Heading to Aurland, we did a short detour to have a look at a stave church at Borgnund. This church was built around the year 1200 and is entirely of wooden slats. It is the best preserved stave church in Norway and is very impressive, including the fee to go in and have a look.

                      This group of fungi was at my feet as I was taking the photo of the church

                                        On the road to Aurland. Scenery still very impressive.

Celebrating Paul's birthday with a glass of wine. Now I think about it...it must have been Paul's birthday every day....

Aurland was a bit of a disappointment as it is very much a tourist port. The cruise ships stop here and tourists disembark in the 1000's. There is a very famous train ride that goes very steeply up into the mountains and most of the ship passengers do this train trip. They were queued up along the dock for hours waiting to get tickets. We stayed 2 nights and were ready to move on, Bergen our next destination.

Just a bit of information about driving in Norway. The maximum speed limit is 80kmph. And I think that at some stage we might have actually reached 80kmph. Many of the roads are only single carriage-ways and it is quite a feat to pass a car, bus or a tractor going in the opposite direction. Much backing up and squeezing past which is quite stressful for us who are used to the open roads of Australia. So it is rare that vehicles reach any great speed. Also ferries are a part of life over here. Imagine catching a ferry each time you had to go for groceries or go shopping. And they are not free. Probably average about AUD20 for a 15 minute ferry ride. But what has been the most amazing thing is the number and length of the tunnels. To get to Aurland, we had to go through a tunnel that was 24.5km long. There would be very few roads in Norway that did not have tunnels. This is because the fjords are so steep and rocky that building a road along the fjord is just not feasible. The old narrow roads that still exist around the fjords are gradually being replaced by new tunnels. As we left Aurland, we drove through a 11.5km tunnel and then straight into another that was 7km long. That day we were headed for Bergen and when we arrived, Janeve said that part way along she started counting the number of tunnels and over about 130km, we had driven through over 30 tunnels.

When we arrived in Bergen, we had a free camp for 3 nights. I had sourced through Google Maps, a shopping centre outside Bergen that was on the train-line into the centre. I had emailed them and asked permission to stay in the car park and they agreed. With our motorhomes totally self-sufficient, it was a good camp with food, servo, shopping, restaurants and the train only 8 minutes from the city centre (all the way through a tunnel from one side of the mountain to the other). Bergen is a nice place but again full of tourists from cruise ships and long queues for everything.

There is a chair lift , the Floibanen, up to Mt Floyen from Bergen. There was such a long queue for the chairlift that we decided to walk up.You can see the top station of the lift in the middle of the mountain in the background.

                                                       Look who I found at the top?

                                                                            Bryggen

The very first buildings in Bergen were along the harbour called Bryggen. In 1360 the Hansas-a german guild of merchants- set up one of their import/export offices in Bryggen and dominated trade for the next 400 years. Many times Bryggen has been devastated by fire, and the great fire of 1702 reduced the whole city to ashes. Bryggen was rebuilt on top of the old foundations that had been there since the 11th Century and is now one of Norway's most visited sights and their most recognised silhouette with the coloured gables. I was disappointed that since we had last been there in about 1997, the whole place was just full of souvenirs and junk.

Our next stop was Eidfjord and as the name implies, it is situated on a fjord. Just a small place with a fabulous outlook with huge steep mountains rising out of the fjord. We took a drive up one of those twisty roads with numerous switch-backs to a place called Mabo Canyon and the Voringfoss (Foss means waterfall).

                                                   Mabo Canyon with the Voringfoss

                                                                Campsite at Eidfjord

                                      Hiking to some waterfalls up the mountain behind Eidfjord.

Leaving Eidfjord behind and heading south again. Until our next stop, bye for now.

The next leg of our journey was along the National Tourist Route called the Sognefjellet. This road is high up in the snow country above the tree line and quite spectacular.

                           The road as it twists and turns higher towards Lom, the end of the route

Notice the depth of the ice on the side of the road. And this is summer. In winter this road is kept open with snow ploughs and the ice builds up along the road to over twice the height of the cars.

