Shortly after the Big Adventure and saying good-bye to our friends, we enjoyed a short rest before packing our bags for the next trip. Norway was our next destination, specifically the western region near Bergen......an area filled with wonderful fjords. The plans included flying into Torp and driving the 6+ hours to a small village in the heart of the Sognefjord area where we would enjoy a few days of hiking and exploring.
Right away I enjoyed a brief flashback to high school when the rental car that was assigned to us turned out to be a small Opel. My good friend in high school drove an Opel for his first car.....I remember it being one fine piece of machinery. This Opel however was slightly newer by about 40+ years and had the new feature where the motor goes into sleep mode when the car came to a stop. This combined with the diesel fuel helped us drive forever on one tank of fuel. I love driving small cars in Europe.....they are so practical.
It didn't take long for us to find the beautiful scenery during the long drive to our destination......
As we entered the mountain range, it felt as if we were heading towards another favorite place for us: Leadville, Colorado. Lots of small cabins in the shadows of the mountains and more small lakes than you could count. I swear we were experiencing a Rocky Mountain high......
Crossing over the mountain range and again we felt as though we were somewhere back in the states. This time though we felt like we were driving in our old stomping grounds of the Pacific Northwest....perhaps right off Highway 2 looking for the trailhead.
Later in the afternoon we reached our final destination: Laerdal. This small cozy town is quite happening in the warm summer months and thus making it very popular for the visitors. The unique aspect of our trip was the timing for our arrival fell just a few days after the end of September. The end of September, come to find out, is the official end of the tourist season and thus, many places shut down. Like restaurants. Yeah....we'll get to that. Back to our first impressions of the place.....absolutely awesome scenery in every direction.
We checked into our room at the B&B and settled in. This of course does not take long when the room does not have it's own bathroom nor television. Not a big deal if you plan on spending most of your time outside hiking around. However, it can be a minor inconvenience if the ENTIRE town shuts the doors at 5pm. Glad we brought along great books. The entertainment (or lack thereof) was not the issue however. Dinner that first night was. As mentioned earlier, every restaurant in the small village was closed for the season and given we were in timbuck-nowhere, driving to the next village involved a ferry ride. Not wanting to go on a wild chase that took several hours just to find some food, we made good with some salads and bread from the local grocery store. I still laugh at the scene of the two of us in the tiny room, eating our bread and salads, reading our books, and heading to bed long before 9pm.
The next morning after breakfast we headed out for our first hike. We chose to visit the famous Borgund Stave Church. This all-wood structure was built around 1180 and the locals have done a great job at preserving it over the years against the harsh winters. The hike to the church would include going over another famous pass: Vindhellavegen. This impressively steep pass (+25% grade) is no longer used by vehicles but you can still hike up the pass that connects the village of Husum to the Borgund Stave church.
A view from the trailhead.
Making our way up....and stopping to enjoy the view.
The Vindhella pass.
Coming down the other side of the pass...notice the grass roof on this hut.
Remember me stating how the Borgund Stave church is well-preserved? Yeah, so each year they assemble this massive scaffolding, throw a big white tarp over the entire thing, and get to work replacing the pieces of wood that have rotted or failed. They typically perform this annual service right after the tourist season....which is when we arrived. So sorry for the lack of pictures on this impressive and historic building.
A picture of the Borgund Stave church sans the 'big white tarp'.
For the return trip we decided to take the Sverrestigen trail versus the Vindhella pass. This path is named after King Sverre as he is credited for discovering this route back in 1177. It is believed to have been the main road until 1790 when the Vindhella pass was built. A statue honoring the former king is found in the middle of the woods along the trail.....which to be honest, kind of freaked us out a bit from a distance. There was nobody hiking that day, so to be all alone and then see a viking figure off in the distance....
More impressive views from the hike.
Changing out of the wet clothes we opted to finish the day by driving out along the Laerdealsfjord, a branch of the Sognefjord, to enjoy the views.
For day 2 we chose to take a ferry over to Sogndal, the "larger city" close by. The views from the early morning ferry were spectacular.....
We stopped off at a local outdoor store and inquired about a good hike. They recommended we try out the local mountain that offers impressive views of Sogndal and the surrounding area. Right away we agreed with their recommendation.......
Our destination: the radio tower.....
This hike was no joke.....from the recent snow fall and steep pitch, getting traction was a challenge at times.
Not too far from the summit......
I think I could have stayed up here all day taking in the views....
The final push for the summit.
Nothing better than finding a summit lake.
Looking down at the "city" of Sogndal.
More shots from the top......
The scenery reminded us both of skiing at Whistler, BC. I swear if you told us we were at Whistler and not Norway we would have believed you.
OK....its freezing and the sun is setting....time to find our way down (reluctantly).
We opted to take a different path down that offered great views of Sogndal and the fjords....
Hansel and Gretel moment. We thought we were lost in these trees forever....
On the shores in Sogndal and looking up to the mountain.
Post dinner ferry ride with a full moon......very cool.....and VERY cold.
For our last hike we decided to make our way to the village of Flam. Why Flam? Because the route involved going through the world's longest tunnel of course. The 25 kilometer tunnel took five years to build and opened in 2000. But we'll get to that later, for now, it's all about the hiking.
The weather turned sour unfortunately, but this was not a problem for a couple of Seattle natives. We took the locals advice for a good hike and made our way to this waterfall.
Hiking up and looking back on the village of Flam.
The waterfall......
Andrea all decked out in the winter hiking gear, including the rain ponchos we picked up during our visit to the Neuschwanstein castle. Best purchase ever.
Don't ask....I think I am finding my inner Chi or something. Vikings practiced Yoga, right?
After we slid back down the trail, we decided to drive up to the lookout that rests just above Flam. The lookout did not disappoint and awarded us with some impressive views of the local mountains and fjord.
All right....it's time for the world's longest tunnel. I have to say that there was much excitement and anticipation going into the journey. At about kilometer 2 however, all of this faded....the scenery never changes from rock and lights. However, the genius engineers anticipated this dullness so they built three "halls" in the tunnel and included some pretty cool lighting at each.
Our last day in Norway was all about the 6+ hour drive back to the airport in Torp, and the views for the return trip were just as impressive. For anyone who has ever dreamed of finding their inner viking, we highly recommend a visit to Norway. The views you will enjoy are beyond words. If you can't make it to Norway, then perhaps you can make it up to the Pacific Northwest, particularly around the city of Poulsbo. There were many times during our trip to Norway where we felt as if we were back in our home state of Washington driving around Poulsbo. After visiting it is easy to understand the draw for the people of Norway and Finland to call Poulsbo home....there are many similarities: lots of mountains, plenty of water for good fishing, and healthy amounts of rain. It is nice to know that if we want a little slice of home, instead of flying half-way across the world, we can just head a few hours north instead. But if we do, you know that we will bring along the rain ponchos. Best purchase ever.
