Day 6: Stegastein, Aurland, up to Vangsnes

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Day 6: Gol/Al to Vangsnes via Flam and Aurland (250km - approx 8hrs lol)

(Ugh wifi is brutal at this motel - photos to be added Wed or Thurs)

Ok so some of that time was stopped looking around at photo spots but the majority was in the car - (Stegastein was SO BUSY). I really could have stopped more often but huge chunks of the drive didn’t really have areas to pull over, so I just admired the view from Olaf.

Ok first things first! The drive to Aurland was nice and calm - lots of little pit stops here and there for photos along the lakes, rivers, rapids, etc. The sun was relatively out, so the water was often a nice blue or green.

Just before Hol I stopped at a cute little red church - the clouds were spectacular up above. Next was a waterfall (ish) just past Hovet and wandered around there a bit - there was a sign that I’m not sure was keep out or keep out no hunting… so I didn’t bother lol. I still got some nice shots from the path I was on. I just love listening to the water rapids… in fact the next few stops were just that, little rapids to listen to.

Another interesting discovery - so many sheep lol. They wander out on to the road so you have to weave sometimes. And at the photo pit stop areas they randomly kept coming up to my car to lick the tires??? Why???

Anywho. I made it to Aurland - since the station wasn’t busy I tried to figure out how to put gas in the car (it’s so expensive lol $3.10 ish - good thing my little Polo seems to be good on gas). Originally I was going to do Stegastein tomorrow… but it’s supposed to rain and I really wanted to make sure I saw it at least once in the sunlight… so… I headed up.

Here’s the thing. A lot of Norwegian roads are pretty narrow - most of my driving today was on roads that were just wide enough for 2 cars but like you both have to relatively hug your edge. That’s fine. But a lot of the super steep winding roads are 2-way traffic, but only wide enough for 1 car… so you have all these little areas to pull over - you’re constantly just watching ahead - if you see someone and you’re need a spot, you pull over and wait. Again, simple enough but not so much at Stegastein with the sheer amount of traffic both ways - it was hella chaotic lol.

I have figured out the best trick is to be near a bus or a proper truck - people have to move to give them way and you reap the benefit. Campers so one of two ways… got to make sure it’s a Norwegian driver or someone who knows their stuff otherwise they get stuck lol. The line to get up was insane today. The parking was also insanity - it isn’t big at all. So I kept going, drove further into the mountain road, did a u-turn at another photo spot and came back about 20min later, thankfully the parking had a few spots.

The view is pretty fab and worth the stress - I’m glad I came today. They built this huge platform that juts out over the fjord, so you can have the perfect view. I got my shots just in time before a tour bus showed up - oh la la more chaos. I feel tourists are worse than they used to be… maybe that’s just me forgetting how things were before Covid.

Anyway. I started the long drive back down… the first half was ok, then some random guy stopped me at one of the big curves and was like k 2 big busses are coming up, can you wait here a few min. I mean, what am I going to say lol of course I’ll wait. So I have this line up of like… 20 cars behind me, as we wait. This one bus goes and there’s a line of ~10 cars behind him… then I’m waiting… and waiting…. Nothing was coming so I’m like k cool, I guess I can go? (Also don’t honk on Stegastein… honestly. If cars are stopped it’s for a reason)

So I got down to the next big bend and realized lol NOPE those two big busses were still coming, they’d got stuck beside another other bus just past this next curve. So again I pulled over and just watched everyone try to do their thing - people were getting out of cars and campers to direct the drivers how close they can go to the ditch or the stone wall. I was glad I’d timed it that I was actually in a dip area so I was off to the side. What a time consuming mess.

Next stop was Flam - wow it’s built up tourist wise since I was last here… but I mean that was 10+ years. There were two cruises in port (ew) so I just grabbed lunch to go and headed off. I’ll probably swing by again tomorrow, we’ll see.

Back on the road to Vangsnes - got stuck behind a few more busses trying to get out of Flam. But once we hit the main road, good to go for a bit.

Brings me to another fine driving point - tunnels! Oh god, so many tunnels. Some are short (1km) some are stupid long (11km). Some have two obv lanes, some are the just barely two lanes if you both can drive. Some are on a crazy angle lol I coasted down one entire tunnel today and had to keep breaking every few min. I’m not overly loving the tunnels.

Ok so rest of the drive was photo stops when I had the chance. The road goes up into the mountain pass, so all the snow patches are still there - quiet windy too! But I got some nice pics again and watched some more sheep before continuing on my narrow drive north.

I stopped in Vik for some groceries (and a nice view of Sognefjord) and a few min later (one more tunnel! Lol) and I was in Vangsnes. Long but lovely day!

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