I’ve seen her mountains, beauty rare, her glaciers, fjords, none can compare …

From “On my way (the Norway Song)” by Billy Yates. (?)

Early start, driving 310km (195 miles) down to Lavik, where we have an overnight stop, (then 129 km tomorrow to the airport near Bergen)

Traffic out of Ålesund wasn’t too bad, and soon out on the open road again.

Bye, Ålesund. Nice place, but, like Auckland in New Zealand, we’ve been there, don’t really need to go back.

We had a choice of routes, one route had two ferries, so we chose the slightly quicker route with only one ferry. This route took us round past Loen again, and, guess what? There was a Cruise liner tied up at Olden!!

Managed to avoid running over any errant Cruisers, and headed onwards to Bakar Jon’s cafe again for coffee and cake.

Stopped at Skei Ionity chargers again, and got the last available one, before others started queueing. They are in the midst of installing about 20 new Tesla chargers, but they are not open yet.

Slightly further on, I saw a sign for Huldafossen waterfall. This had come up on my feed last night whilst investigating today’s route. Swung quickly into a bus stop and managed a quick picture, then Moya managed another from further down the road.

My hurried photo of Huldafossen, from a bus stop.

Moya’s photo of Huldafossen.

Straightforward run then to Lavik, to the Lavik Fjord Hotel. Tomorrow starts with a Ferry across the Fjord.

The Ferry terminal at Lavik, taken from our balcony.

Lavik Church, from our balcony.

The Ferries in Norway run so regularly that, if you miss one, there will be another along very soon. In the morning, the Ferry leaves from right outside our hotel. From 8.00am they run every 15 minutes until 9.00pm, when it changes to hourly crossings throughout the night. Amazing! They catch your number plate on ANPR and bill you direct. So simple.

Moya has just discovered that one of the four Ferries serving this route, is the MV Ampere, an Electrically powered Ferry, but unfortunately, it is out for a service, so we won’t be able to use it.  😪

The next post will be from Aberdeen. See ya!

…a hundred thousand islands flung like jewels upon the sea …

We are in Ålesund.

After breakfast, re-packing and checking out of Storfjord Hotel this morning, it was only a short trip to Ålesund, so we stopped at the Sunnmøre outdoor museum.

Goodbye Storfjord. Upper right was our room.

Four candles!! 🤣

This boat played a major part in the Shetland Bus rescue missions in WW2

There are house/workshops/farmsteads from many places, relocated and rebuilt or restored on the museum land. There is also a huge building used to store boats and replicas of older boats, including a couple that were involved in the Shetland Bus rescue missions during WW2.

After a quick Prawn Ciabatta and coffee in the Museum cafe, we headed into Ålesund, to a car park round the corner from the Hotel Brosundet, an old warehouse building right on the waterfront.

Hotel Brosundet. Our room is the wee curved window in the lefthand peaked attic.

The huge fireplace in the foyer of Hotel Brosundet.

Looking down into the foyer from the fifth floor.

Having checked in and settled in our room, we decided to take a “city train” from the pier up to Aksla Hill, offering great views out over the multitude of islands around Ålesund. The tour included a tour round Ålesund with a bit of the history of the city.

The view from our hotel window, including Aksla Hill.

Our Hotel is the yellow building slap-bang in the middle of the picture!

Why do I always look like it is difficult taking selfies?

Start the journey home tomorrow. Long run down to Lavik for tomorrow night, then straight down to Bergen Airport for an evening flight to Aberdeen, on Tuesday. A night in the Holiday Inn before an early morning flight to Kirkwall on Wednesday.

Well, I never will forget that floating bridge …

That’s from an Eric Clapton song. And yes, I know the bridges today weren’t floating, but it’s getting harder to find a song about bridges that we’ve not already used.

First ones down for breakfast this morning, because it was another long day. We headed for the Atlantic Ocean Road, but, of course there were little detours to do!

First stop was in Bud, an historic fishing village that is no longer a “player” in the modern fishing industry. There is a museum, but it is only open on certain days, but we were able to see the WW2 German lookout posts and Gun Emplacements.

