Silly Billies Return to Roam

Reine - a classic Lofoten view I visited Lofoten last July with Mum and Dad - it is an amazing place in north Norway, and we decided that it was worth the expense for Al and Amber to see it too - I was certainly excited to go back there again. So Al, Amber and I took the plane up to Bodø from Trondheim on Sunday evening. The 10 hour drive takes a mere 60 minutes by plane. We were hoping for some exciting views from the plane but unfortunately it was pretty cloudy. Chris had had to stay behind in Trondheim because this was his last week of preparation for the World Orienteering Championships (WOC) which would start in Trondheim the following week. We arrived in Bodø at 8pm and trudged down to the same campground that Mum, Dad, Chris and I had stayed at last year. We had to muck around sorting out a hire car in the morning, but eventually got one sorted and drove up toward the ferry crossing from Tyssfjorden to Lødingen. It was cloudy, but we still enjoyed the craggy scenery and raw roc...

We arrived in Lillehammer on July 25th to meet Al and Amber outside the train station laden with big packs and bikes. They were at the beginning of their 3 month holiday in Europe - some if which will involve cycle touring. They were amused by our wonky little new car and its strange noises - nevertheless we crammed everything in and took off towards Lom via the scenic route 51. After many hours driving and lots of excited catching up we arrived in Lom, ate some terrible Lom burgers and found a spot to put our tents. In the morning we continued through to Geiranger Fjord along the tourist route - then over the amazing Trollstigen road and down into Åndalsnes. We stopped every two minutes to jump out of the car and take photos of the amazing view. Breakfast on the jetty We liked this first aid vehicle Above the Trollstigen Rock perch From Åndalsnes we headed up the valley and parked our car at Rabben. We spent a while reorganizing gear, before heading off on foot into Svartvassbu. I...

I was itching to jump on my bike again and hoon through the forest testing out some new skills after all that riding in Italy, but the rain just kept pouring down! In Trondheim it was about 12 degrees, Chris had work to do and I was wondering why I wasn't still in Italy? Fortunately I managed to occupy myself by catching up with some friends, reading 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo', and completing another painting for our wall. On Friday we started to look into hiring a car for the weekend because we were heading down to Lillehammer to pick up my brother Alastair and his girlfriend Amber who were flying in from New Zealand. The cars were all so expensive to hire and we hadn't been looking long when Chris said "why don't we just buy one instead?" 5 hours later we bought a second hand Toyota Corolla from a couple living round the road from us. It seems ok, so here's hoping! At least it was pretty cheap. The next day Ally proposed a walking trip up Snoh...