Fjord Tour #1 May 5

Have to get up earlier than anticipated as we suspect we may not have collected the tickets for part of today's trip. So hastily down the usual breakfast and hurry to the railway booking office. Luckily we had made our picnic lunch last night and only had to pack it away. Arriving at the booking office we discover there was no mistake, the booking  details are just needed when we get to the fjord safari boat quay. 

So with the best part of an hour to wait we have a stroll around the park - good fountain in front of the Kode Museum buildings (save this treat for another day).

Back at the station we find a queue building for our train so we tag on to the end and after a few minutes we are off on a pretty spectacular ride to Myrdal. 

The train is quite full, lots of people with fjord tours tickets. The first hour is to the town of Voss, and we think maybe we are on the wrong side of the train as the fjord views are out of the left hand side. Although there is a river on our side

We estimate that 80% of the first hour of the trip is in tunnels (a slight exaggeration perhaps). Are we are going to emerge at the end like moles or startled pit ponies.

You can get up and walk around, sometimes the views appear between tunnels and are generally too brief to get into position for a photo op.

Just about to enter a tunnel

However from Voss to Myrdal, after the bulk of the passengers have departed, is by far the most interesting and it's now on view through the right hand window.

There are quite a few bends that allow a view of both the train (just) and the landscape

Amazing how much snow is on the ground here still 

and plenty of evidence of skiing as the main form of transportation.  

The rivers are often partially snowed under, which makes for an interesting sight. 

Our concerns about making the connection to the Flam train were ill founded. We thought the 7 minute difference in arrival to departure would be a stress, but no the train was waiting across the platform, along with a considerable number of passengers who had arrived by bus. 

All aboard

The 20km descent was scheduled as an hour which seemed a bit slow but this a train with plenty of scenic viewpoints and you are even able to alight at one to take the obligatory piccie, in this case of a rather long waterfall.

Come on, the train is waiting to go again

 Plus they let you know when an interesting view is coming up, and even tell you which side it is on. Given the glorious weather we are having it may be unfair to compare this train ride with the New Zealand transalpine route, where it was raining, but this one is far more spectacular. 

They give you a bit of history related to building the line in the early nineteen hundreds, here you can see where we have just come from along the top of the ridge, and one of the access roads used when they built it.

The old village of Flam comes into view, with another very old church

Arrive at Flam just in time for our Heritage Safari rib-boat tour, lunch will have to wait. Have to gear up for being on the water, they supply a full suit, hat, gloves and ski goggles. Plus a life jacket of course. 

Whoa I don't want to go overboard.

Our guide for the trip was Danielle and she was very informative - starting with how we should contact people if she fell off the boat, assuring us she was attached to the motor with a lead and it would cut off if she went overboard.  Plus we stop a few times for cultural, historic and nature insights.  These include visiting a fjord designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site; 

the obligatory waterfall, which we get up close and personal with; 

a village where only 60 people lived but in the summer there are 600 goats. 

This is the same village that was the inspiration for the village where the princess lived in Disney's Frozen movie, and that also had the oldest church in Scandinavia (since the 1100's); some porpoises (two weeks ago they had a pod of Orca, but this is extremely unusual); another Viking village (we stopped briefly here to let some people off and stretch our legs

Eric thought he'd better make himself secure for the next part of the journey. 

plus some abandoned villages and one with only one eccentric resident remaining.   

There was a very steep hillside, I'd call it close to vertical , where she told us they have an uphill race every year, the ascent is 750m over two and a half kilometres. The men's record was set with a time of 20 minutes - flipping heck! 

Another highlight was this house on top of the cliff

It used to be a farm and the farmer was her sister's godfather, but it had been abandoned for a while and then bought by a rich American who married a Norwegian girl. They lived there until they had children and now run it as an exclusive guest house, they bought a village further down the fjord for their new home. The access is only by boat and then walking up what looked to me again like a near vertical face via a zig zag path. She had done this regularly, taking 45mins up and 29 mins down. The guesthouse has no electricity but does have solitude, some wood fired hot tubs and fantastic views. Our guide would like to get married there when she meets the right man. 

