June 17th - The best road?
I really have been lucky with the weather. Blue skies again this morning:
and that is how it stayed all day. This really is a beautiful part of the world. Every turn in the road produces another picture postcard.
I was soon back up on the fjells
This is supposed to be prime reindeer country but I didn't spot any
Then down again
and up into a very different high landscape. This is at around 3,000 feet and is a stark granite plateau
The road is a narrow single carriage way and winds its way between the rocks.
It was a great ride and was just a part of massive range of granite hills and mountains
Eventually the road dropped down towards the reason I changed my route and came back west. I discovered in my nightly map poring that their was a small ferry which ran the 26 mile length of lysefjord for considerably less money than I paid for the tourist boat at Geraingerfjord. Lysefjord is a narrow steep sided fjord and only has a small settlement at either end hence the ferry. It's name means light fjord because of the light coloured granite walls. The road down was still single track and very steep.There were, I think, 26 hairpins including one in a tunnel.
This photo isn't mine and is linked to a google image but it shows what a great road it is. It puts the Trollstigen to shame!
Lysebotn at the head of the fjord
is really only a couple of campsites and a quayside. I was at the front of the queue and had a 2.5 hour wait so I did what any Englishman would do and made tea.
much to the amusement of some German bikers.
Then I photographed the little lambs
Just as boredom set in this turned up. It was was with a film crew working, I think, for the tourist board. They were filming the tour boat coming in anyway. It was a fantastic gadget and the pilot was really skillful. It went up well over 150ft and hovered really steadily.
Then the boat arrived and we were off. It was small and very fast. My gps recorded us as travelling at 25mph.
Here I am courtesy of a young Polish biker. (That's my camera under my jumper, not my belly!)
He was like a little puppy bouncing around all over the boat taking photographs, mostly of his little girlfriend who just smiled patiently. There were a couple of young Russian lads too who had ridden from Moscow. The scenery was stupendous
This is one of two hydroelectric stations in the fjord. They are actually built back into the rock face.
The small sharp-edged ledge in the centre of the top of this picture
is famous preikestolen, or pulpit rock. It is the major tourist attraction in the region. It drops sheer for 640 metres.
You can see the crowds in this close up.
As you can see in this shot, nicked from google, there is no fence or barrier. You can also see that there is a crack running across which geologists have pronounced safe.
Then we passed under the bridge at the narrow mouth of the fjord and we were done.
It was a good boat trip and good value. Then it was a quick 25 mile blast up the dual carriageway in all that traffic and into Stavanger. I am now in the most expensive hotel room per sq ft I have ever paid for. It's very clean and comfortable though and has very fast broadband. I got some shopping in from the supermarket and bought a beer (500ml can - £3.00!)
I really have been lucky with the weather. Blue skies again this morning:
and that is how it stayed all day. This really is a beautiful part of the world. Every turn in the road produces another picture postcard.
I was soon back up on the fjells
This is supposed to be prime reindeer country but I didn't spot any
Then down again
and up into a very different high landscape. This is at around 3,000 feet and is a stark granite plateau
The road is a narrow single carriage way and winds its way between the rocks.
It was a great ride and was just a part of massive range of granite hills and mountains
Eventually the road dropped down towards the reason I changed my route and came back west. I discovered in my nightly map poring that their was a small ferry which ran the 26 mile length of lysefjord for considerably less money than I paid for the tourist boat at Geraingerfjord. Lysefjord is a narrow steep sided fjord and only has a small settlement at either end hence the ferry. It's name means light fjord because of the light coloured granite walls. The road down was still single track and very steep.There were, I think, 26 hairpins including one in a tunnel.
This photo isn't mine and is linked to a google image but it shows what a great road it is. It puts the Trollstigen to shame!
Lysebotn at the head of the fjord
is really only a couple of campsites and a quayside. I was at the front of the queue and had a 2.5 hour wait so I did what any Englishman would do and made tea.
much to the amusement of some German bikers.
Then I photographed the little lambs
Just as boredom set in this turned up. It was was with a film crew working, I think, for the tourist board. They were filming the tour boat coming in anyway. It was a fantastic gadget and the pilot was really skillful. It went up well over 150ft and hovered really steadily.
Then the boat arrived and we were off. It was small and very fast. My gps recorded us as travelling at 25mph.
Here I am courtesy of a young Polish biker. (That's my camera under my jumper, not my belly!)
He was like a little puppy bouncing around all over the boat taking photographs, mostly of his little girlfriend who just smiled patiently. There were a couple of young Russian lads too who had ridden from Moscow. The scenery was stupendous
This is one of two hydroelectric stations in the fjord. They are actually built back into the rock face.
The small sharp-edged ledge in the centre of the top of this picture
is famous preikestolen, or pulpit rock. It is the major tourist attraction in the region. It drops sheer for 640 metres.
You can see the crowds in this close up.
As you can see in this shot, nicked from google, there is no fence or barrier. You can also see that there is a crack running across which geologists have pronounced safe.
Then we passed under the bridge at the narrow mouth of the fjord and we were done.
It was a good boat trip and good value. Then it was a quick 25 mile blast up the dual carriageway in all that traffic and into Stavanger. I am now in the most expensive hotel room per sq ft I have ever paid for. It's very clean and comfortable though and has very fast broadband. I got some shopping in from the supermarket and bought a beer (500ml can - £3.00!)