Kristiansund to Trondheim

Last night was spent standing on a hill, watching the Tahiti Festival on Innlandet, the most historic of Kristiansund’s islands. Apparently it is known locally as Tahiti although no-one knows why. The festival venue holds about 500 people and money raised helps to restore historic waterfront buildings. It’s a big event in the town….the CC Cowboys were well received by the locals but the warm up act covering Bob Seger songs was better.

 

Breakfast, this morning, was spent watching a training session for new recruits struggling to park a lifeboat next to a ladder.  A new first for us was a lesson in how to make fresh Norwegian waffles.

 

Today’s drive had nothing of the drama of the last three, valleys and fjords became wider and it no longer felt like Trolls, which appear every 100 years, might be watching your every move. Apparently, the trolls are due a come back any day now because no-one has seen them in the last 100 years……In fact, the journey felt a little dull despite sunshine and spectacular scenery.

 

We stopped for lunch in a pretty little town called Orkanger and Kim was in lunch heaven – the cafe was attached to a knitting shop. Luckily she couldn’t read Norwegian knitting patterns otherwise we’d be bringing back bags of wool.
The roads became significantly busier as we approached Trondheim which reminded us that we’re tackling the M25 tomorrow.
Trondheim is very pretty with lots of beautiful, historic waterfront buildings. Many have been restored and turned into apartments with great views, although they don’t appear to have much in the way of foundations!

 

The afternoon was spent wandering through the old town before finding ourselves on top of a car park, watching the biggest cruise ship we’ve seen leave port. We also had a great view of the railway and noticed all of the trains are equipped with snowploughs – we truly lived life on the edge today!
 
Having travelled so far north we realise that we are quite close to the Arctic Circle, Narvik is appearing on signposts and it’s very tempting to try and get there as this evening the sun sets at 23:40 and rises again at 3:03. Probably best left for another day. 
It has taken us 4 days to get from Bergen to Trondheim, you can do it by bus in 14 hours. I wonder why we didn’t think of that.

Geiranger to Kristiansund

 

Kim’s turn to drive today and it started scarily with an 11% incline and nine hairpin bends. Luckily we were ahead of most of the coaches but it was still a busy tourist route.

We had a couple of car ferries today the first, about a third of the way along our 130 mile route (you just wouldn’t believe how long it takes to get anywhere in Norway!).  We’re not sure why you would choose a cruise on a ship the size of a small housing estate when you can choose a car ferry!

 

We had a short stop at a beautiful place with a stunning waterfall but this is the picture we have….

 

John made a new friend, Martin from Czech Republic, who is very keen for the UK to remain in the EU. He spends 5 months working in Norway during the summer and comes back again in December for another month selling Christmas trees. Kim was rather jealous of his lifestyle although he does spend his summer living a very tatty caravan!
Next stop, Trollsteigen. Another route similar to the glaciers we have already seen but without the snow. Mountains loomed up around us, waterfalls cascading, rivers running by the side of the road, more hairpin bends, ridiculously steep inclines and descents. This was another truly terrifying route to drive for a Brit that only really potters to Bedford or Luton. Photos really don’t do justice to the drama!

 

The scenery opened out when we left Trollsteigen and, rather than being grateful that the driving became easier, the scenery started to seem a little dull!
Our last treat before arriving in Kristiansund was the Atlantershavsvegen, a route comprising 9 bridges that links a number of islands to the mainland. A stunning drive over the bridge to nowhere..

 

 

We finally arrived in Kristiansund and will save our impressions of the area until tomorrow, other than to say we’ve earned a beer and there is a music festival next to our hotel tonight…. A little different to our wooden hut!

An early start…

Breakfast wasn’t included in our deal for the little wooden hut so we decided to make an early start.

We drove into Geiranger and treated ourselves to locally made cinnamon buns in Ole Cafe – there wasn’t really anything else on offer! Breakfast was fine, but the Americans who arrived shortly after us were not going to be satisfied with a measly bun and wandered off in a huff.
Now to take on today’s challenge of the Trollsteigen and Atlanterhavswegen

An evening in Geiranger

We survived our very long walk into Geiranger for a leisurely dinner – it cost a fortune but it was lovely to eat in a ‘proper’ restaurant. We stuck with drinking local beer (£8/33cl), you need to re-mortgage to drink wine!

