Rolling On to Jølster

After a morning stroll in Bergen, and another big breakfast, we returned to the roads of Norway and the scenic fjords.

It was a long day of driving, not helped by the fact that my Google maps compass seemed to be using the wrong pole. It did get me to a Circle K north of Bergen pretty well. On the roundabout at the exit to the motorway an Ikea van had hit an electric car - it felt kind of Scandinavian. I also may have paid to use the same toll road four times in my attempt to reach a certain Flatøy trailhead, and eventually gave up and drove to Ytre Oppedal for the first ferry of the morning and a bit of a break to eat an apple and nuts (and some surprise granola pieces).

From Lavik we drove East towards Balestrand. Driving on the right hand side of the road meant a long stretch of crystal clear water reflecting the still cloudless, blue sky. We stopped for lunch at a random rest stop that appeared on the map, which turned out to be a beautiful beach with clean public toilets and a nice rock on which to enjoy some additional hotel breakfast sandwiches and fit in another little stroll.

The next ferry took us to Hella, across a waterfall bridge, and the picturesque scenery then continued all the way to Sogndalsfjøra which is where I intended to recharge the car.

Despite having another Circle K, this was not a good place to charge. Again, I felt personally slighted by Google Maps as I tried to locate the entrance to the chargers in the car park. It was also by far the least nature-y town on the road that day, by which I mean there were a decent amount of buildings in the lee of the mountains and the fjord. The walk along the water towards coffee was also so shadow-less that we only found two square metres of shade in which to eat a bolle before getting back on the road.

At this point it truly felt like Norway was one of the sunniest places on Earth, and I was ready for the driving to end. We continued on, exiting a tunnel to reach the view of Fjaerlands Fjord which - in the higher altitude's cooler air - was spectacular and revived the spirits somewhat.

Leaving that panorama behind us, we drove further and were compelled to park again at another valley where a large rock slide in the past year or so had created another dynamic landscape of rock, snow, greenery, sky and sun.

Then, inevitably, more tunnelen, before the lakeside road towards Skei led further onward to our accommodation in Jølster. And then back again as we realised the footpath next to the road was actually the road we needed to reach the guest house.

Another amazing choice of accommodation, was this. A view out the window of the massive lake, the hillsides, the glacier in the distance. We were the only ones staying. We drove back to Skei to buy dinner from the Coop Extra and had another serve of Norwegian Taco Chicken. While cooking, I spoke briefly to the tradesman who was living there to maintain and improve the property. I asked him if he ever got sick of the scenery. He said no. He also told me how to pronounced Skei. He asked where we'd come from that morning, and after some thinking, I told him, "Bergen". It seemed so long ago at that point. I told him a bit more about our trip and plans and he commented that it sounded very arranged.

After dinner of course it was still not dark so we walked along the lake a little way to a church and Vanessa again put her feet in the waters.

In the evening, I unpacked the tripod for some sunset photos - a rare moment without glare - then climbed into bed.