A beautiful morning. Blue sky. No rain forecast.

We rode to Rudi and Carina’s home, only a few km away, and shared breakfast with Rudi. We could keep chatting for ages, but we needed to get moving.

Rudi gave us a head start I dare say so he could smash it and get a workout in the catch.

We rode and chatted, stopping for photos.

This is a famous hotel, formerly a bathing hotel back in 1937. It is beautifully positioned with a lovely small ocean beach, near Fevik.

The views were fantastic, some gentle undulations, and we were soon at Grimstad, a town known for its white houses, cobbled streets and poets and writers,

This lovely statue is of Terje Vigen, a fictional character in a poem written by a local poet Henrik Ibsen, published in 1862. The story goes that during the Gunboat War (early 19th century), Grimstad was under a British naval blockade. Vigen decided to use a small rowboat to paddle to Denmark to get essential goods for his family.

The story goes on….

We then checked out a cycling display, honouring two local cycling legends.

Thor Hushovd was a three time Norwegian national road race champion, the first Norwegian to lead the Tour de France for multiple stages, and the winner of the 2010 World Road Race championship.

He is considered the greatest Norwegian cyclist ever.

The second honoured cyclist is Dag Otto Lauritzen who won a bronze Olympic medal and the first Norwegian to win a stage of the Tour de France.

There are two bikes on display (one a beautiful red and green Merckx) plus trophies. Unfortunately the photo did not work out to clearly show the bikes.

Shortly thereafter we said our farewells to Rudi as he headed back home.

We were sad to say goodbye, but happy to have connected as well as we did.

Rudi took a photo of us both, a rare thing touring.

Then the selfie all together.

We had a hill to climb short thereafter to spin, spin, spin. We were enjoying the scenery.

Lillesand was the next larger village, located within the Blindleia archipelago. White painted houses, a lovely harbour, lots of little shops, and a guru meditating to classical music.

Our route then headed inland and we followed the Otra River. The Otra is 245 km long, and Norways eight longest river. There are multiple lakes and 12 hydro electric power plants, producing much of Southern Norways electricity requirements.

As we climbed and descended, the river was never far away.

The river flows to Kristiansand, our overnight destination. We need to cross that bridge in about 10 km.

The wind was quite strong this afternoon. We wondered how it would be when exposed at height.

We crossed a smaller bridge, where a foot and cycle lane was constructed below the vehicle lanes.

We approached the larger bridge, wind gusts from the side, dedicated cycle path.

Once at the top of the bridge, the wind from the left was evil. We crawled down to control our bikes when the gusts hit.

Good view though!

The city was super busy as there was a running event on. Sommerlopet had distances from 1 km to a half marathon, and it seemed to be very well supported.

We worked our way around runners and barriers, and found our accomodation, another Air B and no B, at the top of a steep hill.

It’s huge, we have a whole floor of an art deco period house to ourselves, with views towards the harbour.

The owner decided I must be riding with another female and set up two separate bedrooms. I assured him Tony was my husband, and as such could sleep in the same room.

He then went on with a long winded story about lesbians coming to stay 😳. I suspect he’d separate them too.

Tomorrow morning we transfer back to Denmark. It is a 3 hour 15 minute ferry on Colour Line, the ferry operator we used from Sweden to Norway.

In the search for food, we walked into the city centre. we headed towards the finish line as the very last runner finished to great cheering from the commentator. I think everyone else had gone, and felt a bit sorry for her as they were pulling down barricades etc.

The church below is the Kristiansand Cathedral. It is the fourth church on this site, with this one built in the late 1800’s. It seats 1,750 people making it one of Norways largest.

We went past at 5 pm and the bells chimed. We finished dinner nearby just before 6 pm and they were still chiming.

Love the Vespa’s. Takes me back to Muhlbach in the Tyrol, arriving at accomodation the day of the annual Vespa party.

Nice statues.

I liked this building.

This is for Kim, my friend who recently went to Japan. She photographed many interesting sewerage and water caps. This is the best one I’ve seen this trip.

A nice water fountain, as we meandered back up to the Air B and no B.

Todays route brings us to the conclusion if our riding in Norway.

Southern Norway, particularly along the waterways, has been wonderful.

Denmark awaits.

Thanks for reading