Seljord

Seljord is an interesting place which is famous for its Loch Ness style monster and elves. A goblin built the local church which has a labyrinth painted on the wall. We are parked up by this lake so it could be an interesting night.

labyrinth of west wall of goblin-built church

Graham is now the second person ever to lift the 570 kilo stone after strong Nils many years ago.

My hero!

Stave Churches R Us

We decided it would be a day of churches today. Graham was pleased to get out of Moss today - he was not lichen it (boom boom). The ferry to Horten was 30 mins and cut out the drive up to Oslo. Now the scenery is absolutely stunning, every bend in the road delivers another breathtaking bit of scenery. 

Our first stop was Hoyjord Stavkyrke which was being renovated but we took a couple of good pics of the roof with its new copper trim.

sparkling in the summer sun

Our main target was Heddal Stavkyrkje. We were lucky enough to stumble upon a wedding (the groom wore a kilt) then we met a fabulous guide called Vebjorn Hefre Bakka who kindly agreed to pose for me so I could take a picture of his runic belt. (I will have to put this picture on tomorrow as my ipad refuses to connect to the internet tonight so if you are reading this Vebjorn check back tomorrow for your photo). The runes on his belt come from the church and say that this church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It's a beautiful place with some exceptional carvings around the doors and frescoes on the walls.

wedded bliss awaits them

I will put more pics on tomorrow if my ipad will co-operate

Progress

2000 miles up and many more to go!

The trip mileometer has just topped 2000 miles so time for some thrilling stats!

Total mileage for the trip                                    2025

Country count                                                     9

                                                                        Cornwall

                                                                        England

                                                                        France

                                                                        Belgium          

                                                                        Holland

                                                                        Germany

                                                                        Denmark

                                                                        Sweden

                                                                        Norway

Average miles per gallon                                     30.7

Total diesel costs                                               £374

Total LPG Cooking/heating gas spend                   £18

Total food (and drink for van) spend                    £396

Current location                                                 Moss – Norway

Days on the road                                                28

 

the miles are clocking up!

Our plans are still very loose but today we plan to bypass Oslo and start heading across the central South of Norway taking in some Stave churches. We will be taking the ferry to Horten and first stop Heddal church near Notaddon.

Why bypass Oslo? We prefer the countryside and villages to the cities.

We hear all is well at home and the house sitters are loving Boscastle

Off to Norway

Norway snuck up on us today.

There were no thieves in the car park at Fjallbacka so we had an easy start to the day, strolling around town, climbing up vertiginous steps, and walking under gigantic boulders. I have no idea why Mr Fluffy made me stand under them so long while he took my photo.

off we go..up the stairs

follow me through this totally NOT dangerous chasrn

I promise they won't fall

just stay there a bit longer while I get the shot

Having not had enough of the Bronze Age action yesterday we headed off to Greby to see some amazing standing stones at a burial ground, and then on to Tanum (Aspeberget) which was close to the museum we visited yesterday. Some more incredible rock carvings were found here, many have been damaged by the sulphur in the air pollution and are in danger of disappearing.

Greby standing stones

naughty Scots

more stones at Greby

looks like dogs sniffed each others bottoms in the Bronze Age too

I'm not saying anything

dancing Bronze Age dudes

and Greby again

We had set the sat nav up to avoid motorways, so heading north it took us up some incredibly slim roads which didn’t seem to worry Mr Fluffy but terrified my good self. Luckily nothing else was silly enough to take such a ridiculous 12 km stretch of road and we emerged unscathed at the other end having caught a glimpse of an ancient ‘Valkommen in Norway’ sign or something similar. We were expecting something much more exciting but here we are and the scenery does not look too different so far.

Funnily enough the first person we spoke to in Norway was at a petrol station as we went in search of LPG. ‘Do you speak English?’ I cheerily sprouted – ‘I speak very good English’ he replied in a strong London accent, ‘and yes this is the most expensive country in the world!’ ‘Great’ we chirruped as one, smiling thinly. Thankfully we have packed enough beer and wine to last for a few months…well a week or two at best knowing us.

Having finally got LPG at the Shell outside Halden we headed off to Moss where we are now parked up by the marina. The brochure we picked up at the Tourist info in Halden did a very good job of selling this place. It sounded gorge but is actually quite hideous. There is a town festival on at the moment and it has the worst stalls we have come across ever. This parking place is quite nice and there is a very lucky Chinese chap who is the only one of about 12 fishermen who is catching anything. He pops his rod in and several massive mackerels commit suicide on it immediately. The others are all looking a bit miffed. I wonder what his secret is.

Vitlycke Museum

We thought we'd put a few pics on of the Bronze Age museum.

boats

inside the Long House

carvings have been painted by archaeologists to highlight the images

Bohuslan Coast, Phalluses, and Ingrid Bergman

After the thievery this morning we we.re keen to get on our travels along the west coast towards  Norway on the Bohuslan Coast. HOW GORGE!! WE drove over stunning bridges with views of beautiful marinas and islands on the way up. Stopped in at Fiskebackskill which had the most exquisite and picturesque timber clad houses with flowers growing on their verandas and porches.

Gorgeous house on Fiskerbackskill

Looking windswept

From here we headed off to Talumshede where there are some fabulous bronze age rock carvings. The Museum was free and we had a good wander around the carvings where one with a gigantic phallus was described as having 'bulging calves'. NO mention of the huge appendage.

please note the bulging calves

The museum has recreated a bronze age farm on an original site which was very interesting. There were sheep and pigs which were similar to the ones that would have been there at the time, a sacrificial stone and some long houses. 

WE are now in Fjallbacka. Ingrid Bergman had a summer house here and her ashes were scattered over the sea  here as well. It is, again, a stunning town and I want to have a Swedish house immeeeeediately!. 

Criminals on Campsites

Graham was most distressed this morning to learn that the vans either side of us had both been burgled and his underpants, which were clearly on show hanging from the bike rack, were left untouched. Clearly the underpants were not worthy of thievery. The Dutch people next door had left their camper's garage door unlocked and heard someone poking about in it around 4 am. The German's on the other side had a guitar stolen from their front seat about the same time. Their dog barked so we think it scared them off from the lure of the undies and they sped off in their car. The stellplatz was called Lisebergsbyn Karralund and was conveniently located (for the thieves) in a well lit country side park next to a camp site. Be aware if you are heading to Gotenburg - we recommend not staying here despite its appearances.

This is the first time we have had anything like this on our travels. It's shocking that thieves can open a locked door of a Fiat Ducato so easily. They were both older vehicles. The German guy said he will take the simple precaution of strapping the cab doors together with a webbing strap to ensure it does not happen again.

We are always very careful but this has made us even more aware of possible problems and we will be even more vigilant in the future. Graham checked all the locks and there were no signs our van was targeted - despite the temptation that hung from the bike racks!