Jeff: Plans going awry in Arendal

So the next morning we got up and drove to Arendal which is a town on the south coast of Norway with a lovely little old town, a floating swimming pool, several islands and a large coastal national park. We parked up on one of the islands with a plan to paddleboard around the national park but the weather wasn’t great (but there was a better forecast for the following morning) so we got on the bikes again (Rich reluctantly) and cycled into the town to explore. In the town we found Norway’s smallest chocolate factory (it was literally 1 room), a glass elevator with a high view point, some murals and an old town. We spent a couple of hours exploring the town before the rain became a bit much so we headed back to the van for the evening

The next morning we lugged the paddleboard down to the harbour ready to paddleboard but again the weather was not on our side and there was some really gusty winds and the current looked very strong because of it so we decided that it probably (definitely) wouldn’t be wise to paddle in the weather so we regrouped and decided to head on to the next town Kristiansand where we parked up and again got on the bikes and cycled into the town. While it was still gusty here we thought we might be able to get on the very small but pretty town beach and chill for a bit. However again we were scuppered as the town had hosted a very large festival that weekend and were still in the process of clearing up so the beach was out of action as was much of the harbour. Undeterred we decided we would go to the swimming pool which had a range of pools (including a very cold one), saunas and even a couple of water slides. We spent a good couple of hours in the pools and saunas (and we even had a go on all the water slides) and it was a nice way to wait out the weather which, while it wasn’t raining it wasn’t particularly good weather. After the swim we headed for a walk around the town and found the old festning (a fortress), a very posh Mc Donald’s, some more murals, some sand sculptures and an allotment with cherry trees that you could pick fruit and veg from. We also stumbled into a fair left over from the festival and grabbed some Churros as a treat as we explored. After all this we headed back to the van and decided to head on for the evening towards the stops for tomorrow.

The next morning we had plans to go and see Kvasfossen which is supposedly one of southern Norways largest waterfalls. We got there early and followed the short hike up to the view point and while it was smaller than we expected so after a short walk around the area we headed back to the van an on to our next stop in Flekkefjord. We really needed to bite the bullet and actually do a large shop as the fridge and cupboards were looking bare so first thing was to test out a couple of different supermarkets and we managed to get most things we need but not everything so over the next couple of days we will need to go again. After that the weather really had started to come in so we decided to retreat to the van and hide out rather than do the bike rail tour that happens here twice a day. The weather did not let up and at 5 we headed back into town, in Jeff, and parked up. There is a washing machine, tumble dryer, hot showers and toilets all free to use so we took full advantage and did a couple of loads of washing and while it was in we walked around the town looking at the old dutch area and hunting murals (its our new favourite pastime). By the end though we were absolutely soaking wet and it was time to put the clothes in the dryer and cooked dinner while we waited for them to dry ( circa 2.5 hours).