Tag: Norway

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Norway D10 and D11

On the morning, 2nd of June we booked a round trip with the new silent boat on the most famous fjord – Geiranger.

The boat was pretty full (even the tourists just arriving on the huge Aida ship joined us), but we still enjoyed the journey and the unbeatable views to the “Seven Sisters”, old farms, the “Troll rock” and the Vodka bottle waterfall.
In the afternoon we continued on our way and soon reached Ålesund town.

Had a delicious traditional fish dinner at XL Diner and explored the town in the evening. Our Ford Nugget was parked safely in the Skjerva bobilparkering.

The day after, on 3rd of June we still walked the streets of Ålesund and reached the popular hill viewpoint.

We then left the town for a bit of shopping to the nearby Devold Factory (Devold Fabrikken and Devold Museum) in Langevåg, where we had some tasty snack at Fergkaia.

Back to the country to the nature we passed Vikebukt bridge and headed to town of Åndalsnes. From there it was just a stone throw to another famous attraction and a scenic way – Trollstigen.

It’s a dramatic pass featuring 11 sharp hairpin turns and 9% incline around the 320 meter tall Stigfossen. This is another breathtaking place. And we did not sleep far from this icon. Somehow we found this secret small parking place (there was one additional camper there) which was just off the national road nr. 63, but closer to the creek (Klovstien parking spot).

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Norway D8 and D9

In the morning of Sunday, 31st of May we went for a walk by the Nærøyfjord, starting at Nærøyfjorden Camping taking the Rimstigen hike walk by the narrowest fjord.

Later on we reached Flåm for a delicious food at the loacal street market, before visiting the Flåmsbana museum – the Flåm railway being one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world. Afterwards we stopped by Stegastein – a viewpoint overlooking Aurlandsvangen and Nærøyfjord from 650 meters above.

We then drove through the world’s longest car tunnel – 24.5 km long Lærdalstunnelen, passed Lærdal and stopped by another massive waterfall – Hjellefossen by Øvre Årdal.

Later on the same day we took another amazing scenic way – Tindevegen, 32 km long mountain road between Årdal and Turtagrø. With its highest point at 1321 meters, this road crosses Jotunheimen National Park and is open only from May till October. Of course there was a lot of snow.

As a spot we chose wisely the Turtagrø parking, which we shared only with 1 more camper.

On Monday, 1st of June, we made a first stop at the place called Bøverdalen, where we watched some sportsmen having cross-country skiing training.

Then, later on we also checked Wilhelm Rasmussen statue (pillar) with the first King of Norway on its top.

As we were so close, we took a paid road – Visdalsvegen, which follows the Visa river and leads to the Spiterstulen Turisthytte 1111 m above sea. This is actually a base camp, the closest accommodation, from which you can take a hike to the highest peak of Norway, Galdhøpiggen 2469 m above sea. We cooked a lovely lunch and enjoyed the majestic surrounding atmosphere.

Then we continued to the popular small town called Lom. Visited its bakery and the stave church.

And we hit the road again, driving some fantastic scenic parts, like frozen Djupvatnet lake. Taking another absolutely amazing scenic road, road number 63 we passed by Geiranger Skywalk and headed straight down to Geiranger town.

After a short walk it was time to search for the overnight spot. But here around Geiranger we first realized, that the area is quite busy.

At the end, before flying out the drone late (around 11pm) from Ørnesvingen viewpoint we decided to park on that old road, parallel to the Oppskredtunnelen, even under the falling down rocks. I slept well 😊

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Norway D6 and D7

For Friday 29th of May our goal was clear.

We explored the Bergen town, first of course the Bryggen, famous UNESCO harbor.

Getting some delicious meal in Fish Me restaurant, we continued to Bergenhus, castle Festning and then visited the great Bryggens Museum. Before our departure we walked through the Nordnes part of the town and explored the centre itself.

For the night we found a spot, most probably this would be somewhere by Romsló or Risnevegen or Vaksdal (but Miska knows as she paid 10 euros to the potential property owner) definitely it was by Sørfjorden.

On Saturday, 30th of May, passing the well known village of Dale (yes Dale of Norway) and the small town of Evanger, our first stop was Voss – Vossvangen.

Afterwards we visited yet another waterfall – Skjervsfossen (Gravinn). Then continuing on the national road nr. 13 we stopped by Tvindefossen just to move on to Stalheim, and the old scenic road – Stalheimskleiva.

There I was chased by drone running the old road in the Arsenal shirt. Absolutely beautiful views! Later on we walked down to get wet by the Stalheimfossen. In the evening we stopped by and overslept in Vang Camping, Gudvangen.

