Andalsnes' Train Chapel

We hadn't been to a cathedral or stave church in--what? days--so we decided to visit Andalsnes world-famous train chapel, situated right on the harbor

Sanctum Sanctorum

The High Altar, where Vicki gave thanks for another's day safe driving in the mountains

Hell on Wheels; or, Vicki's Worst Nightmare

Pix taken by Vicki's own trembling hand...

There's always a price to pay with beautiful alpine scenery 

Don't look down

Congestion, all along the way, stopping, squeezing past

Finally at the bottom

In troll country

   

Trollstigveien

The road from Olden, Styrns, then Gerianger, and then on past Ornvegen and the Trollstigveien, to Andalsnes, was the best Norwegian scenery we have seen; Trollstigveien reminded us particularly of the American west, Montana and Wyoming, at their early summer best

Green and granite, and snow

Like the Winds in Wyoming

Double-Pingora, Cirque of the Towers

Ornevegen

Rest area at Ornevegen summit; eight RVs there that night

Orenevegen view of Geirangerfjord

Strawberry fields in Valldal valley, on the Ornevegen road; we
bought a couple baskets; the Ornevegen drive was down a
beautiful valley, less the extremes of the mountains and fjords

Part of the Gudbrandsbru, a water feature on the
Ornevegen

Leaving Geiranger

Dining al fresco, like European campers do; our German neighbors approved of the currywurst, rotbet, bier, etc.

A big ship parked right next door and blocked our view

But Vicki got some good pix of the mooring; then we left

Fiord ponies visited the Grey Wanderer at our next stop; not exactly Shadowfax

Geriangerfjord from the Ornevegen summit

Us at Ornevegen

Vicki adds:

July 10, 2009 Geiranger, Norway


The past few days we have driven through the fiord area and it has been wonderful. Last night though as we drove to the top of Djupvasshytta (quite a mouthful) at about 5,000 ft the whiteout moved in. We had followed 5 tour buses to top of a steep, winding toll road and we were determined to wait for the view to clear. Which it did, at least for a few minutes, and it was magnificent as you could see all the way down to the fiord at sea level. I was unwilling to drive back down in the whiteout so we stayed the night and gave up waiting for the clouds to lift at 10 this morning. I decided to stay in the back of the camper and read on the way down as my nerves are shot. I can deal with winding roads, steep roads, drop offs with no guard rails. What I can't deal with is one lane winding, steep roads with two way traffic including tour buses! The tunnels have also been interesting as we have probably passed through over a hundred in the last 3 days, some as long as 6 miles. They are not normal tunnels—they have s curves, they go up (10% grade), they go down (8% grade) and they also can be 1 lane with two way traffic—and none of them have lights. So my nerves are a bit frazzled and I keep demanding Mark not to go over 10 mph. We are now at a campground at the end of the fiord and will wait for tomorrow to take the sightseeing cruise and then the Eagle's Road up the mountain as the weather is supposed to be better.


Right now outside our window is a huge cruise ship. Cruising the fiords is very popular and great for people who can't get around very well as you can see all the beauty from the deck. I talked to a man from San Diego who was on a 7 day cruise through 7 fiords and they were loving it. I have no idea what that costs but given the prices of rooms and food here, it is probably cheaper than doing it by car. Write to me. Vicki

Geirangerfjord Cruise

It was the economy cruise

Sunday we did the brief Geriangerfjord cruise; Dalsnippa is the mountain, way back in the middle, where we spent the night

Geirangerfjord view

Seven Sisters waterfall; let's see, Sleepy, Grumpy, Sneezy...

The main Storfjord, of which the Geriangerfjord is an arm

Maids of the Mist, Norwegian fjord ferry

And old fiord farmstead; these are being restored, making Geriangerfjord another World Heritage site

Another Reason to Like Ferries

In this amazing sequence, a Norwegian fiord ferry actually
devours a tour bus

Munch, munch, crunch

You could hear the passengers screaming all the way
across the fjord

OK, it was a very slow day in Geiranger.

Geirangerfjord

Geiranger on the Geirangerfjord; we drove down the mountain, still in a 
white-out, Friday mid-morning, slowly, deliberately, in 1st gear all the way, 
then stopped at Camping Geiranger, right on the fiord

It rained the rest of Friday and was cloudy enough Saturday  to discourage the 
fiord cruise, so we spent the day cleaning  the camper, doing chores, etc.