         Paul and Janeve in the lead today as we head down out of the icy country towards Lom

We had lunch in Lom and then continued on to a small place called Gjendesheim where we camped for the night ready for the big hike next day, The Besseggen Ridge Hike. If there is a hike that the country is best known for, it is this hike. 14km long, 1000m height gain and 7-8 hours start to finish. The weather had not been good and the forecast for the next day was the same, cloudy with showers. Even so, we geared up next morning in preparation and caught the boat along the lake where it dropped us off for the start of the hike. Us and about 100 other fool-hardy souls. We headed off with the weather not so bad, just cold. Probably about 10 degrees. But it quickly turned very ugly. Rain most of the way and temperatures that must have been around zero. Most of the literature about the hike was of the ridge crossing and warns that if anyone suffers from vertigo, to turn back before the crossing or don't do the hike at all. Well, I am not good with heights so I admitted to being worried about the ridge crossing, but prepared to give it a go. I had seen photos of the ridge but I had got it SO wrong. I was looking at the wrong part of the photos. The Besseggen ridge is actually a 250 metre almost vertical rise of large rocks that hikers have to climb, clamber, whatever, to get to the top, a drop of about 400metres on one side and about 700metres on the other so a slip would be deadly. Photos were few and far between but here are a few.

                                                                    The Lake

                                                       The unsuspecting waiting for the boat

                    That is me in the green and Ray in the red at the start with no idea what was ahead for us

                                                   Part way up, in the rain and cold

                               The lake below where we were dropped off for the start of the hike

                     Our first sight of what I originally thought was the ridge, up into more cloud.

But this is THE BESSEGGEN RIDGE. Paul took this of Ray and I part-way up. When I saw what was ahead, I realised why they had warned hikers about the ridge. There were no steps, chains or any means of holding on, and no obvious way up. Just from one huge boulder to the next any way you could. I don't mind admitting that I was way out of my comfort zone and I had no confidence that I was going to be able to make it to the top. And I don't mind admitting that I was quite scared, knowing the sheer drop offs on each side. The rain was coming down steadily and the rocks very slippery and hard to get a hand-hold. But there was no turning back, so steadily onward and up to the top. And it was with immense relief and exhilaration that we got to the top,safely. We had made it!!!!  And all very proud of our achievement, just short of 7 hours. That hike was by far the most difficult and dangerous that we have ever done or hope to do in the future. But now that we have done it and moved on, it has become a good talking point between us on the trip since.

As we headed out next day, we looked over at the Besseggen Ridge which is the highest mountain on the far right side of the photo. And you would not believe the improvement in the weather overnight. Cloudy but clear. We should have waited a day but without internet, the weather is an unknown so we have to do what we have planned irrespective of the weather.

Everything is still going well and we are all enjoying the trip immensely. Heading West today back towards the fjords and a small town called Aurland. Hopefully time there for another post. Bye for now.

We left Geiranger, winding our way up the mountains once again and some more spectacular scenery along the way.

                                                         2 cruise ships in port at Geiranger.

Norway has about 10 National Scenic Tourist Routes. The following photos are of the short 'Old Strynefjell National Tourist Route', a 27km long, very narrow, very pot-holed dirt road with the most amazing scenery. Unfortunately it rained the whole way and the photos, as are most of my photos, are taken through the windscreen of the motorhome.

                                                         Remember, this is summer.

                                                                 Frozen lake

Towards the end of the National Route, we leave the cold icy alpine scenery and start to see some more greenery, but the road no less amazing.

Our destination for the night was Briksdal, the site of the Briksdal Glacier in the Jostedalsbreen National Park. The road up to the glacier was basically a single-vehicle road (24km) and we had some very hairy moments with some tour busses going the other way. The cruise ships tied up in the fjord just before our turn-off should have been our first clue as to how busy the road would be. But again another spectacular location and a great camp site.

The drive along the valley towards Briksdal, with a glacier in the background. However, this is not the big Briksdal Glacier, but our campsite was right at the bottom of this one.

                                                                This is the Briksdal Glacier

                                                A waterfall on our walk up to the glacier

                                            Ray and Paul crossing the bridge over the waterfall.

                          Who is this gorgeous creature? I'm talking about the lady in black!!

                 View from our campsite looking back to the entrance of the valley and the fjord.

                                                      Oops! Where did he come from???

Time to say good-bye until our next internet connection. Still having a great time but missing everyone from home. Heading next along another National Tourist Route, the Sognefjellet to Lom and eventually a hike that I have been planning for what seems like years, the Besseggen Ridge hike. Get back to you with those photos if I live to tell the story. Bye for now.