July 2000 - Northern Ireland

Riding around the coast of Northern Ireland, we paused to check out the Giants' Causway below:
Giants Causeway
Giants Causeway
Giants Causeway
Giants Causeway

From Belfast we took another ferry to Scotland and
rode for several days including going by Loch Ness.
Didn't see any monster, but did see these
Scottish highland cattle:
Scottish Highland Cattle

Tried haggis on two occasions. The first wasn't half bad, the second was more than half bad.

July 12, 2000 - Bergen Norway

From Aberdeen, we flew to Bergan Norway to
begin our route through Scandinavia.

 

We skipped 3 days riding by staying behind in Bergan
a day, and then rode the train to Flam where we stayed 2 days,
taking a trip on the fiords and riding up the flam
valley to Myrdal and back.

Fish market in

      Bergan

 

July 14 2000 - Flam Norway

Off route today. Stayed an extra day in Bergan in a private accommodation, then to the train to Myrdal which sits High in a mountain pass. The Myrdal station
is at the top of the waterfall in the photo. The train comes out of a tunnel to this stop then goes in a tunnel on the other side. There we changed to a train that goes
down a 5.5% grade down the valley through 20 tunnels with it doing a 180 degree turn inside the mountain. The valley is fantastic with steep rock walls and many spectacular water falls. Flam is at the end of a fiord, where we found a hostel room and then to a ferry ride on the fiord round trip. The next day turned out sunny
so we rode the 20Km back up the valley climbing over 1600 meters, the last 2Km is a third of the climb up the trail with the 20 switchbacks that you can see in the photo.

he valley below

      the Myrdal train station
We actually pushed our bikes up this last 2 Km because we were planning to go up there the next day to take the train back to the group in Gol. The next day the
weather was not so good, so we actually to the train back up to Myrdal, and since all the bike space (10 per train) was already reserved, I disassembled the bikes and packed them in trash bags so they would become "luggage" and packed them on
that way.

Below the view from the train platform in Flam (you can see the tunnel the train emerges from just above the two story white building, it goes into another tunnel a short distance behind this view).
Train station in

      Flam Norway

After we got off the train it took about 45 minutes to reassemble the bikes and then ride 50Km or so down along the river to Gol to intercept the group.

We had a very nice few days and missed some nonsense with a ferry the last day that those on route were subjected to.

July 18, 2000 - Oslo

Have a day off in Oslo. Went to see the Vigland park, full of very lifelike statues by this famous artist.
VIgland park in

      Oslo Norway

July 22, 2000 - Gotteburg Sweden

They have sidewalks in the city here divided into a bike lane and a pedestrian lane like many other places in Europe. The remarkable things is when you come to and intersection, the traffic on the road actually watches your approach and yields so you can cross the intersection without stopping!

July 23, 2000 Denmark

Took the early morning ferry to Draby Strand. Biking in Denmark is fantastic, the whole country is flat, and there is a separate paved bike highway next to the main auto highway.

July 24, 2000 Copenhagen.

Had the most organized catered breakfast of the trip at the campground this morning. Everything prepared, including dozens of coffee carafes full and ready. The caterers really know what they are doing.

July 26, 2000 Markaryd Sweden

Short ferry ride back into Sweden again.

July 28, 2000 - Verserum, Stockholm

Took a detour for a couple of days to meet up with Dan's relatives here. Had a wonderful time with relatives, most of whom I had not met before.

July 29, 2000 - Stockholm

When out in my second cousins Kjelles boat to watch the tall ships on their way out of the harbor.

Visited the Vasa museum. This is an sailing warship that sank on her maiden voyage in the harbor in 1628! It is a fantastic sight.

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