25 August

After a night when I thought I had come down with some terrible illness, I found out that the central heating had been full on all night! Twice I had woken in a hot sweat and gone back to sleep, but I had to have the window closed because of the noise of the local boy racers and I didn’t realise that the radiator was full on.
Finally I was up at about 0545 and went for my shower. This was an interesting experience as the shower door was two glass halves which met okay in the centre but gapped at the floor. I had put a bathmat out and had to hang it up to avoid flooding it. I ended up finishing drying in the room because of the flooded floor (but fortunately it dried while I was at breakfast).
I headed down a little too early for breakfast but ended up chatted to other like-minded people in the lobby. Breakfast commenced at exactly 0700 and was a very good selection but not quite to the standard set by the others. After half an hour (and NO toast for my Vegemite) I went back up and finished, put my bag out and then fiddled with the computer a little more before heading down to the bus for 0800. At the bus it was just a matter of putting the backpack on and then walking down to the museum. Normally this doesn’t open until far later, but it opened for us and we had a DVD presentation on the actions of WWII which took place in the local fjord. It was very interesting and so was the look through the museum after. However, after the Somme, I am nearly warred out, so there are few photos from there.
Then we headed onto the bus and set off for the ferry crossing on the E-6, the main road we are heading south on. The ferry was at Skarberget and again because of our promptness, we stopped for a photo time on the side of a fjord. We arrived at the ferry on time, but … the ferry didn’t! We arrived at 1100 for the departure at 1110, and we could see the ferry out in the fjord but it wasn’t going anywhere. By 1145 there were rumblings about going via the eight hour inland route through Sweden, but by 1200 the ferry finally arrived and we were soon on. The twenty-five minute scheduled service was a little quicker and after a very pleasant trip (more good photos!) we were on our way.
We made good time and arrived at Sorfold about 1330. Here the service was good, including free checking of email (none for me, no-one loves me!), reasonably priced food and a wonderful view of a waterfall and a fjord. There was also part of a tunnel excavated during WWII. We were off about 1420 and soon left the fjords behind and went on the plateau. Here we crossed the Arctic Circle again and got stamps to say so in our passports – you can check! I’m not sitting at home making this all up!
After a quick look around (it’s toilets, food, souvenirs and then looking at displays or the outside for most) we were back on the bus for the last run of the day into Mo I Rama.
We arrived about 1850 and were quickly into our rooms. Another chap and I grabbed our luggage so we could settle in quickly. I charged a set f batteries for another fellow on the bus and went for a walk while that was happening. I got a drink and some fruit at the local supermarket, as well as some Strepsils for a nagging cough I have developed (and made worse by the lack of good sleep last night) – but here they are called Repsils!
Back in the hotel I put my batteries on to charge from the GPS, took the photos from the memory card onto the laptop (and the hard drive), processed those and posted them. At the same time I did my bulk email (so many there are actually two mailing lists) and wrote this blog, while also doing the washing at the same time. I must remember to dry my clothes with the hair dryer if they are still damp in the morning.
Now it’s time to head off to bed!