Waterfall Walk to Brekkefossen

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Another sunny day dawns and I check out of my hostel ready for a move to Bergen in the afternoon. Luckily the hostel can store my main bag so I set off to the harbour area for the start of what I think is a long mountain walk. The walk is lovely, taking me up high with views looking down on the boats below, but it takes about half an hour tops, the scale of the illustrated map being somewhat deceptive. I decide to head off out of Flåm to explore the track used by cyclists doing the one way rail trip and then cycling back down, only I’m doing it in reverse obviously. The sun is baking hot and most unexpected. I’d thought there would be quite a few days of rain it being so mountainous here. I pass the other part of the Viking pub’s brewery operation and smell the malty mustiness of beer as I go by.

I spot some massive pink marsh mallows in the corner of a field that must obviously belong to a giant troll living nearby (they are actually hay bales but really do look like marsh mallows!).

Further along I reach the waterfall I’d seen from the train only it's on the other side of the river and no bridge in sight so that tempting geocache symbol on my GPS is a no go unfortunately. So I continue through the village I’ve just reached spotting some gorgeous wooden houses along the way. And there is the school I’d seen from the train too. Outside children are playing on the play equipment. There are literally only 17 pupils in the school, I counted them all! Lucky kids. I bet they just take it all for granted. There is a bridge that crosses the river to the school and I can’t work out if there is a public footpath on the other side or not as there’s quite a bit of building work going on. I decide to carry on a bit further and explore the village some more before investigating river crossing potential. As I turn a corner there is the cute black church I’d also seen from the train the day before! There's also a gorgeous old wooden house with a turf roof next door to the church. I go and share a bench in the shade in the church graveyard with an equally wilting woman who has beaten me to it. There's a guy carrying out some work on the church roof which I guess is why people keep trying the door and finding it locked. What a shame.

Having convinced myself there isn’t a proper path on the other side of the river I suddenly see a group of walkers coming from the direction of the waterfall. Oooh maybe I’ll get that geocache after all. Trolsk like I tramp over the bridge in my big stomping walking boots and head towards the general direction of the falls. Soon I see from my GPS that I’ll need to head upwards and as if by magic a sign to the waterfall appears. Little am I to know that this is going to be one knackeringly steep climb and in the heat I am soon my usual beetroot face, sweaty haired self! It really isn’t fair. Other people are obviously way more out of breath than me and having to stop for a breather loads more yet they look as if they’ve just stepped out of the hair salon and are off for a coffee!! Grrrr!

After about an hour's climb I finally make it to Brekkefossen waterfall viewing area with the double bonus of an even higher up view of Flåm's harbour area. I think the cache is hidden at a lower viewing area so risk life and limb slipping and sliding down a steep muddy section only to find I'm out by about 10m so it must be up at the original spot but further over to the left. Bloody hell, unnecessary climbing! Eventually I get to the right spot and couldn't care less if any of the many muggles at the falls see me I’m that hot and bothered. After glugging some water and converting to a less violent shade of red in the face I set off bounding down the steep rocky path. Down is my forte so I whizz by other walkers and am soon back on the riverside track. It’s not long before I’m back at the hostel having said hello to some random Highland cattle on the way. I jump straight in the shower and set it on cold and am soon back to normal Lottie Let Loose shade. After picking up my rucksack I head off to catch my ferry to Bergen.

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