We arrived on the island Karmøy, south-east of Haugesund. Not a common Summer holiday destination, since it’s usually very windy and very rainy. The wind is calm and the sun is beating down on us, hard…
In april I got a visit from Halldis from Norway. Halldis is the manager of the Pilgrim center of Dovrefjell and she had a request. If I would like to make a bicycle route guide about the Kystpilgrimsleia, the Coastal Pilgrims route. This pilgrims path goes along the west coast of Norway from Egersund to Trondheim and touches various important historical and cultural places. At first I had reservation on this, since I had very little time because of two other guides I’m working on, and then there is the English translation on the Olavsway. And we had already planned our summer holiday. We wanted a summer holiday in Norway, with the emphasis on ‘holiday’, because it was two years since I was on cycling holiday. We only had a vage idea on where we’ll be spending our holiday. Through tips from fellow cyclist we were thinking of Southern Norway. But Halldis got me excited about the idea, and as far as Remy was concerned, he did not care much about which route we would take in Norway. We decided to use our holiday to explore the western coast route by bicycle. Remy did have one condition: it is holiday!
I have to say that it goes nicely up to now. I used to get remarks like: “yes, you ‘work’ in Norway or Sweden, but it still feels like a cycling holiday, right?” or: “o yeah, you call it ‘work’, ha ha” (really!). Apart from the fact that I got confirmation from the taxation authority, I can tell you there is a huge difference! It is mostly in the details, but the biggest difference is the amount of pure relaxation. And even though I have the most wonderful job in the world, I looked very much toward a real cycling holiday!
Having said that, there is still a tiny ‘work element’ left, but I don’t mind it at all. I very much like to visit the four pilgrims centers and as much visit as much Nøkkelstader as possible. Each of these so-called key places have played an important role in Norwegian history. Here we also collect stamps for our pilgrim passport to be able to collect an Olavsbrev in Trondheim. Everywhere we find traces of the holy Olav. At the moment we stay in Torvastad, at an Airbnb of Goos and Alie. A couple of hundred meters away from here, Olav came to shore once. His men were very thirsty at that time, but there was no drinkable water anywhere. Olav hit the ground with his hand and suddenly water welled up from the hole in the ground that had formed. The water even had healing qualities for the eyes and Olav prayed that the well would never dry up. We walked up to that well and found that it had dried up.
We are under way for some time now. Our car is in Flekkefjord, at Bøye and Vigdis. There we were the first two days before we embarked on our journey by bicycle. Bøye is a great teller and he showed us Hollenderbyen or Hollanders quarter. A neighbourhood where many Dutch traders in lumber lived. And provided with some tips and a lunch, we set out on our trip on Thursday. We cycled slowly. Not only because we had a lot of climbing to do, but also because there is so much to see! The pictures speak for themselves. If we’ll get to Trondheim by bicycle? We’ll see. We’re on holiday!
The place where I’m writing the newsletter now, where there was nearly no wind and the sun was beating down on us, is now a place where the wind is howling and the rain is pounding the roof, very hard…
Kind regards,
Remy & Gea
