Day 56 - Kvanndal (78 kms) - " Henley nearly takes out Norwegian Nordic Champion " !

OK so he may not have been an Olympic athlete but he was definitely Norwegian and definitely a Nordic skier out practing coming down the multi pupose bike lane with an oblivuous H having just overtaken a runner baring straight for him.

With the Norwegian panicking (they don't have brakes on skis ! ) H swerved apologising and thus avoiding a major international incident one of 3 for the day !

We left Gundervagen in overcast conditions leaving behind 180 degree views of waterfalls to steadily climb out of town.

I'd read somewhere of a previous touring cyclist commenting on the steep climb out and thought they were "woos" material until we turned off to Stalheim !

OMG - 25% for 2 kms as the switchback road (now closed to vehicles) climbed to Stalhein providing for amazing views back down the valley as well as the massive Stalheim waterfall !

Keeping an eye on the view at least partly addressed the pain of having to push our fully loaded bikes up this monster of a hill with Achilles tendons threatening to snap at any minute !

We finally reached the top and with D Mike 100 metres in front of us suddenly disappearing I'd assumed he'd cycled down the hill on the other side. With H following me we cycled on for a number of kms before deciding to ring D Mike to find out that he was still at the top of the hill in Stalheim waiting for us to ascend !

With traffic pretty busy we made our way to Voss for an outdoor supermarket lunch before cycling out past an indoor skydiving facility where we stopped for a quick look just after H had nearly wiped me out !

I'd told Kev to go ahead but when he became mesmerized by an overhead passing train and wandered wide stopping pedalling I passed him on the inside - a bad mistake as H then decided to vere left and resume cycling nearly putting both of us into the ditch !

A long climb took us to the Nordic skier incident plus an amazing downhiller complete with switchbacks and a thundering waterfall !

Now on a beaut bitumen rail trail (Norway is rolling in Oil money) D Mike got into the act when a passing female cyclist changed direction 3 times in concert with D Mike to avoid a collision ! We laughed at our leaders indiscretion !

Finally we made our way down to the Hardanger Fjiord for stunning views as we cycled along narrow roads overlooking.

Eventually we made our camping ground at Kvanndal right opposite the ferry departure point with magic fjiord views.

Our night as usual was made up of a sausage pasta dinner and an effort to pronounce some of the unpronounceable names of the Norwegian towns we'd cycled through that day !