 

The meal was lovely, Kim had deer with celeriac, John stayed with the veggie option of quinoa with avocado. Dessert was a shared apple and hazelnut cheesecake. The walk back to our Campinghytter was just right. As we settled down to read on our verandah, we were entertained by the huge cruise ship leaving. Who needs TV when you can watch a ship the size of an 8 storey apartment block sail up a narrow fjord.
Here’s a photo especially for Matt and any chocolate lovers…
Geiranger has its own chocolate maker who drives a Tesla (Teslas are very popular over here and had we’d known the Hertz rent them, we may have upgraded). The logo on the back encourages us to ‘Save the planet, it’s the only one with chocolate’. Even more reason to buy a Tesla……

Sogndal to Geiranger

We woke to sunshine and Sogndal looked a lot prettier. In fact John has chosen his next home. 

Our first stop was the bottom of Boyabreen glacier, the highlight was the cows. According to John, a lot of snot comes out of a cows nose when it sneezes! We’re also experts on H&S for glaciers…..
 

 

 

We had a lovely drive along Nordfjord before grinding to a halt in roadworks. Signs warned of a 30 minute delay which would drive you bonkers in England. Drivers got out of cars and and stood patiently, taking in the scenery.  We’d never seen such a good natured queue and it probably sums up Norwegians. They seem to be very calm and relaxed. We do wonder if that changes in the winter when they don’t see much daylight. Is that when their inner Viking surfaces?
We drove through Olden and encountered our first cruise ship, it completely dwarfed the town which was heaving with passengers desperate to buy souvenirs We kept driving until we found somewhere quieter!

 

We stopped for lunch in Stryn
Next stop, the Gamle Strynefjellsveg. Another amazing drive over a glacier. The poor hire car is really being put through its paces. We were stunned to find a ski lift and small cafe right in the middle of glacier full if enthusiastic snowboarders
Finally we arrived at our little wooden hut in Geiranger. Despite our worst fears, we have our own bathroom and fantastic views. The downsides are we have to make our own beds, clean before we leave and it’s a good 40 minute walk from the town.

 

Bergen to Sogndal

Kim’s turn to drive and the rain has kept us company all day!

Our route took us out along Osterfjord and followed fjord after fjord for 150 miles. The scenery is stunning and we’re not bored of it yet. The roads are lovely to drive, it’s a shame about the tunnels. There are hundreds of them, ranging in length from fat bridges to the longest in the world! Some are dark, narrow and terrifying when driving a hire car with the steering wheel on the wrong side.
 
We stopped for lunch at the old Railway station in Voss which is gearing up for its annual extreme sports festival, it looked like it could very pretty when not covered in grey cloud.
 
For the last half of our drive, Aurland to Laerdal, we had a choice……… longest tunnel in the world or the snow road across the top of the glacier which only opens in the summer. 25km in a tunnel or 48km over the mountain? Snow route it was! The climb up the mountain was terrifying – single track road, hairpin bends and sheer drops off the edge. We stopped halfway up for Kim to have a break, stop shaking and man up. 

After a few deep breaths we were on our way and it was spectacular when reached the top. The temperature plummeted to 4 degrees and we drove for miles through snowdrifts higher than the car, past frozen lakes. We ventured out of the car long enough to practise our selfie skills (more work needed, we think)

 

Feeling rather smug having arrived safely back at fjord level, we decided that we couldn’t miss out on the longest road tunnel in the world and chose to do the 50km round trip it would take to drive through the tunnel and back again. The tunnel has been designed with special rest areas and they are very special…

 

We finally arrived in Sogndal and found in a little cafe  overlooking the fjord for dinner. Homemade fish soup and carrot soup washed down by a selection of 3 (out of 40) local beers on offer and a game of chess. A lovely way to end the day.

 

Tomorrow night we’re staying in a wooden hut with communal showers and toilets so we shall make the most of our hotel tonight.

 

Breakfast in Bergen

We finally called it a day at 11:30 last night and it was still light! There is something very appealing about a country that has warm sunshine after 10pm.

