Nobody was in much hurry to get up this morning after yesterday's tiring ride, so we watched the young toll-collector opposite the hostel taking money from visitors who wanted to travel up the mountain road to Raubergstulen, a base camp used by explorers of the Jotunheim Mountains.

When we eventually set off, another 12 miles of downhill riding through the fertile agricultural land at the base of the valley brought us eventually to the tourist village of Lom where a very attractive café provided us with excellent drinks and exceptional chocolate cakes.

We then spent some time browsing the many shelf-loads of trolls in the gift shops. Nick couldn't resist buying an attractive Norwegian towel and a "reindeer leather" bookmark as a gift for his family at home. After lunch by the water feature in the town square we had a look around Lom's most famous building, a wooden Stave Church built in 1158, although we couldn't get inside. Before we left the village we were amused by the Norsk Fjell Museum which had grass growing on all its roofs: several garden sprinklers were working flat out to keep the grass happy in the dry weather.

The remaining 11 miles to Mogard, Skjak were generally flat and agricultural so we were not too late arriving at the hostel. This was a grade 2 hostel that consisted of a range of separate 4-bed wooden cabins, each with its own basic kitchen facilities (well table, chairs and a fridge), sandwiched between farms. It was a great place to spend the night with the large river nearby and the backdrop of tall snow-capped mountains.

Kieron had some difficulty cutting his loaf of bread at breakfast time, seeing as there were no knives provided in the "kitchen" - he hacked at it with a pocket knife and the result was not particularly successful.

With a long ride ahead of us and a ferry to catch we were doing our best to get Kieron ready to leave by 9am, but since the main hostel building didn't open until 9 it was 9.05 when we we finally set off. It actually turned out to be a bit of a trick, because once Kieron was on his way Nick just couldn't resist trying out the swing that was positioned tantalisingly by the exit posts, and Michael couldn't resist popping into the hostel reception building with his camcorder - it was more like a café than a reception.

One of the intriguing sights we saw in the early parts of the climb was an agricultural shed containing a pump, presumably for bringing water up from the river, but the roof was another of those strange affairs with grass on top. Maybe they needed to camoflage the pump house during the war.

At the Donfoss bridge we just had to stop to look at the River Visa: it was terrifyingly large and fast and made a tremendous noise as it crashed its way over the rocks. We wandered along the side of the river to get a bit closer to the action and felt awed by the power of the water. We don't get rivers like this in the UK.

Our road followed the river right up into the mountains so we had more chances to get close as we progressed. The next opportunity was at Pollfoss, a steep-sided ravine where the water crashed with even more vigour down over the rocks. Here there was, amazingly, a little viewing shelter on the bridge where Julian and Nick signed our visit into a Visitor's Book!

At Vuluvatnet we passed what looked like a North American ranch, although in reality it was just an unusual settlement of wood-built houses.

Just when we thought it unlikely we would find anywhere up here in the wilderness for refreshments, the Grotli Hotel and Cafe came into view, so we use the opportunity wisely for coffee and cakes to keep us going to lunchtime. Well we had already done 26 miles uphill before coffee, so we thought we deserved it.

Continuing onwards and upwards we soon reached Breiddalsvatnet where the water was crystal clear on both sides of the road and the abundance of what looked like cottongrass was striking.

When we had ridden 34 miles we were not far from the top of the climb, and as it was definitely lunchtime we stopped beside the beautiful Langvatnet for lunch. With snow on the surrounding mountains this was indeed an idyllic spot, 929m above sea level. We couldn't resist the opportunity to climb the nearby snow-covered hill to get a better view of the lake, and from here we could also see the Oppljos tunnel disappearing into the mountain, only completed in 1978.

A warning sign by the road told us of the Geiranger road that was about to take us rapidly down hill by over 1000m. Shortly afterwards we reached the Breiddalen Valley Lookout at 1026m above sea level where a reindeer was obliging the tourists by posing for photographs. Up here the scenery was pristine and unspoiled, with the spectacular Djupvatnet making the perfect photograph with its floating icebergs. This was the high point of the ride in more ways than one, at a height of 1033m above sea level.

From here it was pretty much all downhill to Geiranger, with breathtaking hairpin bends all the way down and equally-breathtaking views of what many consider to be the most beautiful fjord in Norway. Michael took video of most of the descent, and we stopped periodically to admire the spectacular views.

When we eventually reached the bottom we bought ice creams and took our seats on the cruise boat that was going to take us along the length of this incredible fjord. The cruise did not disappoint, and the captain gave a running commentary to tell us about the various waterfalls and isolated farms high up on the steep sides of the fjord.

When we eventually reached Hellesylt at the far end of the fjord, we disembarked and rode the short distance up the hill to Hellseylt youth hostel. This has been the longest ride of the tour, and we were very glad to use the showers and settle down for a restful evening of hot meals and relaxation.

