[“Now, where should I go? For adventure cycling, the Arctic Circle would be the obvious choice, but that’s out of the question.”] I lay in my tent, spreading out a map and pondering. Although I’d told the embassy staff, “I’ll be back in a week,” I had absolutely no plan.
If the cost of living were low, I could leave my bike behind and take a train somewhere, like I did in Portugal, but considering the cost of lodging and meals, that wasn’t an option.
About 70% of Norway’s land area is mountainous. There are only a few small plains around Oslo, and farmland accounts for about 3% of the total. Aside from the North Sea oil fields, the main industries include fisheries, shipping, metals, and forestry.
Every Japanese person has surely tasted Norwegian salmon or mackerel. Even within the Nordic region, Denmark specializes in dairy farming, while Sweden’s main industries are automobiles, electronics, and mining—perhaps the three Nordic countries have managed to carve out distinct niches for themselves.
[As expected, the area around Oslo is just mountains and swamps—or rather, nothing but lakes. Hmm, what’s that, Gjør? Gjør is where that wooden church I saw at the folk museum is, right? Gol, huh… Alright, I think I’ll head to Gjør.” And so, with absolutely no plan in mind, I decided to go to the town of Gjør, located about 200 kilometers northwest of Oslo.
To get to Gjør, I first had to leave Oslo proper. On the way, I stopped by a tourist information center to pick up some materials about the Gjør area. The woman at the counter helped me out while pointing to a map of the surrounding area.
“Are you going to Gjør by bike? Nice choice. I think you’ll enjoy the beautiful scenery along Route 7, with the lakes and mountains.”
“Is that so? That’s great.”
“Running parallel to Route 7 is the famous Bergen Line railway.”
Last night, looking at the map, I’d realized that if I took National Route 7—which runs alongside the railway—from the town of Hønefoss along the way, I’d reach my destination, Gjør.
“This long, narrow lake is 40 kilometers long. If you follow the lake, you’ll come to a valley. The town of Gjør is just beyond that.”
“40 kilometers? The stretch along the valley is uphill, right? Will it be hard work?”
“It’ll be fine. I don’t think it’ll be a problem. Anything else…”
As I listened to him, I began to feel that my spontaneous decision to go to Gjør was indeed a nice choice.
Next, I headed to the telephone office; I wanted to find out the cost of calling Japan. If I were calling home, a collect call would suffice, but that wasn’t an option for other calls.
I planned to call my friend if no letter had arrived by the time I returned a week later. At 28 Nkr per minute—about 920 yen—it was a reasonable price.
［さて、どこへ行くかな？ アドベンチャー・サイクリングなら北極圏とかなんだろうけど、そりゃあないしなぁ］私はテントの中で地図を広げて考えていました。大使館の職員に「１週間したら来ますんで」と言ったものの全くのノープランでした。
物価が安ければポルトガルのように自転車を置いて列車でどこかに行くという手もあるのですが、宿代や食事代を考えるとそれはできません。
ノルウェーは国土の約70％が山岳地帯です。オスロ周辺に僅かな平野部があり耕作地は３％ほどになります。北海油田のほかには水産、海運、金属、林業などが主な産業になります。
ノルウェー産のサーモンや鯖など、日本人なら誰しもが口にしているはずです。同じ北欧でもデンマークは酪農、スウェーデンの主産業は自動車、電気、鉱工業など、北欧３国はうまく棲み分けができているのかもしれません。
［やっぱオスロの周りは山と沼っていうか湖ばっかだよな。うん何、Gol(ゴル)？ ゴルって民俗博物館で見たあの木造教会のところだろ。ゴルねぇ、よ～し、ゴルに行ってみるか］こうして何のプランもなかった私はオスロの北西200キロほど、ゴルの町へ行くことにしたのです。
ゴルへ行くには一旦オスロ市内を抜けなければなりません。途中、ゴル周辺の資料をと観光案内所に寄ってみました。カウンターの女性が周辺地図を示しながら対応してくれました。
「自転車でゴルへ行くんですか？ ナイスチョイスです。湖と山など７号線沿いの美しい景色に満足すると思います」
「そうですか。よかった」
「７号線と並走しているのがベルゲン・ラインという有名な鉄道です」
昨夜、地図を見て途中の Hønefoss(ホーネフォス)の街から鉄道と並走する国道７号線を行けば目的地のゴルへ着くとわかっていました。
「この細長い湖は長さ40キロあります。湖沿いを行くと次は渓谷になります。その先がゴルの町です」
「40キロもですか。渓谷沿いは登りですよね。ハード・ワークですか？」
「大丈夫です。問題ないと思います。ほかに……」
話を聞いてるうちに、偶然決めたゴル行きが確かにナイスチョイスのような気がしてきました。
次に向かったのは電話局、日本への電話代が知りたかったのです。自宅への電話ならコレクト・コールですみますが、他はそうもいきません。
１週間後に戻っても手紙が届いていないようなら友人に電話をするつもりでした。１分間 28Nkr＝約920円とソコソコの金額です。
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