29.06.20 Bruvoll-Birkeland

68 km, 4:15 cycling, average speed 16.1 km/h, total ascent 1057 m, net ascent 40 m

Some rain during the night, but the day started mostly clouded and around 20 degree, nice cycling weather.

Soon I saw this sign on the road side:

Share the road

Very good sign of course, but funny on a road between tunnels you are not allowed to use!

After 22 km coming to the ferry Leirvåg-Sløvåg. This is close to the Mongstad refinery. The building became a huge scandal some 20 years ago, as it ended up costing 7-8 billion kroner more than planned. It cost the then CEO, Harald Nordvik his job. Now Equinor has lost 200 billion in the US, but the scandal seems to be less somehow. The CEO who made the decisions, Helge Lund, has already left anyway.

Mongstad refinery

The signs on the fence still say "Statoil". But the message is clear. It looks like a nice forest behind the fence, but you smell the petro chemics.

Coffee and "svele" (a traditional cake) on the ferry. And antibac of course. The plastic packed wasn't as good as the fresh ones you often get.

After the ferry the weather detoriated. On and off with rain jacket, but after a while only on. Waiting out a heavy shower in a bus shed:

View from the bus shed

... and from a tunnel:

Waiting for the rain to subside in a tunnel

So I came to the next ferry around 13:30. Next one at 16:00 😒. I normally check, but not this time. But it wouldn't have made any difference, I could never have made the previous one at 12:00 anyway.

No the weather turned really bad, with lots of rain and wind. But, sympathetically, there was a dry and warm waiting room (I turned on the heat).

Maybe not the most cosy room to stay...

But you love it when the weather is like this, you have to wait for 2 1/2 hours and there is nowhere else to stay inside

I am on the right way

And see what you can find 😋

Birkeland camping. I am so glad there are still a few around of this kind with simple huts. And thanks to Mona, the camping owner for buying a Fjordland dinner for me.

Rather short trip today, would have liked to move a bit further, but it became late because of the ferry waiting, and there seemed to be nowhere else to stay for a very long stretch - and it was raining. So Birkeland camping was a good alternative.