Yesterday evening, after I had written the blog, the heavens opened and we had the heaviest downpour we have seen on this trip. We also learnt a valuable lesson about our awning. Basil’s awning is made of a type of rubberised cloth, which winds out from Basil’s roof and then is supported by two extendable legs and two aluminium booms, which extend with the awning from Basil.

The idea is that when you erect it you ensure there is a “tilt” by extending one leg more than the other. Last night this was to no avail. The rain was so heavy that it could not run off the awning quickly enough and instead collected in an ever growing “sag” in the awning fabric. Within seconds the awning had collapsed inwards with the weight of water. Luckily we were there to support the awning and angle it so the water ran off. We then re-erected it with a much larger tilt so the water could disperse quickly enough not to pool.

As you can imagine by the time we had finished this we were saturated and then of course the rain stopped as quickly as it had arrived and the sun came out!

Today I have spent most of the day planning our campaign in Southern Norway. The official tourist routes we have experienced in the north have been so good we are using six more as the backbone of our southern route. I hope to throw a Stave Church into the mix and end up with a day or two visiting Oslo. If anyone is remotely interested you can find the routes we intend to take here.

The only unknown is the weather. If the weather is poor for any extended period we may cut things a bit short. There is no point spending time exploring a picturesque country if you can’t see anything!

I am also a bit unsure about Bergen. It is Norway’s second biggest city and the harbour area is very colourful, but I have been there before on business and I think we’ve seen similar harbour areas on a smaller scale already. We will see how much time we have when we get near Bergen.

Sarah has been frustrated today by the lack of walking opportunities near this campsite. We went out together with the dogs to explore the lake, but I stayed in the bird hide with my birding lens, while she carried on and managed to reach the lake, but there was no footpath round it.

I spent 45 minutes in the hide, but only saw a few Teal and then from a distance that didn’t allow for a good photograph. The information on the noticeboard showed all sorts of interesting species but they must have all been hiding!

Tomorrow we will visit Trondheim. I think it will only be for a couple of hours and we will move back into the countryside for our overnight stop.