Starting the day with blue sky and super fresh air was unexpected but absolutely delightful! And, as I was packing the bike, the Airbnb host popped out and asked if I’d like some apples from his garden. He got me three!
I rode back into the centre of Gothenburg and parked up by Slottsskogens park a fabulous forest with meandering pathways. I had a look around the Slottsskogens Vattentor Kirkaren. The view from its base was beautiful.
It looked great against the blue sky. I probably took too many photo’s 😂
Then I checked my online map and saw that Jupiter was nearby. And there it was! Part of a scale model of the universe. Upon reading the sign it said that an observatory was just around the corner. So I explored some more.
I was presented with this door. Looks sort of abandoned. Would you see if the door opened?
I tentatively opened the door, as I saw it was just ajar. I was immediately presented with a group of slightly surprised looking people. After a quick and friendly exchange, I waited outside. After lots of people left, the lady who spoke to me chatted again. She looks after the observatory. Far from being abandoned it has two brilliant telescopes, one of which views the sun.
Carolin was extremely pleased about the good weather as it provided such a clear image of the sun. You could also see sun spots on the surface. It was incredible. The tiny dark specks on the upper left of the circle in the photo are sun spots! I also got to borrow a pair of special specs to look directly at the sun.
It was an absolute treat to meet Carolin who clearly has a great passion and knowledge for astronomy.
Among other things, there was an illuminated constellation map, where buttons allow a constellation to be illuminated.
It was great to see Cassiopeia, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Cygnus, Orion and Lyra. I think I scored extra points for knowing a few constellations. It then turned out we both used the same astronomy app, Stellarium 😂
The rest of the items on display were equally interesting. A really valuable place and after a staircase of chances, I’m so happy I stumbled upon it!
After that fantastic chance encounter, I headed off to Haga in Gothenburg. It’s an old-style shopping district with a variety of wares for sale. I might have picked up a little something.
I needed to make tracks to get to Kongsberg, so off I went! The blue sky and dry weather stuck around all day. Brilliant! It helped my gloves and boots dry out! 😂
Today was about bridges and tunnels.
Tunnels. And also bridges 😂 The Swedish motorway was often tree-lined and felt lovely to ride through.
I crossed the border into Norway at 16:40. Woohoo! ☺️🎉
I happened to ride through Åros and was stunned by the harbour and houses. The photo I took was awful but it was an early reminder of how breathtaking Norwegian scenery can be.
About half an hour from Kongsberg, as part of a fuel stop I grabbed a burger and fries from a popular kingly establishment. A lad in there asked me, in Norwegian, something about being cold..but I didn’t recognise the other bits quickly enough. He then asked in English “was it too cold to ride the bike?”. I said “not yet”. I then mentioned that I’d ridden from England on Monday to be there, and still further to go. He said “that’s inspiring. My friend wants me to go on a motorbike trip to Germany with him” “Do it!” I said ☺️
And with that, I headed to Kongsberg for my first stay, in this trip, in Norway ☺️
Today was around 360km (221 miles). That’s over 2,000km (1,290 miles). And my eighth country so far too.
Thank you for reading the blog for today! Hopefully you’re still enjoying them! ☺️💛 Tomorrow is going to be interesting. Riding across to the north of Bergen. The scenery should be phenomenal (duh, do, de de de), let’s see if the weather holds out! ☺️
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