The Golden Route, Trolls and Breaking the Dress Code Law

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Getting close to the Arctic Circle in the summer can only mean one thing (for me) - getting up at 3.15am for the sunrise! Hooray! I peered out of the porthole above my pillow and could see a sliver of pink between the mid blue of the sea and sky. It had been a bit dim last night, but not properly dark. Glyn wasn’t so keen at leaving a warm bed to stand on a windy deck, but as always, I knew better.



We climbed up the many stairs of the silent ship, passing occasional staff cleaning pictures and other important jobs that can’t wait for a decent hour to be done. Like the majority of the ship, the front of Deck 10 was empty except for the sun loungers we’d dragged across yesterday. We were just entering our first fjord of Norway, Midfjorden, before heading along to Romsdalsfjorden to Åndalsnes. The dark mountains silhouetted about the still water as the pink and orange stretched slowly further across the sky. It was quite windy, but not cold and when we pressed ourselves against the ship, we were almost sheltered. Another couple joined us at around 4.15am as the sun put in its first appearance, leaving a golden streak across the sea. It was incredibly beautiful and even Glyn grudgingly admitted that he was glad he’d gotten up for it.

We were back in bed at 5am to snatch a couple of hours sleep before breakfast and our first trip of the holiday ashore. Åndalsnes is a mountain climbing/ hiking centre with a population of 3000. There used to be a lot of farms clinging to the small patches of land where farming is just possible, but that is now in decline. However they do grow a lot of strawberries and other soft fruits as they are very suited to the very long daylight hours here. Norwegians rarely work on the soft fruit farms; like the UK it tends to employ Eastern European workers.

Disembarking from the ship I immediately spotted a huge building sticking out like a square sore thumb from the rest of the tiny town. The water in front of it was a perfect mirror and as my camera is always ready, I got a photo. A nearby lady was impressed and told her companion what a great idea that had been and she wished she had her camera ready too. The coach for a day trip was nearby, it was a pre-booked Fred Olsen trip, the Golden Route. We’d chosen this one as it gave us the opportunity to see the most sights. And being a cruise organised tour, you are safe in the knowledge that if you are late back, they will wait.

The first things of note was the multitude of waterfalls and crystal clear rivers where you can see the riverbed perfectly through the blueish, shimmering water. We were particularly lucky with the unusual weather as it was around 23 degrees with blue skies and sunshine. Through the valley, the bus took us to our first stop, 850 meters above sea leave via Trollstigen (the trolls road) which has a steep incline of 10% and 11 hairpin bends. It was built by hand (with the help of donkeys) in the 1930s but some bends have been widened to accommodate longer vehicles; it is against the law to have a vehicle longer than 13 metres and you get fined by centimetre if you get caught. Trailers are banned so there are loads of campervans. It is closed during the winter. We stopped at the top where there are a few platforms for people to look down upon the road and the nearby waterfalls. Lower down there had been thick and diverse forests but as we’d gotten higher only wiry birch trees could survive the winter months. Sheep and cows wandered freely around us as the farmers let them roam wildly until the winter months. If the snows come early, helicopters are required to winch them back home.

Randomly scattered on the mountains were tents as it’s legal to camp anywhere so long as you’re not bothering anyone or on farmland. People come from various European countries to camp, especially Swedes and Germans. They come to hike and go fishing, especially for salmon and we saw salmon ladders on the rivers to help them spawn. Wildlife includes deer, foxes, wolverine, hedgehogs and snakes. Reindeer have also been reintroduced to the area but bears were hunted into extinction. There are meant to be lynxes but no one sees them as they hang out high up.

Despite the sunshine, there are still clumps of snow around due to the glaciers and the local young ‘uns are known for skiing in swimwear during the summer. I’m sure it’s all very ‘in’ but in reality I think pretty unpleasant as soon as you inventively (or inevitable for me) fall over and hit a tree, as it will hurt in all sorts of sensitive places.

