Svenevig-Byglandsfjorden (113 km)

I started the day with breakfast in bed because I was too lazy to get out of the tent for it. It was a sunny morning, and I started cycling from Svenevig around 9 o’clock. I first had to pass through Vigeland once more, my starting point from yesterday, and then further north on road 460. 

After a bit more than 3 kilometres, however, I noticed that I wasn’t wearing my gloves. So I figured that I must have either forgotten them at my tent spot or put somewhere on the bike when I left and lost them on the way. I returned to my camp, but they were not there. Nor did I find them lying on the road somewhere, so it seems like I have to buy a pair of new ones eventually. Fortunately, it wasn’t a more vital thing I lost, so I continued cycling without. 

I cycled through a sunny and wide U-shaped valley after I passed Vigeland towards Sveindal. (Quiz question for geology nerds: If a valley is U-shaped, is it formed by a glacier or a river?) The last bit up to Sveindal was quite steep, so the name (valley) was misleading really. From here I continued on road 42 which started with an even longer and higher slope. Although I have most of the climb up to Haukeliseter (at 1000 metres) still ahead of me, I got a little taste today of the terrain to come. 

At Evje I had a little pit stop. One of the parts which link my panniers to the front wheel had broken. The second one actually. In order to fix it I had to borrow a pair of pliers. (Udo told me I should have them in my luggage, so now I agree.) Luckily, Evje also had a building supplies store, so now I’ve got my own pliers and some extra screwdrivers (of which I only need one really, but they are super-light).

Finally, I arrived at Byglandsfjorden and found another nice spot for my tent here. When I opened my bags to prepare dinner, I found out that I had had a small “eggcident.” I bought this plastic container for six eggs because I thought it would be very nice to have eggs and bacon for breakfast from time to time. Well, two of them were broken and the container was not quite egg-yolk-proof. Fortunately, almost everything else was packed in small plastic bags. So after a small cleaning job, everything is fine again. 

It is half past eight and I will go back to my tent soon. There are some few raindrops falling, so I set up my tent rainproof tonight. The forecast for tomorrow is still OK though, so I hope there will be no more rain. I have around 190 kilometres to go to Haukeliseter where I am going to enjoy a nice three-course dinner in two days (which is after all even better than the Real Turmat chicken with lime I had tonight). My plan is to cycle a bit more than 100 kilometres tomorrow, so that I will have a slightly shorter day on Friday. 

At Mandalselva south of Sveindal

Camp at Byglandsfjorden

Elevation profile of the day