Escaping the rain and a bit of pain.
The rain battered down all last night and there was little let up this morning, with no improvement forecast for the day. Wandering round a city, however beautiful in the rain is not my thing so we decided to make full use of the expensive campsites utilities. We all had a sprint through the 5 minute shower allocation and then got the electric ring on in the van and cooked a big pot of chicken curry that will give us meals for a few days. We left the campsite at 11:50.....10 minutes before we would get charged for another night.
Bergen can wait for another visit, perhaps flying over for a long weekend in the future but for the time being its missed out. The roads were also hoochin around the area so parking wasn't going to be easy. So we headed east on the E16, some songs in the van and some sweet hilarity and then some tasty bacon rolls at lunchtime to brighten up an otherwise grey day and then came across a lovely wee town called Voss. This is one of the bigger ski resorts in Norway and there's a brand new Gondola system that's being built and tested, the gondolas were running but all had black covers over the screens so clearly its getting ready for next winter. We parked up Joyce has discovered there was a Vinmonopolet here. This was supposed to be flying visit to get some supplies and diesel for the van but we ended up spending a wee while in Voss.
Alcohol laws are very strange/strict here, and god forbid if we follow the Norwegian model if Scottish independence ever comes to fruition. Its approximately 249NOK (£2.25) for the cheapest canned lager (500ml) in a store, on top of that there is also a charge for the can that is refunded when and if you recycle the can at a store, I have quite a few now so will find out how much per can soon. You cannot buy alcohol after 6pm on a Saturday and not at all on a Sunday. Also, there is nothing stronger than 4.74% available in a normal store. For this you need to visit a government run Vinmonopolet which seem to have even shorter opening hours, the one we found today (Saturday) closed at 3pm. So, as Joyce has been desperate for a glass of wine with her tea this last while and refused to open her last bottle till our stock was replenished, a Vinmonopolet visit was required, things became even more crucial when she started sharing my beer😳. The cheapest bottles of wine were about 93.9NOK (approx £9.00). the rest, for example a Pinot Grigot were at least 109NOK so about a tenner and went up and up for anything fancier. This is what we expected so it's not a shock, I do wonder if Norway has less alcohol related social issues due to over consumption and addiction, it must surely. I certainly haven't seen any drunk people wandering about as yet. We replenished our stocks so a mini crisis has been averted. I also came across an interesting bottle of whisky which will be savoured later on the trip.
There was a cycle race finishing at Voss, it was the Bergen to Voss Fjords Classic cycle sportive, a 170km route. It is one of Norways biggest cycle events and there was lots going on in Voss, Music was blasting out in the high street, there were hundreds of cyclist around who were either just finishing or who already finished. The weather was only just staring to improve and some looked seriously cold. The atmosphere was great though. We had a wander about, checked out the cracking church which again unfortunately was shut (we are not religious at all, but we do like a look inside some of these buildings). We had a walk along the side of the lake, the boys had a play and we checked out the very busy campsite, I think we could have gotten in but it was jus ta bot early for us. So we headed back to the van via the noisy high street again.
The boys were having a bit fun dancing and messing about on some raised platforms, maybe 18 inches high and jumping off the end of them. Both are fairly adept jumpers now, and Logan the brave knows no fear. However a miscalculation by him saw him not jump out far enough, his bottom caught the edge of the platform launching him forward and upside down so instead of landing on his feet, the first point of contact was his head........I happened to see it all and was grateful to see him dust himself down, and get up. We do warn them not to do certain things over and over again, but I remember it happened to me when I was wee and boys will be boys. Theres only one way to learn sometimes. A cuddle and a dust down and the brave wee soldier was on the move again, he'll be sporting a substantial egg tomorrow I think, lol. We got back to van and after another hour or so we found a nice and free (woohoo) parking spot. Happy days!!
Bergen can wait for another visit, perhaps flying over for a long weekend in the future but for the time being its missed out. The roads were also hoochin around the area so parking wasn't going to be easy. So we headed east on the E16, some songs in the van and some sweet hilarity and then some tasty bacon rolls at lunchtime to brighten up an otherwise grey day and then came across a lovely wee town called Voss. This is one of the bigger ski resorts in Norway and there's a brand new Gondola system that's being built and tested, the gondolas were running but all had black covers over the screens so clearly its getting ready for next winter. We parked up Joyce has discovered there was a Vinmonopolet here. This was supposed to be flying visit to get some supplies and diesel for the van but we ended up spending a wee while in Voss.
Alcohol laws are very strange/strict here, and god forbid if we follow the Norwegian model if Scottish independence ever comes to fruition. Its approximately 249NOK (£2.25) for the cheapest canned lager (500ml) in a store, on top of that there is also a charge for the can that is refunded when and if you recycle the can at a store, I have quite a few now so will find out how much per can soon. You cannot buy alcohol after 6pm on a Saturday and not at all on a Sunday. Also, there is nothing stronger than 4.74% available in a normal store. For this you need to visit a government run Vinmonopolet which seem to have even shorter opening hours, the one we found today (Saturday) closed at 3pm. So, as Joyce has been desperate for a glass of wine with her tea this last while and refused to open her last bottle till our stock was replenished, a Vinmonopolet visit was required, things became even more crucial when she started sharing my beer😳. The cheapest bottles of wine were about 93.9NOK (approx £9.00). the rest, for example a Pinot Grigot were at least 109NOK so about a tenner and went up and up for anything fancier. This is what we expected so it's not a shock, I do wonder if Norway has less alcohol related social issues due to over consumption and addiction, it must surely. I certainly haven't seen any drunk people wandering about as yet. We replenished our stocks so a mini crisis has been averted. I also came across an interesting bottle of whisky which will be savoured later on the trip.
There was a cycle race finishing at Voss, it was the Bergen to Voss Fjords Classic cycle sportive, a 170km route. It is one of Norways biggest cycle events and there was lots going on in Voss, Music was blasting out in the high street, there were hundreds of cyclist around who were either just finishing or who already finished. The weather was only just staring to improve and some looked seriously cold. The atmosphere was great though. We had a wander about, checked out the cracking church which again unfortunately was shut (we are not religious at all, but we do like a look inside some of these buildings). We had a walk along the side of the lake, the boys had a play and we checked out the very busy campsite, I think we could have gotten in but it was jus ta bot early for us. So we headed back to the van via the noisy high street again.
The boys were having a bit fun dancing and messing about on some raised platforms, maybe 18 inches high and jumping off the end of them. Both are fairly adept jumpers now, and Logan the brave knows no fear. However a miscalculation by him saw him not jump out far enough, his bottom caught the edge of the platform launching him forward and upside down so instead of landing on his feet, the first point of contact was his head........I happened to see it all and was grateful to see him dust himself down, and get up. We do warn them not to do certain things over and over again, but I remember it happened to me when I was wee and boys will be boys. Theres only one way to learn sometimes. A cuddle and a dust down and the brave wee soldier was on the move again, he'll be sporting a substantial egg tomorrow I think, lol. We got back to van and after another hour or so we found a nice and free (woohoo) parking spot. Happy days!!
yet again a great write up thank you, I'm glad you touched on the alcohol pricing as that is the main reason I will probably never visit Norway I like a beer when on holiday. like you I hope Scotland doesn't go down this road of taxing alcohol out of circulation as it will just go underground and be so much less a social affair, when me and BA were wee a bit older than your loons we got caught climbing a sea stack at st Andrews faither footed oor erses all the way back to the van lol you have a few years of bumped heids and pushing boundries to go buddy!
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