NORWAY Day 4 - Aurland to Hafslo

The next morning we were on it, and went out for an early run further up the mountain. We puffed our way (run/walk strategy) for a mile or so up, looking at the settlements in the valley as we went. The way down was much more pleasant on the lungs - even our audience of sheep (with what I'd describe as a cowbell although presumably it's a sheepbell around their necks) enjoyed our descent, sprinting along with us at some points.

Singular holiday run done, we descended back to Aurland and soon entered a 25km tunnel, the longest we'd experience. Tunnel driving is pretty dull, and a little hypnotic, with the caves every 6km making for a bit of relief on the eyes and concentration.

Once out the other side, we made a right turn and enjoyed the natural light flooding in on the way to Borgund stave church. There are 28 stave churches remaining in Norway and this was supposedly one of the nicest. Personally it was a lot blacker than I expected but I think that is to do with the recentness of the latest coating of pine tar. However, it was unique and had a lovely odour.

After viewing the interior of the church we set off on a hike to see the Vindella Road - an old mountain road used by horses and carts. The road was very steep and twisty, certainly not something I'd ever drive down or up! It was great hiking terrain though, easier than the rocky slopes we encountered elsewhere and the round trip back to the church was pretty and green.

From here we headed through Laerdal and Sogndal to Solvorn, a quaint little hamlet which is the setting out point for a ferry to another stave church at Ornes. We were at this point feeling a bit "ferried-out" so we decided instead to take a short (and hopefully flat - wishful thinking) stroll along the fjordland coast. This turned out to be a great move as we found lots of fresh raspberries and a secluded beach with an amazing fjord view. It was on this beach that I picked up a very nice stone (not the one with hundreds of silverfish on it that I promptly dropped on my foot) and hence a new fiancé!

The rest of the evening was spent cooking an epic bolognese (turns out tinned mushrooms actually are edible) and relaxing in our fabulous cabin in Haflso, with its glass side and another great view.

• Things we wish we had brought to Norway: cosy slippers
• Things we are glad we have brought: bed linen
• Things we should not have brought: shorts

NORWAY Day 3 - Herand to Aurland

Another lazy start was had here as (we thought) we had no particular time pressures to get ourselves over to Aurland. Looking out of our cabin window we saw that the morning was bright, and so we checked out via a reception full of wool and wooden trinkets and headed back along the 550 to the ferry port of Utne.

We could see the ferry at the other port, so had a short wander through the pretty village before embarking onto the 10.30 ferry. Having done a spot of research since getting up, we'd come to discover that this wouldn't be our only ferry trip of the day. A tunnel later on our route had been subject to a bus fire 10 days previous which led to its closure for repair. This meant that instead of a 20 minute drive through a tunnel, once we'd disembarked from the Utne ferry we would head for Gudvangen, another port. 

Meanwhile, the journey from Utne was very picturesque, the village being bathed in sunlight as we left, and we got to see our first fjord rainbow! A happy discovery upon leaving was that if we didn't encounter any hold-ups we'd arrive just in time for the Gudvangen ferry.

This we did, but we soon realised that this was a passenger ferry! Thankfully car ferries did run this route but the next one wasn't for another two and a half hours (added to the two hour ferry journey at 990k (£80ish) this made for quite an excursion due to a shut tunnel)  so we sourced some lunch in a nearby timber building. Peter tried the reindeer patties, hoping for something similar to the saltfish patties I feed him, but unfortunately this is Norway, not the Caribbean, so the patties actually resembled what I can only describe as faggots. . .

Once on the ferry, the journey was pretty spectacular. I even took a break from Don Fink to admire the narrowness of the fjord and the green surroundings. Arriving into Flam at around 17.30, we made straight for our lodgings for the night, close to Aurland.

When I say close, I mean, on a map they looked close. The twenty or so hairpin bends on the map should have been a clue, but we were actually staying incredibly high up! A scary drive up was rewarded by a stunning view at Stegastain, after which we were glad to find our very young but lovely Norwegian hostess and our large lodgings at Bjorgo Gard. My poor judgement reversing up the drive (and subsequent strong clutch smell which lingered in Eric for days) could not even dampen our spirits and relief to have arrived.

