The Albatross Norway tour started off early to get on the road quickly as we had a long way to go. We drove out of Geiranger and along the fjord shore to the Eagle’s Road, which took us up the side of the mountain in 8 or 9 hairpin bends (each with a name!). We stopped at a lookout at the top, with a magnificent view down to the fjord and back to Geiranger.

On the road again, we crossed a plateau, with green grass and trees, lots of water and rain, with cloud among jagged peaks above us. We descended to cross the fjord at Eidsdal to Linge then climbed gradually up again. We had a break when we stopped at Gudbrandsjuvet, where a river surges into a chasm, plunging down into the depths beneath a pedestrian walkway. It was wild.

The rain set in again as we drove onward, the roadside was still green but getting rockier as we ascended. We could see lakes and waterfalls beside the road. Norway seems to be very watery! We followed a river along and arrived at Trollstigen, where the river widened into a pool and then plunged over the edge of the hanging valley. We stopped to explore the lookouts along the edge.  There were good views of the river tumbling over the rocks. Then I looked down at the road we were about to follow – wow. The road clung to the slope and is narrow with numerous hair-pin bends. Lots of water was falling into the valley.

We made it down, although the traffic was stopped for us in a particularly narrow section with a bridge, and in other places we had to wait for oncoming traffic. It was an exciting ride! Once we were safely down we followed the river along the valley, but turned right to go to visit a well-known (apparently!) climbing spot. The Trollveggen is a vertical cliff face towering 1000 metres high. The Visitor’s Centre was open, so this became our lunch stop. We watched a documentary about the first successful climb up the cliff, which took the team several days as they had to work out the route as they went. Later, people began to climb up and then ‘base jump’ off the top. Quite a few people have died either in the climb or from trying to parachute down, so restrictions are now enforced. It was an interesting video. Unfortunately, our view of the cliff was rather obscured by rain and cloud, but I did get one misty shot.  Our route then took us through Andalsnes and, via a quick ferry ride, along the coast to Molde, our overnight stop. Our room was small, it was a case of “it’s only for one night” again! Here we had a delicious meal in a local restaurant. As we walked back to the hotel, we observed one of the Hurtigruten (since 1893) coastal transport ships arrive, the Polarlys. I was fascinated by the loading of a couple of cars, that drove aboard at the side onto what appeared to be a large elevator to take them to storage areas.  Some passengers disembarked to briefly explore the town, but they only had an hour or so here.

The next day (Friday, 14 July) we set off by 9 am and had a short drive to the fishing village of Bud. We saw our first of the traditional red fishermen’s huts, built on stilts out over the water. There was a lighthouse that had been repositioned here from out on the coast. A small church with an onion dome steeple could be seen further up the hill. 

We moved on to the Bud Museum, which concentrated on the occupation of the town by the Germans during the Second World War. Observation posts and accommodation was built and large artillery installed. Thirty-six houses in Bud were requisitioned and razed, along with eight barns and boathouses to allow for this building. The military area was cordoned off with barbed wire and guards. The German occupation force was going to demolish the Church, but the outcry resulted in only the steeple being taken down. We donned safety helmets and were taken down into the tunnels of the lookout and supply bunkers. There was a lot of information to absorb from the displays.

After our museum visit, we re-boarded our coach and set off along the coast road, through green fields and hills, and crossing more rivers. The road merged into the Atlantic Coastal Road, a series of road bridges linking small coastal islands making a scenic drive and a needed link road for the coastal communities. We stopped for a walk round one of the little islands, just after crossing a spectacular arched, curved bridge. The stretch of road over the islands is 8.2 kms.

Moving on, we got to Kristiansund for our lunch break – fish and chips from a harbour-side caravan. The harbour pier held a statue of a fishwife and a WWII mine repurposed as a War memorial.

Our afternoon drive took us through more amazing country-side, another short ferry ride, and into Trondheim where we had a two night stay.

