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)