(No notes were written for the second half of today's ride at the time, so part of this report has been written in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

We weren’t in any particular hurry today as the ride was fairly easy, which was just as well after the long ride we did yesterday. Several of us seemed to have collected a number of insect bites yesterday which were now causing some irritation. We had to cross the yard to the main hostel building to make our breakfast on a rather cloudy and dull morning, then we eventually set off quite late for Hornindal.

The ride was fairly uneventful and grey for the most part, involving a gradual climb and then a gradual descent. The road was quite rural, so we passed Norwegian cows and sheep and saw signs of traditional haymaking where the hay is laid out on racks to dry. The most interesting place was Hornindal school, which boasted a full size athletic track that looked like it was built to Olympic standards! We wondered how they could afford such excellent facilities.

Lunch was at Hornindal village, where Julian posted his postcards at the Post Office, then we pressed on the last few miles through the longest tunnel of the tour so far, Kjøshammar Tunnel, which is 800m long. It didn’t say we weren’t allowed to cycle through it, so we did. The road was not that busy so it was fine, as can be seen from the video.

The weather was still overcast when we arrived at Stryn and settled into the luxurious grade 3 hostel there. We still had to self-cater for our evening meal, but it was very comfortable.

(No notes were written for today's ride at the time, so this report has been written in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

We had a very comfortable night in the peaceful hostel at Stryn. After we had made our breakfast in the basement kitchen the youngsters sensibly found time for some frisbee fun on the front lawns, with mountains and the Innvik fjord visible through the trees.

After a slightly late departure we visited the shops in Stryn to stock up with provisions for lunch, then when Julian had corrected a problem with his bike we set off for our 36-mile ride to Byrkjelo. The weather looked much more promising, and soon the sun came out and stayed with us all day.

Innvik fjord lived up to all the hype, proving it is indeed one of the most beautiful fjords in Norway. We stopped briefly at Olden where Nick gave us a guided tour of a Norwegian telephone box for the video, then we pressed on to near Innvik itself before stopping for lunch right on the edge of the fjord. We spent an enjoyable hour there in the bright sunshine, enjoying our Go-Morgen yoghurts and trying to persuade Kieron to stop hurling big stones in the fjord in his attempts to get everyone wet!

We continued on to Utvik, and then started the big climb of the day to a height of 630m. Actually it wasn't that bog compared to other climbs we have done in Norway, and the views back to Innvik Fjord were tremendous. Once we reached the top there was a long downhill run to Byrkjelo, a farming village and the location of our next youth hostel.

After showers we were treated to our second provided meal of the tour, the first being at Bergen. This was very much appreciated and made a pleasant change from the usual routine. Most of the group had ham and various vegetables in typical British style, but Michael being vegetarian was given fish in a cheesy sauce.

After the meal we took some cold drinks with us and walked past the nearby farms to the school playing field, where there was another full-size athletics track and several students doings some sport.

Our room at the hostel was at the back, right beside the river with great views to the mountains.

(No notes were written for today's ride at the time, so this report has been written in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

The noisy river outside our room was actually strangely soothing, and nobody was in any particular hurry to get up for breakfast. It was 8.30 when we finally got to the kitchen.

The weather was glorious again for our route southwards and upwards into the Storelva valley. Agriculture was still the primary occupation in these parts, so we passed many small farms including one that had goats. There was also some semi-wild goats between the river and the road a little further along at Stardalselva. As we got higher we also found spectacular waterfalls tumbling down from the top of the steep sided valley.

Soon we reached the small village of Skei and the Jøstedal lake. This is located west of the enormous Jøstedal glacier, the greatest ice cap in Europe, and the whole area was very attractive. We rode the full length of the lake, which is more than fourteen miles long.

Near the end found a jetty at Vassenden Picnic Area where some local children were swimming, and we couldn't resist a dip ourselves. The water was cold and it took Graham and Nick a little while to pluck up the courage to swim around the little boat moored to the side of the lake, but once that barrier had been breached it was hard to keep them out of the water. Unfortunately the local youngsters didn't know English very well yet, so we had to manage with no verbal communications whatsoever.

When we could finally get away from this idyllic spot, the route to Førde youth hostel was mainly downhill, making an easy finish to an enjoyable day. As we approached the village we could see the spectacular Huldrefossen waterfall to our left, although there wasn't time to go over to visit it close up.

The hostel was another Folk School like the one at Sogndal, used as a hostel only when the school is closed for the summer holidays. Sadly we were back to self-catering again, but it was a good grade 2 hostel with reasonable facilities.