NORWAY Day 2 - Eidford to Herand

Our second day started rather lazily - not due to jetlag, but more because the earliest we could have breakfast at our hotel on a Saturday was 8am. We were quite thankful for the lie in after the previous day's long drive and a breakfast of largely raw and pickles fish, bread and meat was very welcome indeed!

This set us up well for our activity - a hike to Trolltunga (Troll's Tongue). Arriving at around 10:00 on a Saturday meant that the top car park was full, so we parked in Tyssedal and caught a pricy "Maxi Taxi" to the start point in Skjeggedal.

The walk was described as an 8-10 hour journey to a stunning viewpoint. The advertised 22km journey started with a very steep and muddy incline - the sort that is challenging to go up but much worse to come down - before levelling off to a rocky plateau cut up with trickling streams. We crossed the plateau fairly quickly, aware of our late start, and headed up the next climb onto a saddle area. At this point we came upon a reasonably large group of people and took confidence from the fact that we weren't the last heading up!

At this point the gradient and the clouds came down a little, giving some respite before another climb and the inevitable rain from the following clouds. As soon  as the waterproof trousers were on we were able to enjoy the views of the lake that were being presented to us through gaps in the clouds.

The terrain now was wet and rocky but lightly undulating, carrying on like this for the last 3 km or so before we reached  Trolltunga. Arriving at the rock, it was most spottable by the queue of people waiting to walk onto it. We promptly joined the queue and cracked out the sandwiches which we'd saved for this very moment.

The clouds also appeared to have saved some "treats" for this point and the half hour or so spent on the queue was increasingly cold. However, I did think this was better than a free for all and came to be very thankful to those that went for a group photo and hence sped up the process. We even witnessed a proposal on the rock (lovely, but they definitely took up more than their allocated "rock time" and I'm pretty sure the random guy they gave their phone to for photos completely missed it...).

Photos done, we left the rock around 15:00, well aware that the "Maxi Taxi" left at 18:00. This made for a speedy traverse across to the plateau, although the last kilometre of mud slowed us severely, leaving just two minutes to spare!

Driving onwards from. The car park led us right up the side of Hardangerfjord on a beautiful road, before we took another very scenic road to Vasel Gard, our cabin for the night. This was a typical Norwegian cabin, with a small kitchen and eating area but no running water or bathroom. The setting was idyllic, with ponies grazing nearby and a lake area to look over.

NORWAY Day 1 - Oslo to Eidford

An early (3.00am!) start from our Travelodge got us to the airport for 4.00am - plenty of time to check-in despite accidentally having parked at the wrong terminal.. We also managed to squeeze in a big Mexican breakfast, which we were definitely ready for, despite it being 4.30am.

Once up in the air on our Norwegian Air flight (we were quite impressed by the plane fit out and service given this is their easyjet...) we were treated to a clear morning and gorgeous sunrise. We could easily pick out The Shard whilst crossing over London, and coming into Oslo was a great mix of water and greenery.

Having landed, we waited a while to pick up our hire car (my triathlon book got a good read) which turned out to be a newer, silver version of our very own Gregory. Thankfully, the new C1 is slightly bigger enabling us to fit our big bags into the boot. Also handy were the tinted windows in the back - not because of sunlight (there wasn't too much of that) but because Norway driving rules dictate headlights should be on at all times. Personally I think this is a bit silly, it makes it seem like it is dusk when you're driving around, but admittedly it does eliminate the issue of forgetting to switch headlights on or off when entering one of the many, many road tunnels.

Our destination for the day was Eidford, an ambitious five hours drive away. This turned out to be a little bit of a mission - we started off with 80 minute stints each but these were 30 minute stints by the end of the day, and a tub of Skittles (bought as part of a Boots meal deal at the airport - who knew they do Skittles in tubs now?) disappeared gradually over the drive.

The scenery varied from main roads lined with trees to mountainous climbs and at the end a long tunnel with a roundabout in it! This wowed me as a civil/structural engineer.

Eidford was a nice little town, much better than the transitional place I had predicted it to be. I do think we were lucky to catch it without a cruise ship, which would have dominated the pretty shoreline and quaint hotel we were staying in. A short walk around and bed were called for at this point, after a very long day!