Back in Flam we now have time to sit on the quay to devour our picnic lunch before the ferry ride back to Bergen.  

Eric finds an interesting photo op. 

On the ferry waiting to go

It's a five or six hour journey down the Sonjesfjord, it's the express ferry (!) and only stops at a few places. This is the second longest fjord in the world, at over 230 km from start to the sea.  The longest is in Greenland but is mostly inaccessible.  Several pictures from along the way.

Gosh this is a good seat

And some weird snow patterns

A giant rat?

The lead singer from Bon Jovi? You need to zoom in perhaps.

A stop along the way with an old interesting building

Different sort of rocks

A salmon stop

Then we journey out to sea and along the coast to Bergen.  The weather is still glorious, hurrah. 

The most westerly point on the Norwegian mainland Is on the other side of the boat!

Travel between coastal islands

And into Bergen harbour area, Where they looked like they suddenly realised when they were building the road that they need to let boats get through

It's been a very long day.

Up Another Mountain

Decision for the morning outing has been made - to the top of Mount Ulriken it shall be. Another breakfast of muesli and fruit was followed by a picnic making session, the thought being we weren't sure what there would be to eat up there.  There was a minor dilemma about the weight of the drinks bottle and whether it was worth carrying, but a sensible 'yes' vote ensured it's place in the backpack.  As an aside, there was an interesting sight out of our window at about 8 o'clock this morning,  a young lady sunbathing in her bikini on a sloping gable roof of the building opposite - no safety rails or edging to the roof - What??!!!

Eric was looking forward to the ride this morning. We were of course catching the cable car to the top (although you can walk if you really want to). 

The 'Ulriken643' terminus is close to where we are staying, and a twenty minute walk passing through what we think was the University Hospital takes us there.  Only a 10% discount with the Bergen Card this time, but better than nothing!  There follows an admission of error in yesterday's blog - simultaneous brochure reading lead to a mix up on the height and timings to reach the mountain with the funicular railway and the mountain with the cable car. The terminus end at Floyen is at only 320m and the railway takes 18 minutes to reach the top. The cable car to Ulricken is to the higher peak,  is 1138m long and this is the one that takes 6 minutes. Bet you're glad we corrected that!

Ascent looking one way 

And then the other

 

Weather is still brilliant although wind a bit chillier at the top. Views from the platform at the top of the cable car ride were pretty amazing.  

There were some hikes marked on the information board, a few of which said they were short and easy.  The first was to the viewpoint at the top of Mount Ulriken (although technically it has a plateau at the top with a few extra lumpy bits sticking up).  A bit like the Canadians, their idea of a short easy walk is not quite the same as ours, although it was purportedly only 1.7 km.  The paths were very well used but also very rugged and boulder strewn and to the viewpoint was more of a rock scramble than walk.  It was worth it though - you could see for miles in all directions.  After all that effort, finding a good sitting-on  boulder, the picnic was broken out.  

Eric amuses himself at the summit cairn - good job it's not too windy up here today or I'd be blown away.

There's snow up here too...

Which Eric enjoys playing in 

Finding another path to return we come across a sign for a circular route and follow this. 

Some lovely habitat

Amazingly, there are houses or chalets up here, this one seems to almost have its own infinity pool on the edge of the plateau

As the day wore on more people were disgorged from the cable car, including lots of people in Lycra who came running past us, talking as they go.  There were also several school groups of very little children, most didn't look any older than five or six, all with high-vis vests on and backpacks that were nearly as big as they were - no wonder the Norwegians are so fit, they start them young. The circular walk seemed to be taking us downwards 

and we had lost the marker posts at some point so a judicious retreat was decided on, we didn't want to end up at the foot of the mountain as we had a return on the cable car. Retracing our steps brought us to the cafe, two cups of expensive (about £4.50 a cup) but enjoyable coffee later and we were ready to descend. 

On the way down

Walk back past the accommodation and catch the light rail into town again, past the fish market and alongside the harbour for a while, passing a rather spiffing sailing boat

Shiver me timbers

and through the grounds of the Bergenhus Festingsmusuem, the Rosenkrantz Tower is here but not open until Sunday. As we are trying to get the most out of our Bergen Card we hop on a bus to take us back to the harbour side and The Bryggen.

