Day 7: Bergen to Stavanger

Neither of us slept well at all. The other B&B guests came in late and got up early, it was really light outside (or more importantly, inside) and the seagulls were super loud!  So we were both really cheery when we got up 😉

We made our way to the ferry at 7.30 and waited to board. This boat wasn’t quite as fancy as the one from Flam to Bergen but the captain made up for it with cheer! It was cloudy and cold so we didn’t venture to the top deck and we both kept nodding off. Most of the journey seamed to weave in and out of islands and channels but you could tell when we were on the coast itself as there was a lovely, and totally nauseating undulating motion! Thankfully those parts of the journey weren’t too long and we made it to Stavanger on time, but still pretty grumpy!

We left our bags at the hotel and wandered around. It was a lot bigger than I expected and there were also lots of Scouts everywhere. We found out there was a big camp happening so that explained that! We walked to the koncerthus, a new building a lot like the opera house in Oslo really. On the way we saw another massive cruise ship, the Oriana from Hamilton. Mr.J didn’t believe it really had come from there but then we heard some definite antipodean accents and he was proved wrong! There were also loaaaddds of jelly fish by the cruise ships.

We walked through the old town; like a lot of places we’ve visited,  the original buildings were burnt down in the past but were rebuilt. These were all small, white wooden buildings set by cobbled roads so it really did feel like an old town.

We were pretty tired by this time so we went for a nap. It turned into more of a 2-3 hour sleep – whoops, but by the looks of things it had been raining a lot anyway…..

Day 6: Bergen

Despite the nearby seagulls auditioning for parts in “Finding Nemo”, think “Mine! Mine!”, we slept OK!  We met a Mum and daughter from Sheffield at breakfast in our B&B with 3 rooms- small world – as well as a German couple but they weren’t as chatty!

We wandered around the fish market before heading to the furnicular up one of the seven “mountains” that surround Bergen. I say “mountain” as they’re only about 300-350m high so I think they’re more like hills. The view from the top was good though, although I had to concur with Mr. J when he said “it would be very picturesque if it wasn’t full of ships”. I think the best way I can describe it is functional!

There were a few different walking trails from the top so we wandered about and eventually found a nice bench by a small lake where we chilled out in the sun watching a family of ducks and seagulls diving for bread. We saw a couple of fish jump too but Mr.J was disappointed that none of them winked…..

When we came back down we found another bench in the park, where we had lunch. We walked up to the main church – also more functional than ornate, and meandered around the university and less touristy areas. The architecture in towns is very different to the clountryside; I realise that’s probably stating the obvious but in the towns/cities a lot of the houses are very traditional but just in a different way.

We wandered toward the aquarium in the afternoon. We didn’t go there but just explored the area. It was much more suburban here and clearly where locals were hanging out. It was warm and sunny and there were lots of people sunbathing and having picnics.

We ate at a place called “Zupperia” in the evening; they had lots of soups and a lot of east Asian dishes so I had a Thai red curry. It was yummy and full of veggies too, although like a lot of the food we’ve eaten in Norway I thought it was quite salty. We had an early night though so we could catch our ferry the next morning so that was our time in Bergen!

Day 5 : Flam to Bergen

It was a bit overcast when we woke up in Flam but Mr.J was excited to see a cruise ship coming in to dock. After breakfast we went to the co-op to buy some of their lovely bread with cheese, leeks and bacon in it but sadly, the bread selection was minimal. I guess the bakers don’t work on Sundays here.

Our ferry to Bergen was due to depart at 3.30pm so we decided to combine a couple of the local walks in the Flam valley. We started by walking to the Flam church. It was a gentle walk up the valley, parallel to the railway really. There wasn’t anything too exciting to see other than the lovely valley itself but the church was quite picturesque. It was built around 1600 and it was pretty small and simple as churches go. The graveyard was most interesting as you got a feel for the families that have lived in the area for many generations.

From the church we walked back down the valley and then crossed the river to walk up to the bottom of the Brykkefossen waterfall. We’d seen this from the other side of the walk and it looked like it would be a fairly steep walk and in the guide it was listed as “Category 3 – steep climb”. The sun had also got out so it was a bit warm and I was already starting to regret wearing a long sleeved top.

