Jotunheimen | Bergen | Oslo

Going way out of our way for the S shaped Ferry Trip

This one goes way wild before heading back to the city sanctuaries of civilisation and culture. We passed through Lom on our way to Jotunheimen National Park, stopping to buy a coat for M and a camping hat for D (see photos later). Nothing for S....  "Is fuath liom hata" We queued for fresh bread and pastries .....again. It was in Lom that we came across our first Norwegian Stave Church. Stave churches are considered Norway's most important contribution to the world's architectural heritage. Lom Stavkyrkje or Lom stave church was built in the late 1100s and expanded into a cruciform church in 1664. As ancient and precious as this structure is, it still serves as a regular parish church for the community and is only open to visitors during the Summer season. 

Of the +1000 churches built in Norway during the Middle Ages only 29 churches remain standing today. The staves, or columns, are the bearing elements that give stave churches their name. The hundred year old pine trees selected for construction of these churches were left to dry on the root for several summers before they were felled. This strain of the Norwegian pine tree contains a high concentration of resin and it's a combination of this preservative resin and the fact that the wood doesn't rest on the ground itself but rather on a foundation of stone that has contributed to the longevity of these structures. The greatest modern threat to the churches has been fire, with at least one set on fire by a Black Metal band in 1992. We'll talk about those guys when we get to Oslo later. 

The woodcraft and the painting details throughout the church are stunning

Thanks to M for ensuring we stopped at this particular brown sign (and others). We pulled up later at another Stave church in Hopperstad which was equally as beautiful and evocative but in a different way. 

Hopperstad Stave Church

Hopperstad Stave Church

Hopperstad Stave Church

Hopperstad Stave Churchyard

Hopperstad Stave Church

Hopperstad Stave Church

Per the map above, Lom sits on the outskirts of Jotunheimen National Park (translates to "Home Of The Giants"). It's also home to some of the best hiking in Norway (including the Besseggen Ridge) but we had come to do some wild camping in transit as we were under a bit of pressure to get to Bergen to our pre-booked train on Monday and didn't have the time to squeeze in a 2 day hike. A couple of hours after leaving Lom we saw a sign for "Galdhøpiggen Sommerskisenter" and not having a clue what that meant we set out to unravel the linguistic mystery. Turns out Galdhøpiggen is the tallest mountain in Norway, Scandinavia AND Northern Europe, at 2,469 m (8,100 ft) above sea level. Galdhøpiggen means "the peak/spike (piggen) of the mountain Galdhø." The first element in the name of the mountain is gald which means "steep mountain road". We ended up driving maybe 45 mins up this steep mountain road causing my co-pilot some trepidation, but it was worth it. Sommerskisenter translates VERY un-mysteriously to "Summer Ski Centre".  We parked at the ski center and went walkabouts up the mountain to play in the snow for the "snow" part of our sea-road-city-mountain-snow holiday. 

My how far we've come. 

Believe it or not, the photos below were taken on the same day (but + a couple of thousand metres elevation) as the photos in the church above. So, photos : 

D's new hat. 

S borrowed mammy's. 

Galdhøpiggen

Galdhøpiggen

Snow Angels

The view over Jotunheimen

M models her new coat

Pleasant steel-grid pathway up the glacier

"High Voltage Life Threat"

Sign Wave

The timing of our group "jump shots" was appalling throughout this trip

To wit.....

Trail-Mix Safe Harbour

Viewing stations with super interesting `tidbits of geological and ecological information

Hey Yo

After an invigorating afternoon up the Galdhøpiggen (and one doesn't often get the opportunity to drop that phrase) we jumped back in the jeep and set off looking for a pitch for our tent for the evening. One of the main reasons we'd swung up through Jotunheimen, aside from wanting to camp in one of the national parks, was to do the Sognefjellsveg (translates to "A Quarter of Kola Kubes in Kearns"). It's a road which apparently rivals any of the most scenic in the world. By way of validation, our best data point was probably the Jasper to Banff road trip through the Rockies. It's one of the oldest trading routes in Norway, though it's closed from October to May these days. We drove through on a slightly overcast Saturday evening and pulled up a winding gravel side road to find this camping site for the night. 

Wild camping on the Sognefjellsveg

An emergently indoor tea as the storm clouds rolled in just as we'd finished pitching.

Naturell Fridge

A cabin over the hill from our pitch

A morning hike anyone?

A Roll-On Lawn - my comfort blanket when I find myself wild camping over 2000m

Breakfast with a view

In her element

I guess this is why we do it

Home

Real thought bubbles captured. Discovered to be empty. 

And it's a thumbs up from me. 