This morning, a leisurely breakfast called to us (Kim mainly) before our 5-6 hour drive to Sogndal

Kim was in breakfast heaven – fresh fruit, cheese, fish, more cheese, salad and unlimited tea!

 

Discovery of the day was that pickled herring in mustard trumped pickled herring in tomato. John’s face was a picture, he doesn’t do fish. Diane does so, perhaps Kim should have bought her mum along!
John really pushed the boat out with muesli and a boiled egg, his biggest surprise was when his egg turned out to be soft-boiled rather than hard

John’s new friends…

As you know John has a habit of striking up conversations with complete strangers. Last night he did it again and was invited in to the home of his new friends Geir and Judit Tangerud. Geir used to have two jobs so he could afford his hobbies, of cars and motorcycles, now he has just the one job helping drug addicts get rehabilitated, the cars have gone but he still has his bikes.

First was Geir’s Rowbike, no pedals you just pull on the lever rowing style, downsides and their are many is it looked very unstable and very hard work

 

Next up was Geir’s Pedersen bike, the frame is a work of art and the idea is to provide a very upright riding position. In the winter Geir fits it with studded tyres for riding in the snow,
Finally we have Judit’s, ladies version of the Pedersen, you would never know from looking at it.

 

John was only meant to take a photo of the pots!!

A long way down

The funicular up to Mount Floyen was fantastic and the views from the top spectacular.

 

In a moment of madness we chose the 45 min walk back down to the centre……. It was a long way down. At one point we were rather scared by the warning signs….

 

We zig zagged and then zig zagged some more, our legs were aching and suddenly we were back in the city centre, approaching it from a beautiful residential area. John has made new friends after we stopped to admire the display of plants.

 

Dinner was in the Fish  Market, eating at a trestle table and drinking a very expensive beer. It’s 10:30 pm and the sun is just about thinking of setting, the evening has been the best part of the day.

 

 

Bergen….

….is really rather lovely although, so far we have only seen the inside of a pub and been on a 4 hour ferry trip round Osterfjord. So much for plans to do culture!

 

We spent vast sums on a spur of the moment trip, fleeces were in the car and, as we headed up to the sun deck on the ferry, we wondered if we’d done the right thing. It was blooming chilly and got chillier as the ferry picked up speed and headed out of the harbour.  The sun made guest appearances from behind clouds, and when it did, it was beautiful. The scenery was stunning, the commentary entertaining.

 

Apparently Edvard Grieg was a local lad and key moments of the trip were accompanied by rousing blasts of his music (Peer Gynt suite for anyone interested!), very dramatic as we sailed through narrow shady gorges and passed waterfalls.

 

Not content with showcasing Greig, the captain pulled up close by a waterfall so that could drink pure mountain water and the romantics could pick flowers from the cliff side – full marks for skillful boat control. We were treated to a blast of Jailhouse Rock as we rounded a prison island, shortly followed by the captain encouraging a passing steam ship to acknowledge his boat by blasting its whistle, purely for the fun of seeing the steamship slow to a halt until it could build up steam again!
Now checked into our hotel to defrost before heading out for dinner and the funicular up to Mount Floyen.

From the Isle of Wight to Norway

Sweyn Forkbeard, King of Denmark and parts of Norway, conquered England and reigned from 1013-1014. His predecessor, Ethelred, fled to the Isle of Wight. Thank you, Google, for a neat link from our last blog to our new adventure.

 
A book Ken bought back from his travels to Norway sparked, in Kim, a lifelong fascination with Norwegian countryside.  

We’re driving along the fjords from Bergen to Trondheim via Geiranger Fjord, Trollsteigen and the Atlantic Road. We are heading for 20 hour daylight, a language we don’t know a single word of, mountains, glaciers and (if we’re really lucky) a troll or two!
An early start awaits us tomorrow

Isle of Wight… Is it technically abroad?

Kim set John the challenge…..’what do you want to do on your birthday’. Little did she think that it would involve a 5am start followed by a flight and cycle ride!!