The path was well signed with little wooden markers with red tips so we found then start easily enough, albeit guarded by sheep! The path wasn’t particularly scenic, we wound up a scree section before entering the trees and it was mostly just twisting and turning up through the woods. We had no idea how far the bottom of the waterfall was at all!

I had to stop for a few rests as a) I’d have needed some anyway as I’m crap at hills; b) I’m not as fit as I was as I’ve not been doing any exercise for the last 3 months and c) I was really hot so I needed to drink lots but this was difficult as I also needed to breathe a lot so it was a compromise between oxygen and water at times! Mr.J scouted ahead during a particularly steep section but returned fairly quickly to tell me I was nearly there. Bit of a fib but it wasn’t too much further.

The view was completely worth it though. We were about 20 metres away from the waterfall but we were still getting plenty of mist which was very refreshing. There was the ever-present rainbow near the base of the falls too and it was quite mesmerising to watch sheets of water slide of the bottom tier into the pool below us. Mr.J had fun taking photos though and also scoffing the remainder of the chocolate Swiss roll because he struggled to get it back in the packet!!

The descent was fine and it didn’t take very long for us to reach the harbour again. We grabbed a hot dog for lunch and an ice cream to help stay cool in the sunshine of course. We collected our bags and chilled out on the grass whilst we waited for boarding the ferry to commence. Mr.J was pleasantly surprised to pick up WiFi from the ferry so we were optimistic of following Andy Murray’s progress at Wimbledon via BBC live text at least.

When we got on the ferry our hopes grew further as there was a pretty big TV showing the tour de France. Naturally we grabbed some seats in front of the TV and after about 45 minutes the channel was randomly turned over to the Wimbledon finale – in HD!! Winner. There were a couple of dicey moments when the Grammys came on and also teletext but I went to the kiosk and asked the lady to sort it out. She was most obliging. We also lost signal a few times when we came into dock to collect people and drop people off hut once we moved away from sheltered areas it was fine!

It was hard not to cheer too loudly or clap too much but by the end of the match most people were quietly cheering Andy on, including the Americans sat near us who I’d had to explain the rules on challenges too. The only downside was that there was no sound so I haven’t heard his post match interview but we recorded the match and I’ll watch the last bit when we get home. It was very hard not to run round the ship cheering “GO ANDY!” but I managed it, just.

We arrived in Bergen 20 minutes later than scheduled, at 9pm, but I’m not complaining as we got to watch the tennis. The sun was just starting to set so after finding our lovely B&B, we wandered out to make the most of the “golden hour”. We walked around the harbour to the oldest buildings and onto some historical buildings. Naturally, one of these (a royal residence built in the 1500s) was being done up so was covered in scaffolding!

Day 4: Flåm

Well I’m back, after a successful first appearance on the last Jenkinsunts adventure I’ve been asked to produce my 2nd ever travel blog! Much like a bands difficult second album, today’s post has a lot to live up to, but I’ll try my best.

Today we woke up to find the weather much improved , having gone to sleep with the cloud pretty low we arose to find the sun out (although not quite as Dr J expected, having confused the yellow glow of a spot light in the hotels garden with sunrise at about 4am!) and a virtually cloudless sky. We decided to press ahead with our plan to visit Gudvangen, which is a 20 min drive away by road or a 2 hour plus boat ride by Fjord. We of course choose to take the boat…. In both directions. We stocked up on food, including a giant Swiss roll (having passed on the fish for breakfast!) , and embarked on our voyage. The boat was pretty busy with tourists , and seating space, or at least the more comfortable plastic chairs, were at a premium. At this point I should point out that my being asked to blog today of all days isn’t a coincidence. Essentially I’m blogging to prevent Dr J writing something that may cause an international diplomatic incident. Let’s say that the majority of our fellow passengers were of a different culture background and east/west hemisphere to ourselves. We managed to grab one chair between us, a moderate success, and essential to survival given the general pervading attitude to personal space. Dr J soon faced her very own Karl Picklington moment (for those not familiar google An Idiot Abroad), when the family sitting next to us, well almost on top of us, found their own garden table and crates to perch at and begin lunch! Even before lunch was concluded (loudly) , rather than sustain themselves they decided it better to sustain the passing Guls. Given the cost of food here (think £8 a pint, £3 a loaf of bread) this did seem extremely generous to the local wildlife. Maybe being from a seaside resort, Seagulls do not hold the same appeal to me, but rather than admiring the amazing steep sided Fjords, the most sought after picture of the day seemed to be getting a shitehawk to eat from your hand. This was achieved with various good stuffs from the traditional bread, through crackers, cake, sausage (3 varieties including chorizo) to a full banana. Wonders never cease.  We reached Gudvangen with a full compliment of passengers, Dr J just about avoiding throwing anyone overboard, but it was a close run thing.

