Jeff: July 2023

Tuesday, 18 July 2023

Rafting

Rafting day was upon us and Catherine decided that it was a tea on the road kind of morning to give us enough time to get through, A – the longest tunnel in the world (25k) and B – get another ferry across the fjord towards the Luster Kommune. The tunnel was fully open and very quiet. It was also quite unremarkable and if you didn’t know it was the longest tunnel you would be forgiven if you drove through it none the wiser given all the other long tunnels in the area. The locals are all a bit worried about planned maintenance to the tunnel due to start in 2025. It looks like they will be closing the tunnel at 6pm every evening overnight for a few years to carry out the works.

We got the ferry and was parked up at the rafting meeting point with plenty of time to spare. We scoped out who would be potentially rafting with us and we met a German family with a 11 year old girl who would be joining us. The dad and the daughter looked game but the Mother seemed unsure saying she has issues with circulation in her fingers (she was just a bit anxious). We had seen the glacial river we would be rafting in our drive up and it looked crazy. We have been rafting a couple of times before but this was next level rapids. The plan was to spend the first hour on the family friendly section with some level 1 and 2 rapids, then we would drop off the girl and then complete the level 3 rapids (Elvepurka) which translates to ‘Mother Pig’ as the mothers told their children not to play there as the pig would eat them (Mother wasn’t wrong!). We had 3 staff members looking after us. We had our rafting instructor ‘Rasta’ who steering the raft and gave us commands to paddle. We had a guy from Ecuador who was our safety Kayaker, he stayed close by to pick up anyone who fell out and couldn’t get back to the raft. We also had an Aussie women who drove to point down the river to take photos and pick us up at the end. Given our previous rafting experience we were told to go up front. Being at the front means you have to lead the pace of the paddle and keep in time with the person next to you. You also get a front seat view of what lies ahead and you take the brunt of most of the water crashing into the boat. It turned out we had a fairly strong teams between us and the 11 year old was very good and seemed to be loving it and we had done a few sizable rapids by this point, with the next ones getting a little bigger. We stopped briefly to discuss the next section and the mother was not up for the final big rapids and she didn’t want her daughter to go either. Rasta was unsure whether it was safe for only 4 of us to go because the raft needs to weigh a certain amount to prevent us getting thrown around like a rag doll in the level 3+ rapids but he thought we were up for it. As we approached the final rapids Rasta said ‘Not to scare you guys but if we flip the boat then just swim to the sides’. The issue was that there was very little space between the rapids we were about to do and the Hog Boss section which in todays conditions was a level 5+ (not suitable for us 4 by any means). We hit the rapids with the intention of skirting around the side to avoid the middle. No suck luck. Rasta shouted for us to crouch down but we didn’t hear him. Catherine was now behind me and I was paddling up front with the German father. The Raft was pitching up steeper and steeper and I was convinced it was going to flip. I leant forward to not fall backwards and the boat levelled back out. I looked behind to only see Rasta and no sign of Catharine! I dropped my paddle and jumped to the middle of the boat. Catherine was hanging onto the rope and the side of the raft, paddle in hand. Rasta was shouting at me to ‘Rescue Her!’. We had shown us on land how to perform a rescue. Once I got Catherine paddle off her I was able to drag her back in. Rasta then shouted for us to get back into our paddle positions and paddle as fast as possible as we had overshot our landing point and were heading towards Boss Hog! After what seemed like an entirety we finally got over to the side of the river and moored up against some rocks and into a random farmers field which was not intended. We dragged the boat across the field and got picked up by the Aussie who had the German mother and daughter. Safe to say the mother was glad to not have been in the raft although with the added weight the raft may not have tried to take off as it did! We got some great photos which you can see below. We got back, dried off and said our goodbyes. We found a spot for the night which was right next to the fateful rapid and got out to have a look. To our surprise the Germans had the same idea. All in all it was great fun, if not a bit crazy.