Next stop was at Farstadsanden Beach, just for a walk along the sandy beach, to make us feel at home!

A six foot high lump of red granite on the beach.

Spotted this cropped field full of (we think) Cranes, migrating south.

Then we came to the Atlantic road. Just like the Norway tourist adverts! We stopped at a viewpoint/walkway/cafe/loo stop, but the cafe was uninspiring. The coffee and cakes were OK, but we didn’t linger! The walkway round the Island gave some nice views, but we soon returned to the car and drove on as far as Kårvåg, where we turned to head back. I’m sure I could hear Duelling Banjos playing in the background!!!

A Churro in watery chocolate sauce? Oh no, it’s a piece of art in a peaty pool! 🙂

On the way back, we stopped at a Marble Sculpture near the road. Columna Transatlantica “is about communication including the history and cultural weave between countries.” To us it looked more like white Churros! Us and culture?! Hmmm.

Back down the road to the Hotel, via some Ionity chargers. Not a big drive tomorrow, heading for Ålesund, but a biggy on Monday heading south again, before the final leg back to Bergen Airport on Tuesday.

We are both in agreement that here at the Storfjord Hotel has been the best Hotel (so far). Just a magical place.

Tonight we dined on the balcony above the main dinning room. 😲

I wanna be a troll under a bridge …

From a song “Troll” by Frances Forever, apparently!

Longer drive today, 257km (160 miles). We left the Hotel Alexandra in Loen, heading for the Storfjord Hotel near Ålesund.

But not the simple, direct route! Oh no, Moya routed us via Geiranger and the Trollstigen, the scenic, bendy, hilly route!

But, the good news, there was no Cruise liner in at Olden. Straight through, with no meandering, ehm, .. people!

The weather started off dull, but dry, hence the first part of the journey was fairly unexciting. But we soon started to climb up into some spectacular baren but beautiful mountain terrain.

We are going up that road in the background in a moment! 😃

It was at this point we got the bad news! There was a Cruise liner in at Geiranger!!! Moya’s plan was to stop in Geiranger for coffee/cake, but instead we kept going and went to plan B.

Up out of Geiranger is a nice twisty road, and just round one of the hairpins was a handy viewpoint. Not too busy, so we stopped for a photo opporchancity. As well as the stunning Fjord views, there was what can only be described as an “infinity waterfall”, a glass platform for the water to flow down and overshoot a clear fall to the ground below!

Looking down the Fjord.

The head of the Fjord at Geiranger.

The “infinity” waterfall!

The road carried on over the top, before descending back to Fjord level for a ferry crossing from Eidsdal to Linge, a 15 minute crossing, the fare again being collected by ANPR, and added to our car hire. So simples!

On the ferry.

Plan B was to stop at the Gudbrandsjuvet Cafe, a stunningly modern piece of glass architecture hanging over a amazing gorge, with suspended walkway. Great coffee and fresh home-baked goodies. A great find, far from the madding crowd!

Our table with a view.

The cafe.

Looking down from the suspended walkway, into the gorge.

On up over the top again and down the Trollstigen hairpins, complete with Campervans, Coaches and a lorry! On single track hairpins!

Difficult to get pictures down the valley, but Moya managed to snap a few.

Down to Andalsnes Ionity chargers for a top up to give us plenty for tomorrow. On then to our next stop for tonight and tomorrow night. The Storfjord Hotel. Situated on a wooded hillside above the Stor Fjord. Our room is at the front, with a balcony overlooking the view. 👍

Our room in the Storfjord, hewn from a few trees. Magnificent!

The view from our balcony. Slowly clearing.

Tomorrow we are going to drive up the Atlantic Ocean Road, featured in many adverts for Norway, it’s the one with all the curvy bridges joining island after island. And then back again.

See you then.

Ice, Ice, Baby …

Amazing day! We had two things we wanted to do. One, go up the Loen Skylift, and two, take a trip up towards the Briksdalbreen, the Briksdal Glacier, an accessible arm of the Jostadals Glacier.

