Tuesday 28th August 2018
On paper the plan for the next two or three days was simple. We’d amble down toward Preikestolen Camping to hike up to Pulpit Rock. We’d avoid tolls and ferries, and wild camp to save some cash. Rather than backtrack all of the tunnels on the E16 we’d take the FV7, part of the Hardanger Tourist Route, which climbs over the mountains and then meanders its’ way along the north shore of Hardangerfjord before joining the 13 road south.
Towing Kilometres – Today: 134 Cumulative: 22,843
We packed up and said our goodbyes and made our way on the E16 to the FV7.
The road climbed steadily out of Bergen and on turning onto the FV7 climbed for many kilometres. We were occasionally halted by the inevitable road works. The cost of road maintenance in Norway must be huge!
We got our white water fix when passing Fossen Bratte, a large waterfall. Whilst deciding whether to stop for a look we drove straight into a tunnel so the decision was made for us 🙂
Later, at the top of the climb, we entered the Eikedalen region with ski villages all around.
There followed a 10km or so descent down to Hardangerfjord and then the road meandered its’ way along the north shore past stunning scenery.
Noticing a sign for a rest point with fishing point we pulled in for me to dangle my tackle in the water again 🙂
We continued on and the road became very narrow in places. Kim has a serious aversion to roads without a line down the middle and wasn’t enjoying the oncoming traffic too much 🙂
On the last long descent I became very aware that the caravan was starting to moderately ‘ram’ us up the back on touching the brakes.
As I’d only adjusted the brakes a few days earlier I was concerned that something had gone wrong on the van. The ramming got worse as we descended. The caravan brakes seemed to be doing nothing.
Just before crossing the Hardanger Bridge we entered a tunnel and we were both amazed to find that there is a roundabout ‘in’ the tunnel! We had not seen this before. After crossing the bridge is another tunnel which also has a roundabout in it. London buses 🙂
As we entered Kinsarvik, there was a large car park at the ferry terminal so I pulled in, jacked the caravan and removed the left hand wheel and brake drum. The thin linings had detached from the shoes and it was obvious we would not be going any further today.
As luck would have it we had two campsites within 500m of the car park. I refitted the wheel and brake drum and we towed back to Bråvoll Camping. We setup on a fjord side pitch and poured a beer to sup whilst looking for somewhere to get spare parts.
Although a UK built caravan, it has a German Al-Ko chassis and a large number of European caravans use the same chassis. A search on Google showed that the nearest Al-Ko spare parts outlet was at Bergen Tilhenger AS. A call to them revealed they were closed for the day.
Next morning I called at 9am and quoted the part numbers I needed and was relieved to hear that they had them in stock. Kim and I then undertook a five hour round trip to pick up the parts!
The worst aspect of this was knowing that the spare parts place was only 22km from the campsite we had left yesterday. Doh! 🙂
The guy who helped me at Bergen Tilhenger AS turned out being from London so communication was no problem. All the parts I needed were readily available and I was soon on my way about 1500NOK lighter.
Before returning to camp we stopped off at IKEA for a few bits and a cheapish lunch before going to the local Vinmonopolet for me to buy a bottle of gin for the equivalent of £41!!! Kim invested in some wine at equally ridiculous prices.