(No notes were written for today's ride at the time, so this report has been written in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

Førde youth hostel is only open for a couple of months in the summer, and that is because for most of the year it is Sunnfjord Folk School. Our room turned out to be a classroom at normal times, so it was an interesting experience to sleep in it. After our self-catering breakfast we took a good look around with the video camera, finding the sports hall / drama hall, numerous photo display boards and an underground nuclear fallout shelter that was being used as changing rooms! As far as I know, we don't have schools in the UK with nuclear fallout shelters incorporated into the design!

Our planned route to Balestrand was via the 745m Gaular Pass and a spectacular hairpin descent to Vetlefjord, a total of 66 miles, but looking at the map we thought we could do better by going via Hoyanger. There was the minor issue of a long tunnel there, but we hadn't met a tunnel we couldn't ride through so far, so we decided to give it a go and take the chance.

It was overcast and cloudy as we rode south to Sande, so when we got there after 14 miles of riding and found the Sande Inn and Hotel was open for hot drinks and refreshments, we were glad to go inside. That made a pleasant stop.

Our next port of call was Vadheim, which brought us back to the Sognefjord again. Riding along the edge of the fjord we came across some fairly long tunnels of more than 1000m, but we didn't find them too worrying and made good progress. It was when we reached the Hoyanger tunnel, however, that we realised we had a problem. It was 7548m long, and there were clear warning signs that cyclists were not allowed to ride through, the first time we had seen such signs. Nick was jokingly concerned that we would suffocate in there from all the car fumes, and of course he was right that this was one tunnel we really could not safely ride. We would have to rethink our plans!

Returning back down the hill to Hoyanger we found the bus station and had to wait an hour or so for the next bus through the tunnel. It turned out to be quite a luxurious and comfortable bus that even boasted its own hot drinks machine. Eventually we got going and took a video as we drove through the long tunnel, feeling perhaps slightly annoyed that we had to pay to go through a tunnel on our bikes.

It was quite late now and there were still 24 miles to go to Balestrand, so we decided to stay on the bus all the way, enjoying the comfortable ride and feeling we deserved a bit of a helping hand today. And of course it meant we arrived at Balestrand hostel at a sensible time,

The village of Balestrand, population 700, stands on the edge of Sognefjord on a short promontory of farmland and orchards backed by snow-capped mountains. The hostel is a luxurious grade 3, also known as the Kringsjå Hotel, and we spent a very comfortable evening there.

(No notes were written for today's ride at the time, so this report has been written in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

Everyone was keen to get up this morning for our second provided breakfast of the tour, and we were not disappointed. The range of Norwegian foods available was exceptional, and the views from the dining room were superb.

Balestrand youth hostel, also known as the Kringsjå Hotel, had been a very comfortable hostel even if our room had been a little cramped with five of us in a four-bed room. But that had been our choice, and we were more than happy with our stay.

Today was going to be a long ride with some big climbs, so we set off early for the five mile ride to Dragsvik, where the large car ferry was waiting to take us across the Sognefjord to Vangsnes. The weather was excellent again today, making the fjord looks stunning in the morning light. We had time for refreshments on the ferry as it took 25 minutes to cross. Kieron was very happy when he discovered that Michael had 35 minutes of videotape left - he wanted him to record the entire crossing! in the end he compromised and recorded a fair section of it.

From Vangsnes we rode down the side of the fjord to Vikøyri and then started the large 986m climb to the top of the mountain. We got some great views back to Vikøyri and the Sognefjord as we climbed. We finally reached the top when we had ridden just over 24 miles from Balestrand, and here there was a viewpoint, Storeskrea, offering fabulous views back down the valley towards Vik☼yri. There was a picnic table there, the perfect place to eat our lunch. There was also a large number of friendly Norwegian sheep with bells which provided some entertainment.

After riding down through the Storehaug tunnel there was a lot of up and down riding and some magnificent lakes with snow-covered mountains. Just after we started to descend the other side we came across a Lap Camp with some real Reindeer. They were eating Reindeer Moss, which is apparently a lichen and not a moss. While they continued to gorge themselves we took a look around the Lap Camp shop, which as usual boasted a huge range of stuffed animals and birds as well as sheep skins and souvenirs. We were particularly taken with the Red Fox, although it was rather sad to think it had been stuffed.

A little further on and we reached the Myrkdalen Viewpoint, from where we could see the multiple hairpin bends on the descent to the valley. This proved to be a lot of fun, although of course you cannot go too fast when there are sharp bends and steep drops.

At the bottom of the hairpin descent we saw an isolated building with the sign "Geitost" scrawled outside. This turned out to be a goat farm, and the Geitost was Goat's Cheese. There were plenty of goats to be seen everywhere, including many just lolling around by the sales counter, but several of us decided to buy a sample of the merchandise so we could see what the taste was like. The cheese was actually a chocolate brown colour, and some of us thought it was delicious while others detested it.

