Our departure from Tungestølen involved the return journey down the valley, past Veitastrond and the Veitastrondavatnet, once again at a relaxed pace. We headed from here to the hamlet of Solvorn for a foot passenger crossing to Ornes, where we would visit the Urnes stavkyrkje – the oldest stave church in Norway, dating back to the 12th century, and listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. We joined a guided tour, which was very informative; the church, itself, an absolute jewel in a wonderfully idyllic setting.
Our further drive would take us beyond Sogndal & Mannheller to Lærdal, with an overnight stop at Galdane, close to the remains of a shepherd’s croft on the Kongevegen (King’s Road). The next day we started with a short drive to Borgund to admire the churches there, one of which an old stavkyrkje. From here it was on to Borlaug, Tuv and Hol; our drive crossing into the Hemsedal where there was still much evidence of the power of storm Hans – full waterfalls, high river levels & road damage. From Gol we crossed the plateau to Leira / Fagernes, heading from here to our overnight stop along the Randsfjord beyond Hov & Fall.
Our penultimate day in Norway would bring us close to Oslo, with our last overnight stop at the Hvalstjern wintersport complex. Luc & Mayra had a swim in the Slora, which (according to their report) was not cold at all(!), and Nick took care of an appropriate last Norwegian meal for all.
For our departure from Norway we elected to skip the main E22 route and take a parallel country route, with a really low-key border crossing into Sweden at Holtet. Our homeward journey was now definitely a fact (😕), our goal was to get beyond Gothenburg for our overnight stop. We were surprised shortly after sunset by the roar/throb of many motorcycles at the parking area – initially thinking that this was yet again a ‘buzzing’ exercise by the locals, but in conversation with some of the riders it appeared this was their regular weekly jaunt. We had good laughs with them too; lots of jibing between the Swedes and Norwegians …! 😂
Prior to leaving Sweden we did an appropriate lunch at the Ikea homebase in Malmö, standard fare being Swedish meatballs and fries followed by a (free) loyalty cake. Was this in any different to eating in any other global Ikea restaurant? Yes …: the portion was bigger, and cheaper …! 😯
We exited Sweden and traversed Denmark using the reverse trip of 2½ weeks previous: crossing the Øresundsbron and Storebælt bridges, and heading south into Schleswig-Holstein. Since camping in Germany obliges the use of a campsite, our aim in this regard was to get beyond Hamburg; we picked a small campsite, arriving at 8pm only to hear that they closed at 8pm(!). Thankfully they allowed us to use a pitch, and settle up in the morning …
Our last day on the road would involve a detour through Wolvega (so as to address a broken side mirror), and then back home after our 5.250km round trip. One happy cat found there, as well as our own beds; and the start of a long period of remembering a truly magical holiday trip … 🙂
Time for conclusions:
- the camper experiment was a resounding success, as well as our use of the allemannsretten; our variable weather conditions didn’t have any real negative effects considering our domestic space
- it was a nice slow-down holiday, with a lot of easy days, and pretty much a highlight on every day
- … and Norway …?
We want more, and there is so much more to see; we can’t wait …! 🙂
📷 A photo gallery with more photo’s is available here.