20 years ago today - Day 147

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Sunday, July 28th - Larvik to Risor, 7700 km

I am up much earlier than anyone else except two children, a boy and a girl, who have either been giver very strict orders not to disturb me or who are still to shy to talk to me. I pack my bags, write a journal entry and eat a breakfast of yogurt and granola. Leif is up before I need to leave but he doesn't come talk to me. This puts me off a bit. I act more rushed than I need to be when I finally see him waiting outside to see me off. Sverre and Jorgunn rouse themselves out of bed to see me off with an invitation to visit should I ever come back. I try to give Leif a little hug goodbye before they appear, that sends him scurrying back into the closet. I let it go.

This is my first full day of riding in two weeks, since July 14th. I have a long way to go today, perhaps 140 km. I will need to keep up a fairly fast and steady pace. I am a bit worried about what that will do to my out-of-shape knees.


The terrain is rolling with many small hills. On the map, this coast looks much smoother than the rugged western coast of the country with its many deep fjords, but while the mountains are definitely lower it is very rocky and irregular. It is a complicated landscape, mostly hidden from any particular viewpoint. The highway I am riding on, E18, twists all over the place. There are many views from above of marinas and coloured houses - deep crimson, gold, butterscotch and ochre mostly - with their slat-board sides. The towns are generally small and tucked away for protection from the weather. It's a grey day with patches of sun, but no rain showers so far.

I stop to take a couple of pictures on the large bridge over a fjord at Brevik. I continue south to the town of Kragero, a scenic town near a large archipelago. I locate the International Youth Hostel in the town and find where other hostels are along my route. There is one in Risor, only 30 km south-west of here as the crow flies. The Kragero Hostel lets me use their phone to call and make a reservation.

There's a ferry across an inlet south of Kragero, and from there I could cycle to the Sondeledfjorden opposite Risor, but the ferry isn't leaving for another 98 minutes. I am just as to ride the distance and save the pricey fare. I return to E18.


It's another 29 km to get to the turn off to Risor at the end of the fjord. It is late afternoon and I am making the best time I can. My knees have been doing well and I still have good energy. Flying down one hill at top speed I hit a pothole that catches me totally off-guard since the road surface has been so perfect all day. It hit it so hard that the jar knocks the spring-loaded panniers right off my bike. At that speed, it is a miracle that it did not send me flying head over heels, landing me in hospital or even killing me, but somehow I manage to stop the bike without a fall. I collect my fallen bags and inspect my bike. For sure I could expect a flat tire or a bend rim but amazing everything looks fine. I am quite shaken up by the scare so I rest by the road. I check the tire after a few minutes - it is still holding air - and then resume my trip to Risor.

The Vandererhjem (Wanderer) Hostel proves easy to find, two km before the town itself. I check in and shower. I have the luxury of a room to myself with no other beds, but the room looks like someone's office. I ask at the desk and learn that this is a temporary hostel for the summer.

I venture into town for find dinner at a pizzeria. I walk around the inner harbour, which is active with strollers of all ages. The sea air and happy ambience is very relaxing. I take this opportunity to call back to Toronto to my business partner David, with whom I have had a rather stormy relationship recently, to check if he has fulfilled his part of our recent bargain. He wants to rehash the tone of my last letter, in which I threatened to return home and nail his balls to the nearest wall if he didn't repay the money he swindled out of my saving by intimidating my elderly mother. He has returned the money but now he feels I should apologize for my tone after he tried to cheat me. I resist the urge to interrupt him and say this wouldn't happen if he didn't try to screw me over as soon as my back is turned. I doubt now that he will try it again, so I just hear him out.

I return to the pizzeria, the only open restaurant in town, and have another Pepsi. I chat with a young woman who has spent most of her summers here on this rocky coast that reminds me of the west coast of BC where I grew up. She relates to me stories from the years she spent in California that meant so much to her. It is her turn to be the traveler while I listen. After an hour I return to the hostel as the light is fading from the sky and get an early night's rest. I covered 149 km today.


PHOTO 1: Larvik lighthouse
PHOTO 2: Langesund
PHOTO 3: many little harbours and small craft
PHOTO 4: the south coast is like this, bays and rocks
PHOTO 5: more of the same
PHOTO 6: approaching Kragero
PHOTO 7: in Kragero