John’s ideal day turned out to be a hovercraft ‘flight’ to the Isle of Wight on one of the windiest days of the year courtesy of Huricane Abigale, and apparently the official terminology for a hovercraft journey  over water is ‘flying’ not ‘sailing’
We arrived at Portsmouth (Southsea) in time for the 8:15 flight to Ryde on an elderly hovercraft. Hovertravel operate the only regular commercial service in Europe and have been doing so for 50 years. Luckily this particular hovercraft was only 25 years old.  Powered by four large Diesel engines, two of which inflate the skirts raising the craft off the ground while the other two drive massive fans to push it along, an amazing sight as it moves effortlessly between land and water.
What an experience! We arrived in Ryde in 10 minutes, it’s the fastest way to get there. The journey was very smooth, it may have been windy but the sun was shining.

 

Next stop, breakfast! After a short ride we found ourselves in ‘Bagel Wrap’ run by a chap who does catering each year at the Isle of Wight music festival and the decor reflected his passion with posters and pictures going back to 1968 when Dylan, the Band and Richie Havens played at the first festival.

 

While we ate breakfast, the heavens opened so we stayed for another cuppa…….and then another as we watched the raindrops hitting puddles.  Eventually we decided that although we had limited weather protection we had to move. We’d taken the Bromptons and were determined to cycle round to Bembridge.
Finally we left, cycled down the hill and along the Esplanade, the heavens opened again and the wind got stronger so we took shelter in the old Pavillion before we had even left Ryde.
Eventually, the rain eased and so we headed towards Seaview. It was wet but lovely cycle ride along the coastal path. Things got a little tricky when the path became very narrow and precarious prior to disappearing below the high tide mark and John was soaked by a wave as he tried to work out if he could lift the bikes round! He couldn’t so we retraced our route to find an alternative.

 

The final part of our cycle ride was rather hilly, around Seaview to Bembridge. The road into Bembridge took us past rows of houseboats which were more boat than house and appealed to Kim as a possible holiday home?
A well earned lunch in Bembridge found as sharing a table with an elderly lady from Newport who giggled every time she thought about our cycle ride from Ryde. She kindly advised us how to get the bus back…….so we did! The Bromptons were ideal, they stowed easily on the bus and in the hold of hovercraft enabling us to make the most of our visit.

 

The bus runs every hour, the hovercraft runs every hour. The bus arrives at the bus terminal, next to the hoverport, 5 minutes after the hovercraft has left!! But at least as you approach you can see it gracefully spin on its axis as it leaves.  With 55 minutes to spare, we cycled out along Ryde Pier which was very long and very windy with nothing at the end other than an empty train station. 
When we left Southsea in the morning the Hovercraft flight was at ‘Green’ Service Status, our return trip across the Solent was quite rough and although the Hovercraft continued to glide over the water with apparent ease by this time we had been elevated to ‘Amber’ status and as a result had to take a serious run at the beach to land. As we left the car-park they announced that the service had been suspended!!!
We enjoyed our day and will be return next year to try out the new 2016 hovercrafts when they arrive.

Final thoughts from Catalonia….

 

On our last morning, we left Llafranc at 6:15 am complete with a picnic, courtesy of the hotel. Our 45 minute trip to Girona airport turned into an hour and half adventure when the satnav happily directed us into the middle of a small village with no airport in sight. Frantic re-tracing of steps and panicky driving up and down the nearest main road finally saw us at the airport with a huge sigh of relief!
Next challenge – the wine in our suitcase took us over the limit and excess baggage fares were paid. We will be much better prepared the next time – cabin luggage for both of us, read the small print on the car hire agreement and six nights would suffice!
Final thoughts:
If Matt persists in wanting a Fiat 500 at least the journey to Cambridge is flat! Hills had to be taken at a run otherwise the was a chance it would grind to a halt, halfway up.
Smoking – any drink or food order on a terrace came with an ashtray. It feels like the Catalans and/or Spanish find smoking more socially acceptable than the English do.
We left Girona in warm sunshine and arrived back to a cold, wet Stanstead. A winter spent in Spain is a very appealing thought.
We’d definitely go back, we’d stay in the same hotel but might spend a couple of days in Barcelona or Girona first.

Bagnoles???

 

Ok, the spelling and pronunciation may be different but Banyoles was calling to John.

