. So my options for tomorrow are: Either go the 65 km to Arendal, the next train stop from here, and go back to Oslo from there. Or continue, if I get the spirit back again. Or take the train from Krager? tomorrow morning, if the weather is still as bad as it is right now. I don’t think another day of cycling in the rain will raise my spirits much. All in all, I’ve got 210 km on this trip (68 today), and today’s average was only 16-17 km/h, with top speed of 50.4, down some hill with good visibility and no wind.