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. 🥰

Every day is a winding road …

A few years back, following our big trip to Austria in Lucy, our 1963 Humber Sceptre (lucysbigaustriatrip.wordpress.com if you need to catch up), a friend showed us a picture of the Lysevegen in Norway. Today was the day for us to experience the real thing!

An early start to get us on the road early, as we needed to recharge the car for the day ahead.

At breakfast, Moya was confused as to my real identity. My normal breakfast consists mainly of sweet “stuff”, Granola, fruit, yoghurt and maybe toast with marmalade.

This morning I sat down beside her with a plate of bread, butter and a selection of marinated herrings and prawns. I just couldn’t resist. Delicious!

Out on the road and south to the outskirts of Stavanger, to a bank of 20 Ionity chargers. We subscribe to the Audi Charging service at home, so I brought their charge card, which worked seamlessly and gave us 3 Nor Kr/ kWh instead of 5.4 Kroner. 3 Kr is cheaper than our domestic electric daytime rate. Result!

Onwards, up narrower and narrower roads until we were on a single track road with passing places. Thankfully the roads were quiet. The scenery, by this point, looked more like a Star Trek movie set than planet Earth. (See pictures).

Finally, we turned onto the Lysevegen, heading for the little village of Lysebotn at the head of the Fjord. Until the road was built in 1990, it was only accessible by sea. The road consists of 27 hairpin bends and a 900 metre descent. Near the bottom, there was insufficient room for enough hairpins, so they tunneled into the mountainside far enough that, by putting one hairpin in the tunnel, they could descend far enough to reach the bottom. All this on a single track with passing places. Before descending we stopped at the viewpoint cafe for coffee and cake. Very nice, although paling into insignificance when paired with the views.

The weather was great, blinks of sunshine and very light cloud. Moya and I have been doing a bit of Duolingo Norwegian, and have discovered the have words for a pre-party party and words for an after-party party. On that vein, we came upon a couple of pre-hairpin hairpins, just before the main descent.

We made it down and took a walk around the village/waterfront.   Then, guess what? We had to drive back up again! Oh dear! 🤣🤣

Continued on to our next overnight stop. Hovden is a winter Ski resort, of relatively modest proportions. We had booked into a Ski lodge, Norwegian style. Wooden frontage with turf roof. Quite rustic, but friendly staff, very good food and basic but perfectly acceptable rooms.

Tomorrow we head for Vossevangen, Hotel Elva, which has its own electric vehicle chargers. We will find out how that goes. Oh, and just because it’s Saturday, there is a seven course taster menu in the restaurant. It really can be a tough life!!

Last night’s hotel. Our room was the windows just under “RIA”

The “pylons” bringing the power lines up from Lysebotn Power Station

The village from the viewpoint.

The road down to the valley floor.

The viewpoint cafe at the top of the Lysevegen.

The fjord from Lysebotn.

Our room for tonight.

The food in Hovden Fjelstoge Hotel.

Islands in the stream …

A tribute to Dolly.

Last night we went out to Fjellskål seafood restaurant, part of the huge Fish Market complex. It put all of Tuesday’s food disasters to shame. The food was fantastic.

Breakfast this morning was busy, but we managed to get some brunost, a Norwegian goat cheese. When I was a student in Edinburgh, in 1972, I shared a flat with a couple of 1st year Civil Eng. students, one of whom was Norwegian. After every trip home, he would bring back Ekte Geitost, (Real Goat Cheese). So for breakfast we had toast with Geitost and Strawberry Jam. Delicious! Nowadays I don’t like Strawberry Jam, so this morning we had Blueberry Jam. It was OK, but not quite as good as back then. 🤣. Ah, nostalgia! It’s not what it used to be!

Taxi then to the car hire place. We got a brand new Skoda Elroq. Not quite up to our Audi Q6 e-tron, but it gets from A to B.

