Lakes

Strong wind at the Eidstod kept going all night. I feared a bit for my laundry that I had hung up to dry but everything was still there. The tent was a bit annoying to handle as its parts kept taking off when I wasn't looking. At least everything -- clothes, tent, myself -- was really dry in the morning; dryer than it had been in days.

For most of the day I was riding the shore of some lake. The larger ones, Kviteseidvatn and Flavatn, actually form part of the Telemark canal. Some of the mountains surrounding those lakes were bare rocks that don't have as much as a bush growing on them. Others were covered in dense vegetation -- pine trees mostly -- from foot to summit and could fit right in with central European mountain ranges like the Black Forest.

Picture Me Rolling

After leaving the canal in Lunde I continued towards the southwest on what looked like a well-maintained gravel road. Rather innocuous as the gravel roads of Norway tend to be, so I didn't look for an alternative. Around eight kilometers into that road I suddenly hit a boom barrier with a sign declaring the next stretch of the road "private". Returning wasn't an option, I had committed too much time already to going this way. So I squeezed the bike around the barrier and continued on.

The road quality dropped considerably after that barrier. Instead of a properly compacted surface the gravel was loose, irregular and interspersed with sand patches at the worst moments during descents. On my 35 mm Marathon tires not particularly enjoyable to ride; deformed bits of that road caused the bike to shake violently, so much the left pannier came off. Almost lost the two spacers that keep it fastened snugly on the rear rack -- despite having glued those on so this wouldn't happen. Damn what a design flaw these things are in the otherwise robust Ortlieb system. It was however neat to ride without any car traffic for a while on that barriered-off section. I managed to stay upright for all the 30 km of sterrato but riding cautiously slowed me down a lot.

All Good Things

Made it through that gravel road with the bike and myself seemingly intact. Minutes later I rejoined that sea at Frierfjorden. Down there, opposite Porsgrunn, the coast is fully industrialized and ripe with chemical plants like the big Ineos one that at one point prevented me from pursuing my planned route.

Around 18:30 h, 26 days after I started out in Tromsø, I rolled into Langesund, the final destination of this trip. Although I wasn't going to board the ferry until tomorrow I still visited the port area to scout the pier. It looks rather big. Like I'll be boarding the boat at ten meters above the ground. This ferry is not going to be anything like its little siblings that I'm so used to using nowadays.

Heading towards the campsite I noticed an unexplained noise originating near the front wheel. On closer inspection the wheel seemed to be loose but the axle is still bolted on tight. An issue with the hub perhaps? Busted bearings? Whatever it is, I'm almost glad it happened today and not earlier during my tour.

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