Wight Weirdos

We drove through the rain to Trondheim, along a road which clearly would have had superb views on a clearer day, but we had to make do with the odd tantalising glimpse! We arrived in the city late afternoon and parked up in a dedicated mobile home parking area. This was basically a large car park with electric hook up points and a disposal station, set in the docks area between a railway and a road. It doesn’t sound exciting,and it wasn’t, but these sorts of sites are really handy for visiting a city. Unfortunately I managed to step in a puddle on the site, which was quite poorly drained, then stumbled and stepped further in with water up to my ankle. It was quite the dance move. The electric hook up came in handy as it allowed us to run the heater to dry my shoes! 

 

We headed out on foot (in spare shoes in my case) to have a quick look round the town, which looked rather attractive. We also went to check out the Bicycle Lift which we planned to try out the next day. To our disappointment it didn’t seem to be working, and with the help of Google translate we established the screen display was indeed telling us this. Our two key things to do in Trondheim were the cathedral and the bicycle lift (no prizes for guessing who had chosen each activity!) so this was a disappointment, but we are trying to not let these things phase us and move on to the next thing. 

The next day we cycled in. We had spotted some nice cycle paths the day before and the bike is clearer a popular mode of transport in Trondheim (almost like if you provide decent cycle infrastructure people will cycle!!) and for the most part it was a very agreeable city to cycle round. We visited the cathedral, where we managed to turn up just in time for an English tour, then headed into the city centre where we eventually found the tourist information centre, but it was a treat when we did, an attractive space with comfy benches to sit on and peruse our leaflets.

   

We then headed over to see if the lift had been fixed, and it had! With some trepidation I had a go, nearly falling off twice and making no progress as the footrest carried on up the hill without me. The third time I manged to move a few metres, but then my foot slipped off and the starting mechanism for the lift failed to return to its start position. The dreaded red error light came on and it was game over for the bicycle lift trial. Instead we opted to walk up the hill (very steep, can see why they built a lift) and enjoyed the views from the fortress that tops it. 

We the headed back via the supermarket, buying about 5 items for the price a week’s shopping (I exaggerate – slightly – most food seems to be about 2-4 times the price of the UK. We had stocked up with food in the UK then topped up in a Lidl in Denmark to minimise spend). We hit the road again just short of 24 hours after arriving, a brief but enjoyable stop and a city which had much to offer. We’ve now stopped on the main road to Oslo, about 2/3 of the way there, in a layby with some rather stinky toilets that we are avoiding! Our stopovers haven’t been quite as fabulous as some of the earlier ones, but I have seen some potential stops in Sweden which might improve things again. Off to Oslo tomorrow, and probably our most expensive overnight stop of the trip at the harbour.

We started the day by descending the Troll Road, and taking a quick stroll around the valley below.

   

Then we headed up to Molde and then to the “Atlantic Highway” – a road which hops from Island to Island along the Atlantic Coast. Once again we were exposed to a different set of landscapes, and some high-class visitor facilities, with elevated walkways and well designed picnic areas. We manged to squeeze in a couple of walks before the real rain started, but then it rained most of the day.

 

When we left the UK we hadn’t planned to come this far north, but after a recommendation we decided we would. It was worth the effort, and we have made more rapid progress than expected on our journey north so we have decided to go a bit further and visit Trondheim so Susan can visit the Cathedral and I can try out the bicycle lift. Tonight we have stopped in a parking area next to the Halsa-Kanestraum ferry, overlooking the water. After an afternoon sat in the van the rain has now stopped and we can see the water and the mountains behind. Norway is still looking good!

Day 12 started with a trip round the top end of Fjærlandsfjorden into “booktown” as Fjærland has become known. A pretty village full of secondhand bookshops and book-stands dotted around the village – many just out in the elements!  

      

We are discovering that everything in Norway is closed until 10am and this was the case with booktown as well. We were too early so we had a little wander round then doubled back on ourselves, heading north again. We were aiming for the Briksdal Glacier, then possibly overnighting at a nearby campsite. However, we’d spotted a glacier from Fjærland and it turned out the road we were on took us almost up to the tongue of the glacier. There was a layby nearby so we parked there and had a little look, then decided to walk up the road to see if we could get a better view. It turned out we could get right up to the lake below the glacier with a great view of what we found out was Bøyabreen Glacier.

It was another stunning experience,  and once again we marvelled at the number of people arriving by coach, taking photos from the coach park and not venturing any closer. We’re hardly adventurous, but when there is a glacier lake to dip your toes in….

We then wandered back up to the coach park and discovered the Brævasshytta Cafe with a panoramic view of the glacier. We were still struggling to leave and so felt it only proper that we stop and have a (Norwegian priced) coffee. Two black coffees from a machine and an apple cake to share costs about £11, but the setting to enjoy them in was fabulous. I do think some Italians need to settle in Norway and teach them something about coffee though. 

Having stumbled upon Bøyabreen by accident we felt we’d had an appropriate glacier fix, so decided to skip that night’s planned stop, and keep moving north. We had been considering routing via the Hellesylt-Gerainger ferry and decided to head there, not really knowing what times the ferry ran, if we had to pre-book or anything. It was a great decision, we rolled up about 45 minutes before a departure (enough time to buy some gold plated salad, at least I think it must have been gold plated….) and to establish there was no sign of anywhere to pay so someone would probably arrive to collect our fare (they did). The trip was fantastic, the views were amazing (Norway still manages to keep surprising us with ever changing landscape delights), we saw whales and the Seven Sisters waterfalls (does every country have a Seven Sisters?) which didn’t appear to all be flowing but gave a fabulous rainbow effect in the sunlight, and a polite and friendly young chap told us some interesting things and wiped some seats after a brief shower so we could sit somewhere dry on the outer deck. Red Funnel staff please take note.

