Day 12. Sønge to Lillesand.
Distance 70km. Average 15.5km/h.
We whizzed through Kristiansand, in the sense that we sat in a square and ate dinner and didn't look around. The impression we got was of a real 'European' town bustling with a cosmopolitan feel (relatively speaking) We got a bit lost a few times coming in, and then again before the impressive bridge to the east of the town. The views from the bridge are wonderful so different from the view over the Ij in Amsterdam or the Waddenzee from Harlingen.
At Kragbeboen we had an argument over which way to go. The route was signed along the left hand side of the river, although at one point Damae was adamant that we should cross. Eventually we got back on to the right (or should I say the correct side which was actually the left ;) side, and pushed on past Foss. Signs of human inhabitation dwindled and after a bit of a climb we stopped overlooking a quarry and sprayed liquid fertilizer on some pine trees. This was followed by more refuelling and a grump from Stan.
Dear reader if you are going to do this sort of trip then expect to get grumpy every now and again and use it as a sign to tell you to stop and take a break before you make a dangerous mistake.
It was really too hot to cycle but we were on a mission to reach Risør and catch the last ferries up to Helgeroa. So we pushed on via Birkeland and having decided on Lillesand as the place to stay slogged though the afternoon sun. On the map it looks flat and compared to Flekkefjord it is. Compared to the Randstad it most certainly isn't!
Lillesand didn't look special on the map, except for the fact that it was where we had decided to stay and it was on the coast. We arrived in the late afternoon sun, to find a beautiful harbour full of sailing dinghys and boats of all shapes and sizes and up the hill a large wooden church.