The return journey was a much more peaceful and enjoyable affair, with most of the outward cargo not staying onboard for the return trip. We now had a chance to really enjoy the Fjord (and a chair each), which is the 2nd longest in Norway, at points as narrow as 250 metres and up to 1200 metres deep.  There were countless impressive waterfalls dropping from the tops of cliffs above. There was also a number of pretty hamlets along the sides, including one home to the smallest church in the Nordic countries. We enjoyed the relaxing trip sat in the sun watching the world go by. On return to Flåm we rewarded our earlier good behaviour ( we suffered the trials of the outward journey with typical British stiff upper lip attitude) with an ice cream – mine seeming to be a Cornetto on Steroids – bigger, nuttier and more chocolatey!

We’ve now eaten tea, pizza in an old railway carriage, and are about to play tonights round of Bananagrams, wish me luck!

Day 3: Oslo to Flam

It was a much warmer and drier day in Oslo. I even managed to venture out without my cardigan on! We didn’t have too long in Oslo before we had to catch our train but we had enough time to visit the 13th century fort. We walked up to the old walls where there was a great view of the harbour and out to the small islands nearby, and also over to the massive ski jump which was used for the winter Olympics. There was an even bigger cruise ship than the day before. This one was gargantuan; like the size of the baddies who come out of the sky in Avengers Assemble. There were some old canons at the fort and lots of the buildings were still in military use too but it was also cobbled and very Carcassone-esque!

We grabbed our bags and walked to the station shortly after that. This time Mr.J used his rucksack straps properly and carried his bag like a man. Phew. We collected our tickets from the machine without fuss and I was sent to buy lunch for the train. That’s harder than it sounds when you have no idea what flavour crisps you’re buying or even the vaguest idea how to pronounce “skinks” (ham). Thankfully the Norwegians all seem to be multilingual so I was able to return with food. I think I’ve got the pronunciation of “thanks” sorted now so that’s a start!

The train was at the platform so we boarded. Mr.Js chivalrous streak popped up as he carried both big bags and I carried the little bags as I was a bit hot and tired. It may not come as a surprise to any British people but the train had plenty of luggage room and even more leg room! It also departed on time. The only downside for me was the noisy and rather smelly people sat behind me. They were also a little on the large side and so grabbed my seat every time they got up, which felt like someone was swinging on it. Grrrrrrrr.

The journey itself was magnificent though. We stopped at loads more placed than I expected and I was really surprised how populated the route was. The journey started through more “urban” places as we left Oslo and then moved into more farm land type of landscape but there were plenty of little red, and other coloured wooden houses and in some cases swanky apartments, along the way even in what appeared to be the countryside. We started to climb and the landscape became a lot more like the lake district, with steep hills on one side and lakes on the other. But again what I really noticed were how many houses there were and that unlike at home where they’re concentrated in a village centre, these were spread out all the way up the valley sides.

The landscape became even more rugged, but still very lush and green, and reminded me a lot of the Scottish highlands. There were lots of granite outcrops and steep green hills and points of lakes/fjords. At some places we were very close to the water and at others it was like we were weaving across the peaks of the hills. There were all lots of waterfalls too, all in good flow. Eventually we reached 1,222m above sea and the here there were lots of patches of snow and lots of small lakes. It was a bit bizarre as the water made it feel like you were at sea level but I guess the granite just means that all the melt gathers in small lakes and stuff. It had also got a lot cooler, down to 7 degrees Celsius from the 24 we left at Oslo!

We started to descend and at about 1000m the snow disappeared but there were even more waterfalls to see. We changed trains at Myrdal,about 850m above sea level, along with a good proportion of the other train passengers. The railway line from Myrdal to Flam is about 20km long and drops from 850m to 2m above sea level, with a gradient of 1in 18 at the steepest. From Mydral looking down into the Flam valley, I reckon there were more waterfalls than in Rivendell though!!

