One of the things I have told my friends when they ask me about Norway is about the constantly changing scenery. Of course, there are tons of mountains and fjords so it may be expected, but what makes it more interesting and surprising is that you’ll be driving along, enjoying green views, sunny skies, and then you enter a tunnel. Sometimes the tunnels would last upwards of twenty minutes, and then when you exit you are surrounded by what I snapped pics of here:
At least someone has set up a home here, so it doesn’t feel quite so lonely, but don’t you feel cold just looking at it? Yeah, it was cold, and rocky, and quiet, it felt like we were on Mars, not Norway, but it still was beautiful in its way and fascinating.
After jumping out of the car for a few minutes we drove onward and after about twenty minutes we started to get glimpses of green again.
That’s when we started seeing these little buggies, which we found out later are electric carts that are very commonly seen in the area, popular with the people who hop off the cruise ships and only have a few hours to explore the area. We quickly came to a rest area/ scenic viewpoint and had to battle tour buses and hordes of tourists for a spot for some pics and a stop at the bathroom, but we were excited by the scenery. The scenic rest stop also had some waterfalls that you could wander around, but we were on a search for a hiking spot without tons of people.
Back in the car we were passing lots of signs for hiking but we were driving down towards the fjord on these very windy roads and had no idea where to park, and we were passing loads of people walking on the roadways, so we decided that we wanted to find somewhere not as touristy, not as crowded, but with the beautiful views, so I did a quick Google search and found what I thought would be a great spot. I plugged it into the GPS, but had to drive down roads that were questionable for cars, because of the amounts of people walking right down the middle of the road without a care in the world. But we found it, a trail called Skageflå that was a moderate hike. Now I know that Skageflå is the name of an old goat farm in the mountain, but at the time we just thought it was the name of the trail, and we could tell right away it had great views of the fjord, there weren’t too many cars parked in the grass parking lot (owned by a local hotel), and so our trek began.
Our “moderate” hike didn’t end up being so moderate. There were huge stone steps leading up the mountain right from the get-go, and after hiking for about 30 minutes Heidi, who was feeling car sick during the morning drive (those windy roads!) wasn’t feeling well. We were pretty bundled up in layers, so she stopped to take off a layer but then almost fainted, so we stopped and took a break, enjoying the view but feeling worried about our friend.
We continued on, but after another few minutes Heidi decided that she didn’t think she should do the hike. But being a truly good friend, knowing that Erin and I were really looking forward to this hike, she decided that she would wait for us where she was. After making sure that she had a good spot to sit and plenty of water, Erin and I decided to hike on. We hiked about 3 hours and never did come across the end destination, but the hike was great and the views were incredible.
We climbed up and down, passing streams and looked across the fjord at waterfalls. Somewhere around the Geirangerfjord are the Seven Sisters, a group of – you guessed it!- seven waterfalls that “dance playfully down the mountain”. I won’t pretend to know if or where I saw them, perhaps I did, perhaps I didn’t, but whatever falls we did see, they were beautiful.
Finally we reached an open stretch of land on our hike- and it was so darling! There were these little huts, probably from an old farm, with the grass roofs! We were giddy with excitement over this cute find, imagining it was our farm. We stopped for some pics, but shortly after we arrived two guys showed up wanting pics too. So we were able to arrange an exchange of pics and our own little photo shoot.
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| Can this be my new home please? Just add goats! |
The guys asked us which direction we were coming from and when we told them they said “oh, was that blond girl we passed your friend? That was awhile ago!” and we knew that though we weren’t at the end of the hike we needed to get back to our friend. I’m sure Skageflå isn’t that cool anyway. So we filled out our water bottles from the stream (Norway has the best water!) and headed back, where we found Heidi, safe and sound and completely unannoyed at us for abandoning her for a few hours. The hike would’ve been better with Heidi, and I was glad to be reunited.
Back in the car we decided to continue on the scenic drive, and after driving a few miles we found a great scenic outlook, with beautiful views of the Geiranger, looking across the fjord to the spot where we had hiked for the day.
We were headed towards our next destination, though we had no idea where we were sleeping for the night. We had gone about 3 days without showering, and we knew it was going to be another night of probably camping, which we were excited to do, the problem was how cold it was! After driving a few hours we came across this beautiful flowing river, full of rapids, and next to it was a “campground” (which is what they call the cabins for rent, where you can also camp or park your camper- but there are mostly cabins) and it was about 11pm so I knew I needed to stop soon. We decided before we went in to ask for the price how much we were willing to pay for the night, and when their price exceeded that we left defeated. We thought “there’s got to be another place that is less expensive”, and then not 5 minutes up the road we found one, at a MUCH lower price than the place we had stopped in before- campground Furuly. We had our cabin for the night! No planning needed, just a little luck and determination. Also included with pics of our accommodation- some videos of the sheep that are everywhere, flocking the street-sides, and I just can’t get enough of them! Neither could Erin or Heidi.
