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| 124 miles |
An early start today as this leg promises to be highly scenic and we don't want to rush it. So after breakfast, a full domestic on the van and we were away by 10.00 with our first stop to top up the fuel tank at the next town, Andalsnes, before climbing the Trollstigen, or Trolls Staircase. This is a series of 11 hairpin bends, following a steep valley towards a spectacular waterfall. At the top there is a large carpark which was very crowded with at least 12 tour coaches (how on earth did they manage?) a couple of dozen motorhomes and countless cars - obviously it's Saturday so everybody is out for the day - but we managed to find a slot and Terry walked up to the several viewpoints for some piccies. The visitor centre is currently being renovated so closed until next year but the cafe and tourist shop were doing a roaring trade! It would have been better to visit this place during the week but the weather over the last two days would have meant we'd miss most of it so we made the best of it we could. To be fair, apart from the tourist hotspots everywhere else was relatively quiet. Even negotiating the dozens of hairpin bends was no problem, well, until a tourist coach came round the other way........
Down the other side, more hairpin bends and onto a ferry which had just arrived so no delays for the 10 minute crossing. We were now on the Geiranger road which climbs up another mountain (yes more hairpin bends!) before a very sharp, steep descent overlooking the most famous in Norway, the Geirangerfjord. Yet more hairpin bends giving us super views up and down the steep sided fjord and to the town itself where a Saga cruise ship was moored - that explained all the tour buses! The town was completely stacked out with no chance of parking a bike let alone an 8m motorhome so we crawled past and climbed up through the last of the hairpin bends onto a plateau and found a layby for lunch.
The road now was fairly straight with only gentle climbs and descents but with a totally different kind of scenery. Gone were the steep sided mountains, replaced with open moorland dotted with lakes, some still partially frozen although it wasn't cold. Some sunshine would have been nice but the clouds gave it that extra sombre look and the visibility was for ever. Checking the time it looked like continuing on to "do" the next leg would leave us quite late for finding an overnight stop and having experienced the fun of trying to find somewhere on a Saturday evening we decided to stop early and chose a small campsite. Of course being warm and humid the midgies were out but nets and citronella candles looked after that and we settled down to relax for the rest of the day.
As always the photos don't come even close to doing the scenery justice but we'll remember today as one of the best we've ever seen.
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