The town’s claim to fame, is the lake which hosted the rowing events during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and 2004 Rowing World Championships.
Set in the Girona Pyrenees, the backdrop to the lake is fairly spectacular and the water crystal clear.

 

We drove round the lake and it looks like a great place for walking and cycling. We visited the Tourist Information office had a short walk into town before the drive back. We were surprised to see wide channels alongside the roads in the town which were filled with clear, still water. It would be amazing if our mill stream looked the same!. A lot of the worlds top cyclists live in the area, as it’s a dry climate with lots of hills for training.
 
Although Banyoles is very nice it doesn’t have quite the same call as our beloved Bagnoles. 
 
During lunch we were talking to an eclectic mix of people in a Tapas bar including an English lady, a Scandinavian and an American lady who have lived in a valley near Perpignan in the South of France for many years. Apparently there is a thriving Ex-Pat community in the area, but rather than being English it’s a mixture of different nationals brought together by the local U3A group
We’ve really struggled with the language while we’ve been here. The Spanish Dictionary has been no match for Catalan. If anyone can tell us what ‘peu’ is and translate this sign, we’d be grateful

 

We didn’t make it into Girona which was a shame, we were only a couple of miles away, but a final afternoon on the beach was calling  to us.

Barcelona

Early start for Barcelona today, and by early we mean before 9:30! Hours of research, and debate,(should we get the train or drive, do we leave it for visit etc.) helped us decide what to do!

The little Fiat made it up all the hills and we were there in under two hours. Our first challenge was to park, and that was a challenge! The satnav was fantastic, taking us to a car park only 25 yards from where we wanted to be, if only we didn’t keep missing the turnings! The car park was very clever, there were little LED lights above each parking space, red if the space is occupied and green if its vacant, so you can glance down a whole row of cars and easily see if there are any spaces. Barcelona is full of typical city drivers, dithering is not tolerated and neither is being in the wrong lane!  One advantage of the little Fiat is that it has a great turning circle so we can execute U turns easily.
John made a new friend in the cycle hire shop. Christie was explaining that she had to burn incense to take away the smell that greets her when she opens up the sea front shop. As you can imagine, the beach is a popular place at night but sadly lacking in public toilets! John described the toilets he’s seen in Ostende that pop-up out of the ground during the evening and disappear under the ground during the day. She was delighted when he showed her photos!
Cycling in Barcelona is surprisingly easy, it has over 100km of cycle routes. The only trouble is you have to find one first. That challenge was too great for us, so we stopped for an early lunch whilst we got our bearings. Freshly made coffee, tea with unlimited top-ups and a slice of tuna tortilla big enough to share served with tomato bread – all for under €10. The guide books advise eating off the tourist routes and this was a great find.

 

Our destination was the famous Sagrada Familia. Spanish architect Gaudi’s designs and use of colour have been used as inspiration in many gardening programmes over the years so Kim was determined to see what it was all about. We stopped in a square to try and get our bearings and a lovely Spanish lady offered to help. She looked horrified when we said where we were going and told us we ought to drive! Not to be deterred, we headed off and found ourselves, quite by accident, on a cycle route, right through the Arc de Triomph!

 

There was no stopping us, 20 minutes later we were dwarfed by Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. Described as the eight wonder of the world, it’s breathtakingly beautiful, and that’s just from the outside!
We didn’t have the patience to queue for tickets so the inside will have to wait for our next visit.

 

We cycled back to the coast via Los Ramblas, Barcelona’s main pedestrianised shopping area which is full of market stalls, eateries and hundreds of people. It was hard work pushing the bikes through and wasn’t an area that appealed to us. Our final landmark was the Marina area which has been built on reclaimed land with a network of floating boardwalks. It would have been great to explore but our time was up if we wanted to leave the City before the rush hour.
Barcelona definitely needs to go on the list for a 2-3 day city break – if the culture becomes too much, you can always escape to the beach!

Barcelona to Llafranc

Rather than take the motorway back, we headed out along the coast road as far as Pineda de Mar.

