A lot can happen in a year :). This realisation has struck me many times on different occasions, sometimes more strongly than others. I guess that's one of the really awesome things about life! No matter how well things are going to plan, you never quite know what's coming round the corner. Then again, there hasn't been that much of a plan to my life anyway :).
Thinking about that Vestlandet road trip I've promised to write more about :), one of the things that strikes me is that we didn't really have much of a detailed itinerary lined up. Most of the night stops were arranged, but that was pretty much it. If you give life a bit of wiggle room, I'm coming to realise that awesome things can happen!
The hope was, basically, to get some nice views, some nice roads, a couple of hikes and some decent enough places to sleep at night. On all those counts, I think we did rather better than alright :D. Day one was a relaxed enough drive up to the vicinity of Stryn, by way of Beitostølen, avoiding as much as possible any E roads.
We figured, time wasn't a problem, so why not take the scenic route! Thing is though, I've now driven the Valdresflye tourist route so many times now, it doesn't quite strike me with awe anymore. There is indeed such a thing as getting used to the spectacular. However, once we got to Grotli, a bit of a surprise awaited us: a tourist route I'd not heard mentioned by people much: Gamle Strynefjellsveg.
It's the old road that goes straight over the plateau where Route 15 goes down the valley and around. We figured at least we'd get out of the train of traffic we'd found ourselves in by this point :). Turned out to be one of the most spectacular stretches of road I've ever been on! Snow covered mountains glistening in the sunshine, vast turquoise and blue lakes fed by streams and roaring waterfalls, a completely new and mesmerising landscape waiting around each turn.
The fact that it was an un-metalled dusty surface with (many) passing places where you had to wait for oncoming traffic (of which there was some, but not much) made sure we took the time to enjoy the views rather than rush past. Something I am known to have done on occasion in the past :). And at the end we came to the summer skiing resort of Stryn! This summer has been way too hot for enough snow to stick around even this high up the mountains, but you could imagine this would be one spectacular place to slalom down the hillside :).
We spent the rest of the day lazily exploring the valley below, driving around Oppstrynsvatnet and wondering what the next morning would bring as we headed over the mountain pass down to Geiranger! Our meanderings brought the first view of Jostedalsbreen, one of the largest glaciers in northern Europe. But a closer look was planned for later, so it was a quiet dinner and back to the campsite.
The morning started somewhat overcast, with the tops of the surrounding hillsides disappearing up into a blanket of clouds. We wondered if the day would be a complete contrast from the day before as we wound our way up towards the pass through a succession of tunnels. But as we came through the last tunnel at the top, everything changed!
As happens frequently in fjord and fjell country, we'd come straight through the clouds and into bright sunshine! Not just that, there were some spectacular clear blue lakes! The best bit was when we noticed a thick, distant (in the beginning) bit of cloud nestling at the far edge of the lake. As we watched though it spread out and soon overtook us, and yup, back we were in the clouds :).
There was nothing to do but just head down the many many hairpins of the road down to Geiranger in the blindingly dense whiteness. We'd been to the town four years ago, so this time the plan was something a bit different. Above the picture perfect fjord with its many cruise liners, ferries and yachts there is a mighty waterfall, Storsæterfossen. The particularly special thing about this one is that you can walk quite easily behind the main curtain of water!
While the walk up was still shrouded in clouds, you could tell that the clouds were slowly rising up above us. Once we got past the bend that would theoretically brought the fall in sight, it got pretty loud! It was one of those waterfalls that sends its roar ricocheting off the walls around and you end up with a bit of localised perpetual thunder :). However, then we found the way down under the big drop! If you think it's loud from far away, it quickly gets to need-hearing-protection levels once you get up close!
But what a fascinating experience! Barring a bit of spray, you stay pretty dry, while barely a couple of feet away tons of water (probably quite literally) cascades down in a mesmerising display! There's only so long one can stand the roaring though! But yeah! What a rush!
And just about the time we got back to the cafe where we'd parked the car, the clouds finally started lifting properly and soon we were on our way again. Retracing part of the route we'd driven back in 2014 :). Only with a zillion more tourist busses this time :D.
A relatively uneventful few hours brought us to Hildre where we were to spend the next couple of days with some friends. This, I think, is a good point to stop for the day. And seeing how tomorrow we're off to France for ten days, it may be a while before the next instalment appears :).
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