The remainder of the ride down to Voss was all downhill, and when we got to the Grade 3 Voss youth hostel, situated right beside Voss lake, we were very impressed with the modern facilities. even more attractive was the fact that they served us up with our third provided evening meal of the tour.

After supper we wandered down the beach by the side of the lake to take in the peaceful surroundings. We then had an excellent night in our spacious 6-bedded room.

(No notes were written for today's ride at the time, so this report has been written in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

Voss youth hostel really is excellent. It is probably the most modern hostel we have ever seen, and its location right next to Voss lake gives it a perfect setting. This morning, however, the main attraction it offered was the third and final provided breakfast of the tour, so we all made good use of it to stoke up.

Not that we had much cycling to do now - yesterday was the last day of proper cycling on the tour. This morning we had time to take the cable car up to Mount Hangur, just for a bit of fun and to see the great views across Voss and the lake. At the top we got some refreshments and were entertained by a loose sheep that got into the shop area and by Nick and Kieron who insisted on playing on an infant's swing. Fortunately they didn't break it and nobody told them off. Descending the cableway always seems more scary than going up, and today was no exception, the worst parts being the random swaying that took place whenever we passed through a cable support tower.

We caught the 1045 train from Voss station to Bergen, which arrived at 1203. That left us with a couple of hours to buy lunch and take a final look around Bergen, perhaps our favourite city now.

At 1515 we made our way out to the ferry terminal and boarded our ColorLine ferry back to Newcastle, which left on time at 1700. Now we had to say farewell to Norway, at least for this tour. But once the ship left port, the Duty Free shop opened, which meant we could buy as much Norwegian chocolate as we could fit in our panniers at rock bottom prices!

We knew the ship better now, so made good use of the restaurant facilities. As on the way out, we had booked reclining seats for the night rather than cabins, purely to save money, so we did our best to settle down for a good night's sleep.

(No notes were written for today's ride at the time, so this report has been written in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

We didn't get a great night's sleep on the reclining chairs, but we got some decent food on the ferry and stocked up with plenty of Norwegian chocolate - almost doubling the weight of one of Michael's panniers in fact.

We cruised into North Shields a little earlier than scheduled, just before 4.30. We then rode the ten miles to Newcastle station where we caught the 1840 train to London. We were all exhausted, but we managed to do some short interviews about the tour on the way to London.

Graham got off at Stevenage at 2128, and Kieron and Nick were collected by their parents from Kings Cross station at 2158. That left just Michael and Julian, who had the longest journey of all to get home. They had to cross London late at night with their bikes to get to Waterloo station, an experience that neither of them particular want to repeat. They then caught the 2350 overnight train to Devon, arriving Newton Abbot at 0452 - so no sleep for them! It's not surprising they were both completely shattered when they finally reached home.

This had turned out to be a truly epic tour and a very memorable experience for all who took part. We had been blessed with superb weather for nearly the whole tour, had seen some incredible scenery, met many friendly Norwegians and enjoyed many pots of Norwegian yoghurt and bars of Norwegian chocolate. And of course, we had a great group of people who got along really well together to make this one of our most special tours.

(No notes were written for today's ride at the time, so this report has been written in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

High speed trains from Devon to London are all restricted these days in terms of the number of bikes they can carry, and of course all bikes have to be booked in advance. Because there were eight of us going up from Devon and a further two from Reading, we had to go to London on two separate trains.

Michael took Tao, Eliot, Craig and John with him on the 1521 train from Newton Abbot, which got to London at 1850. We used the opportunity to take some video footage on the train. Julian followed us up on the 1627 train, taking Luke and Oliver with him and collecting Nick and Matthew from Reading at 1909. When they arrived at London Paddington at 1955 the rest of us met them on the platform and helped them with the unloading process.

The reason we were travelling to London when our tour was in Scotland was because this year we had decided to try using the Sleeper train from London to Scotland, which we thought might be more fun than spending a whole day on the train to Scotland as we have done in previous years. So now we had to take the bikes on the London Underground to Euston station, where all the sleeper trains depart for London.

We had originally planned to all take the 21.10 sleeper train to Fort William with our bikes, but an error by a BR travel clerk at Torquay meant the bunks were never booked before she resigned her post, so we had to change the arrangements at the last minute. We loaded all our 10 bikes onto the 21.10 sleeper train as planned, but we ourselves had to take the later 23.30 sleeper train to Glasgow, which left us with a rather annoying two hour wait at Euston. Meanwhile Fergus and Jamie boarded the Fort William sleeper at Crewe at 23.34, added their two bikes to our ten and slept in the two bunks that were still available for us on that train.

Eventually our sleeper was ready to leave Euston, and we settled into our bunks for an interesting travel experience.

(No notes were written for today's ride at the time, so this report has been written in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)