DAYS 12-13 Norwegian Fjords

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Today was a preparation day for one of the highlight days of the tour starting with a 3.5 hr bus journey to the incredible fjord region. Our accommodation for a 2 night stay was a rustic self-catering Norwegian hut at a village near the town of Gudvangen. The setting is beautiful, surrounded by steep cliff walls next to the crystal clear Kjelsfossen waterfall falling from the top of the fjords.

Next task was to buy food supplies for two days leaving the afternoon free to walk along the fjord before a casual BBQ dinner. Some doubtful weather was forecast but we woke next day to a bright clear morning and perfectly still conditions for our boat trip up the World Heritage Naeroyfjord. The fjord is 18 kilometres long & incredibly deep yet narrows down to sheer cliff walls only 250 metres at its narrowest point with waterfalls crashing down.

The boat trip ends in the tiny village of Flåm which is the staging point for one of the most beautiful train journey in the world however despite attempts to buy tickets over the last week all tickets have been long sold. Flåm now seems to be too successful for its own good as cruise ships like the Queen Mary 2 are able to steam right up the fjord & dock & overrun the town.

From what we know the train trip looks incredible. It’s only a 20 km line but an engineering feat in itself, being up a steep 18% gradient through 20 tunnels that spiral in and out of the mountain. The line then opens to panoramic views of snow-capped mountains, cascading waterfalls, rivers that cut through deep ravines and farms that cling precariously to the side of sheer slopes. The closest we got to our train ride was to see the train pullout of the station.

Instead of the train we trekked up to the Brekkfossen waterfall which has impressive views overlooking Flåm before another group BBQ dinner.

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Photos

Idyllic village
At least in summer

Flåm train
As close as we got