Bree: The rain was back at it again this morning when Ben set out on his unloaded bike. Today, he had determined to visit Stegastein, a scenic overlook over the town of Aurland, 14 kilometers and a 600 meter climb away from where our tent stood. Once again, I’d decided to sit this one out. […]
Once we’d reached the town of Gudvangen a couple of days ago, we’d essentially reached a dead end. Gudvangen is connected to the town of Flam by a particularly long, bike-free tunnel, leaving us stranded in the valley until we could catch a boat or bus over to the next town. Since the ferry boat […]
The night brought mighty gusts of wind down the fjord, which could also be written to say that we didn't sleep a bit. By early morning, the rain followed and I rushed outside to gather in Ben's wet hiking clothes (read:basically all his clothes) so that he'd have something to wear today. Then, still chilled […]
Though rain splattered on our fly early this morning, by the time it we were packed up and ready to go, things had dried out a bit. We aimed our bikes north, left Voss, and got to pedaling up a series of river valleys with a gentle incline. The canyons were thick with forest […]
I cannot overstate how weird it is to live with this many hours of daylight. We went to bed last night around eleven, our tent still illuminated from the sun. (I end up burying my head under the covers to convince myself it is dark enough to sleep). This morning, the early dawn woke me. […]
With the arrival of morning (you know, at 3 AM) came a persistent bout of hip pain. We’d clearly be staying put today. Ben had loads of work to get done anyway, and our campground has a decent internet connection and a lovely fjord view. I’d never been so glad to be sitting tight. […]
With the weather as cold as it was yesterday, we let the morning settle a while before hitting the road. I left camp wearing a base layer, a jacket, and leg warmers. As we warmed up, we shed layers and then later, as we rolled through shade or downhill, we’d add some more. Temperature challenges […]
Weeks of research had left us with a bit of a puzzle. We didn’t have time to ride all the way to Norway, but land travel was seeming to be completely ridiculous. To get from Krakow, we’d need a long train or a car rental, a 19 hour ferry, and two seven hour train journeys. […]
Our last day in Krakow has snuck up on us a bit too soon, but our flight has been booked for weeks, so today we’ve simply got to get ready for our flight to Norway. First though, we wanted to visit the Jewish quarter of the city. Naturally, we didn’t do much prep work […]
We were on the fence about whether visiting the Wieliczka Salt Mine in Krakow was something we wanted to tackle. We visited a salt mine in Germany a couple of years ago, and while we had a nice time, salt mine visiting isn’t something you need to complete really frequently. Still, this one boasted some […]
With plans for a real rest starting today in Krakow, we planned to visit Auschwitz concentration camp today. From our campground, the endeavor involved a bus, a tram, and a minibus, (roughly two hours of transit in one direction) and an extra shuttle between the two camps making the visit an all day endeavor. Traveling […]
Ben: After some long debates about whether or not to make an extra hard push and ride all of the way to Krakow, we decided it was in our best interest. The ride was 120-130 km, but covered some steep hilly terrain as we dropped out of the high Tatras and involved a border crossing […]