The next morning we were headed north, towards Trondheim, where we planned on making a quick stop before heading even more north to the Lofoten Islands- our last planned stop in Norway,
One of the fun thing about unplanned trips- all the surprises you see along the way, and that fact that you can stop and enjoy them without worrying about it messing up your other plans, and that’s what happened this day. Shortly into our drive we came across Lom Stave Church. I had to pull a quick sharp turn to stop and see it because we didn’t even see any signs beforehand announcing that there was a historic church coming up, but luckily I was able to stop (and not get us killed in the process). Lom Stave Church was built in the mid 12th century. We didn’t opt to pay to visit the inside, having seen a few already and knowing there wasn’t much to see inside (they aren’t very large), but we did walk around the grounds taking in the beautiful sights of this church.
Onward we drove. It was about 4.5 hours from the Furuly campgrounds to Trondheim, but one thing we did see a lot of that day were bikers! They were all over the roads, we probably passed at least 30 groups of bikers like the ones pictured below. Luckily, they were usually riding the opposite direction so I didn’t have to worry about hitting any or them slowing us down, and it was cool to see. I researched later and found out there was a huge bike race that weekend, and many of these people were biking from Trondheim to Oslo. I knew from driving Norway, so many you do too, that’s a huge feat- that’s a big distance! Bravo bikers! Other than the bikers, there wasn’t a lot to see, the terrain was becoming a lot more flat.
In the early evening we made it to Trondheim. The only reason we stopped here was because it was along the way and we thought it would be a welcome stop. Perhaps it was our timing, or our lack of planning, but there wasn’t a lot to see or do in Trondheim. Especially given the fact that things close so much earlier in Norway compared to the US. Trondheim is the 3rd largest city in Norway, founded in 997 as a trading post and then becoming the capital of Norway during the Viking era until 1217. We found a parking garage and walked through the main town square, passing and visiting a cute little church before heading towards the Nidaros Cathedral.
The Nidaros Cathedral was built over the burial site of the King of Norway in the 11th century- Saint Olav, now the patron saint of the country. It was built from 1070 to 1300 and is the northernmost medieval cathedral in the world. And it was also closed when we showed up, but we did walk the grounds in the rain to check it out.
So it was raining- again- in Norway. Another reason we didn’t end up spending a lot of time in Trondheim. We took a quick walk around, and then headed to a grocery store to buy supplies for the night because we had rented another AirBnb! It was time for big soft beds and more importantly hot showers and hair dryers!
Our AirBnb for the night was just a little bit out of town, and the hosts were great. They had a frozen pizza and some other food supplies for us, and even left to go get a hair dryer for us (I mean c’mon, we hadn’t showered for 4 days straight, we wanted to pamper ourselves a bit!). I did have to park on a roof across the street- that was a bit freaky for me, but it was a nice night stay for a very good price.
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| another trip to the grocery store in Norway, don’t you love these baskets with wheels? Get on this USA! |
The next morning we were on the road again, our destination for the day being the Arctic Circle and then on to Bodo where we would take a ferry to Lofoten Islands. It was another big day of driving (7 hours) without too many highlights. Maybe one of the favorite parts was stopping at a road rest stop- basically a glorified porta potty, but look at the river flowing next to it! Makes it definitely more worth it!
Nearing the Arctic Circle was pretty cool, its beautiful up there, but definitely very cold- you can definitely tell you’re nearing the arctic. The Arctic Circle Center is located at the border of the Saltfjellet-Svartisen national park. There’s a glacier up there too, and we tried to find it with no luck (our GPS was not the most reliable, we didn’t have Internet service and we also couldn’t speak the language, but we did give it a good try!) It was so exciting to reach the Arctic Circle- I figure not many people can say they have been that far north! I was just grateful to be there during the summer, can you imagine how cold and snowy it must be in winter if this is what it looks like in June! And of course we weren’t dressed correctly, in capri leggings and sandals (if you’ve missed my other blogs, we packed COMPLETELY wrong for this trip). There are some things to do at the Arctic Circle Center, including a cinema, a gift shop where you can get an official certificate stating that you made it to the arctic circle, and a restaurant. 
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| All ready to sleep in the car while we wait for the ferry |
