Our southbound journey was now a fact, and more tourist routes awaited us – the first would be the Trollstigen, the ‘troll steps’ ascending ±700m with 11 hairpin bends(!), another Turisterveger. We completed the ascent without much ado, waiting here ‘n there for passing traffic; however once we were at the viewing balcony we were treated to multiple infarcts involving buses, which made us realise how lucky we’d been … 😉
Our overnight location was a short distance away, at a National Park parking site – here we were surprised when, pretty much at 6pm, our mobile connectivity just disappeared – just as if someone had switched off the equipment room; a little sobering, but we just dealt with it … 🙂 We woke up here to Luc’s 18th birthday, unfortunately without the usual wealth of birthday wishes (no Internet connectivity … 😉), but we also made the most of this, and put him in the spotlight!
Our subsequent drive would be one of our longest distances, and the 11-hairpin descent at Ørnevegen was an impressive highlight, coming down all the way to the Geirangerfjord, where we were treated to yet another surreal view of a cruise ship in the wrong place.
Geiranger itself was busy; too busy – the cruise ship had, of course, beaten us here, and had vomited it’s 3.500 passenger manifest on this small town; as a result our tentative plans to stop here were adjusted on the fly, and we headed out of the valley into the mist (which also ended any attempt at the Dalsnibba viewpoint). On the other side of the mountain we regained sunshine and had some nice views of the Djupvatnet and Langvatnet lakes, as well as a nice visit to the Pollfoss waterfalls. A further stop at the Lom stavkyrkje was well worth it, a really beautiful church located in a wonderful valley.
As a Turisterveger, the Sognefjellet rates as one of the most beautiful – rightly titled The roof of Norway, it’s a picturesque drive across a high plateau, with glaciers on both sides (and the sunshine helped!) … 🙂 From here the route went on to Fortun & Skjolden and the Lustrafjorden, with a forced stop for the headaches which developed during the descent. Our destination for today would be a ‘Google Maps’ location at Tungestolen, a location chosen for a 2-night stay and a glacier visit. What’s not apparent in Google Maps is the road itself – narrow, long – but we just took it easy, substantially exceeding the Maps driving time estimate … 🙂
Tungestolen was a truly magical location: a wide valley, 2 glaciers nearby (Langedalen & Austerdalen), sheep and cows grazing freely. And, without realizing it, we were (as the crow flies) some ±25km westward from our overnight location at Astruptunet 5 days ago(!).
We had planned a full day here because of the accessible Austerdalen glacier, and Nick & Ellen hiked the relatively easy hike to the glacier, a fulfilling 7-hour round trip.
📷 A photo gallery with more photo’s is available here.