We've heard a lot about The Bryggen, an area of mediaeval buildings where the international trade in stock fish went on, so the tradesmen lived, worked and stored their stock all in one building. The group of buildings are now a World Heritage Site and a big tourist attraction, with lots of wooden walkways between buildings housing various little high end craft shops and restaurants. 

Eric and a stock fish?

Luckily as we walk around we only seem to come across one small tour group, possibly from a cruise ship.  In some parts it is reminiscent of the old shopping area in Chester. After buying a cake to share from a famous bakery we sit on the waterfront to devour it.  It was totally delicious - yummy scrummy in the extreme.  It was so good that we didn't even mind that it had cost us 50 Norwegian Krone The cost was actually 45 NOK but we paid in cash, and similar to in Canada, they don't appear to bother with 'shrapnel' change, so we gave her 200 NOK and she gave us 150 in change - notes only - an experience to learn from methinks.  If we'd payed with a credit card it would have cost the 45 NOK.

There is another park to visit on the end of the peninsula, we'll hop on a bus - a good idea that went wrong. Bus going in the wrong direction, but the driver tells us where to go to catch the right one, so off we set along the road to Nordnes.  Keep walking, still no bus stop, still no bus stop, still no bus stop...reach the park by Shanks's Pony.  

View across the harbour from the park

There are a lot of weird looking teenagers around having barbecues, I say weird because they have red boiler suits covered in various badges and logo type things. Some sort of convention?  

Not only weird teenagers but a totem pole as well

 This park is heaving with people enjoying themselves, is Thursday the new weekend? Walking on we hope to find a bus for our return, but think that maybe the number 11 route has finished running for the day. Luckily, the route is straightforward as well as interesting, passing through an area of old houses, churches and pollarded trees.

Back on the light rail and walk back to the flat. Our hosts are outside, they have been out collecting Ramsons to eat for dinner. A quick chat reveals the explanation for red suited weird teenagers. They are out celebrating the end of the school year and this is the way they do it  (although they still have exams they should be in swatting for apparently). A quick but tasty dinner before collapsing on the sofa after our day's exertions. Still need to check on tomorrow's tour...Zzzzz

Bergen

Early rise and quick granola breakfast (if that's possible) to get to Heathrow by 07:30 even though the flight's not until 09:55. That's because our lift to the airport had to be in work for 08:00, and also because airlines like you to be there two and a half hours early to allow for getting through security. Not too bad as airports are fairly reasonable places to hang about on the first day of your holiday. Often a different story on the way back or on connecting flights.  Security was relatively quick and easy for a change, although one bag did get sidelined for some extra checks with the bomb sniffing things ( yet again!).  A tour around the departure lounge shops reveal very little we can afford and, disappointingly for one at least, no bacon roll.  Surprisingly, or maybe not, the airport was very busy and it was a job to wheel the cabin bag around without bumping into someone. It appeared that when we were going one way nearly everyone else was coming in the opposite direction; this did not change even when we changed direction, we seemed to be constantly battling against the flow. The best antidote for this was to sit down.

Checking out the destination board.

Eric signs up for a sponsorship deal.

The flight was completely full, but despite this took off on time and was almost pleasant, given that it was only 1 hour 55 minutes. Plus, they supply M&S bacon rolls and vanilla/berry and granola/seed yoghurt for sustenance ( at a cost obviously- but then we are on holiday after all).

Snow on the mountains as Norway comes into view. Lots of islands too.

Passport control in Bergen was a breeze, although we did have a momentary hesitation as to whether we should be in the EU Citizen line or not, but then remembered that we hadn't actually left the EU ...yet. 

We had ordered some Bergen Cards on line to pick-up when we arrived - lets you catch public transport for nothing and free or discounted entry to museums and attractions.  Chatting to the information man we discover that they finished the light rail connection to the airport seven days ago, which means we can avoid even the discounted 100 Norwegian Krone charge for the Flybussen (private airport bus to town centre) and catch the tram for free using our newly minted Bergen Card. It takes a little longer but passes some very pleasant views and has big picture windows.

