A birthday celebration but still travelling

An early waking.   The men from the travellers' vans had a party the previous night.  An all night party.   They stood around in their work clothes, drinking beer and laughing, while the women cooked dinner and looked after the children.  They certainly have that one sorted well.  At 5 am a few of them stood behind our caravan, deep in conversation and still drinking beer.  I should have joined them, after all it was my birthday.  

At least I was up early to open presents and cards, and read all my lovely messages on Facebook, in texts and emails.  Lucy and Scott rang me from Australia, which was very special.  I felt very privileged and touched by all the messages.   Thank you to everyone.

But birthday or not, it was time to move on, so we quickly packed up, hitched up the van, waved goodbye to our hungover neighbours, and headed out on to the road, destination Seljord, about halfway between Oslo and the southwestern fjords.

Once off the motorway, we took the 134, a single lane main road, which started off simply as a winding road, with plenty of passing lanes.  It took us through forested hills, with a few farms and small towns to break the journey up.   But soon the road began climbing, and we knew that perhaps this part of Norway may be more mountainous then we thought.

A view of snow covered moutains in the distance.

Eventually we drove over a pass, then the road dropped down into a valley, where there was a fjord, with the resort of Seljord at one end.

The campsite, an ACSI one, beautifully landscaped, with many permanent caravans, and with its own private beach.  Too cold for swimming though.  We were very happy with the price too, it only cost us about £11, as were were ACSI members.

I reversed onto this site very easily.  I must be improving!

The view of the fjord from our caravan windows.

Seljord, in the Telemark area, was a very picturesque place, and obviously a popular holiday resort within easy driving distance from Oslo.

Seljord Church, a 12th century built of stone in the Roman style.

These rather unique wooden structures, with grassed roofs, were Norwegian barns, used to store grain, and food, during winter.  No doubt the height ensured good air circulation plus the contents were out of the way of rodents.   I am not sure if they were still used for their original purpose but there were still plenty of them around in the countryside.  This one was in a garden, by the main road.

The houses were often decorative, and many were painted white.

We went to the supermarket to top up on food, which was a lesson in how expensive food was in Norway.  We bought the bare essentials.  Wow.  According to the Lonely Planet, Norway was the most expensive country in the world.   And sooner or later, this fact hits you.  And for us it was a visit to the supermarket.

But next door there was a huge Intersport shop, full of great outdoor clothes.  Intersport is always expensive, regardless of the country, but they had down jackets (the thin ones) on sale.  My birthday treat, another jacket.  This one folds into a very small bag, excellent for travelling.  Birthday/great for travelling.  Any excuse.

My birthday dinner, just Walter and me.  The first of my birthday celebrations this year.   We chose the Seljord Hotel, built in the 1800s.  A romantic looking venue for a special birthday celebration.

And it was too.  A main course of local salmon, followed by a desert with three scoops of sorbet.   Walter had three non alcoholic beers and I drank half a bottle of Italian red wine.   A simple meal,  but delicious.  But the price of this meal was unbelievable.  Quite took our breath away.  Eye wateringly expensive.   Just as well we do not do this too often.  But we still had a lovely time.

So I raise my glass of red wine, to 70 great years, and more of the same to come, only even better.  I am now of an age, where I can really do as I please. Come to think of it,  perhaps I have been doing this for the past 70 years,,so I guess I will just carry on.

I took the remainder of the bottle of wine with me, to sip on during the next few nights.  Very good wine.  I did not want to waste it.