Headed south for Stavanger, a trip of some 210km (130 miles), including about 10 tunnels, numerous bridges and two ferry trips. These ferries run constantly, one each way, passing each other mid way. Basically, you drive into the marshaling area and, when the ferry comes in and unloads, you then drive on, an ANPR camera notes your reg. number and it is added to your account, or in our case, back to the car hire company, who then add it to our bill. So simple. Once the marshaling area is empty, they shut the bow doors and set off. The first ferry was around 45 minutes, the second one around 15 minutes. They are the same, front and back, so just go one way south and reverse way north, no turning round involved. You drive on one end and off the other.

Lunch, Moya had planned a detour into a small town to a good cafe for a light bight. The rain had started in earnest by this point, so after finally finding a car park, we walked seven minutes back to the cafe. Very busy, and good coffee with a yeast dough bun filled with a set custard. Moya was delighted.

Back out onto the E39, heading south.

Eventually we reached Stavanger and a visit to the Sverd i fjell, a monument commemorating the Battle of Hartford in the year 872. The swords are made of bronze, stand 10 metres tall and are set into the solid rock, so they can never be removed.

Finally, into our hotel, the Hotel Viktoria, again situated almost on the harbour front.

Quite a day!

See you tomorrow for some hairpin bends. 😃

Moya sizing these up to see if they’ll go in her suitcase!

The “coming-and-going” ferries meet

Ekte Geitost with Blueberry Jam!

Høyt over sentrum, det vakreste fjell, Fløyen gjør byen vår så spesiell

Well, here we are in Bergen. Today’s header song is a Norwegian ditty about going up the Fløybanen funicular to the hill overlooking Bergen.

But, to our tale! Today was another early start, with a bit of bad luck and a bit of good luck. Went down to breakfast in the Holiday Inn, resplendent in my yellow “Jim Clark” tee shirt. Usually start the day with granola, fruit and yoghurt. As usual in Holiday Inn, it was a red Berry compost. Second spoonful heading to my mouth, a piece of granola fell off into the red syrup and one tiny splash hit slap bang in the middle of my pristine tee. Aaarrggghhh! Ah well, hopefully no one will notice.

Walked over to the airport to retrieve our suitcases from “left luggage”. All went well. On through security (which was extremely quiet). Approached the scanner archway to be told I would have to put my wallet out of my pocket into a tray for the scanner. Stepped through the scanner. All OK, so I went to retrieve my stuff from the conveyor belt, only to realise I was still wearing my watch!!! No one had noticed and the machine hadn’t bleeped. Hmm, security!

Through to duty free where Moya decided she needed some “pong-nice” stuff. While she was perusing the shelves an assistant handed her a “win £100” voucher redeemable at checkout. She won! Naively I asked what she was going to spend her winnings on, only to be told she already had!! 🤣

Flight went without any problems and we arrived in Bergen. A courier met us at the exit and whisked us through to our Hotel, giving a good tour guide chat on the way.

Left our luggage at the hotel and went wandering.

Bergen is a vibrant, bustling city. It used to be the Capital of Norway, before Oslo became Capital. The street Fish market was incredible. Then decided to head up the Fløybanen. Fantastic views over the city. Into the restaurant at the top for lunch. Very nice Mussels for Moya and a Fish Soup for Bob. All washed down with a Hardanger Cider.

Wandered round at the top to see the panoramic views before heading back down. Strolled along the harbour to the Rosenkrantz Tower, before realising we were both exhausted, so finished checking into hotel and had a short nap!

Our room looks straight onto the harbour front.

Moya has booked a table at a seafood restaurant just round the corner.

Oh, final thought. Last night, Moya’s food debacle continued. We both ordered a Rare Rump Steak from the Holiday Inn menu. When it arrived, mine was more Medium-rare, but Moya’s was a thinner steak and was definitely “well done”, so she sent it back, and had it replaced with a very nice Rare one!!!

Yes, the Nelson’s are staying at the Hotel Admiral 😂

Orkney! Only 300 miles.

It rained.