The train stopped for 5 minutes at Kjusfossen, a 93m free fall and a big, powerful, loud, white frothy kind of waterfall. There were lots of other places, in between the tunnels, where there were spectacular views down the valley. The majority of the waterfalls were long, thin ribbon ones cascading from the top of the valley all the way down.

We found our hotel easily enough – it’s not exactly a metropolis, and although it’s basic it does the job, and er have an amazing view of the fjord! We went to the local craft brewery/pub for tea. Mr.J had a “Viking Plank”; a tasting menu of beer and food!

I had a yummy beef burger, and I am proud to say I ate the tomato AND pickle! Round 3 of Bananagrams was won by me though, but it was another very close game, but still: 2-1.

Day 2: Oslo

Well, I am sad to say that my faith and trust in the Norwegian weather forecast service is somewhat reduced today. Despite the hourly forecast showing only cloud, it was drizzly and showery for most of the day. Maybe they’re more accurate further afield where there is less pressure and fewer complaints?!

We started the day by strolling to the National Gallery, wandering past a few nice squares and a lot of statues on the way. They seem really into those but there wasn’t much detail or information near most of the ones I saw. There was a special Munch exhibition on at the National Gallery but that meant we had to pay double the amount to go in. We’re not exactly art fanatics so we were going to just pay to see the regular collection, but because of the way they’d done the Munch exhibit there was hardly any normal collection to see. So the G4S lady explained anyway.

The Munch exhibit was interesting though. I only really knew about “The Scream” so I was surprised to see how different his style was at different times through his career. Despite being much smaller than usual I enjoyed what was on display from the regular collection. In one small room, which was maybe 10ft wide and 30ft long they had Picasso, Gauguin, Cezanne, Rodin, Degas, Manet and Monet. I don’t think there are many galleries where you’d see so many greats in one room. I was particularly interested in “The Thinker”, the expression was very intense.

After the museum we braved the drizzle to visit the Royal Palace. Like much of Oslo, it was being renovated in 2013 so then whole front drive was dug up! We did see a lot of embassy cars heading in and out and watched then guards marching up and down. Sadly, capillary action had set in for Mr.J and I wasn’t best pleased with his umbrella technique so we stopped off for a rest at a hotel. I suspect that in a more reasonably priced country we’d have found a cafe but not in Norway!

After lunch we walked to Akker Brygge – basically the very newly done up harbour. Lots of the buildings, former warehouses I think, have been converted to state of the art offices or swanky apartments. There was a new museum there too. We stopped for lunch and strolled back past the town hall – a fairly ugly red brick 50s building, and then along the harbour front to the new Opera house.

I’m not really sure how to describe it really. The exterior is all white marble and the roof is slanted, and accessible to pedestrians on either side. Inside, it was a kind of spiral, wooden structure that reminded me a bit of the Guggenheim museum main New York. We walked up to the roof and despite the cloud we got a pretty good view across the harbour and across the city centre.

We strolled back to our hotel after that and stumbled on one of the days highlights. This is no reflection on Oslo by the way, but on me and my geekery I think. I saw a shop with Ticket to Ride in the window so I dragged Mr.J in. There was the best collection of (decent) games I’ve ever seen in the flesh!! Catan, Carcassone, Dominion and all the expansions for all three. A new version of Bezzerwizzer I’ve not seen at home which appears to use a xylophone (!!), and literally tens of other Spiel des Jahres winners and other noteworthy games. What was uneven more exciting is that prices were equivalent to UK prices. I found that astounding in a country where it costs £8 for a beer.

In the evening we headed to an Italian for tea. I don’t think it was quite as nice as the place we went to yesterday but it was still pretty good. They did get brownie points for automatically serving tap water though as that doesn’t seem standard here.

We alsdo managed to squeeze in another game of Bananagrams.  Mr.J snatched a last minute victory from me on Wednesday, but I narrowly beat him. 1-1.

Day 1: Travel to Oslo

Nothing too exciting to report from today really. We drove to the airport, my hand luggage got stopped at security and it turned out we’d left some suncream in there so that was the last we saw of that, and then we got a coffee whilst we waited for the flight. The flight was nowhere near full so we got a row of three seats to ourselves but we were only in the air for about 1.5 hours so it didn’t matter too much anyway. It was really cloudy so we didn’t see anything interesting coming in to land.

