Saturday 4 June 2011

Wednesday 1st June

The next destination should be Flåm where I want to have a train ride. Up, cleared away and on the road by 6.40 am and by 8.00 I could see the first snowcapped mountains in the distance. It soon became obvious that if I was going to succeed in my aim to get to the top of Norway I couldn't stop and take pictures of every waterfall, rapids, mountain or building as there were so many wonderful ones to see. I thought this building merited a stop.



When I needed a break I saw a sign which seemed to indicate a meteor crater so headed off the main road to find it. I must be careful, even the main roads have steep inclines and this side road mostly meant 2nd gear at 15 mph for about 2 miles and at the top it was not obvious where the crater was. It supposedly was a couple of kilometres across but the trees obscured it however the information said it was discovered after power engineers found that their drill bits were wearing out very quickly and realised the rock was unusual. Further investigations have now confirmed it as being Norway's only known meteor crater. Despite not being an obvious hole it was still a pleasant break by tumbling water.




Further on the road I could see in the distance a large waterfall. Norway is very good at providing many and frequent picnic spots and parking areas so I don't know why they decided not to provide one anywhere near this waterfall. I had great views of it as I drove by however all my photos had to be done from a long way away with the camera's zoom on maximum.



Another stop was near this suspension bridge and yes, despite my nervousness I did walk over and back again.




A few views of the road ahead and where I was driving.




There was a series of very tight zig zag bends on a very steep side of a mountain and I was very glad I was descending and the camper didn't have to struggle up, not sure the photo really shows how bad it was.



There are many tunnels in Norway but the longest is Laerdalstunnelen at 15 miles. Some people can get quite concerned driving that distance under mountains, a bit claustrophobic, but they do give a little help. This is what the tunnel is like usually, very little lighting unlike our UK tunnels.



But at three points along the way the tunnel opens out and the lighting is very pretty, almost fairy grotto like!!



I got to Flåm in good time but as I arrived it started to rain so I decided not to take the rail trip as the views would be obscured by cloud. Hopefully in the morning the weather will have improved. A walk around the town and a visit to the railway museum allowed me to stretch my legs and was very pleasant despite the drizzle.

Flåm is at the end of a fjord and is deep enough for very large cruise ships. All around were towering mountains and rock faces and I lost count of the number of waterfalls that poured off them.







The campsite I chose was about 5 miles to the east.


The photos here will enlarge when clicked. More photos at Flickr, see bottom of this page. 

2 comments:

Auntie Betty said...

Stunning photography, Paul, especially being able to enlarge the pics. Loved Fluffy gazing in awe at the meteor crater.

Fantastic !!

P.S. Saved you a slice of cake (i.e. Happy Birthday to Me!!!!!!)

Take Care,

Auntie Betty

Big Bruv said...

Hi Little Bruv, so glad to hear you went to Flam. Can only see one Cruise ship in your photos. When we were there in July 2007 there were 4!!! only one of which could be alongside at a time so the other 3 were anchored in the fjord and passengers were ferried in motor launches, so not many could get off at any time. Just as well as they already swamped the small town and very few of them would have been able to take the train ride.