After breakfast we decided the mist/low cloud was still hanging around the top of the Skylift, so visibility wouldn’t be good. So we made the decision to do the Glacier first and see how the crowds were at the skylift in the afternoon. Yes, I’m afraid there was another 6000 passenger P & O Cruise liner in. Yesterday was the Iona, today the Alva. 😡

The Cruise liner towering over the 522 occupants of Olden!

Headed off in the car to do the 28km trip up to the Glacier car park. From there we were driven, on a six seater Pro-gator buggy, up as far as the track could go, then hiked the last bit of path to the lake at the outlet from the Glacier. We were luck to be ahead of the Cruise tours, and had an idyllic, quiet half hour with only a handful of other people. Your ticket covers you for a return trip on the Gator, but only for an hour, so we had to be back at the pick up point by 10.45am.

This morning’s mist hanging around.

Outflow from the Glacial lake.

Contemplating the meaning of life!!

Screenshot from Google Maps showing us at the lake (blue dot) and the Glacier..

As we came down there were, literally, hordes of people walking up. When we got off our Gator, there were 8 buses parked and the queue for Gators was horrendous. We timed that perfectly!

Quick coffee and cake before the crowds started back down, then drove back to the Hotel. We had decided to stick the car on the hotel chargers (flat fee for 24 hours), so we could have a cool refreshing glass of Cider for lunch.

Then walk the couple of hundred metres to the Skylift. We had a pre-booked voucher, so had to exchange that for two tickets to get us onto the cable car, however, the queue again was horrendous, so we asked when it usually quitens down, because the Cruise liner would be leaving at 5pm. We planned to come back around 3/3.30, so went back, again, to partake of a Cider in the hotel bar outside veranda. After a while, we were too hot (it was bright sun by this point) we went up to our room, adjusted clothing, and headed for the cable car. No queue!!

Straight onto the cable car and up to the top. Beautiful!

The mist had cleared completely, the sun blazed down from an almost cloudless sky, and again, timed perfectly.

View from the cable car. Sorry about the reflections!

Spot the Cruise liner. Hint: it’s near the end of the Fjord.

After a while of wandering around the top, it was time to come back down.

What a day. Remind me never to go on a Cruise! Our idea of hell!

Tomorrow we head off again to our next destination at Storfjord Hotel, but as usual, Moya has planned the route to take in the Trollstigen windy, twisty road. See you there!

Who’s gonna mow your grass …

(From a classic country song by Buck Owens). It has been a quiet day today, hence the difficulty in finding a suitable topic for title song. When we arrived at our new hotel, for the next two nights, this little robot mower was busy, so!

Not a big day today, only 100 mile drive. Having charged up overnight at the hotel (and cheaper than the rapid charger we tried and failed to charge at yesterday afternoon), we easily reached our next planned chargers. With tomorrow being unknown, miles wise, and Friday being a longer journey up to Storfjord Hotel, we needed to keep charged up, so filled up again on an Ionity charger. Tomorrow night we can, again, charge here at the hotel.

Moya had two other targets for today. Bakar Jon for coffee and cake and secondly, the Farm Museum at Olden. Unfortunately, after the end of August, the Farm Museum is only open on a Tuesday!!

Coffee and a small cake in Bakar Jon.

There are still some glaciers about.

Any other activities in Olden were cancelled due to the presence of a P & O cruise ship with 6000 passengers, yes, six thousand. The population of Olden is only 522!! 🙃🤯 There are even two “stop/go” wardens at the pedestrian crossing across from the liner! The other 520 were selling Troll souvenirs!! 🤣🤣

We didn’t linger!

Loen is the next village, round a bend in the Fjord, so thankfully we can’t see the carbuncle.

Having spent the past two nights in a converted old farmhouse, with breakfast being served in the old barn, tonight’s accommodation is a complete opposite. We are on the seventh floor, and Moya has just returned from the spa pool!

Hotel Alexandra in Loen.

Look! Sunshine.

En-suite.

Wur room! With balcony! 👍

“I don’t like busy swimming pools”. All alone!