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Norway D4 and D5

The first highlight of Wednesday the 27th of May was the Flesefossen (Suldal area), where we had a lot of fun and took some amount of photos 😂 Then we reached the town Røldal. We went to see the stave church of Røldal and then drove above the town, using the Scenic road – Austmannalia. There we deployed our drone for the first time.

Passing the Røldal ski center we then continued to another wonderful place, the Låtefossen. Låtefossen is a 165 metre tall waterfall, consisting of 2 separate streams flowing down from the lake Lotevatnet, joining in the middle and then flowing under the national road nr. 13.

Pretty wet we moved to the town of Odda. Asking for some basic hiking options at the tourist desk we instantly agreed to take the Buarbreen track. This was another beautiful hike in Folgefonna National Park. It starts at the parking space by the farm and in some 2–3 hours, by ascending some 300 meters you can reach the Buarbreen glacier. It was just wonderful, one of the best adventures we’ve done!

Walking down from the glacier we still decided to see also the nearby Strandfossen. That’s another great waterfall, flowing down from Fossasetevatnet lake, reachable in just 30 minutes from the parking spot.

Afterwards driving the national road nr. 13 towards north we passed Tyssedal and following the Hardangerfjord we reached our overnight spot, Lofthus Camping later in the evening, without the possibility to check in, but still choosing a nice pitch in this 4 stars camp.

On Thursday, 28th of May we first stopped by for a coffee and cake in Eidfjord town. Then we moved on to another popular tourist attraction, Vøringsfossen. One of Norway’s most iconic natural wonders. The waterfall with a total of 182 meters drop including an impressive 145 meter free fall has a beautiful track around featuring a stunning iron bridge crossing the canyon. Breathtaking beauty. Another spot to deploy the drone 🙂

Later on passing the Hardangerbrua bridge we continued to Granvin and all the way on national road nr. 7 to the next stop, Steinsdalsfossen. Then we continued towards Bergen in search for a suitable spot to overnight. And we found one. Another quiet place, we were the only camper there by the waters of Osavatnet lake.

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Norway D2 and D3

Monday 25th of May we drove towards the north, inside the country and started to realize how beautiful the country is.

It was just a stunning scenery all the way from Ana Sira to the our first site of the day – the Hellern Houses.

Later we continued towards northwest for our first hike. It was a hike to Trollpiken, a famous natural sculpture, which became even more famous as someone managed to cut the stone off it. As the hike was not that demanding we managed to move on further and reached a nice spot on the lake Limavatnet, just outside of Ålgård town.

This was our first camper spot in the nature, right on the lakeside.

On Tuesday 26th as we woke up, we realized there is still someone loading the truck on the lake side so we decided to move on for a more peaceful breakfast.

Soon we found another lake spot, quiet and equipped with a toilet. Then we took a ferry from Lauvik to Oanes and got ready for another hike. And it was another remarkable spot, the Preikestolen.

The tour from the main parking is a bit challenging. The loop is some 8km long and will take up to 5 hours as you need to ascend some 500 meters. The reward is amazing! A huge, massive block of rock jutting off a vertical cliff 600 meters above the Lysefjord.

Afterwards we drove a few more kilometers and found another quite impressive spot to overnight. Just on the side of Vørvikefjorden (Suldalsvatnet) on the place called Solheimsvik (kind of a rest place).

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Norway D-1 to D1

This has definitely always been my travelling dream to visit Norway.

Even though I tried to plan everything in advance, I still felt a kind of nervousness. It was obviously a respect for the long journey that was awaiting us to the unknown country far away.

Our Norway Road trip journey started on Friday 22nd of May at 16:00 as we were leaving Graz for Germany.

We reached the Atrium Hotel near Leipzig sometime around 23:00. That part of the route was very smooth with no obstacles or hurdles. Next day we continued to Kiel, where we arrived approximately on time at 15:00. Upon the camper pick up, we were hit by shock!

On the parking space outside I saw a brand new Ford Nugget – exactly the same category we booked and I immediately fell in love with it… And yes, the guy rented it out to us as the first customers!! I remember my goose skin. It was just amazing, absolutely wonderful. Like if you win a lottery 🤩 I guess. And we definitely won it.

So this new car, registered some 20 days before we got in Kiel, was smelling brand new. We then somehow drove first hundred kilometers and arrived to Hirtshals, north Denmark, sometime at 23:30.

In the morning on Sunday 24th of May we took a ferry to Kristiansand and our Norwegian adventure could start.

We first headed to Mandal, a small town on the south coast with beautiful sandy beach. From there we then visited Lindesnes Fyr, southernmost lighthouse. For our first night in the new Ford Nugget, we decided to park in the bobilparking in Ana Sira.

Bobilparking was a new way to overnight for us. It is a dedicated parking for campers with some services like toilet and/or shower and/or electricity, sometimes for free sometimes for a small fee.