Friday 17th August 2018
Happy 87th Birthday Dad!
We needed two new rear tyres. On the bus ride into the city yesterday I had spotted a couple of tyre fitting workshops, one only a couple of minutes away from the campsite, So, after getting almost everything packed and ready to roll, I drove down to see if they could quote for two tyres.
They did not have the size in stock but said they could get them within the hour and the price was comparable to the UK, 3400NOK, so I waited with a free coffee while they set to work.
An amusing moment came when the fitter asked for my keys and promptly jumped into the left hand seat to drive onto the ramp. Realising that all the controls he needed to do that were on the other side of the car, he sheepishly climbed out to go around to the drivers side, but not without all his workmates noticing and taking the p**s out of him relentlessly 🙂
New tyres fitted, and credit card exercised, I headed back to camp to hook up.
Towing Kilometres – Today: 217 Cumulative: 22,081
We intended to move down to Geirangerfjord today but because of the late start we realised that we would probably take a couple of days to get there. Google Maps on Kims’ phone was the navigation tool of choice today and it did a fine job of guiding us around the city, even taking us off the E6 at one point to avoid traffic.
The journey progressed nicely and we pulled over for a coffee break in Oppdal, taking advantage of the large, empty, car park at the church.
This is a fine wooden church, consecrated in 1651 and surrounded by a beautifully tended graveyard.
Oppdal has an active ski centre during the winter months and the ski lifts lay idle up the hill behind ‘our’ car park.
Our journey continued along often steep roads following a river valley for a time. We noticed some rather old looking buildings and a sign showing Leikvin so we took the turning and arrived at Sunndal Rural Museum. Unfortunately it had closed ten minutes earlier, at 17:00, but the grounds were open for us to walk around and take some photographs.
The development was set up by a remarkable sounding lady called Barbara Arbuthnott who died in 1904.
We were both disappointed that we had missed the opportunity to spend more time learning about her life.
It had been a long day with many stops to look at the amazing scenery so we started to look out for somewhere to stay the night. The road was weaving its way around the latest fjord when I spotted a super looking rest stop (62.752N, 8.02359E) with marvellous views and toilet facilities. The facilities had clean flushing toilets and piping hot water to wash with.
We pulled in, got the chairs out, and took a wine or two watching the sunset.
During the next hour or so we were joined by three motorhomes who all stayed the night too.