6 September 2023

Another day, another adventure!! Today we had no plans, (now there’s a surprise!) but we still had Ruby for one more day. And she still had 3/4 of a tank of diesel.

Grahame googled “Day road trips from Bergen”, and next thing we were off to a place called Fedje. Just because we could!

“Fedje – the village in the ocean is a small island municipality on the outermost coast of Western Hordaland. People live side by side around the harbour in the north of the island, and its total population is just 600. Fedje is 7.4 square kilometres, and there are also hundreds of small islets and skerries.” (Google)

Grahame, with Emily as co-pilot negotiated the city roads brilliantly and it wasn’t long before we were back in the countryside, breathing the fresh air. And admiring the scenery.

Today was a brilliant day!! Clear skies, light breeze and lots of sunshine. Couldn’t ask for better.

The landscape heading north was so different from the sheer cliffs and waterfalls of the last few days. The countryside was gentler.

Once we left the city, the roads narrowed again and we often had to pull over to allow busses, tractors, garbage trucks and cars to pass by.

We arrived at the ferry terminal and drove straight onto our car ferry to Fedje. Ruby is getting good at this procedure and once again secured poll position. Not that there was much competition as there was little traffic heading either to or from Fedje today!!

Safety requirements required us to leave the car and head up to the next deck. Here we purchased the worst cup of coffee to date. A do-it-yourself job with little milk container to ease the pain. Score 1/10 because at least it was hot!

Have I mentioned the snack bread stuff that seems to be popular here? Basically it’s bread, with margarine and sugar, packed up in a saleable package. I didn’t realise it had sugar in it the first time and had it with my ham, cheese and tomato for lunch the other day. (Interesting to say the least.) Well, I bought one on purpose, today, to help wash the coffee down. It didn’t work.

Half an hour later, we were pulling into Fedje harbour under bright sunshine. Lucky, lucky us!

The small wooden houses sparkled in the sunshine.

We googled information on what to do on Fedje.

We opted for Point Three and set off on the narrow roads crisscrossing the island in search of it ! (Grahame was keen for Point Two , but since he’s the “deso” we figured it best to avoid temptation. )

I think I’ll just let the pictures do the talking.

We happened across Hellisøy Lighthouse perched out on its own little Islet. I did a little research and, yes, you can rent the light keepers cottage for a holiday. We just need to organise the little boat over to it. (And a 24 hour plane ride from the other side of the world.)

Our next stop was Fedje Trafikksentral or Fedje Vessel Traffic Service Centre, a vessel traffic service and pilot station. Its main responsibility is handling traffic headed to the offshore bases and refineries. We were allowed to go to the first floor to take in the view from the highest point on the island.

We ended up back at the Church, where we pulled out the picnic basket (plastic bag) and enjoyed lunch in a perfect spot on a perfect day. We shared the view with the Fisherman’s wife.

We absolutely loved our visit to Fedje. We couldn’t get over how quiet it was. And I can confirm that we well and truly fulfilled Point Three.

The homeward ferry arrived and we enjoyed a smooth crossing back to the mainland.

We negotiated the single lanes yet again, with our fellow road users, content in the knowledge that the closer we got to Bergen the wider the roads would become and the stress levels would lower.

No such luck. The lady in Google Maps realised that there was a bit of congestion up ahead and rerouted us! You guessed it. Back to the narrow roads, clinging to steep cliffs , overlooking the shimmering fjords. Stress levels on the rise, again.

Emily reckons that if you want to drive in Norway, you are well advised to practice reversing, specifically down narrow alleyways at high speed, wearing a blind fold.

We drove to Bergen airport and said our fond farewells to Ruby Red. She served us extremely well over the last few days and I bet she enjoyed the adventures as well.

The efficient light rail system quickly transported us back into town and deposited us close to Bryggen, where we toasted our good fortune , seated in the sun, with a beer ( Grahame) and Pear Ciders ( Emily and Jenny)

Dinner was at the local seafood markets. I had the most fantastically spicy mussels, which (big statement alert) has been the best meal I’ve had so far.

We made it back to our spacious lodgings, curled up on the lounge and knocked over a few more episodes of Ted Lasso before finally hitting the sack.

Peace be with you!