What happened to the bl**dy rain?

It would appear that weather forecasting in Norway is about as accurate as it is in Scotland. Clearly the sea and the mountains make getting it right very difficult. It was supposed to be wet all day, and certainly in the fjords quite heavy rain. So, it was a bit of a surprise to waken up to nice blue skies. Apparently it had rained heavily during the night but my Tau induced slumber meant I heard none of it. I didn't have any sign of a hangover but we weren't up particularly early, so by the time we got breakfasted, blethered to our neighbours and redid the van for a few nights in somewhere more remote hopefully it was 10:40ish when we rolled out the campsite, not exactly a racing start.

We hadn't visited the Swords in Rock so as it was only a couple of miles away we popped along there first. The monument was erected to commemorate the Battle of Hafrefjord in 872AD. It is modelled on 3 viking swords found in Norway. They are erected in the bedrock, not to be used anymore, to encourage people to live in peace. The middle sword is 9.2m tall and represents the victorious King Harold Fairhair. The other 2 shorter swords represent the defeated cheiftens. We spent a wee while here in the warmth of the unexpected sun.

Now it was time to leave Stavanger, we decided to aim onto the 13 road and follow it north. Its not fast and we had to wait on a ferry across the Lysefjord. Then of course there was the small issue that we were passing the road end that leads to the parking area for the Preikestollen, Pulpit Rock....Hmmm. It was after 1pm and was lunchtime. Too late to get the boys to it. Its about 4.5km there with about 300meter of ascent, and then back again. We decided I would go, and the boys and Joyce would walk some of the path since the sun was out and perhaps meet me on my way back. The book time for the return trip is 3 1/2 hours so it was too much to expect of the boys with the late start. I walked along to it fast and it took me 1 hour to get there, took a few pictures and headed back with a heavy heart, our boys and Joyce can do this walk and they hadn't been with me. I do understand they can't do everything at their age but this was one I had hoped we would all achieve. Return trip time 2 1/2 hours. Its a very busy place, and the path, although rocky all the way and slightly exposed to get on the rock is not difficult, it is also a beautiful walk in its own right. The views through the trees and over the fjords once height is gained is pretty spectacular.

Once back at the van, we paid our 250NOK Kching!! to exit the parking area and drove up the road a little to Jorpeland and found a nice motorhome parking area down by the small marina. Callum and I took a wander to the Rema 1000 for a few supplies while Mum and Logan made tea. The forecasted rain is now on but we are cosy and ready for a new day tomorrow. We have been amused for a while in the marina carpark, there's a few kids cutting about on BMX bikes, but the more interesting thing is there's seems to be quite a few boy racers about, however they are racing about in (what we can only assume) are their dads tractors. They park for a bit, flash some of their fancy lights at each other, rev their engines and then set off at tractor warp speed along the quayside, fortunately not too close to us. Pretty sure they will get bored with it all soon, before they run over one of the BMX'ers........