Fjordland Feasts part 2

Alesund is on the coast, so the mountains are a bit different, a little lower, the sides less steep (a relative term only) and there is more water than mountains, the further you go out.

No railways here, but buses and ferries abound.  In fact you depend on good drivers of both.


So here's Rune (pronounced Ru-ne), who we enjoyed chatting to for a couple of trips, and who facilitated the connections we needed to make.


Worth their weight in gold these guys.

The cruise ships come right into the main street, and hoards of folks disembark from them.

We kept bumping into the ships.  There are one or two scheduled each day at the popular tourist spots, as you will see.

Geiranger Fjord

 This ferry took us to one of the best.


It's a photo-feast all the way

& you need all your camera batteries to be fully charged each night, to cope with the next day.




What's to see...

But look closer...

Those moments come along...  by just keeping clicking away...
   and then they are gone again...
But wait...
  just around the corner you are bowled over by...

- which from a slightly different angle and light looks like :

And it goes on...

The ship of the all conquering vikings...


is brought out

for people to compare...

and on the way back...

the cruise ship...




is seen in a better proportion.

And on our way home,

our whole bus

regularly crosses

on the larger ferries

- with us inside it !

Fjordland Feasts (part 1)

From Trondheim, the train took us up into the REAL mountains of Norway, the high ones, the ones that still have ice fields & glaciers on them...

The Rauma Railway takes you from the main Oslo line, down the steep sides of the valley, beside, around, and through, it seems, the many waterfalls !

It is a marvellous adventure, all the more because it seems most folks on the train are trying to get the same great photo-shots as you are - which generates its own form of camaraderie, joint fun over those that don't work, & celebration over those that do !

Suddenly, the mountains & their sheer sides are towering over you.



One...   or a hundred photos
cannot convey...
what it is like...
to look up...



from way down below..





only awe / silence is warranted.

North of the Line: Arctic Circle

From Trondheim to Bodo is 600 very scenic kilometres, and 10 hours by train.

Coastal inlets...

rushing torrents....









time to gaze as the skies change.

Up to the top,
where streams start
from the treeless bogs.......

to the Arctic Circle, marked by the cairn, and, for road travellers, by a Centre.
Of course it is just coincidence that the AC is at the high barren watershed. It could have been in forested country. More dramatic up here.

On the very long map of Norway.
It folds up like a concertina, and can be quite a juggling act.

Two Bodo seacats
 at work.
Very popular for
the coastal runs. 
This green ship says Green Reefers. Logistics of chilled and frozen products.

10 o'clock at night from our room.
Waiting for the sun shining on the skerries to tip the horizon at 67 and a half degrees north.

The clear sky had some high cloud drift in by midnight, so the whole sky was not white. But it did serve to show by the red glow that the sun was just below the horizon in the north.

On the way south, we all got out near the Arctic Circle to stretch our legs (and feel the breeze). This Dutch lady had come up from Sweden and right to the top end, but the weather was against them. This was the risk we chose not to take, and to be content with good visibility at Bodo.

Clear weather on the top was soon taken over by grey gloom for the rest of the ride. We had picked the occasional sunny day. Poor Scandinavia, like most of northern Europe, has had a late and wet summer.

NORWAY & Trondheim

Our Transit to Norway happened quicker than we thought, as we travelled westwards, rather than the other possible route, which would have been northwards in Sweden.  Coming to the Atlantic Coast, there were noticable changes...

Yes, it rains some more...

But this is compensated by the picturesque landscapes...

And those...

Seascapes...

Cloudscapes....

Our hotel view was just marvellous,
looking out over....


Trondheim
and its fjord.

Trondheim's brygge
(fish warves)



and old Bridge...

Cathedral





and Saints...

16 of them across the front

Trondheim is a very ancient place

and a Royal place, too.

Olav, a famous king of the 12th Century

had his capital here.

More modern folks...

& their Winter Sports

are just as important as in Sweden...

Shopping Centres still have their ways

to attract new customers...

But it is a pleasant place..

Even when it rains,
if you have a nice view...


It was much cooler than Sweden, though.  We had to get out our winter woollies, because...

(see next blog...)

Sweden's Uplands

It's been a while since our last post, & a lot has passed.... here's part 1.
Sundsvall, a sunny town in Summer, & folks in the sea nearby.

We head westwards, into the Uplands, of lakes,

    & farmlands

and into the mountains,

& you realise

how these folks live
at the other times of the year...

Largely on skis....
(see the slopes behind the church)

Winter Sports Time

And the mountains get

very boggy...

But the train continues....



(See next blog)