Arriving in the Western Fjords.

---

Monday.
Today is our last day on the rv17, the area we are passing through is really beautiful, we both thinks it's more so than the first part, which the guide book reckons is the most beautiful. The road is passing through lush green valleys with forested hillsides leading up to stoney mountains, wide rivers and fjords below. It feels very alpine. The last ferry on the route was running late, we pulled up behind some bikers, one couple French and the other Russian, Les joined in conversation with them, there seemed to be a bit of a competition as to who had travelled the most distance. The French guy was a bit of a comedian and showed Les around his bike and sidecar, pointing to different bags and lockers calling them kitchen, bedroom etc. They certainly were well equipped and organised. The Russian couple were young and had come from Moscow. They both had struggled with the weather, especially in the north, where they had seen vehicles blown over. Today they were enjoying the sunshine. Later as we crossed a bridge we could see a Land Rover camper parked at the other side. We had to stop as it was a great place to take a photos (there aren't enough places to stop on these roads) and also we had to see who owned the camper. The German owners can't have been too far away as the remains of their lunch were on a table at the back of the vehicle, but we couldn't see them anywhere. We left them one of our calling cards and said we were sorry not to have met them. The afternoon's drive was lovely, a new vista around every corner. The grassy banks have burst into flower since we passed this way before. There are wild lupins, cow parsley, cranesbill geranium, dog daisies, buttercup and many others that I don't recognise. Towards the end of the day's drive we hit a heavy storm, it certainly knows how to rain, within about 20 minutes it had passed. We found a lovely parking place, by the fjord at Steinkjer, the car park attached to a small country park area was just about full of cars, we managed to find a parking spot but on a slope, we will have to move when everyone's gone home or we'll be rolling out of bed. Within minutes families started to appear from the park the youngsters were all carrying or pulling small wooden boats, they were all the same but looked like the children had made them, it must have been an after school activity. The car park soon cleared and we were able to move to a flatter place. After tea we walked through the forest on a circular walk, keep turning right! Forty five minutes later we were back where we started. Tuesday. Looks like another stormy day for us. We start by shopping for the week. We're going to be on the road all day eventually passing through Trondheim, we're not too keen on city driving, but sometimes it's necessary. The morning drive was through rolling green hills, sometimes of course along the side of fjords and rivers and more often this morning crossing hills. At one place we were held up by a road traffic accident, the first that we have seen on the 4000 miles we have driven so far, fortunately it was just a bump and it didn't look serious. Our lunch stop, unplanned, was down a track in a parking place next to a war memorial, we noticed a poppy wreath at its base, upon investigation it was a memorial for RAF personnel who were lost in the destroying of the German submarine, Tirpitz, quite a coincidence. As we approached Trondheim, we had a quick look on the Internet for a boat chandlers that might have a combustion fan for the hob, as it is playing up again and it would be better to replace it than lubricate it every couple of weeks. It's quite a job to take it out and dismantle it. Google came up trumps and we called to see if they had what we wanted. They will check and call us back! After 20 mins we called them, they don't have what we want, but they could probably order one. We explained that we were just passing through, but thanks anyway. Trondheim was extremely slow due to massive road works, as we were queuing I was studying the cars queuing in the opposite direction, I estimated that about one in five of the cars were electric, here in Norway electric cars have registration no.s starting with either EL or EK. There are big incentives tax wise to own electric cars. Most manufacturers had at least one model, we really like the styling on the Tesla cars.Once on the other side of the city we were being blown about in the strong winds, struggling to find an overnight stop that was sheltered. Eventually there was a suitable place with room to throw a ball for Logan, it's been a boring day for both him and us. Wednesday.Today we're heading for the Atlantic Ocean road. We started early on with a short ferry journey and two under the sea tunnels (which I'm not too keen on) arriving at our first point of interest, Kvernes Stave Church, built around 1300. There was two young ladies who gave a short but informative talk about the church. Inside the walls and ceilings were completely painted in geometric patterns. Hanging from the ceiling was a 300 year old votive ship, the young lady explained that it was symbolic of all people being one and moving through life in the same direction, it's a bit contradictory as the ship is a battle ship with cannons. The hybrid altarpiece had a Dutch centre panel and a Norwegian outer. The area around the church had strong Viking connections, with burial mounds all around, an information plaque gave us information about trade routes and battles in the fjord, what stood out was the names of the Vikings, Harold Fairhair, Hakon the Good and Eirik Bloodaxe, great names aren't they! We lunched in the church carpark and then continued to the Atlantic Ocean Road, we paid our toll and set off to drive the seven bridges built in the late 60's, connecting a series of islands and skerries over 8 kilometres. The most impressive of the bridges curves up high into the air. It's a windswept desolate area with big rocks and moorland. The rest of the afternoon was spent driving through more alpine style scenery. We found a camping spot just outside Andalsnes overlooking the fjord, a popular camper spot, there's already quite a few here and more arrived in the evening. Thursday.As we left the camping area we could see that a cruise liner had docked overnight, meaning that everywhere would be full of tour busses showing the passengers the sights. We visited the Trollveggen (Troll Wall) first, the highest vertical mountain wall in Europe, 1800m from the valley floor to the ragged cloud covered summit. First conquered in 1958 by a joint Norweigian, English team. There is even a world base race here, an organised BASE jumping competition! It is very wet here and full of previously mentioned tourists, some even taking photos of Dream Catcher, we're going to have to start charging. So we head into Andalsnes, where the P&O Brittania was moored, it's enormous, if all the people from that are in town we'll not be able to move. After a quick look around the town and a coffee break we're ready to tackle the drive up Trollstigen (The Trolls Ladder). It was completed in 1936 after 8 years of labour, it has 11 hairpin bends, 1:12 gradient and much of it is single lane. Several dramatic waterfalls including the thundering 180m high Stigfossen, slice down its flanks. Dream Catcher wound its way up taking it steady in 2nd gear, no problem! We were soon at the top,at the visitors centre, where you can walk out onto viewing platforms to take photos of this impressive road. When we carried on, the road descended into the Reinheimen National Park, continuing the theme of mountains and waterfalls. It's stunningly beautiful even in the rain. As we reached sea level again Les had noticed a view point just along a nearby road, we went to explore and to see if it was a good stop to stay the night. The road climbing up the sheer valley was easily as spectacular as the Trillstigen, but without any other traffic. At the top we could see the end of the fjord, but there's just a layby to pull into so we retraced our way down the zigzag way we had come and stopped at Valldal overnight, parked once again overlooking the ford.

---