Day 9: Loen Skylift and Mt Hoven

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Ok total change of plans today - it’s the last sunny day before (apparently) a week of rain, so I wanted to make sure I got up to Loen today, even if it meant extra driving/coming back on my tracks. About half the drive was normal highway, half was the narrow roads - I’m getting used to them at least..!

I went through this nice valley with super green waters and tiny waterfalls galore. Not many spots to stop, but got a few pics and ate my breakky at one.

The closer I got to Loen, the more questionable the cloud cover got which really had me worried - I would’ve been so mad had I drove all this way for clouds haha but thankfully it was… I won’t say clearing up, but there were pockets of sun coming out which meant it was really the perfect day for it - you wait 20min and you have diff pics/landscapes lol.

The cable car was surprisingly smooth - I’m used to a bit of a bumpy ride from Switzerland lol. (On the way down you get a real nice swing though as you leave the station! Love it!) And it was expensive as is the norm here… but omg it was worth it, just stunning..!! It takes a lot for me to audibly go 'wow' but the view was def 'wow' worthy - the colours, the swirling clouds, all of it.

I did a mini hike just around the top (Hoven) - didn’t want to get lost in cloud cover lol I spent most of my time near the cafe terrace - perfect to watch the clouds come and go, watch the colours change and people watch a bit. Ugh it is just so beautiful here. When the sun hits the water, it’s always so vivid..!!

I had debated doing the zip line - I’m glad I didn’t. The pics online made it look super long but in reality it’s pretty dinky and stupid expensive for what it is. Like, I think the Ottawa/Gatineau one is longer. Ah well. Not sure anything will ever beat the Swiss one in the mountains anyway.

After Loen I made my way back towards Forde, doing a pit stop in Skei and headed over towards a nearby glacier. The parking was a zoo / total disaster so I managed to get away / turn around and parked in a photo stop not far away and just walked back. Meh, I think you could walk closer if you went in behind the restaurant, but as you can imagine, it's quite the receding glacier.

I headed back towards Forde after that and just puttered around. Not sure what I'll do tomorrow with the rain / considering I already did my plan for tomorrow. We’ll see!

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