We'd been told that Oslo was only about 50-something miles (90 km) away which, considering we'd done 75 miles (120 km) the day before, seemed easy. We set off around 10am in sunshine. The forecast was for rain but luckily it was wrong... so far. Around about 3 miles (5 km) outside of Sarpsborg on route 114 we encountered what I consider to be more like the picture of Norway I had in my head before I came here. There was a large lake surrounded by hills covered in trees.
We crossed a bridge that spanned part of the lake. An older bridge, or rather what was left of it, stood beside it. We stopped for a time to admire the scenery and take some pictures. I prayed that I wouldn't run out of memory on my camera or battery power right now. Luckily I was fine on both accounts.
We carried along the side of the lake for a time before climbing the usual endless supply of Scandinavian hills. The road which was tree lined all the way never got monotonous though. To think that hundreds of years ago the UK was heavily forested, but look at it now. Norway, on the other hand, still is, from what I could see. Samuel Pepys once said that, "A man who is tired of London, is tired of life." He obviously never travelled this far North.
On the way up the hill we passed the entrance to a ski resort. It's funny but you never think that there would be much skiing at this altitude. However, this far North they obviously get a lot more snow than we do these days. Probably the same amount that we used to get way back in the 70s. Am I showing my age now? Oh well...
Although the sun was still shining the air was thick and cold. It was actually quite hard to keep warm. I was quite glad I had my cycling vest on which kept my body warm if not my arms which were freezing. This has been an ongoing thing about Scandinavia, that even though the sun is in the sky the air has been kind of thick which has meant that cycling through it has generated cold winds. Good when you are warm but not so good when you are cold.
We cycled for a few hours going through places like Nordby and Meieribyen taking a few breaks. Eventually we met up with Pete again in Spydeberg for a rest and something to eat. We had only had snacks so far since breakfast so we were ready to get stuck into something a little more substantial. Norway is, as you would presume, relatively expensive but when you gotta eat you gotta eat and forget the cost. I bought a ham and cheese roll in the shape of a large horseshoe. Fred then bought a waffle filled with ice cream and jam. It called my name - I just had to have one too.
After lunch we lolled around a little outside. I cycled over to a book shop to see what they had in their window. I managed to unclip my right foot from the pedals but not my left. I lost my balance and tipped over sideways much to the amusement of everyone, including myself. If you can't laugh at yourself in these situations then you have no right laughing at anyone else.
It was dull again as we headed off once more. I pulled my wind proof top on as well as my cycling vest and waterproof jacket to try and build up some heat. A couple of miles outside of town I saw a sign warning about Moose. I could just imagine going round a bend and coming face to face with an angry moose ready to charge me with his horns. Luckily, I didn't. Not something you see back home but over here it's probably like wild deer running around.
At some small town we kind of got a bit lost and had to ask for directions. A lady put us back on track in the direction of Ski. The sun came out again, lulling us into a false sense of security. Again, it may have been sunny but it was still cold.
Ski is a large commuter town some 15 miles (25 km) or so from Oslo. By now we had travelled around 50 miles (80 km). We arrived there around teatime and so stopped off at a service station (thank God for service stations, without them we would have gone hungry and thirsty on large parts of this trip) to buy some refreshments. Mauro needed a big sugar crash urgently as did I and so we both bought some sugary jelly sweets. Boy did they taste good!
Taking some advice on how to get to Oslo we found a sign saying "Oslo 25". 15 miles (25 km) doesn't seem like much but when you have covered 50 miles (80 km) already it seems like a whole lot more. As we headed off again the weather took a turn for the worse and it started to rain again. We all had our wet weather gear on apart from Fred who showed true Viking spirit and carried on regardless although he did manage to borrow a thermal cycling top from Bob. Cycling along one particular road Shaun managed to get a "snake bite" puncture on his rear tyre. This occurs usually when one of your wheels hits the edge of a kerb hard causing the inner rim of the wheel to pinch the inner tube and tearing it, somewhat resembling a snake bite, hence the term. We parked up in a bus shelter and resident mechanic extraordinaire, Mauro, went to work again. He changed the tube and had the wheel back on again in around 6 minutes. Not bad going.
We headed off again, tired, wet, cold but determined to complete the final few miles and "Get to Oslo". At the end of one particular street we had to enter a park area passing some football pitches and then going down the middle of a golf course. Norwegians may not have as many famous golfers as us but they are still daft about the game, like us. There were some many people and cars around even in the pouring rain.
