Tag: Kristiansund

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!