The following day we got up and headed to the nearby visitors centre near the Nigardsbreen glacier. There are many tours to the glacier where you can walk on it and explore but we aren’t sure we want to do that so we wanted to get a better idea of our options. After abusing their WIFI for a bit (and uploading all the blogs/pictures) we decided to hike to the glacier and see it and then decide if we wanted to book a tour for another day. There was the option to drive to the next parking but we weren’t sure how far that would be from the glacier, how busy it would be or if Jeff would fit so we thought we would walk it as that was a maximum of 3.5km to the parking. We went down the footpath which ran mostly near the road but was strewn with boulders and about half way we decided that we would be walking back on the road as it looked easier and quicker. We eventually made it to the parking (Jeff would have fitted no problem) and then started the hike to the glacier. Again here we had two options take a boat some of the way or walk it so we decided to walk it as it wasn’t far that the boat takes you. It was rockier terrain now and there were some ladder/stairs to help climb over the boulders. Again we managed this section with very little issue and then started the final climb up to the glacier past the rivers where we could see chunks of ice from the glacier floating down. It was getting colder as we got closer and when we finally got to the view point we could see almost a glacial cave where the water rushed out of. There were a few climbers on top walking slowly and lots of tour groups all around. We kept meeting tour groups on our descent and it made us glad we hadn’t booked a tour as I think it would have been a very slow walk with not much more seen than we had been able to see.

The issue was we still had the longer than expected walk back, while I had seen the sign I assumed it was about 3.5km to the glacier (not just the parking) when really it had been over 6km there so we had just over 6km to walk back. The first descent was mostly spent trying to get around the really slow tour groups who were either coming or going and then trying not to slip on the wet rocks (as guess what, its raining again!) and once we made it back to the parking we stayed on the road and walked, with short jogging sections, all the way back to the visitor centre. There we made some lunch in the van as we were starving before coming back into the visitor centre to abuse the WIFI a little more. We are trying to plan the next few days and get all our admin done.

It all started so calmly!

It soon got a little spicy - these are the small rapids

Still the smaller rapids with us all in the boat

Riding those waves

This is the first bit of rapids with a lighter boat and we are flying

The waves have more power over the smaller boat so we spent a lot of time with water coming into the boat, full force

This is the big one! The waves take the front of the boat first

Then nearly tip us over

And the front goes up

If you look closely you can see Catherine falling out!

Luckily she doesnt hold a grudge and was happy in the end

See - Happy!

The lake at the bottom of the Glacier

A view from the hike of the valley below

The Glacier cave

It was really blue and the water coming out of it was full of ice

Rich holding some of the ice from the water

The water was really powerful and looked bloody cold

flowers growing on sections surrounded by the water

the bottom of the glacier

TrollTunga and Bergen

Thursday was another quiet day where we pottered around the town and prepared for the walk on Friday, including making breakfast for the walk, and doing some shopping.

Friday we got up at 5am and made a quick cup of tea and then drove to the free car parking space we have found (its better than paying the £25 in the parking lot at the bottom). The issue is due to the size of the van (its more than 5 metres) they won’t let you park anywhere but at the bottom and then you have to pay £15 for a shuttle bus to the second parking lot which is what we could also get from our free parking space. Once at the second parking lot you have two choices, walk the extra 3.5km trail which goes past the small level 3 parking and includes an additional 400 meter climb or get another shuttle (£13 return). Rich being Rich decided that we should do this extra walk which makes it a 28km walk with 1,200 meter climb in total and the guides suggest it should take between 9 and 12 hours (hence the 5am start) and does not recommend anyone starting the trail after 8am.

So after we got off the bus we visited the toilet for the last time until we arrive back at the car park and off we trailed up the big hill and then onto the main trail which was great but its not an easy walk but it was beautiful, with stunning views over the fjord and snow capped mountains – we even got to touch and walk on some snow. The hills were steep, both up and down, and while it was not boulder climbing as other trails have been it ranged between large stepping stones/steps, gravel/stone paths and water covered stone, but we managed to get to the trolls tongue in about 3.5 hours which we didn’t think was bad going. We then had to queue for photos on the tongue while the other one took photos (we could have tried to get one together but that seemed a little bit too much hassle) and given that we had to wait for about 30 minutes each for photos already Rich was done! While we were waiting for the photos we managed to have our breakfast and chill out but my god it was colder up there so we had all our layers on.

