Jeff: Around Grainger - a beautiful Fjord

Later on Tuesday we drove further up the fjord for the evening and planned for a bike ride down the fjord the next morning.

However once we got up in the morning it was drizzling still and the route was mostly on the road (30km there and 30km back the same route) so we decided to give it a miss and instead start the drive north with a slow drive planned as there were several stops we wanted to make and the route was a scenic drive over the mountains. We drove up to the top of the mountain roads and reached 1392 meters above sea level in Sognefjellet but on the way up we passed some beautiful lunar type areas, small lakes, snow and some nice view points (with great toilets – view points with the best toilets is a thing over here). Near the top of the mountain the temperature dropped to around 3 degrees and it was at this point that Rich decided he should go for a dip so we found him a small pool of water (with snow on the edge) and in he jumped for just over a minute before getting out and saying damn that was cold! We continued on northwards and came across a hotel which had an old column, which looked like a totem pole, in their grounds, that we stopped at. The column was commissioned in 1926 and was due to be placed in Oslo but not completed by the end of world war 2 and as it was believe the artist had expressed sympathies with the German occupational forces, therefore the installation was cancelled. In the 1980s the sections were found in a shed in Oslo and it was restored and placed here in 1992.

After all that we continued down into a village called Fossbergom where we were able to service the van. Another reason to stop in this village was to visit (apparently) one of the best bakeries in Norway. As you can imagine there were limited vegan options but we got a huge bit of tomato focaccia (which may have been nibbled at before we got it back to the van) and we had a good look around the town. It was a really busy little town with tourists everywhere. There was an old stave church, a small waterfall/rapids in the centre of the town and overall it was a very pretty mountain town. There was also a live TV bike tour passing through the town which looked interesting but we decided we had seen enough of the tourists so we got back in the van and continued north through more mountains. Our plan was to park up in the mountains for the evening and we found a little park up on another scenic tourist route which suited us fine. There was a little bridge we could see over the road so we walked over to it and translated the sign it said at your own risk and don’t step on the bridge. Given these messages and the rustic look of the bridge (and the creaks that occurred when Rich walked on it) we decided not to cross it and headed quickly in the snow back to the van.

The next morning we continued down the scenic road which passed a summer ski centre and lots of snow in the mountains and passed more glacier lakes (although Rich didn’t fancy swimming in those) and continued the drive to Geiranger. We parked up just above the town and walked down following the waterfall that runs into the town, which gave us great views of the lovely fjord. Once down at the bottom we realised that there were 2 cruise liners in the town which meant lots and lots of people. It was a bit crazy really. We wanted to plan our day tomorrow (which was supposed to have better weather than the drizzle that was threatening to happen today). After visiting the tourist office to see our options we made our plans and decided to get the hell out of the town. This involved a walk back up hill to Jeff before we had to drive back into the town and out the other side. We parked up at a view point for a bite to eat before we did one of the local hikes to find a lake which was very nice and required us to cross what someone may call a bridge but I call two bouncy planks of wood near each other. It was a bit concerning and I wasn’t sure it would pass UK health and safety laws, especially given that other parts of it appeared to be on the floor nearby. We then made it up a hill and had great views down onto the lake and the valley, had a quick break for a snack before walking the 3.6km back to Jeff. On the way back we did slightly lose the path and ended up on a different path but a short walk across the boggy meadow and we managed to find the original path and back to Jeff.

After that we headed to our stop for the evening which is down a disused lane and this stop quickly filled up with campers from around Europe (but mostly German).

The next morning we got up early and headed down through the town and around the fjord to the other side where we managed to find somewhere close to the water to park Jeff. We then got the paddleboard out, had some breakfast (while waiting for the cruise liner to come in) and then got on the paddleboard and headed out on the fjord. We paddled around 5km to see the famous Seven Sisters waterfall which was impressive. We first rounded the corner and saw a waterfall (which are everywhere in Norway) and thought it was fairly impressive but we soon realised that this wasn’t the famous one and we had to paddle a little further and then we saw the famous one and it was impressive and had seven different streams of water coming over the cliff. We pulled up the paddleboard the other side of the fjord to the waterfall where there was a hike up to an old fjord farm. It was a steep 1km hike with lots of cliff edge walking, which I wasn’t a fan of. Once up there we had great views over the fjord and to the waterfall and explored around the old farm which had a number of buildings and a drinking water well. Apparently when the farm was in full use hay was transported down by a zip line style pulley system and when the tax man used to try and come the farmer would remove the ladders from the most dangerous parts of the path which meant he never managed to collect the tax. We then descended the path just in time as several tourist arrived by boats and started the climb up (some of which we didn’t think would make it from how much they struggled with the first easy section) and we got back on the paddleboard and started the paddle back to the van.

We managed to get back to the van and headed off north again. We stopped at a rest stop, where there was a little rapids/waterfall for some lunch and continued on. It has been a few days of driving but most days the weather is a little rainy and Norway is a really big country and we want to make progress up north. Eventually we reached a rest stop at the top of TrollStigen which is a road of 11 hairpin bends and is the end of the scenic drive we had just done. We explored the top where there is great viewing platforms to see the whole road and the waterfalls.

We then drove down the 11 bends and it was interesting. The road is good but there are some sections which are only 1 car wide so you have to wait for cars to come past. There were a number of cyclists trying to climb it and well done to them, its not something I fancy doing, even on the E-bike. Once down at the bottom we had a brief stop to look up at the road before we continued on north and after 1 ferry across the fjord we made it to a stop for the evening as its been a long day