Grey Wanderer is smack in the middle

About all there is to do in Geiranger is watch the cruise ships come and go

Some debark and stay a while, some just turn around and  leave for the next fjord

Me fjishing in the fjord; actually, me instructing Vicki on framing the shot to 
include my head, fishing pole, fjord,  etc; she was laughing so hard I am 
surprised the picture is in focus; so confident is she of my fishing skill that she 
has promised to gut, clean, cook, and eat any fish I catch

Inscription on an RV parked near us: "Dream not your life, 
live your dream"

More Mountains and More Glaciers: Briksdalbreen and Dalsnibba

We detoured again today, driving up the Olden valley, past beautiful high lakes, mountains, glaciers, waterfalls all around, to the Briksdalbreen, the Briksal glacier. It's a 4km hike up from the carpark. I'm beginning to think of the Jostedalsbreen, the big glacier, as rather an ice field, like the Columbia Ice Field in Banff/Jasper National Parks, in Canada, that covers many square miles, feeds three oceans, and has many glacial outlets. The Briksdalbreen is such an outlet of the Jostedalsbreen, I gather; there were three or four other outlets within the immediate vicinity. Interestingly, glaciologists say now that the Jostedalsbreen had completely melted away 8,000-10,000 years ago, and that all its growth, especially in the mini-Ice Age of the mid-18th century, has been relatively recent. The Briskal glacier reached its greatest extent in 1996-97, but has receded somewhat since then. Micro-climates, they say.

The Briksal glacier, in any case, is large enough, the tongue fairly angular. We walked to within half a kilometer of it, snapped some pix, stopped, and had lunch. I guess our experience in New Zealand, seeing a calving that killed two men, has made us a bit glacier-shy. Plenty of people are not, however. “People just love to touch the ice,” as the Kiwi park ranger said.

We drove back to Olden, then Styrn, and set forth on the “Golden Route,” the alpine road that links our next goal, Geiranger and Geiranger Fiord, with its north and south neighbors. It is a beautiful wide road, with several long (4-5km) tunnels, that winds up into some high and desolate alpine scenery. We got as far as the toll road up the Dalsnippa, a 1500m peak, and decided to follow the tour buses up it. The road was OK, if quite exposed. We entered a white-out several hundred feet from the summit, and resolved to park at the summit until the clouds lifted. We (Vicki) did not want to drive down in the white-out; and we wanted our 80 kroners worth of scenery!

The clouds did lift temporarily about 7PM, and we had some fine views of surrounding peaks, Geiranger and Geiranger Fiord, 1500m below. A big cruise ship was leaving Geiranger. Interestingly, or not, there are six of us parked here at the summit, for the night. At least it should be quiet.

Mountains, glaciers, waterfalls...everywhere

Me at the National Park boundary

Briksdal glacier

Up closer; click to enlarge and see them touching the ice

Atop Dalsnibba, cairns everywhere

Geiranger and Geirangerfjord from Dalsnibba

Up closer of the cruise ship leaving

Proof...

...that the Norwegian Department of Transportation is fabricating neolithic sites...
this one a dolmen

Or maybe another picnic table?

Vagsoy, Maloy

Quaint little Norwegian fishing village...well, that's what we were expecting. Instead, Maloy is a sizable little town, a commercial fishing center (canneries, etc), major harbor, gateway to the Nordfjord, and a fun S-bridge to the mainland. We walked around the downtown a bit and then headed out to the ocean side of the island to see the Kannenstein, an interesting rock structure on the coast. See illustration. It is about 12 feet high, just a bit out in the water (crashing waves). I resisted Vicki's dare to wade out and climb up on it for a picture. I have had enough thrills recently. It was nice to see the Atlantic again, however. We drove back nearly the length of the Nordfjord (100 km) and camped, early, at yet another road-side rest, this one near Olden, still on the Nordfjord.

The Grey Wanderer, and our license plates, continue to make friends. Everyone wants to know why it says Dodge and not Mercedes. Sprinters are common enough here, and have been for many years, if not by that name. And everyone is curious about the US/Montana license plates. Did we ship it? Near Olden we met two Danish couples, one of whom had relations all over the states, CA, OH, ME, and had visited, she said, nine times. One of her daughters leads tours from Denmark to the US. And then there were two Swedish couples, also campers, and a French camper the next day.

The Kannenstein, on the ocean side of Vagsoy

Up close

Part of the S-bridge that connects Vagsoy to the mainland