We finally made our trip to Flekkefjord yesterday. Our main purpose in going there was to ride the dresins, which are bikes that are designed to travel on the train tracks.
The rails were closed to train service several years ago, but a group called the "Friends of Flekkefjord Railway" has preserved the 17 kilometer line and some of the associated structures. They also maintain and operate the dresins for rental to ride the line.
The trip out is the "uphill" half of the ride. There are no steep hills, but you can tell you are going uphill by the amount of effort you must put into pedaling. On the trip back, hardly any pedaling is required. You must be careful to maintain a safe speed, however, as the dresin can jump the tracks of you go too fast.
The weather for the trip was absolutely beautiful. It was probably one of the best days of weather we have had in Norway this summer. Additionally, the scenery along the line was beautiful. There are several lakes and parts of the fjord you pass on the trip, and the reflections of the mountains in the water were spectacular.
There are also 17 tunnels along the 17 kilometer line. We wore lights mounted on headbands. Even so, it was so dark in some of the tunnels, we couldn't tell how fast we were going, and we felt as though we might crash into a wall since we couldn't see anything in front of us.
Andrea joined us on the trip, along with Dan, another Marathon person who works in Equatorial Guinea. At the halfway point, we stopped for a little break before turning the bikes around for the trip back.
We finished out the day by taking the coastal road back to Stavanger. It took a little longer, but the scenery and drive were really nice, as you can see from this photo.
Finally, Sidney is also doing some biking of her own. We took the training wheels off her bike and she has been learning to ride by herself. She has the balancing and pedaling part down, but we are still working on teaching her to take off on her own. Good job, Sidney!
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