NORWAY Day 9 - Randsverk to Ryfoss

Our last full day in Norway! And to mark the occasion we'd planned a 9 mile hike along the Besseggen Ridge, apparently one of the most scenic in Norway.

Waking up to wind and rain made us dubious about doing a ridge walk, but we packed up our delightful and very large chalet anyway and set off towards Gjendeshiem. This walk was different in that it was a one-way hike - with a boat to do the other leg. We'd done our research and discovered that the boat went at 9.30, and catching the boat out and hiking back would eliminate any uncertainty out of our day.

Getting there at 9.15 we were dismayed to find the car park was full, and with a slight hint of our Trolltunga experience were made to park (for 100k) on a car park 3km from the boat landing. So much for getting the 9.30 boat we thought! Thankfully the bus to the boat landing was more frequent and infinitely cheaper (free) than Trolltunga's "maxi taxi" and we did make it to the landing for 9.30 - to find that actually there were lots of boats, but these were all booked up until 11.45! Not wanting to stand around for over two hours we made a quick decision to hike the opposite way and try to make the 16.30 boat back.

The hike started with a big and rocky climb, which wasn't overly challenging given it was so early in the day. Rounding a hill, this got even steeper and narrower, in places requiring chains pinned to the rock to heave us up. An hour or so in the track got much wider but very exposed, with dustings of snow on the (windy) sides of the rocks. We wrapped up and headed onwards, just pleased that the low cloud, rain/snow and high winds hadn't materialised...

The next major landmark was the snow-covered summit at over 1700m, marked by a huge cairn. Using the shelter of the cairn for a few pics of the stunning views of the surrounding park area, we then carried on down the ridge.

The ridge was narrow, and by this point we'd started to encounter those who'd actually managed to catch an early boat and hike in the other direction. However, neither of these could spoil the sensational scenery - the sun light up the two lakes either side of the ridge, Lake Gjende a sky blue as it is glacially-fed and the other a deep navy.

Scrambling down off the ride a couple more climbs kept us entertained with spectacular vistas before the descent into Memurubu. Here we were pleasantly surprised to be able to hop straight onto a boat at 15.00 and return via bus to Eric. 

Onwards from there we went to Ryfoss - mainly to make inroads into the journey to Oslo rather than anything else. However, the roads (51 & 16) we took were delightful, so our drive was punctuated with a number of stops to admire our surroundings as well as cows crossing, rainbows and snow-poled roads. Our accommodation, marketed as a B&B, turned out to be a large house, decorated with great taste and even better, without any other guests! After enjoying the sunny garden, we cooked ourselves a retrospectively carby dinner and settled down for the evening, tired out from an incredible final day's hiking. 

NORWAY Day 8 - Lom to Randsverk

From our cabin near Lom we drove out towards the national park, our aim of the day being a hike up Mount Galdhopiggen, the highest peak in Northern Europe! There are two options for doing this - take the non-glacial route from Spiterstulen (a big climb but without the need of a guide to cross the glacier) or go guided from Juvasshytta (much less of a climb as Juvasshytta is quite high up.

We chose the latter option for the novelty of crossing the glacier - and by Norway standards this offered great value too: 200k per person for the guide and 100k for the toll road, so about £21 each overall. Driving up presented the usual amazing scenery, and at Juvasshytta we were greeted by freezing temperatures and the sight of people skiing. In September!

A hasty retreat to the car after arranging the guide had us layering up (good move!) before we set off across the rocky and fairly flat area to the first of many snowfields. Thankfully the snow was well compacted and we hiked 3km to the glacial area with relative ease. The slight upward slope kept us warm too.

Next, we were all tied together on a long rope via knots at intervals attached to the harnesses we were all wearing. The harness was a chest-type harness - not particularly favourable for women in terms of comfort I thought! However, on other occasions I've used the sort of harness you step into, which I'm told is particularly uncomfortable for men, so fair's fair I suppose...

Roped-up, we set off across the glacier in a long line. The trickiest bit about this was trying to keep the perfect distance behind the person on front of you - so the rope didn't drag on the floor but also so you weren't getting the occasional yank. This was easier said than done as the slow and slightly erratic walking speeds of others made for a stop-start trip. Needless to say the thick gloves, headband, buff and hood were all on at this point.

Once we'd reached a rather steep rocky edge, we discarded our rope, and glad to be free, made our own way up the edge to the summit. A faster pace and very steep climb kept me warmer, but the cloud made visibility very poor - at times we were just following the steps of those in front which was a bit disconcerting! The sound of voices alerted us to the fact we had reached the top, and a cosy cabin was very welcome as we waited for the rest of the group to reach the top.

Unfortunately there were no toilets to relieve my desperation so I distracted myself by using the incredibly fast wifi to catch up on life in general. Upon leaving the cabin we made a rapid descent through the snow to the rock edge and reclaimed our rope to hike (a little quicker thankfully) across the glacier. I was very thankful that no one fell down a crevasse in the blue ice below, but was also happy to leave the rope - which made for surprisingly unsociable walking - for the final time and make our own way back to Juvasshytta and Eric.

Overall this was an exhilarating experience, and so cold! Today was Peter's 27th birthday and he said it was without a doubt his coldest ever.. 

NORWAY Day 7 - Hornindal to Lom

Thursday began with delicious buffet breakfast before a tunnel ridden drive to Geiranger. We could have gotten the ferry from Hellrsylt but we still felt we'd done enough ferries so instead we opted for a scenic drive.