Ere the bonnie boat was won, as we sailed into the mystic …

That’s from a Van Morrison song, Into the Mystic.

Directly across the Fjord from Nes Gard is a spectacular waterfall, Feigumfossen. With a 215 metre straight drop, it is the second highest in Norway. So today’s trip started by driving round the head of the Fjord to the path leading up to the falls.

Two wet hikers, oh, and a waterfall!

We finally managed to use our new walking poles. The path starts flat alongside the torrent, where it flows into the Fjord, but quickly starts to climb and become a bit of a scramble over boulders, rocks, tree roots and mud. Then it started raining!!!

We’ll just bolt the telegraph pole to this boulder! What could go wrong!

It took about an hour to get up to the first viewpoint, where a noticeboard says the next part of the track is more difficult, so we decided not to risk further, and turned back down. Halfway down and the sun came out.

On next to another Stave Kirk, similar to the one at Borgund, but not so ornately decorated. A quick coffee and Apple Streusel in a local cafe, before joining a tour around the Kirk.

Last night, in the Nes Gard, we had tried a local Cider, so Moya had located the Cider House on the map, and programmed it into our route. This involved getting a small Ferry across the Fjord, so we turned down towards the pier, only to see the ferry heading off. Ah well. It’ll be back soon. An hour later we reversed onto this little 5 car ferry, as it only has one ramp. Reverse on, drive off.

Our Fjord Cruise! In the rain!

A 45 minute drive after that, brought us to the Cider place. They had been picking Apples this morning and were about to start processing them. A very nice young fella showed us the range of Ciders and told us that in the last 5 years they have now been allowed to sell directly to customers, without having to go through official government alcohol shops. This has spurred a surge in local, artisan Cider Makers. We bought a couple of bottles of two different varieties. Hope we can get them within the weight allowance on the Plane home.

Heading into the Cider press.

What a view!

The view from the Cider House.

Of course, these roads were mainly single track and had a few hairpin bends. Moya had a wry smile!!

And a final picture from the hotel, just before tonight’s dinner.

High on a hill was a lonely goatherd …

Today was a bit of a record breaker.

But first, last night’s meal was excellent, just a three coarse menu. Pork Rillette for me, Cod salad starter for Moya. Both had the Beef Tenderloin main followed by the Raspberry dessert, with Raspberries about five different ways.

This morning we set off towards our next two night destination in Høyheimsvik. We started by visiting Flåm, the destination we should have gone to by train from Bergen. The day we were supposed to arrive, there was no cruise liner, however, today the AIDA Prime was docked with around 4000 passengers, most of whom seemed oblivious to the existence of any other earth dwellers!

Next we had a few warm up tunnels of 5, 6.5 and 11 kilometres, before the biggie. The Laerdaltunnel is the longest road tunnel IN THE WORLD, at 25.4 km (about 15½ miles). Three equispaced floodlit caverns break up the monotony of Rock walled tunnel, but soon we were out the other end, heading for Borgund Stave Church. (No, Borgund, not Borgue, for all the Kirkcudbrightshire dwellers)

This Kirk is incredible outside but fairly minimalist inside (in an enormous carved wood kind of way). There are only 28 Stave Churches left out of about 1000. This is one of the few that have remained true to the original, never having suffered from fire, which many did. They are made of wood with a tar/pitch coat for weatherproofing. I’ll let the photos tell the story.

When the Proddies took over from the Kaffliks in the 1540s, they painted it red inside with various pictorial features.

So, then we stopped for a quick charge and a coffee. At this point my wife spotted an alternative route to our destination. Instead of going along modern roads, through tunnels and across a ferry, my dear wife re-routed us up and over the highest road pass in northern Europe. This involved even more hairpin bends than the Lysevegen (on Friday), and we had to wait for the prosession of goats to clear the road before we could proceed. Hence today’s header song!

The landscape again turned more towards Alien Planet than Planet Earth. We stopped near the top to take in the views, at 4300 feet, similar to the top of Ben Nevis.

