Today is mostly sunny again. A part of the route takes the old post road Oslo - Kristiansand. As an info board explains, the builders of this road where less concerned with inclines and declines, but to minimize the number of bridges to build. I can confirm the fact about the inclines. Several times I have to push my bike up the steep gravel path, or, both feet on the ground, try to get my bike down a steep hill. But besides being a bit strenuous, this is a really interesting and nice path through a great landscape.
In Grimstad I see a barber, and decide to get a much needed haircut. The hairdresser hardly speaks any english, but I manage to get my haircut.
A few hundred meter down the road is a mall, and I check the bookstore for maps. I'm lucky, they have the second part of the NSCR-Maps for Norway. Now I'm OK for the route to Bergen.
The worn out guidance wheel of my bike doesn't get any better. Damping the sound using rubber rings did help, but the rubber dissolved in the chain oil, and accumulated as a black smear on the gears. During a break on a rock above a lake I use the web browser of my mobile phone and check the web site of HP Velotechnik, the manufacturer of my bike, to see whether there is a way to get a replacement. I discover that they have a dealer here in Norway: Pedalør is located in Holmestrand, a bit north of Horten where I was just a few days ago. I called them, and discover that the owner comes from Germany. This makes communication much easier. :-)
He tells me he doesn't have the part in stock, but he could take a guidance wheel off a demonstration bike, and send it COD. I just have to give him an address to send it to. I tell him I'd call him again from the next camping site.
A few days ago I discovered that one wire of the cable of the bowden cable of the rear gear shifting assemble has broken, just below the lever. Not a big problem, I just have to take care not to spear my finger when shifting gears. Today another four of five wires break. It seams that the cable is about to break completely. I'd hate to lose the ability to change the rear gears in this hilly area.
I continue carefully, minimizing the gear shifts. The next camping site is in Hamresanden, a few kilometers before Kristiansand. The camping site itself isn't bad, but located directly by a busy highway, and it is expensive: more than twice the price I have paid for the most expensive camping site so far in Norway. Well, I think I can handle that. I book for two nights. Tomorrow I'll call Pedalør to give them the address.
One or two kilometers away from the camping site, just across a small bay, is the Kristiansand Airport. From the camping site you can see the starting and landing planes.
