Summer Holiday
We’re now back in Oslo after two weeks touring Norway’s fjords and mountains. We were blessed with excellent weather for the first 10 days, when we travelled across the Hardangervidda, Hardangerfjord, saw the sights of Bergen and then Sogneford. Unfortunately, the bad weather set in when we arrived in the Jotunheimen, where we spent a couple of frustrating days trying and failing to get up a couple of mountains. Thankfully all ended well as we stopped off to visit some Norwegian friends in their cabin just south of the Jotunheimen and they took us up a mountain this morning. Success at last!
Our route took us to Geilo for two nights, a small ski town in between Oslo and Bergen. We had a pleasant day there but one night would have been enough. The next day we drove over the Hardangervidda to Kinsarvik for a night in a cabin on a campsite. The cabins are basically garden sheds with beds and a stove in and all the campsites seem to offer them. They’re great when it’s sunny but could get claustrophobic if it got too wet.
From Kinsarvik we took our first ferry, over Hardangerfjorden, which was very pleasant, but quite hard work as I had to carry Emma around for the whole journey as Dave was photographing and she couldn’t be trusted to keep away from the edge. At the end of that day we made it Bergen to a very strange guest house. In the intro to the accommodation the guy told us all about the druggies who use the guest house in the winter - not the best way to put your guests at ease! In the end, the accommodation was fine so our intial misgivings were unfounded.
Bergen was very hot so we got out of the city on 2 of the 3 days we were there, heading up on the Floibanen (a furnicular railway) on one day and going out to Lysoen - an island with good swimming and Ole Bull’s house on it - the other day.
Then on to Gudvangen and the Flamsbana (a scenic railway journey) before another ferry along the Naeroyfjord and across Sognefjord, before staying the night at Sogndal, a pretty dull town surrounded by orchards.
Our final cabin was in Lom, a scenic drive over the Jotunheimen from Sogndal. It was a beautifully sunny day when we drove over so we saw the Jotunheimen at its best. Unfortunately, the next two days were wet so the walking we’d planned wasn’t quite as interesting or pleasant as we’d hoped. Not helped by us being too ambitious about what we could achieve with Emma on our backs.
The final night was spent with some friends in their hut in the mountains and was definitely our most luxurious night. We had a lovely time seeing them and their 6 months old daughter and they took us out for a nice walk this morning.
All in all, a good holiday and I’d recommend Norway as a holiday destination to anyone who’s an outdoors freak as there’s tonnes to do and the scenery is stunning, especially when it’s sunny!