Day 50 - Hills, "near motorways" and flooded lakes
19th May 2018
After a sunny early morning ride along Randsfjord I came to my first big hill since the Pyrenees. I don't think it had a name but it went up 450 vertical metres. Getting towards the top I came to the E4 which, at a quick glance, had all the appearances of a motorway - dual carriageway, armco, fast traffic and a sign indicating no cyclists. I found a little lane which ran parallel for a couple of miles but this then came to a dead end at a heap of boulders. I was contemplating going down the hill I had just come up and using an alternative, very long route. I wasn't a happy bunny. Before heading down I double checked the "motorway" and saw that the "no cyclists" was only indicated on the downhill side heading south. I was going north, so the "motorway" it was. Fortunately it was Saturday, fairly quiet and no lorries. It wasn't a pleasant experience but better than my exit road from Seville (which seems a very long time ago now).
The rest of the ride was really a long pedal into Lillehammer feeling like I was in a chocolate box picture. Lillehammer sits at the northern end of Lake Mjosa, Norway's largest lake. They have had more than the usual amount of snow this winter and the warm spring weather has been melting it very rapidly. The flow of melt water into the lake has caused some significant flooding.
I came into Lillehammer on a long bridge, closed to motorised vehicles. It looks a very neat and tidy sort of place, with the 1994 Winter Olympics Ski Jumps sitting proudly over the town.
Tomorrow we plan to explore the town as well as doing some routine chores. It will then be four days of riding to Trondheim, which is a pretty exciting thought!
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