Other fun facts I learned is that Norway is likely to be the first cash free country in the world, using cards and phones instead. And people’s surnames are often the place where they live. That sounds cool when you live in romantic sounding Norwegian areas, but I’m glad it’s not a thing in the UK as I would have been christened Claire Sevenoaks and now be Mrs Stoke-on-Trent. No thank you.

Being as Norway is littered with fjords (they totally love them here) we couldn’t avoid needing a ferry. Ours was at Linge and it was a half hour wait as the ferries are small, however the crossing only took 12 minutes. Further along we came to an impressive gorge with too many tourists and a standard folklore tale about a poor man jumping the gorge after rescuing a beautiful woman from marrying a nasty rich man. These types of stories are pretty standard worldwide. No one asks whether the beautiful woman required rescuing or if she would have been happier rich and not risking her life with a gorge jumping fool.

Anyhow, we continued past small farms and large houses, many with grass roofs, which are great insulation in the summer and winter alike. These roofs last around 25 years and look like wildlife havens - certainly no one uses lawnmowers on them. What I didn’t understand was why woodpiles had the grass roofs too. But many did.

Our final destination was Geiranger at the end of Geirangerfjord, population 240 (a third of whom are over 60 years old) but when the cruise ships arrive, it becomes millions throughout the summer and plans are afoot to curb this. Our cruise ship holds around 600-650 passengers but that larger ones can have around 3000. On the days when 4 cruise ships dock at Geiranger, the town is blocked and choked with the ships’ dirty emissions.

The road down to Geiranger is named Eagles Road as when it was built, the builders were dive bombed by eagles. This too has many hairpin bends where two coaches passing each other is an interesting experience and a recipe for losing wing mirrors. We stopped for lunch which was fish for Glyn and hastily cooked vegetables and mash for me - they clearly forgot the two vegetarians on the trip. Even here, staff from the ship had brought a bottle of hand sanitiser for us to use before we could eat. We shared a table with other cruisers and had a good chat to the extent that one lady thanked us for our good company afterwards! Clearly she meant me, but Glyn had put an effort in too ;-)

We briefly stopped at one of the many waterfalls on the way back. I spotted another one nearby (because they are ten a penny here) when the lady who had been impressed by my reflection spotting earlier, followed me. She said she was following because I had a good eye for a photo. I asked her to repeat this to Glyn as he always claims that I have to follow him as he spots all of the best photos. She laughed when he repeated word for word exactly what I said he would!

There was one staff member from the ship who had come solely to take photographs of us in the hope of selling them or a dvd at the end of the trip. I was polite about it, but it really became intrusive after a while. Bless him, it is his job after all but Fred Olsen needs to rethink this.

Our guide told us many stories about the landscape, most if not all included trolls. They appear to be responsible for just about everything in Norway. However you cannot blame them for the multitude of regular accidents by tourists falling into waterfalls. Disappointingly, at the end, she claimed it was all myths about the trolls, just like Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy. I spent ages consoling Glyn about Father Christmas, I can’t believe she let that cat out of the bag.

On the journey back I spotted the long poles at the edge of the road. These were a few metres high and are there to mark the road in winter, often getting totally covered.

We only had 20 minutes left to wander around Åndalsnes when we returned, which was enough - it’s not very big. The railway ends here and I’ve seen more happening in a sleepy English village on a Sunday afternoon. We bought our first souvenirs and boarded the ship, after being scanned thoroughly.

We couldn’t be bothered to tidy up for an evening meal so went to the Secret Garden for a buffet meal instead. However, this is the lair of a scary maitre-d who sent Glyn packing with a flea in his ear to get changed, as his over the knee shorts were not allowed at this time of the evening. It did seem unfair as my crop trousers were allowed and a young lady with backless top was also accepted.

It was only around 8pm but all that fresh air and 3.15 am start had me bushed. We returned to our cabin to read and hung our Do Not Disturb sign on the door, which confused the maid so she rang us up to see if we wanted to be disturbed or something, However, I was soon asleep regardless.

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