Norwegian Damart Catalog, Spring 1987

Sideways King Softy In The Snow

"Escape can't be the only way....... to escape" Norway, Summer 2017

To Voss

We drove the next day onwards towards Voss. We stopped in sunny Sogndal for some Sunday lunchtime trampolining and some great coffee in Kafe Krydder

Street Corner, Sogndal

The BMW in this shot followed us out of town aggressively. I ignored it equally aggressively, suspecting the driver was a part time drug dealer unimpressed with my paparazzi skills. Turns out I had pulled off with the boot fully open scattering camping gear and random lady-paraphernalia in the streets and the original gangsta in the BMW was just his performing his civic duty. An odd misunderstanding. Per the map above, Voss, our overnight destination, lies in a valley on the other side of some serious elevation. We were running low on fuel and I underestimated the ability of a fully-laden,  2 ton, air-conditioned tractor to eat fuel as it climbed a mountain pass. At the top, per the electronic dial, we had 60km of fuel and Voss lay 75km away with no fuel stations on the mountainside on the way down. Some Dean Moriarty-esque acts of heroic clutch control (basically coasting 95% of the descent) had us rolling into Voss with 65km left on the dial. It felt good out-witting (or at least confusing) the onboard computer. 

Voss campsite was piss poor. It started lashing as we landed, always a bad sign. The camping area consisted of a 50 metres squared triangle with 2 inches of topsoil sitting on a bed of concrete. Impossible to get tent pegs in and I bent a few before realising what was going on. Also, the topsoil was gritty, sandy, filthy stuff which stuck hard to our beautiful new but wet tent. The bad mood that ensued could only be cured by pizza. 

"Best Pizza In Voss" was served in a basket :( Apparently the girls don't like peppers :)

Breathalyser Pass! 10 Years Later. 

We skipped out of Voss early the next morning, abandoning my long suffering midget-magnet sandals in the streets as we left as they were covered in shitty Voss topsoil and smelt hard. We also left a large consignment of Irish perishable goods which we hadn't managed to get through on our trip in the campsite kitchen. We pulled into a covered Ikea car park on the outskirts of Bergen, quickly un-exploded our luggage into hotel luggage respectability and checked into the hotel in Bergen. we'd just completed a record 12 nights straight camping. The final 4 nights of the trip were to be under a roof 

in comfy hotel beds in Bergen and Oslo. 

Precious Baggage

Based only on the experience of a 36 hour stay, Bergen was a nice town if a little over-run by tourist hordes (like ourselves). It was also our first sighting of Starbucks in Norway. Maybe it was the culture shock of returning to shank's mare after returning the hire car, but negotiating huge clusters of cruise liner patrons every time we stepped out of the hotel was tough. Hell is other people. The hotel was located in Bryggen, which is right at the docking point for the cruise ships so what did we expect? It rains on average 260 days of the year in Bergen. And we were knocking around Bergen on one of those average days. The girls had their own hotel room up the hall and over the landing from ours and they were up all night spilling chocolate milk all over the duvet, hammering the ju-ju mini bar like Van Halen in their prime. Wild times. We took the opportunity to wash and dry the tent and our other dishevelled pieces of camping equipment. There's something ridiculously satisfying about this no star five star stuff. 

Van-Halen in Bergen

Bryggen, Bergen

The Full Norwegian Breakfast

The Tent Takes A Shower. No Star Five Star @ Bergen

Sure, go on then. 

City Slicker Selfies

Bryggen, Bergen

Tuesday, Midday after a quick stop off in the best library in the world (get S to tell you about the window seat in the children's literature section), we set off from Bergen train station on our way to Oslo on the train. 

Bergen Train Station

Fellow travelers on our train journey

I had booked this train journey months in advance on the basis of its reputation as one of the most scenic train journeys in the world. For context, most guide books assume you're travelling from Oslo northwards (or westwards to the fjords). I was unaware of this basic ground rule when booking the tickets. All online guidance was to book seats on the right hand side of the train to get the best views of the spectacular scenery - which I did. Problem was, it's the right side *if* you're travelling Oslo to Bergen, which we weren't. The sinking of my first stomach occurred as we boarded the train and took our seats beside the most opaque window in the entire train, condensation between the double glazed panes with other scratches and abrasions making it difficult to really see anything. My second stomach sank when I realised maybe twenty miles in that it wouldn't really matter as we were sitting on the wrong side for all the spectacular scenery. So instead of gazing wistfully across mountain river valleys at spectacular waterfalls or glaciers, we were squinting miserably through opaque plexiglass up sheer valley walls through clouds of condensation at a speed which blurred any attempt to make sense of anything outside the carriage. The most passable photo I took on this most spectacular of scenic journeys was this one: 

:)  Pretty good, but it's no Pollardstown Fen from the 17:00 to Cork of a Friday

The girls were also unimpressed....

... resorting yet again to their imagination for kicks

Still and all, we were glad we added training to the hiking, driving, tramming, ferrying and flying we'd done on this epic adventure. 