The scheduled opening date for the Skyss light rail connection from the airport was summer 2017, but they'd obviously heard that Eric was arriving and opened it early - although they hadn't quite managed to finish the terminal building in time.

Eric puzzles over the instructions.

Norwegian is mostly quite a difficult language to guess at what something means, and there are no English instructions on the tram.  A very helpful lady, plus some rather scary looking ticket inspectors who weren't so scary after all, come to our aid. Bergen is sunny and warm (it must have known I'd packed my thermals) and layers are divested.

First stop is the main train station to pick up our Norwegian Fjord Tour tickets.  We have two Norway in a Nutshell tours booked, one to Hardangerfjord, and one to Sonjerfjord.  Easy peasy lemony squeezy, and with that done we hop back on the tram going the other way to reach our attic accommodation - Olga will let us in at three.  

Apartment is as good as it looked online and views are great

Coffee in the cupboard but no tea or milk - supermarket visit is next on the list.  An amble up the hill from where we are staying finds a place suitable for such purchases (and more).  A cup of tea later and it was out for another foray to explore this new land.  Olga has told us that the funicular railway to the top of the mountain we can see from our window is an excellent trip. On the basis of a discussion with a lady on the tram, who had told us that Bergen can often be rainy and foggy so people make the most of it when the sun is out, we thought perhaps we should do the same.

Another trip on the light rail, plus an uphill walk, finds us at Floyben, where the funicular railway starts.  You can walk the 1000m to the top along a zig-zag path but this is not for us today - we have a 50% discount on the funicular to take advantage of! The railway is very old, it opened in 1918 and is 844m long, although we didn't find out why it was built in the first place. The idea was first proposed by a John Lund in 1895. 

...and when he was only halfway up...

It only takes six minutes to get to the top, and the views are spectacular. Our apartment is just behind the marina on the lhs.

 It's also very, very busy including what must be over a hundred people with numbers on their running gear dotted about the place. After sitting and gazing for while, we decide to have a wander. Apparently there is a lake up here somewhere that lends out kayaks and life jackets for you to have a paddle around, all for free.  There are signs asking you not to feed the wildlife. Could this be bears? Or wolves perhaps?

No, turns out it is Floyen goats.

Eric tells them he has no food.

Eventually find the lake, which is a pleasant place for a sojourn, although the kayak people have shut up shop for the day.  

Eric wonders what's happening on the other side of the lake.

Runners are everywhere and at 6o'clock the shouting begins and a relay race starts, with more exclamations of something along the lines of "hara, hara, hara" to encourage runners as they go past (not from us of course!) 

The top of the mountain looks like a good spot for a sunset, so we check the times out as the funicular runs until 11 at night.  Sunset is not until 9:45 tonight and we decide that hunger pangs are setting in. Reversing our journey 

And passing a statue of Holberg, a local philosopher 

Plus the Sailor's Memorial, where Eric reflects for a while

to arrive back in the attic, we enjoys the fruits of our earlier labour to the supermarket and sit down to plan tomorrow's outings.

First day away

Eric starts his day in a relaxed way, everything is packed. As is usual in these blogs he starts the day with a breakfast report - Muesli and fresh fruit are the order of the day. 24h to the flight and time to book places on the aeroplane (no choice of seats unless you want to pay £11 per person), then download electronic boarding passes; it's all very hi-tech nowadays. All set and ready to go, Eric first boards two local buses for the ride to train station.  

Waiting for a ride on the Great Western Railway. 

On time and not too crowded. 

Eric manages to wait until after going through the Severn Tunnel before tucking in to his treat for the journey.

All change at Reading and straight on a train to Maidenhead. A brief stop here before the next train to Bourne End.  Staying the night at the relative's new house before a morning flight from Heathrow. As we are only here briefly, we may actually manage to not have to do any painting! 

Returning from dinner, Eric explores the new garden, discovering some toys to play with. 

The real adventure starts tomorrow