After spending a week exploring the greater Copenhagen region i ended up taking a very expensive night ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo. So far Denmark has been my favorite country for cycling because of the bike culture. everyone is on there bikes there. also has an extensive network of designated trails and the landscape is amazing and peaceful. the Danes are definitely doing many things right. the only downfall has been the rain. it rained almost everyday i was there. although when i got to Norway the rain got even worse.
i arrived early in Oslo on a Saturday morning and spent the day doing some repairs on my bike, got a haircut and bought some more rain gear and cruised around the city a bit. at about six that evening i headed out of the city to look for a place to camp, rode about 45km until i was in a nice wilderness area and set up my tent near a creek. it was about 11pm and fell into a deep sleep. the next day i rode only about 100km after sleeping in and getting lost by trying to avoid the highways but at least i found a great place to camp by a large lake this night. the next couple days were spent riding into very heavy rain, it also got quite cold as i started riding up into the mountains. even though i felt determined to ride all the way to Bergen i got tired of getting wet and decided to take the train for the last 200km. it ended up being a very scenic train ride through some incredible mountains, valleys and lakes, it was nice to put my feet up and enjoy the ride. arrived at the train station and went down to the harbor and fish market, had some lunch and then after trying in vain to find a wild camping spot i found an established campsite about 15km outside of the city.
my plan is to stay here for a couple days and then head north to meet my brother in Trondheim. the idea is to take some ferry rides through the western fjords and bike riding the rest of the way. i hope that i stay warm and dry. cycling in Norway can be very challenging for many reasons but when the sun comes out it is absolutely brilliant.
