Lofthus only 4 1/2 hours or so from Brevik, so plenty of time for a few stops. Must say that the Hardanger Hostel was the best of the trip(and cheapest) and worth bearing in mind as a first night stop if landing at Brevik in the future.
First quick stop is down the 13 at Odda....
Alot of industry here, well they've got to put it somwhere.
A bit further on another stop at the Latefossen falls, which are so close to highway 13 as to spray it and then run under it.
The road turns into the E134 and now skirts around south of the Hardangervidda and gradually rises up to bleak plateau
Spot a speed trap here - a cop crouched behind a tripod mounted camera gun halfway along a mile long straight, with his mates in a coned off layby awaiting customers with a credit card machine no doubt. The cop was sat on his arse behind the tripod and resembled a wildlife photographer in a hide - only about 3 foot high and you'd never spot him. Just as well he was clocking traffic on the other side.
I'd checked the rough guide, and it's a worthwhile detour up highway 37 to a town called Rjukan, scene of one of the most daring sabotage operations of World War 2 on the heavy water plant at Vemork - remember 'Heroes of Telemark' with Kirk Douglas??
Accessed via a single lane suspension bridge - bikes can go over and park right next to the museum, cars not and stay in the car park and use a shuttle mini bus to get up there
The gorge sides are vertical - the saboteurs climbed down into then up the gorge, in February with everything covered in ice and then escaped the same way. An amazing feat when you see the gorge in reality.
The Vemork power plant is now an industrial museum and I spent a good 2 hours there. Worth a visit
Education & Culture visit completed, a steady run down to Brevik, keeping an eye out for these guys
No elks(moose) to report and I get to the North Sea Terminal at about 20:30. Very early as it happens as the ship hasn't got in yet, so the guy in the harbour office suggests killing time in Brevik itself. It's a nice evening and Brevik village turns out to be quite charming - surrounding a marina and everyone out & about in their boats
Back to the terminal for 22:30 and the ships unloading so they take pity and let me on
Sailing is at 03:00 but there's a bit of a commotion when they discover some illegals in a lorry trailer. The delay with the customs and cops mean we lose our harbour pilot slot and we don't actually sail until 10:00 - a seven hour delay. The ship must have made time up overnight as we eventually dock at Immingham on a grey & drizzly Saturday morning at 09:30. From there it's just under a hours run home to Lincoln.
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