Day 22, Troll Hunting

We left our aquarium car park in Alesund rather reluctantly. It does look a really interesting place to visit. Maybe we’ll return on a cruise ship!

We drove out, looking for somewhere where we could catch up with some of our washing, as the pile was getting larger by the day. We had noticed a camp site on the way in, so thought we’d try there. It was a good find! Eight pounds allowed us to do 2 loads of washing and some time with the tumble dryer, plus emptying our loo. We could have done with longer with the tumble dryer, but Lyn was keen to get on the road, so we dried our bedding and resorted to Harvey looking like a Chinese laundry for a day or two. It’s amazing where you can hang things when you need to.

Now there is a place in Norway called Hell. We were going nowhere near it on this holiday (even though it would have made for a good blog post!), but today I was definitely going to my idea of hell. Of course my idea of hell is Lyn’s idea of heaven; up into the mountains on horrible switch back roads.

Lyn was desperate to visit the Trollstigen. The Trollstigen is one of the most famous scenic routes in Norway. It’s basically a single track road that winds it’s way up over the mountain with a 10% gradient. It’s very busy and not for the faint hearted as buses and cars queue up to pass with inches to spare. Now, as those of you who know me will know I have a crazy fear of heights. I have even been known to have total panic attacks in such situations ( Mount Washington, USA!!). I was vey definitely not looking forward to this.

The drive started pleasantly enough, with a viewing point looking up at the two massive waterfalls that come crashing down. We could see the switchbacks, and the traffic on them on the head wall. It was monstrous. Gulp.

We were soon stuck in a jam; two buses needed to pass, but there was a little white car in no man’s land stuck between them. He couldn’t go forward or back. The bus driver got out to advise him. I could only give thanks it wasn’t me!

We eventually started moving, and I tried to keep focus by taking photos with Lyn’s big camera; It’s not so scary when you are looking with one eye through a lens. We inched up and up towards the top. Lyn was in his element!

Once we got to the top I was fine. There was a massive car park with many many tour buses, plus a gift shop with everything Troll related! We didn’t go in. We followed the walk ways, along with everyone else, to the viewing platforms. These are anther amazing Norwegian feat of engineering, where you can stand and look out (and down, through the open part!) You are jutting out into space, looking down over 200m to the road! The views were amazing, it’s hard to do them justice with photos.

We left the Troll road and took the quieter road over the other side; the Ornevesgen or Eagle’s Nest. There were still many switch backs, but not so much traffic this time. As Lyn is on the wrong side of the van for driving I have to look left for him on every hairpin, so I can’t keep my eyes shut like I wanted!

We dropped like a stone towards famous Geiranger; stopping to look out at a high viewpoint. Geirainger is one of those picture perfect villages, nestled at the head of the 20km long Geirangerfjord, and a classic for cruise liners to dock. There was a smallish German cruise ship in, and we watched it leave at 6pm.

We headed up and out of Geiranger, being stunned by flashing views of stunning waterfalls and a tumbling river cutting it’s way through the rock to the distant fjord as we travelled. We headed higher and higher up into the mountains, where it became increasingly barren. We found a tiny track at the very top and stopped to camp for the night in a clearing with a couple of other vans; just under a glacier. Lyn was in heaven. No phone signal at all for the first time this holiday.