Norway and the Fjords but a bit chilly at night

After Oslo we travelled across the country and nearly killed ourselves under a truck, as we've already said! We spent 4 days in Al and went walking up in the high country. Snow, lakes and dirt tracks got us to the middle of somewhere but we aren't sure precisely where. We had a brief basic map of the trail we were going to follow but after 30mins of walking we had somehow lost it and been following what we later realised was just an animal track across the mountain. Anyway we carried on for the rest of the day, beautiful waterfalls and glacial streams all around, after our little boo boo earlier in the day we had 4 water crossings to negotiate. Very stony and freezing cold water, I had to put my hat in the stream on one occasion otherwise I'd have been flat on my front. Sarah managed to get a photo just before I nearly fell. While laughing out loud!

Beautiful country with little remote settlements by lakes only accessible via water or walking over the mountains. 

Things were a little basic in the Al campsite we had to wash the old fashioned way, hand clothes washing. Sarah managed to get a blister from the pleasure of wringing out the washing, unfortunately, they didn't have a mangle. Honestly, I had been doing my own wash, stamping on my underpants in the shower(I would beat them on a rock but the water is too cold), and washing my heavy shorts. I just finished before Sarah, who had done hers and finished mine. So thought I'd take a picture for posterity's sake! This far in land and high up the nights are cold so had to wear bed socks, I must be getting old!

Our drive to Bergen should have been an easy 3 hours but after an hours drive over the A50 we had to turn round and drive back to our starting point as there was an accident in the tunnel ahead and the road was closed. So over two hours later and we hadn't moved one inch closer to Bergen. The roads are full of tunnels in Norway, they like trolls here and you see models of them everywhere. They also like garden gnomes, I wonder if that's why they build so many tunnels? The first tunnels we travelled through on the A50 were very thin, Anna you would not have enjoyed them, Sarah started to get a feeling of chlostrophobia they were so small and looked unfinished as if they could collapse. These were the ones of course we had to go back through so Sarah was not so pleased, cursing the fool that had had an accident further down the road. Back on the main highway we traveled through two 7 km long tunnels and they both had roundabouts in them, believe it or not. One even came out half way up a sheer mountainside along the Hardanger fjord near Eijfjorden. To put the sight in perspective we had earlier passed a cruise ship moored in Eijfjorden next to the road, which is also a sight to see all that distances inland, the bridge had allowed this enormous ship to pass underneath it with a mass of room to spare. Anyway after 8 and a half hours we arrived in Bergen. 

Bergen is steeped in history and has a small part of its original dock preserved as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The great thing is it's still in use today. The front of the warehouses have modern shops esconsed in them now and each house, or warehouse as it was, has reams of little store rooms stretching back away from the dock. One is set aside as a museum and kept as was centuries ago with dried fish etc. These properties were owned and run by the German Hanseatic League, a group of entrepreneurs who ran trade from Central Europe to countries both north and South via the sea. By all accounts they were a secretive group who wouldn't let outsiders in thus retaining all the trade and wealth to themselves and other members of their league. The Hanseatic League held sway all over this part of Europe for over 500 years while towns and cites mainly remained as independent entities within countries. They bought grain, wool and other necessities from farmers in more southerly latitudes and sold it to the Scandinavians for dried fish, fish oil and timber which in turn they exported to the south. It was only when nation states started to exert themselves that the league was diminished as local cities were no longer able to bargain solely for themselves and suffered the additional burden of central government taxation. 

Its a very attractive and well preserved part of Norway, clearly the Norwegians take a lot of pride in there heritage. 

Dock front warehouses in Byrggen (Historic name for the area)

Seedy alley's between the warehouses now used as small niche shops selling such things as furs and bone/ metal jewellery and the odd glass of lager (as spelt by Dave "larger") remember the beer blog or should that be bear blog!

The fjords, it goes without saying, we're beautiful we have oodles of images and spent an entire day driving around Hardanger Fjorden and Scammanger Fjorden I don't think we realised the time and didn't arrive back at our base until after 9pm. We had a very late tea that night!

On the ferry back from Bergen to Denmark we got this great view of the Hardanger Glacier. Up there you can go skiing all year round. 

While driving back to Bergen we came across this powerful waterfall with the opportunity to walk behind it while staying reasonably dry. Take a look at the guy in the pink shirt near the base to get an idea of its immense size

The ferry was a first chance to sleep in a proper bed, not an air mattress where Daves feet hang off the end. To top it off we also had and ensuite, no going out in the cold to use the loo in the middle of the nighT. Another sign of old age. The crossing according to the captain was smooth, rocky I would say but as I was laid down managed ok most of the time, only the pinball effect walking down the corridors. Arriving back in Denmark saw beautiful weather and a flat run to Esbjerg. We were settled in just after lunch for a relaxing day. We went into the small town to the international market where they sell speciality foods and clothes, nice to visit. The shop keepers are very trusting as they have loads of their products hung outside for you to look at. Definitely have nothing left if they did that in the UK. The following day we went out on our bikes and rode through the nearby village to the beach. The architecture is a mixture of traditional and modern, a really pretty place. Dave made fun of me when I offered to take the pannier saying I was already slow enough without a bag to slow me down more. There's love for you. I'm just appreciating the relaxed life style and scenery (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it). It is amazing though to see the oldies out on their bikes doing their shopping etc.

After a few days in Esbjerg we set off to our final destination of Amsterdam. WOW what a long day, 10 hours travelling, set the tent up, tea then bed, we were shattered. As you can guess today has been a very lazy day, lie in, late breakfast, trip to the shop, collected our free bread rolls and writing emails and blog. Good excuse it's been raining on and off most of the day with thunder and lightening! Tomorrow we are cycling into Amsterdam and will hit the historic sights and museums plus the obligatory McDonalds for a drink and abuse their free wifi AGAIN! We will have to send them a letter of thanks when we finally get home.