My wrists were hurting from all the cycling and so I decided to change the angle of my handlebar stem to see if that would alleviate some of the pain. It worked, at least for a time. The path through the park changed to little more than a dirt track which by now had seen a lot of rain and horses by the look of things. There was no choice but to cycle through it and get covered in mud as we descended the path. By then we pretty much didn't care as we were already cold and wet so what could some mud do?
Eventually after passing some stables the dirt track finished and we descended a residential street jumping off of the speed bumps. My forks by now were in a sorry state. They were bottoming out very easily. At the bottom of the hill the directions started to get a little confusing. Beforehand there were definite signs saying "Oslo". Now there were directions probably to places in Oslo but none looked familiar. We crossed a bridge going over a main road and then down a ramp on the other side. Shaun's tyre gave out again and we had to stop for a time while Mauro took a look. I think there must have been some damage to his wheel as he had another puncture in a new inner tube. We sheltered under the ramp we had descended earlier and Mauro went back to work on the wheel. A group of cyclists went by and waved to us. Road cyclists, in my experience, rarely acknowledge people on mountain bikes.
I tried to wash some of the dirt off of my bike using a large puddle that was right next to us. When your rims get dirty it causes the brakes not to function properly as well as wearing them down quicker (both the brakes and rims). I then washed my shoes which were caked in mud too. They were soaking wet by now anyway so splashing about in a puddle didn't matter.
With Shaun's tyre fixed again we set off again for the centre of Oslo. We passed a red phone box like the ones at home. It felt so very long ago that we set off from Gothenburg even though it had only been a few days. Again, the route to the centre of the city became a little hazy. Fred had stopped a couple of guys and asked for directions. We headed down a slip road onto what I can only presume to be the E6; the road running all the way from Gothenburg to Oslo. The trasffic was very fast moving and I was a little uneasy about going down this road. On the other side of the road I saw a cyclist going down a cycle track at the side of the road. I got off my bike and headed back up the slip road again. I crossed over an overpass and went down the ramp on the other side. The others soon followed suit. There's no point in living dangerously on strange roads. Our luck had held this far and I didn't want anyone getting hurt when we were so close to finishing. This road, was as we discovered in due course, the final stretch of road leading us to our destination.
We stopped off at another service station. Fred found a couple of watering cans full of water and I washed more of the dirt off of my bike. By now it had stopped raining but it was still overcast. From the cycle path you could see out on to the Oslo fjord which the city is built around. There was a sailing regatta or something going on in the distance. There were many large sails. We passed by the docks and eventually around 8pm we finally reached the centre of Oslo.
Part of the centre was having some work done to it so we had to get off our bikes to walk around the temporary path. At this point I lost Mauro. I went back to where we were but I couldn't see him. I met Bob coming back down the street where everyone else was. He had his high visibility rain jacket on and so I thought that Mauro would spot him more likely than me. I headed on up the street through the pedestrian traffic to where everyone else was. Evetually we spotted Bob's luminous jacket coming back up the street. We couldn't see Mauro but as Bob got closer we saw that Mauro was walking. One of his feet had given way under the stress of cycling all week.
We stopped a passing girl who took a couple of pictures of us on Bob's camera. After that, all we wanted to do was book in to the hostel and relax. We were booked in at the Anker Hostel on Storgata, which, after what we had just been through was a decidedly underwhelming place. The guy at the front desk did his level best to get everyone's back up. He decided to process everyone's booking in the order in which we gave him the sheets we had to fill in. It didn't matter if someone was out at the van, that was just the way it was and he stuck to his guns (to Bob's grudging admiration). Eventually though we managed to get into our rooms.
Bob, in his infinite brilliance, decided to go out with Peter and buy everyone a large pizza. To say that the cooking facilities in the room were basic would be an understatement. You even had to rent pots and pans off of the front desk. He returned an hour later and it was the best pizza ever. Bob, you should be Knighted for keeping us fed over the course of the week. Thanks so much, you are a top man.
After food, Shaun, Tom, Fred and John decided to have a night out on the town. It was around 10:30pm by now and I was just wanting to hit the hay. We had finally done it. What had started off at an estimated 220 mile (352 km) cycle had finished off being 275 miles (440 km). Now to sleep, perchance to dream of home again...
