Heading for the border crossing I meet another Frenchman descending from north cap (there must be a good patisserie up there), and then pass some Viking burial sites, a huge stone ship, marked out by standing stones, stone circles and such.
Just prior to the border is an absolutely crazy scene, a line of supermarkets, sweet shops, tobacco shops, booze shops, with bus loads of Norwegians day tripping for some cheap international stocks.
The border crossing itself is slightly more interesting than earlier anti climaxes, a bridge high above a scenic fjord with a line painted across the middle of it. Photo time!
But not a musical reference this time;
The rock is because the landscape is dominated by outcrops of granite bedrock everywhere, which the roads drunkenly weave between, and pine trees somehow cling onto.
Also for the bronze age rock carvings found in this area, from a time when sea levels were 15m higher. Only 3000 years ago!
The roll is for Volvo, meaning "it rolls". The high Volvo density is justified by the fact that the company and factory is based in Gothenburg. Have even seen a VW van with the Volvo badge glued on the front!
Visited the museum which contains a full history of models, from early american style whales, thru stylish 60’s sleek curves to the classic 80's box shapes and the present variations, you can see the common DNA in design throughout.
Volvo cars are now owned by the Chinese....
So in Gothenburg I had a delightfully relaxed stay with Lena and Lasse, thanks to the worldwide influence of Monday Night Football and Axel back in Nottingham.
They are keen ornithologists, with a goshawk in the living room, a clock which strikes the hours by different bird calls, and while Lasse is in the elite club of having observed all 300 of Sweden's native species, Lena has a published book on encounters with those you might find in your garden!
I learn that the swift, when it learns to fly, stays airborne continuously for maybe three years, only eventually coming to earth to rear a family. I can't help thinking there is some easy parallel or metaphor to make there.
I'm afraid to say the rest of the city got the whirlwind photo tour treatment, since I spent most of the time off napping. And what a great nap it was!
The rock is because the landscape is dominated by outcrops of granite bedrock everywhere, which the roads drunkenly weave between, and pine trees somehow cling onto.
Also for the bronze age rock carvings found in this area, from a time when sea levels were 15m higher. Only 3000 years ago!
The roll is for Volvo, meaning "it rolls". The high Volvo density is justified by the fact that the company and factory is based in Gothenburg. Have even seen a VW van with the Volvo badge glued on the front!
Visited the museum which contains a full history of models, from early american style whales, thru stylish 60’s sleek curves to the classic 80's box shapes and the present variations, you can see the common DNA in design throughout.
Volvo cars are now owned by the Chinese....
So in Gothenburg I had a delightfully relaxed stay with Lena and Lasse, thanks to the worldwide influence of Monday Night Football and Axel back in Nottingham.
They are keen ornithologists, with a goshawk in the living room, a clock which strikes the hours by different bird calls, and while Lasse is in the elite club of having observed all 300 of Sweden's native species, Lena has a published book on encounters with those you might find in your garden!
I learn that the swift, when it learns to fly, stays airborne continuously for maybe three years, only eventually coming to earth to rear a family. I can't help thinking there is some easy parallel or metaphor to make there.
I'm afraid to say the rest of the city got the whirlwind photo tour treatment, since I spent most of the time off napping. And what a great nap it was!
I have abandoned the coast line, which is unspectacular and smothered by holiday villages, so now progressing a few miles inland, through a region of lovely forests and lakes, with gentle climbs and subsequent long lazy freewheel descents.
Yesterday I finally realised that the USB cable I was using to charge my phone from the dynamo keeps cutting out, and hey presto, with a new cable everything is working properly. So the last couple of weeks have been unnecessarily tough power wise!
I never thought I'd see more volvos than in that one town in California, but here it must be the law that every household has at least one Volvo estate car.
Getting used to the slightly different exchange rate, things aren't really horrendously expensive, they do have a novelty way of selling booze though, if you want anything over 3.5% it's only available on government run bottle shops, which can be few and far between in the countryside!
Storks. No wait, cranes.
Camped by a lake again. V.nice.
Yesterday I finally realised that the USB cable I was using to charge my phone from the dynamo keeps cutting out, and hey presto, with a new cable everything is working properly. So the last couple of weeks have been unnecessarily tough power wise!
I never thought I'd see more volvos than in that one town in California, but here it must be the law that every household has at least one Volvo estate car.
Getting used to the slightly different exchange rate, things aren't really horrendously expensive, they do have a novelty way of selling booze though, if you want anything over 3.5% it's only available on government run bottle shops, which can be few and far between in the countryside!
Storks. No wait, cranes.
Camped by a lake again. V.nice.