 
The route was straight and flat, very different to the scenery we’ve experienced so far. We drove through several beach side resorts and it all looked a bit grim and run down. Most of the buildings had seen better days and many were boarded up and used as graffiti targets. Other than out to sea, there were no beautiful views of rolling countryside. 
 
For most of the route, the railway ran between us and the beach like a very long fence making it rather a challenge to get to the actual beach. Eventually we worked out that a series of underpasses get you there but were not readily signposted. On a positive note, the train journey must be fantastic and needs to be added to the to-do list as well

Fuel was needed and filling up is done the old fashioned way, a fuel attendant does it all for you and €25 seems enough to fill the car up.
Can you guess which one is our hire car?

 

Our new room!

You may notice the quality of our Blog go up a notch, that’s because we are now using the writing desk in our new room.

We booked this break on a budget and chose the cheapest room we could find. The hotel couldn’t be better but our room was small and overlooked a tiny internal courtyard. Efforts had been made to make it look attractive but you couldn’t hide the fact that the main reason for the courtyard was to vent the air conditioning!

We decided to spend our last few nights in a room with a sea view and a balcony. The only problem is the rain has set in and temperatures have dropped. No wine for us on the balcony tonight!

 

Llafranc to Jardins de Cap Roig

Today’s challenge was the 1.5 hour walk to the botanical gardens at Cap Roig. A small, exclusive music festival is held there every year with top music stars such as Bob Dylan performing in the idyllic setting. Sting was the opening act this year so we thought we ought to see why the venue is so special. Our legs were still aching from the mammoth climb on Sunday but that didn’t deter us! The walk along the cliffs was spectacular and very, very hilly! At one point we were feeling rather lost when some English walkers pointed out the directional markings on the stones. In case you haven’t guessed this means Turn Right

 

I’m not sure where we would have ended up without that piece of advice!

 

 

The gardens were created by a Russian Colonel and his English, aristocrat wife who were searching the Costa Brava for a place to live and build their dream, they bought the site in 1927 and after many years of effort and work they created a space where nature and calm reign. They certainly succeded the views across the bay, back towards Llafranc were breathtaking as were the gardens.
They were well worth the walk and we spent a couple of peaceful hours admiring our surroundings. Far more enjoyable (and pleasant) than the Museo Dali

 

For our walk back, we abandoned the scenic but torturous cliff path and followed the roads, but it was an awful lot quicker (even stopping for lunch at one of the bay’s on the way back!)

Cultural tour of Catalonia

That is a slight exaggeration, but we’ve spent the day out and about getting to know the Region (and the little Fiat!),

First stop was Figueres, home to the Salvador Dali museum. We surfaced from an underground car park to find ourselves in the middle of a bric-a-brac market which seemed to be mainly selling vinyl records, collectable bottle tops, fossils, old wooden skis and die cast models.

 

John was in heaven, pottering around and seeing what was for sale. Kim finally caught up with him  chatting to a stall-holder who grew up in the Yorkshire Dales and moved to Spain over 40 years ago. He had seen some of best bands and solo artists of the 60’s and 70’s and was now selling his old concert programmes.
Next stop, Dali. No matter how hard we try, we really don’t do culture as well as we should. We were spooked by both the Teatre-Musee and the Dali Jolies. We did agree that the building was fantastic to look at and walking round it was like being in a Dali painting. We were never sure what we going to see next or where we would end up!

 

We had a leisurely drive back via Pals, a medieval town perched on a hill surrounded by plains. The gothic quarter has been restored and is a maze of pretty cobbled streets, arches across roads and beautiful houses with stone balconies. The photo really doesn’t do it justice.

 

Paella…..

Despite dire warnings of food poisoning, Kim wanted Paella for dinner tonight. We chose a small restaurant, set back from the seafront that was less geared to the tourist market – by that, it seemed very Spanish!
Kim was expecting golden rice with lots of seafood. What turned up was a grey, sticky gloop (luckily, we were too polite to take a photo!). The chef even showed it to her before plating up which was slightly worrying.
For a woman who can’t bear sticky fingers, she did surprisingly well dismembering the prawns and mussels.
She took slight comfort from locals ordering, and eating, black rice which was even greyer and gloopier. It needed to be tried but probably never again!
John, being the adventurer that he is, had pizza!!