After the photos and a bit of exploring it was time for the walk down. We calculated that we had around 3.5 hours to get back to the second parking lot in order to catch the bus back (although there were other buses but each were an hour and a half later than the previous one and we didn’t fancy waiting that long). So we powered it down and while you think going down should take longer its not a simple path so you have to be mindful where you are stepping and while its not as demanding as going up you are definitely working other muscles hard. There was also the issue of passing other hikers who were coming up or going down slowly which we didn’t really have on the walk up but we tried to keep our pace up and we were watching the time and calculating how much leeway we would have (not a lot!) but once we got past the top level of the parking the hike back down the last 3.5km was easier and we even had a little run on the really steep bits (something we would regret the following day). We made it down to the parking lot with around 10 minutes to spare allowing us to pee before lining up to try and squeeze on the bus (there were far more people than seats it appeared until a second bus turned up). Once the bus dropped us back at the parking we had a shower and sorted out the van before going to service the van and pick up a well deserved vegan pizza (it was mediocre) and heading onto our stop for the night about an hour away.

The next morning we woke up aching but we never let that stop us do we. We got up and drove across the Hardanger bridge and through the tunnel (which has a roundabout in the tunnel, which was cool) and drove West until we hit a town just outside Bergen. We then hobbled onto the bikes and cycled the 10km route into Bergen. The route was supposed to be mostly flat but we knew on the cycle in that it was mostly down hill so we would pay for that on the way back! We parked the bikes up in the centre and walked around the town looking at most of the touristy things including Bryggen which is the historic wooden port buildings which were very cool. there were also some very nice ships there which we admired (and wondered who owned them and how much they cost!) We also walked through their food market which had a range of non-vegan foods from seafood (including whale!) to reindeer, moose and boring meats. It was a bit crazy all told and it was mainly aimed at tourists so we hot footed it through and continued our tour of the town. Next we jumped on the funicular which took us up 320 meters to the top of Floyen to get some great city views. We slowly explored some of the top and found the lake where we were given a free canoe to paddle around the lake but after two laps we were bored and the rain was starting again so we headed back to shore and thought about the journey down. Rich had bought singles with the idea of walking down but our legs were against that idea and with the rain coming in we decided that it was a bad idea so we jumped back on the funicular and sped down to the bottom. Once down there I wanted to find some cinnamon buns as they are supposed to have some great vegan ones in bakeries so we headed out to find some and explore a little more of the city (and found some murals without looking). We then decided to head back to Jeff knowing it would be a harder cycle but we made it back, just before the heavens opened again. This rain continued most of the evening with thunder and lightning and we were glad we made it back before it all started.

The next morning we woke up and briefly considered a run and then decided against it. We headed off in Jeff for a long day of driving but with some stops as its due to rain on and off all day. We drove for about an hour before we arrived at our first stop – Voss. You may recognise this name its because this is the village Voss mineral water comes from. The town is very pretty with a lake/fjord in the centre which we briefly walked along some of the edge before finding a really cool outdoor gym which we had a go on to stretch out our muscles and then we looked at a nice church. Before leaving we filled up our water bottles from the drinking water tap that said it was the best drinking water in Norway for free and it was very nice water!

We hopped back into Jeff and carried on West to our next stop Flam. This is a bittersweet stop as we ha been considering a ride on the Rallarvegen cycle route which is 82km long but the issue is you need to also take a train ride to the start from Flam but the train didn’t leave until late in the morning meaning we would have also needed to have accommodation on the route or at the start. Most of the route was not accessible by car and therefore you also need to pack everything on the bike that you want to take. We just decided it was a little bit too much hassle to try and organise and very expensive especially as the weather isn’t going to be great for a few days so we would be either cycling in the rain or having to wait in the area.

Anyway back to our journey we continued slightly north and made a detour up a very twisty mountain to get to a view point. For most of the road it was only 1 car wide so it took a fair amount of time and lots of reversing to passing points to get to the top. Then the next issue was the parking lot was tiny and having gone past it twice and not managed to find a parking space we parked about 300meters down hill and walked up to it. It was a very nice view but very busy and then we had to do the drive back down. Once down we had some lunch and then started to head onwards but soon found we had an issue. Our plan was to go through Laerdal tunnel which is the largest road tunnel in the world at 24.5km but the roundabout in front of it was blocked and we soon realised the tunnel was closed. There were some angry Norwegians trying to get around all of the traffic, including us, but everything was gridlocked. After a few minutes waiting we chatted to others who had been waiting for over 30 minutes already and we decided to give it a miss today and find somewhere to stay for the night. This issue is that the tunnel is pretty much the only way (otherwise you have to go over the mountain roads which takes more than triple the amount of time and is not passable all year around.

We settled into a camper stop on the edge of the fjord for the night and booked our activity for the next day!