We then did another zigzagclimb (much less scary than yesterday’s and Susan claims the immersion therapy of the prior climb has had a beneficial effect!), another nicely done viewpoint with actual design and good quality materials, another chance to walk a little bit further and get a slightly different view away from the crowds without having to turn into a serious hiker. Our planned overnight stop failed. I had found a little car park next to a lake, with a handy toilet but it had signs prohibiting overnighting 🙁   We still had some energy left so we decided to press on and see if we could just reach the next day’s campsite instead.

We considered stopping at the Trollstigen Visitor Centre but decided to carry on as it was getting quite late in the day. Immediately we realised our error  as we caught a  glimpse of the walkways behind the centre and the expansive views. We were stuck though, we had moved onto the Trollstigen (Troll Road) – more steep slopes and 11 hairpin bends. However, I spotted an opportunity about a quarter of the way down, a wide section halfway between two hairpins. I had already pulled over to let some vehicles behind pass (I’m a bit of a slowcoach, particularly on the descents) and there was nothing coming either way so I executed a mountain pass three point turn (as you do) and we headed back. It was worth it. The views were amazing. We turned up at the same time as a party of of about 15 Italian motorhomes, plus there were quite a few other people there so it was fairly busy (though I hate to think what a sunny July day would look like…) but later in the evening it became quieter and the next morning (I know, I’m jumping ahead) we walked out and had the place to ourselves while everyone else snoozed. As a stopover it fell into the utilitarian category (car park, some view, toilets only open with visitor centre) but the walk out onto the walkways and the view down the valley made it well worth spending the night. 

     

Running behind with the blogging. I rather expected some rainy days sat in the van, but we have been pretty lucky weather-wise so far! As such being outside trumps blogging, but I’m keen to get something down for each day as a reminder for us as much as anything else. If it’s of interest to someone else too then that’s great, if not, I’m happy talking to myself.

So, we had a cycle in Flåm along the Fjord. Despite the topography the Norweigan’s seem to have made a real effort to put in cycle paths (usually shared walking/cycling routes) alongside main roads wherever they can. This one stopped a bit in the middle of nowhere as space between fjord and mountain became more constrained, but we were ready to head back by then anyway.

Once we’d packed up we headed north.The easy way to do this is through the Lærdal Tunnel but I wanted to do the “Snow Road” – which runs over the top of the mountains between Aurland and Laerdal. The ascent was crazy. Really steep roads between hairpin bends with large sections only just passable by two vehicles and some sections where two cars couldn’t pass. The route was being heavily used by cars, motorhomes and buses. I was only scared witless a couple of times but I think poor Susan was ready to opt to hang-glide off the top rather than drive back down again. We reached the Stegastein viewpoint and discussed whether to carry on, but I was convinced the route through the mountains would be worth it, and I think Susan decided it couldn’t be any worse!  It was the right call, most visitors simply reversed their course down the narrow road back to Aurland, but we carried on up into the mountains. The views here were stunning, there were only a few other people around and we even found accessible snow (in late August). 

The view from Stegastein

The Snow Road

Complete with snow!

After the snow road we took our first local ferry, drove on a bit, then took the ferry on foot to Urnes Stave Church. The church was fascinating, and it shows just how long a timber building can last!

The view from the Urnes Ferry

Urnes Stave Church

We then drove on to a layby next to Fjærlandsfjorden, where it was rather rainy but clearly a beautiful spot. 

Having pulled ourselves away from our new favourite view, we drove onward to Flåm. We booked in at Flåm Camping, which was a nice site, though it felt a bit odd to be camped with so many other people after the last few nights! We cycled down into what we initially referred to as the village, but realised was really the cruise ship terminal, railway station and tourist trap! The village is actually slightly removed from this. We booked ourselves onto the last train on the Flåm Railway. My guess is almost everyone who visits Norway ends up here – it certainly looked that way. Between Cruise Ship arrivals (most days) people coming by train from the main Bergen to Oslo line which connects with the other end of the Flåm Railway, hikers, bikers and family campers, it was busy!

We had originally planned to do the railway one way and cycle back down on the next day, but the weather forecast wasn’t looking great so we decided to just do the train, and move on the next day. We did cycle a tiny way up the route alongside the railway to see Flåm church though. Cycling in Norway, tick!  Susan’s new super-low climbing gear that Island Bikeworks fitted certainly helped!

The railway ride was quite spectacular and well worth doing, but was definitely more pleasant on the return trip when the train had emptied out significantly. It was quite odd after our small scale, often just us, experiences to be around so many other tourists!  If you ever find yourself in Flåm do make the trip. Maybe next time we’ll make it down by bike too.

Flam was an odd place, stunningly beautiful and dripping with great experiences, but with an oddly Disney-esque hub that felt like anywhere and nowhere. There were odd contrasts between the quick visits from the cruise ships and tour buses and the hikers rolling up with their wordly possessions on their back. We didn’t quite feel we fitted – we were after more off-the-beaten-track activity than many of the package tour people but not as hardy in the my-only-shoes-are-my-walking-boots types around the campsite! I think if we’d decided to spend some more time here we could have got some great walks in, and we managed two beautiful cycle rides, plus the most dramatic train ride we have ever taken, so we are happy. Another good day.