The Albatross Norway tour got underway relatively early on the 11 th of July. We left Balestrand by 8 am and got the early ferry over to Hella, then drove up the valley to a Glacier Museum. We started with a video about the Glacier Park, the Jostedalsbreen. It was really well done, with brilliant photography/videoing. Later I saw another video on how the documentary was made – also very interesting. I learned a lot about glaciers and the properties of this kind of pressurised ice. There was a demonstration of how a weighted wire will cut slowly through a block of ice, with the ice resealing behind it. There was a demonstration of lake formation and a display about Otzi the iceman (whom I had seen in Bardolino). The museum had a full size model polar bear inside (not sure why – did polar bears come this far south during the ice-ages??) and sculpted woolly mammoths outside (they were definitely around here). We could also walk up on top of the museum roof and admire the scenery, although it was a day of low cloud and showers, so the mountain tops were hidden.

After the Glacier Centre, we drove up the valley to the edge of a glacier, Boyabreen. It hung on the rim of a hillside above a lake formed by its run-off. We could also see the edge of the glacial sheet on the other side of a rather tougher bit of rock. However, after admiring the view for a time, the cloud descended further and the glacier was hidden.

Back on the road towards Geiranger, there was some awesome scenery as we drove. Mountains, meadows, villages, hills, forests and waterfalls, all cloaked by a low layer of cloud. Occasionally a still stretch of water reflected the scenery. It was a lovely drive and would have been even more spectacular on a clear day! I took many photos from the coach window, but rarely managed to get the horizon horizontal, my apologies.

We stopped at Hellesylt, in order to board the ferry to Geiranger (with our coach). We had time to look around and found an old mill rooved with vegetation and once powered by the noisy tumbling  waterfall, or water-chute, that it was built beside. There were two large cruise ships in the fjord and many people milling about, so I avoided the tourist shops!

Our driver had to fight his way onto the ferry as there were so many people and vehicles trying to get aboard. Once on, we left the coach and found our way to the lounge. It was raining by then, so we were happy enough inside at first. However, once we moved into the fjord, I had to be outside to properly admire the towering cliffs and thin tracery of waterfalls. Wet weather gear helped, but I took photos between showers.

We climbed back on the coach to drive off the ferry and up to our hotel, above the village and right next to the river that crashed down the hillside into the fjord. There was a great view from our room down the fjord. Our dinner that night in the hotel was a buffet, with four tables just for desserts, one of cheeses and one gluten free. Yum!

The following day, 12 July, the coach took us up the mountain to a sky-high lookout. We drove up to a hanging valley well above the fjord, then up further and further, the road close to looming mountain sides then zig-zagging upwards across the slope and past the tree line.  We passed an icy lake and then negotiated more hair-pin bends to reach the summit, Dalsnibba Skyview, 1500 metres above the fjord. We were lucky that the weather had cleared up somewhat, and that we had made an early start. The view down the valley to the fjord far below was spectacular! After admiring it suitably and taking lots of photographs, we ducked into the shop for hot chocolate. It was cold and blustery outside. Then we made our way carefully back down the road. We stopped at another viewpoint at the edge of the hanging valley, the view that the less fortunate get, if the Skyview terrace is clouded in. Our guide said that this was her first time right up to the top, as on her previous four trips it was clouded in.

We got off the coach at our hotel to revise our clothing and packs, then made our way to the path beside the river. We walked beside the tumultuous waterfall, which careened round rocks and down precipitous falls at a frantic rate, until it reached the bottom and frothed its way to the fjord.

We bought some sandwiches and drinks to eat beside the water, looking out over the fjord across the floating walkway used when a cruise ship visits, luckily not that day! We looked round a few touristy shops and enjoyed a lovely art gallery (boasting that it is a ‘Troll free zone – no souvenirs’). We climbed back up the waterfall path, this time noticing the old power generation station still beside the water, it was built in the early 20^th century to provide power to the hotel. At the top, we visited the Fjord Museum. This provided a good insight into the fjord-side life, scratching a living from the narrow bits of flat-ish fertile land and constantly wary of avalanches and the tsunamis that they cause. Tourists must be a welcome source of additional income.

A further walk through the trees and back to the hotel finished off the activity for our stay in Geiranger, the next morning we were off for a long mountain drive with an overnight in Molde and then on to Trondheim.