Wight Weirdos

We woke to sunshine this morning, hoorah!  The drive down the E6 proved to be much more scenic than expected, and we enjoyed today’s section much more than yesterday’s, through a combination of easier driving, sunshine and lots of water. We arrived in Oslo mid-afternoon, had a minor issue with the satnav (it turns out they don’t work in tunnels, who knew?) leading to several loops round the same two roundabouts near the Colorline terminal but fairly quickly got back on track and found the Sjølyst Marina motorhome parking area. This will probably be our priciest overnight stop  but it is right in the city a short bike ride from the centre. We had problems with the electrical hookup (two pin European socket rather than the three pin connector we carry) but a nearby Swedish family from Woking (!) kindly lent us an adaptor. Equipment list note – adaptors for all older connectors across Europe!) and so we are powered up again. A waterfront spot would have been nice, but our timing wasn’t right so we ended up in the back row.

We quickly got going on the bikes, following some excellent cycle tracks into the city and doing our seemingly standard hunt for an illusive tourist information centre that isn’t quite where the map says or the signs point. A friend who comes from Norway kindly made some suggestions on Facebook about places we should visit when we said we were going to Oslo. The closest to us was the Opera House, not somewhere we would have sought out, but we thought we’d take a look. Wow!  What an amazing building. It has been designed so you can walk onto the roof, which slopes and steps at weird angles allowing you to wander up and giving great views across the city and harbour. It’s all bright white which was quite spectacular in the sunlight. The inside was equally interesting – even the urinals in the gents had clearly had the architects attention!

  

 

We then meandered through the city, past the Parliament building and City Hall, and up to the Kings Palace (Susan telling me that after me Nick Blake was her favourite man ever as thanks to his tweaks to her bike she could make it up the hill! So another plug for Island Bikeworks if you too need greater hill climbing ability).

Next we headed to Frogner Park, home of the Vigeland installation, an amazing collection of sculptures created by Gustav Vigeland. This was the key thing we had wanted to see in Oslo and it was really worth the visit. The installation is incredible, even more so when you consider all the sculptures were created by one person.

  

We then cycled back through some cycle tracks and back roads, one of the pleasures of the bikes is cycling through random parts of towns and cities that you wouldn’t otherwise see.

So, if you ever find yourself in Oslo we strongly recommend a visit to the Opera House and Frogner Park. Though it looks like a fine city with much more to offer too.

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.