Our bags appeared in no time and we were soon sat on a bus waiting to go from Oslo Rygge to actual Oslo. It took about an hour but it was interesting to see the scenery. It’s such a contrast to our last adventure in the States. I love the red wooden houses and how green it all is. 

We walked to our hotel after we arrived here and didn’t take too much in. This was mostly because Mr.J stubbornly refused to use the rucksack part of his baggage and would only carry it by one long strap but this meant it was rather awkward to carry. Loser. I had my rucksack on my back and my day bag on my front – easy and hands free! Nevertheless we made it to the hotel and had a rest before heading out in search of food.

When we did head out it was raining but to Mr.Js credit he had snook his umbrella into my luggage so he was fine. As ever, I had my waterproof so my only issue was not getting poked in the eye or catching the run off from Mr.Js appalling use of an umbrella. He is a hazard!! We strolled around randomly and saw the Parliament building, but as is so often the case when we’re visiting anywhere, it was being renovated and was hidden under scaffolding and a picture of what it should look like!  We also wandered by an old church and into some more mainstream shopping areas. There’s quite a mix of old and new architecture really but hopefully we’ll explore more of this tomorrow.

We ate at a place called Cafe Sara. It was 98 NKR for a 7up and 0.5L of lager. That’s about £10 so not quite as expensive as it will be in Flam I’m sure but Mr.J did manage to only have the one!! The food we ate was pretty yum though. Mr.J had beef fajitas and I had a lamb stew. The stew itself had loads of really tender lamb, with carrots, green beans and potatoes in a lovely gravy. And I got a warm baguette, salad and this extra yummy corn rice too. It’s safe to say I’m quite full!!

The only issue we have is that we feel awful that all we can manage in Norwegian is “Takk”. We might have to work on the language but I’m not sure we’ll get very far. Some words look a lot like French or German but the pronunciation is very different. I did see a sign that said “Sunt and Godt” and according to Mr.Js translator app, “Sunt” means healthy!! 

Anyway, it’s time for a game of Bananagrams……

Norway 2013

So, if you didn’t get the hint in my last post I can now reveal that we’re off to Norway this summer! It’s only going to be a 10 day trip, so much shorter than the last 3 adventures but as we’ll still be travelling around, by public transport, I think it counts as an adventure!  The flights and most of the accommodation are booked so it’s just trains and ferries left to book but it’s too early to book the trains at the moment.

The map page shows our broad itinerary; essentially it’s a circular route starting in Oslo for some sight seeing before we head west to Flam on the train to see some fjords.  In Flam, the plan is to do a bit of walking and take a scenic ferry trip (or two) along the Aurlandsfjord and Sognefjord before we take a fast ferry to Bergen where we’ll spend a day sightseeing.  From Bergen another express ferry will take us south to Stavanger, and from there we can head to Pulpit Rock (pictured above).  I’m really keen to walk up there but I’m also already pretty scared about this as my fear of heights and edges (aka death cliffs) seems to be getting worse with age so it’s really going to test my nerve!  From Stavanger, we’ll be taking the train back to Oslo and then heading home!  I think some of this last leg might be quite scenic too as the railway runs along the south coast so that should be good.

As we’ll be using public transport I’m thinking of taking my rucksack on this trip as we’ll need to walk between railway stations, ferries and accommodation and store our luggage on trains and ferries so a rucksack has to be better then a suitcase and although I don’t know what Mr. J will think about this, I have a feeling that I could guess and he won’t like it!  We both took rucksacks when we went inter railing in 2005 (gosh, that was a looong time ago!) but I suspect that Mr. J won’t think that rucksacks are befitting of people our age!

Plans….

…are afoot. I can’t say much more than that at this stage as Mr.J is dragging his heels but I’ve booked the time off work and we have a spreadsheet in the Dropbox folder so that’s all the confirmation I need to be able to say: It’s on!!!!!

Photo credit: Robyn Jay

Photos!!

So, I know I still have one post to finish writing but in the mean time go check out Mr.Js photos!!  He has very high standards as I think the select few which made it on to his Flickr page account for around 5% of all of the photographs he took (although I am taking credit for taking some of the ones which made the cut!).