An Introduction To Oslo (and graphic design - this sign is for the city bikes)

"This milk is from the top shelf so don't guffle it"

Kafe Oslo

Fuglen Coffee Shop..... " a highly stylized time capsule"

View from the 24th Floor

Fuglen

Moody In Fuglen

Fuglen

Fuglen

My attempt at life drawing in the National Museum

Oslo alleyway

Fuglen

The Scream

Life Drawing

Fuglen

Fuglen

National Gallery

We were all blown away by the quality of the selection in Oslo's National Gallery. Our reaction was very likely related to the previous 3 weeks where we'd been exposed to some of the most amazing landscapes we'd ever seen, a small selection of what this crazy country has to offer. The landscape paintings of Norwegian artists like Johan Christian Dahl, Caspar David Friedrich, Harald Sohlberg, painted 250 years previously but masterfully capturing some of the beauty we'd just traveled through, was exhilarating. Of course seeing Munch's Scream in person was also impressive, but not as impressive as some of his other work, also on display in the museum. 

National Gallery

National Gallery. Munch's "The Day After" in the background

National Gallery

The 50 Euro Salad

Oslo Light

Hiking Blackberry Zombies

 One

 Two

 Three......... JUMP! The *only* synchronised jumpshot of the entire trip

On our second day in the city we took a train out to the northern suburbs towards the wooded areas around Sognsvann lake for a hike on our first day in the city. 

Hike at Sognsvann Lake, Oslo

Sweaty vests

Near the Kafe Oslo

What does a geometric fox say?

Skip Oslo

Sisters




Shopping


Toy shop closed


The joy of discovering Softy's Scandanavian  cousin "Softvig"




Summer in Oslo


Gotta love the inventiveness and ingenuity of Scandanavian playground design


Summer evening in Oslo


The ladies at the end of an epic adventure


Voyeuristic glimpse into Oslo apartment living


Blitz 30c This building was around the corner from our hotel. 

Food wise, we had some of the best food we've ever had in Oslo. We started with 10pm Sushi on the harbour on our first evening, followed by the best burgers in Oslo at Døgnvill Burger. And last but not least a crazy good Italian called Trattoria Popolare on the last night of our Norway adventure. We went looking for gnocchi and despite a schoolboy misunderstanding of the menu (gnocchi sardi is not gnocchi) the excellent waitress negotiated with the chef to get us each a main plate of gnocchi. I also managed to have honestly the best ravioli and spaghetti dishes I've had anywhere along with a bunch of other random small plates, each tastier than the one before. A complete blow out but we all thoroughly enjoyed (and earned) it after our long slog on the road. A fitting victory dinner for such a great adventure. It all worked out.

Welcome home.

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

by Dr. Seuss

Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You're off to Great Places!

You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes

You can steer yourself

any direction you choose.

You're on your own. And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.

About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."

With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,

you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any

you'll want to go down.

In that case, of course,

you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there

in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen

and frequently do

to people as brainy

and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen,

don't worry. Don't stew.

Just go right along.

You'll start happening too.

OH!

THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!

You'll be seeing great sights!

You'll join the high fliers

who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.

You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.

Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.

Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't

Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so

but, sadly, it's true

and Hang-ups

can happen to you.

You can get all hung up

in a prickle-ly perch.

And your gang will fly on.

You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch

with an unpleasant bump.

And the chances are, then,

that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,

you're not in for much fun.

Un-slumping yourself

is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.

Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.

A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!

Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?

How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...

or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?

Or go around back and sneak in from behind?

Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,

for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused

that you'll start in to race

down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace

and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,

headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go

or a bus to come, or a plane to go

or the mail to come, or the rain to go

or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow

or waiting around for a Yes or a No

or waiting for their hair to grow.

Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite

or waiting for wind to fly a kite

or waiting around for Friday night

or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake

or a pot to boil, or a Better Break

or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants

or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.

Everyone is just waiting.

NO!

That's not for you!

Somehow you'll escape

all that waiting and staying.

You'll find the bright places

where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,

once more you'll ride high!

Ready for anything under the sky.

Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!

There are points to be scored. there are games to be won.

And the magical things you can do with that ball

will make you the winning-est winner of all.

Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,

with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't.

Because, sometimes, they won't.

I'm afraid that some times

you'll play lonely games too.

Games you can't win

'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!

Whether you like it or not,

Alone will be something

you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance

you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.

There are some, down the road between hither and yon,

that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go

though the weather be foul

On you will go

though your enemies prowl

On you will go

though the Hakken-Kraks howl

Onward up many

a frightening creek,

though your arms may get sore

and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike

and I know you'll hike far

and face up to your problems

whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course,

as you already know.

You'll get mixed up

with many strange birds as you go.

So be sure when you step.

Step with care and great tact

and remember that Life's

a Great Balancing Act.

Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.

And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?

Yes! You will, indeed!

(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...

be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray

or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,

you're off to Great Places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting.

So...get on your way!