September 4 , 2023

That’s a pretty good view to breakfast by.

Our slightly more up market accommodation than last night came with breakfast. We did!

We had planned a pretty easy day, travel wise, for today, so some of us had a bit of a sleep in, followed by a late breakfast (coffee rating: 5/10 , out of a pot) and a bit of a pfaff around, repacking and reorganising stuff before heading off.

I feel the need to discuss something of national significance. It’s something that’s been bothering me since Day 1 and after bottling up my thoughts for several days now, I felt compelled to raise my concerns with my travel buddies. It seems that they have noticed it too.

Doors! Norwegian doors. Specifically entry doors! (But sometimes internal doors, like bathroom doors may be included). Not the sliding type! The swinging type!!

We have been noticing that they open the wrong way. They open outwards, instead of inwards. Which is a bit unfortunate for any unsuspecting passer by, who through no fault of their own, walks smack bang into the outwardly opening door. It happened in Oslo , at the entrance to our Airbnb, which opened onto a particularly busy street, and I’ve noticed it once or twice since.

Last night, when checking into our hotel room , we were met with this even more confusing situation. On opening our room door, which opened outwards into the corridor, thereby causing us to have to move our luggage backwards to make room for the swing, we were immediately met with another front door (????), which sensibly opened inwards despite its superfluous existence. But just inside, on the right was the bathroom and it’s door opened outward. We had three doors in a very small space , with two opening the wrong way and the third serving no purpose whatsoever. It was a recipe for disaster!!!

What should I do with this information?? I’m going to monitor the situation and report back if I think it’s becoming a trend.

We had only travelled a short distance before we arrived at the Mannheller to Frodnes car ferry.

We timed it almost to perfection and didn’t have to wait long before Ruby Red was safely onboard and in poll position!

We went to explore the boat. Below the car deck was quite a large lounge area and cafeteria where the truckies met for a quick coffee and a catch up with fellow travellers. We were still full from breakfast and we preferred the fresh air up on the car deck.

To say that the scenery was spectacular is an understatement.

The ferry crossing is part of the national road system and as such the fee is simply added to the e-tag on our car. The hire company will take it out of our deposit at the end of the trip.

It was after the crossing , that the waterfalls started being a little more predominant on the landscape. Our spotto game of several days ago is well and truly a thing of the past. The score well and truly forgotten!

And then another amazing thing happened! We have passed through a lot of tunnels , some as long as five or six kms long. Today we drove through tunnel 25 kms long!!! 25!!!! It was a long time underground that’s for sure.

We arrived in Flåm, the must visit place, in this part of the world. And it’s amazing. A huge Italian cruise ship was parked at the end of the street, and the little village was bursting with tourists. The “Adventure Activities” shop was doing a roaring trade. You could sign up for mountain biking, zip lining, hiking, RIB boat touring, kayaking, funny little electric car driving, mini train riding , or if all that adventure is not for you, sauna-ing!

The main draw card though is the world renown Flåm Railway. It’s a 20 km stretch of railway between Myrdal (on the main line between Oslo and Bergen) and Flåm down on the Aurlandsfjord.

“With rivers cutting through deep ravines, waterfalls tumbling down precipitous mountainsides, white peaks with small farms clinging to steep slopes, a journey on the Flåm Railway is a trip through Norwegian nature.” ( Thanks Google)

This train ride is so popular that a ticket not only costs an arm and a leg, it had to be booked months ago. Now as you know, we are not that organised, so we hatched a plan.

Google maps indicated a roadway , running almost parallel to the train line, and we had a car!! In hindsight, Google maps should have included a “user, beware” warning, but we decided to give it a crack. I wouldn’t recommend anyone driving it, but Grahame, our very experienced driver negotiated the narrow road marvellously. It got tricky in a few spots where the road was covered with resting goats, who weren’t keen to move, or mountain bike riders (returning from their up hill train ride, having hired bikes at the top) and were in various states of control coming down or, worst of all, when we met another vehicle coming in the opposite direction.

And it was stunning!!!

The peace and quiet of The Valley was occasionally pierced by the shrill screams of these Zip-lining adventurers flying high over head.

Near the Myrdal stop we left the car and walked part way up to the station before realising it was far too steep for us. It was, however, refreshing to stretch our legs and de-stress a little before undertaking the return journey.

We were relieved to have made it back into Flåm and apologise to any of those locals that rolled their eyes and mumbled something about “bloody tourists” (in Norwegian, of course) under their knowledgeable breaths!

We thought it appropriate to visit the local church and offer up a few words if thanks.

And then we went straight for this…..

And a little bit of this…..

So , if you are ever in Flåm and feel the desire to drive up the excutiatingly narrow track beside the famous train line, don’t!!!

We spent the afternoon wandering the village, going on a very short hike up to a viewpoint back over the fjord and that mighty cruise ship, chatting to other “hikers” and appreciating the “vibe”.

Just before 5 pm we got a message that our “Tiny House” Airbnb was ready and we could check in. Now, we have had previous experience with “tiny houses” but this one had two incredibly attractive marketing points. It was in our price range and it had a washing machine. And boy, did we need a washing machine. It also came with its own electric car charging station, but as we are running on diesel, was not required. ( Charging stations are everywhere by the way!)

Our “Tiny House” is almost palatial in comparison with “World Heritage Camping Cabin” and we are once again happy to be warm and dry. And the sound of the nearby waterfall would lull us off to sleep.

We settled in, did our washing and walked back into town for dinner.

The cruise ship was loaded and ready to cast off, so we ate our meatballs and waved to the Italians as they looked down on us from the upper decks and cabin balconies.

Nothing happened! The cruisers kept looking down, the elderly Port Authority people leant against the fence, the ship crew milled around but the ship door remained open , the gang plank down.

Half an hour or so later, meatballs consumed, an ambulance turned up at the gangplank and two paramedics (dressed in red) wheeled their trolley on board. Some poor Italian’s holiday had obviously been ruined! The patient was wheeled out (to the viewing pleasure of thousands of fellow travellers- some even clapped, like they do at sports games) and finally the ship was underway. We watched as the ropes were winched in, the ship did a sort of sideways shimmy to move away from shore and was off. An hour late.

We enjoyed our walk home to our our Tiny House and our very own waterfall, thankful our holiday is still progressing safely.