Down the other side and the weather changed. The rain came on in earnest, but we made it to our accommodation, Nes Gard, a diversified farmhouse. They have kept the original farmhouse as the main accommodation, added/modified other buildings as more bedrooms, and dragged the whole thing, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century with the addition of a very nice “orangery” wine and cider bar.

Don’t go chasing waterfalls …

Last nights seven course tasting menu was incredible. But today is another day.

Headed straight to the Dale of Norway Outlet shop to peruse the woollens. Moya chose a traditional design cardigan, I went for a “half-zip” style. Souvenirs done!

By this point the weather was looking a bit brighter, so headed back into Voss to go up the gondola to the ski area. By the time we got to the top, coffee and some food was required. Bruschetta  with Feta staved off starvation for a little longer.

Took a wander around at the top of the mountain, but low cloud kept rolling in and out, so visibility to the valley was intermittent.

Did manage to see our Hotel for a fleeting moment.

Back at Street level, Moya wanted to go to Tvindefossen waterfall, but I suggested going to Skjervsfossen, first as it was on the way. We now think we should have done it the other way round. Tvindefossen is spectacular, but Skjervsfossen was even better. I’ll leave you to make your own decisions.

Tvindefossen.

Skjervsfossen.

We then did another charge up ready for another long drive tomorrow, heading for Høyheimsvik via Flåm and another Stave Kirk. Hopefully it will be open.

The first three days of our trip (down to Stavanger and up via Lysevegen and Hovden) was changed after we discovered the original planned train trip up from Bergen to Flåm had to be cancelled because of maintenance work on the line. It is regarded as one of the world’s most scenic rail journeys, so a visit to Flåm will at least give us a taste of what we missed. From here in Vossevangen onwards, the journey is as originally planned. 👍

Here is a couple of pictures of this hotel.

Very modern hotel. Our room is the second window from the left. The Cafe/Bar is the turf roofed bit on the right.

The more rustic Cafe/Bar part.

Nighttime view from our room.

And a few more from today.

Skjervsfossen from the top.

Moya posing for a shampoo advert!

Oi am a Coider drinker …

(Sung in a yokel type voice)

OK, the reasoning behind today’s header song, we drove up the side of Hardanger Fjord today, and suddenly we were in extremely productive Apple, Pear, Plum and Cherry Orchards, there was even a recently planted patch of Vines with small grapes coming. So we are hoping that our stop for the next two nights, Hotel Elva near Vossevangen, might have local Cider on their list, to go with tonight’s 7 course tasting menu! It’s Saturday! 😋😂

Left Hovden this morning, heading 50 miles up to Røldal, (no, nothing to do with Giant Peaches or anything like that), for a charging session and coffee. There is a Stave Kirk just down below the chargers, so after filling up, we headed down to see it. It is quite plain on the outside but the inside is very ornately decorated.

Just our luck! It was temporarily closed for planning of a Baptism! After waiting half an hour, there was still no sign of it opening, so we have cheated and pinched some photos of the interior from the hinterweb thingy.

Onwards then to Odda for a snack at Cafe Rose. Today’s journey involved miles of scrub moorland to start, beautiful fjord scenery and aforementioned orchards, with honesty box kiosks offering plums, apples and apple juice, positioned every 100 metres or so. We even saw a sign advertising homemade Ekte Geitost (hope you’ve been taking notes).

We lost track of the number of tunnels, some 100 meres long, others 5 kilometres long! We even had a Suspension Bridge which went straight into a tunnel at the far end. The weather gods smiled on us most of the way, eventually turning to rain just before we arrived here.

Oh, and there were waterfalls! How could I forget those!

Pinched this from Internet. Yesterday’s road to lysebotn from above.

When we stopped off in Whistler (coming back from NZ) I posed at the top alongside a bear. So here I am again!

Moya decided to pat this 🐶

A charger with a view.

Two for the price of one! 😂

Our room in the Hotel Elva. Not too shabby!

Grape vines planted.

Looking across Hardanger Fjord to some Apple Orchards.

Inside Røldal Stave Kirk

See you all tomorrow, after exploring this area. 🥰