OK, OK its not a Scottish adventure !!!!!!
After last years trip to Shetland, we felt the pull of the North so this year we decided to visit Norway and get a Logan Air flight from Edinburgh to Bergen. In-flight coffee and Tunnocks caramel wafer !!!!
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| Our Logan Air plane "Clan Pentland" from Edinburgh to Bergen. |
Bergen City.
We arrived at Bergen Flesland airport and easily found the tram into the city. Travel around the city is easy you just download the Skyss app onto your phone and you can buy tickets for the trams and buses. Very cheap too - only £3!
Our accommodation in Bergen was the YHA Montana hostel at the foot of Mount Ulriken. So our first activity was a hike up mountain !!!!
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| Looking over the city from our hostel |
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| Looking from the hostel up to Ulriken. |
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| Summit of Mount Ulriken |
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| Mountain paths |
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| Stunning scenery |
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| Mountain huts |
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| Walking back down the "Sherpa's" 1,333 steps |
Lovestakken.
Bergen has 7 hills (or fjells) so the next day we got the tram to walk up another of the city's hills Lovestakken.
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| Bergen from a different angle |
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| Summit of Lovestakken |
Vidden Trail.
The first 2 days hiking were a good warm up for the main event the Vidden Trail. The trail is a longer distance hike from Mount Floyen to Mount Ulriken. The trail both starts and ends in the city and takes you out into the Vidden plateau. Its a beautiful trail but pretty tough 12 miles and took us over 6 hours. Bergen is great for hiking as all these trails can be done from the city.
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| Gillian meets a troll |
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| Looking over the fjords |
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| Follow the cairns |
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1333 Steps down (or up) !!!
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Robbie Williams.
On our final night in Bergen, Gillian discovered a special treat - Robbie Williams was playing at Bergen Castle and managed to get tickets !!!. So we went along and I have to admit had a pretty good night !!!
Click here to watch a video of the gig. You might be a bit confused by the song. I like the security guy who was really getting into it !!!
Support acts Morten Abel and Gaz Coombes (of Supergrass).
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| Morten Abel |
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| Gaz |
Being Parkrun tourists we managed to bag the local parkrun before we left for Flam !!!!!
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| Lovestein Parkrun |
Journey to Flam.
The next stop on our trip was Flam, which is a small village in the Flamsdalen valley located at the inner end of the Aurlandsfjoren. We spent a lovely day travelling there. First we got a train to the town of Voss. We chilled out by the lake there for an hour before getting a very scenic bus to Gundvagen. From there we got the last electric boat of the day to Flam - perfect timing - 400 folk got off and just us and about 10 others got on ! Perfect evening fjord cruise !!!.
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| Relaxing at Voss |
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| Electric boat to Flam |
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| chillin' |
Flam.
There are lots of activities to do in Flam, on our first day we went for a hike up a nearby waterfall called Brekkefossen and then hired a canoe for a paddle on the fjord.
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| Brekkefossen at 5:30 am! |
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| Looking over Flam at sunrise |
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| Morning dip, brrrrrrr !!! |
Cycle to Myrdal.
We hired a couple of mountain bikes and cycled the "Navvies Road" from Flam to the railway station at Myrdal (and back). The Navvies road is a road built to aid in the construction of the Flamsbana railway. Its 13 miles to the railway and an 800 meter climb, the last 400 meters is in the last mile !!!!. It was a tough slog up there but we had plenty stops to take photos of the spectacular scenery. Refreshment stop was at a goat farm to try some local brown cheese !!!!. The top at Myrdal was a bit chillier with snow on the surrounding hills, so a nice wee coffee in the station cafe before zooming all the back to Flam.
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| Enjoying some brown cheese with jam on pancakes !!! |
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| Approaching Myrdal |
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| Myrdal Station |
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| Traffic Jam !!!! |
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| On this postcard you can see the switchbacks we cycled up to Myrdal station. You can also see the railway. |
Click this link to watch a video of the Flamsbana arriving at Myrdal Station.
Otternes historical village.
On out last day in Flam we planned to go for a long hike in the mountains, but we were a bit tired from the cycle and the weather was a bit overcast so we opted for a walk to the nearby abandoned village of Otternes.
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| More waterfalls |
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| Huge cruise ship arrives in Flam. |
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| Looking up the fjord. |
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| Otternes village |
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| The water is a bit cold !!! |
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| Big gardens in Flam !!!! |
Flamsbana back to Myrdal and then back Bergen.
Sadly it was time to head back to Bergen. However we treated ourselves with a trip on the Flamsbana to Myrdal before jumping on the train back to Bergen.
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| Boarding the Flamsbana |
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| Flamsbana carriage. |
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| All aboard !!!! |
The train stops at a Kjosfossen waterfall where the tourists can get out and see the mysterious Huldra (a seductive forest creature in Scandinavian folklore) who dances and sings in front of the waterfall as the trains enter the station for the amusement of the tourists
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| Huldra appears !!!! |
We had a fantastic holiday in Norway, certainly one of the most beautiful countries we have been too. Don't be put of by the prices, there are lots of free things you can do and to be honest its not much more expensive than the UK now.
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| Our ride back to Scotland !!!! |
Thanks for reading and see you on our next adventure.......
