NORWEGIAN COUNTRYSIDE - TRAVEL TIPS
This is the final blog in a series of three on Norway. After Oslo, my Norwegian friend and I, who had met many years ago (2001) in Bali and kept in touch through the years having seen each other twice, took a road trip to the Western fjords. Catching up face-to-face, and navigating was fun enough but there were little moments of ecstasy as we drove through Norwegian country scenery which is expansive, colourful, crisp and beautiful.Driving from Oslo to Gudvanger towards the western fjords we took the
E18 via Sandvika and headed north on the E16 through Honefoss, changing
to the 7, west towards Gol. The latter is about half way.
Up to Gol there
are beautiful green clear lakes and forested hills
Breathtakingly gorgeous
with winding roads, a
few bridges
and plenty of sky to see on a clear day.
We stopped to view a few churches. The style of black wooden churches in Norway is called Stave and is more clearly seen in the second picture here below. All along the way there are these lovely tall pink wild flowers, about a metre high on the roads' edges and sometimes when driving, their blossom fluff, blows through the air billowing in little clouds. There were also sheep who cross or graze on the side and warnings signs for deer or moose, though we didn't see any, or horses grazing on green luscious pastures.
Stave Church
Moving on past Gol we took the 52 towards Hemsedal. Here the scenary changes and snow topped mountains came into view across misty lakes and rural cabins dotted here and there in the middle of no-where.The pictures actually do not do justice to the variety and beauty of this part of the drive as it was a bit cloudy and light was lacking.
Always present... winding roads, forested landscape, wild shrub and waterfalls
The last part of the journey to GUDVANGEN, after the peak view point and descent begins a long arduous phase of tunnel after tunnel, two of which were not lit and quite scary when you're nearing the end of a drive and tired but it all adds to the adventure and fun in retrospect. As it was quite late we decided not to drive through to Flam but just straight on to Gudvanger, which was covered in the previous blog.
About an hour from Gudvanger where the mountains become really high
Gudvanger
Leaving a little earlier to return to Oslo we took a slightly different route back which was hillier, but with open vast stretches of space that made driving an absolute pleasure. We had taken the 52 north and now I believe we were taking the 50 south. There were forested mountainous views, later crystal clear lakes and the highlight a massive waterfall. We also took King's Road to view another big lovely Stave church. The sky was blue with puffy little clouds strewn across the air as if they had been painted and with all the memories and experiences of the previous days our hearts and minds were full to the brim of sheer joy! Every moment was a Wow and Awesome sensation as around each bend we saw something new and even more beautiful!
King's Road
And then there were the crystal lakes with perfect sky reflections in their waters
Blue blue skies all the way home....
It took me a long time to get to Norway, it's not the hottest or cheapest country but it is definitely one of the most beautiful as far as natural scenery goes, if you move out of the city and are prepared to travel. So if you're a seasoned traveller, Norway should be high on the bucket list. Until next time :Tak-tak and tusen-tak Norway!
Our specially home-crafted map for female navigators :)
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