Saturday 17th May....

apparently this is Constitution Day...the biggest public holiday in Norway!

Well, we never knew that. It meant that everywhere is closed, people are in national dress and marching in bands, all quite interesting.

We originally arrived in Kristiansand at 4.30 on Thursday afternoon and then drove 48 miles up Route 9 to Neset, which took us about 2 hours. The road was quite narrow and windy so we took our time getting used to it.
It has been cooler and sunny on and off since we got here, the sweatshirts have come in to play. We have driven along the fjord to look at some of the little villages such as Bygland, Lauvdal and Grendi, and walked down around the shoreline of the Byglandsfjord. The water is very cold but clear.
Our neighbours in the next caravan come from Essex, and are with Dutch friends. We all chatted on Sat afternoon and had an internet session in our camper as they could not get logged on in their units. The campsites are quite laid back, no marked pitches, just go where you like. Here they even baked fresh bread for us!
We have also driven further up the 'main road' to Ose to look at the waterfall and then went for a walk around the town. We caught up with lots of people in national dress who were getting ready to march with the band. Outside the hotel we chatted to some Norwegian chaps who had been to uni in Hull, who gave us coffee and a bit of history behind Constitution Day.

Monday is a move on day further north....could be not as far as we originally intended. We have bypassed Plan A, Plan B and are now on Plan C. For Lorna's information - our old friend 'bugger' has come with us!