Once in Geiranger, we set of on a hike to Strorssefossen waterfall. In typical Norwegian hike style this was an out-and-back hike where the out was another gut busting climb. The crescendo of thunderous water falling led us to our target though, and an incredible amount of water was gushing over the rock. The best bit about this hike was that the path led us to a damp but safe cave behind the waterfall, so you could watch the waterfall gushing down in front of you.

Back out on top, the sun was out and we sacked briefly before heading (via Eric to ditch our jumpers - a first!) to hike to another viewpoint. The path started off as an actually easy tractor track with some cute llamas (or alpacas, I really need to learn the difference!) , but we knew this was too good to be true, and before long it started a series of chicanes down the side of the fjord. Not wanting to lose the valuable height we'd gained, we instead opted to a path to "Losta", whatever that might be. We didn't quite get to "Losta", but we got some fabulous views over the Geirangerfjord.

Next on the view trail was Dalsnibba. A 110k toll road took us on a hairpin drive up super-high, the highest road in the vicinity apparently! At the top they appeared to be doing some construction, but that didn't ruin the panoramic views around Geiranger, and neither did the biting cold!

Feeling lucky to have caught Dalsnibba on a clear day, we descended back to the road and headed on towards Lom, gateway to the Jotunheimen National Park. This poor town had a very critical write-up in the guidebook, but we thought it's stave church had a lot of character, and enjoyed wondering the Bygdamuseum - a collection of old light buildings in a forest setting. Saying that, I am certain that the highlight of Lom for Peter was when we lucked upon the bakery three minutes before closing and ordered a custard tart and cinnamon roll. Having paid (£5) and left, we looked into the paper bag and discovered they'd doubled our order and added a couple of gigantic tea cakes for free! And that was pudding sorted for the rest of the trip... 

NORWAY Day 6 - Olden to Hornindal

The next morning we were up early as we were contemplating a hike up Mount Scala. The weather, however, had other ideas, and being in a cloud did not set the tone for a fab day's hiking so we quickly changed plans and drove to Loen Active where we hired bikes for four hours.

The bikes were mountain bikes and looked pretty nice (we were feeling smugly as they looked better than the ones the four people before us had gotten). However, the seat posts needed a lot of raising and my handlebars it turned out weren't well attached to the stem. What made it most difficult was that the tyres felt like they were at about 30psi!

We set off towards the Lodalen Valley, having dispensed with an overly chatty man with pink hair from Hastings early on in the ride. The road was very picturesque with a mirror flat lake on one side and some small settlements on the other. It was fairly flat to begin with but both the gradient and wind did pick up, so some definite "ugging" was required!

About 14km in, after a large up hill, a decision had to be made as to whether to carry on to the glacier (6km further and down the other side of said hill) or to turn back. We predictably decided to carry on, the last 4km or so killing our legs and turning to the dreaded gravel road. The glacier was pretty impressive as it turned out, but looked best from 3km from the end, rather than the picnic bench we lunched on which had been handily positioned with a tree blocking the view.

After lunch we assessed the time and realised that we'd been out for 2 hours, and if it took us as long to get back we'd be tight on time for returning the bikes! Cue some power pedalling and the happy realisation that the gravel road had been continuously uphill. Even the climb back to the 14km to go marker wasn't too bad, and freewheeling down the other side gave us an excuse not to chat to chatty Hastings man (who was walking his bike up the hill and still managed to shout "come stay with me in Hastings" after us).

The rest of the cycle really was pleasant, with a building tailwind we beat the tourist boat cruising along the now quite wavy lake, and got back with 45mins to spare. Indeed the bike shop guy looked a bit disbelieving that we'd actually done the whole ride (which I found a bit insulting).

Relieved to be back in time and in the car - especially when it started raining - we pootled along to Hornindal, our stop for the night. Breaking the trend of cabins, we'd booked into the Best Western Plus (I think "Plus" is actually "minus" or "budget") and on arrival our room was ready. It was quite strange having a plus carpet and no kitchen, but a welcome change as unlike the rather dated selection of British Best Westerns I've stayed in, this one was modernly fit out and quite nice. 

NORWAY Day 5 - Hafslo to Olden

A sunny morning greeted us, so we popped out from our cabin to take another little stroll in Solvorn - this time the opposite way along the coast. We have learned that a hike described as "easy" is never easy, so after about a mile of scrambling over rocks to fine views of boats and moorings, we returned to Hafslo for a second breakfast (of leftover bolognese) and to clean our cabin. We've become very good at cleaning, as moving accommodation daily has also meant a daily cleaning session.

En route to Olden, we made a couple of notable stops - the first being the Boyabreen glacier. Not being enthused enough to go into the nearby museum, we drove out to the glacier and peered at its blue ice tongue, which was perched on the flat rock face. To be so close to this on the main road was pretty rare.

Our next stop was when we had gained a bit of height, and feeling a little peckish we hopped out of the car on what looked like a promising viewpoint. One mile's hike later and having reached level with a nearby ski lift we sat and ate lunch with our first 360 view of snow-capped mountains.

Reaching Olden and pleasantly surprised by our £30 a night cabin at Nesset Fjordcamping, we went for an evening walk to investigate the cruise ship moored on the opposite side of the fjord. Walking up to it showed how it dominated the landscape around! However, the local people will benefit from the influx of passengers through souvenir shops and running tours, so they did not seem to mind as much as I might.