First road trip in Norway - Jule og Micha på tur!

Our first field trip for cod sampling brought us also our first real road trip in Norway! 

Oslo - West coast - and back, with a lot of fjord encircling and closed road circumnavigation it feels like we've been to another country. Or is that the real Norway? In any case, it was spectacular!! This one week made so totally up for all those long grey weeks in Oslo - sun, mountains, cod, birds, snow, sea, and more sun! Agh... great! I love Norway! ;)

Our sampling was planned near Molde, one of those isolated land-arms that stretch into the sea along the west coast. Or is it the sea, stretching into the land? It's an impressive landscape that everybody knows from a map - craggy, broken up, with lots of islands. But only once you are there, you realize how helpful a car-boat hybrid would be. Roads are constantly ending in the water, fjords reach kilometer-long inlands and tall mountains raising out of the fjords might make a circumnavigation even impossible. Although there is a striking number of ferries, tunnels and bridges, driving along this coast is slow. 

Before going to Molde, we made a short visit to the town of Ålesund, known for its unique concentration of Art Nouveau architecture. Similar to Napier in New Zealand, a big fire once destroyed the whole town and it was rebuild with the architectural style of the time -Art Deco in Napier, and Art Nouveau in Ålesund. Besides that, it’s a pretty town, with a big harbour and surrounded by sea and (snow-capped) mountains.

Nice roof of a church.	First mountains along the road.	Raising cod?
Ålesund center.	Ålesund Art Nouveau.	Wild weather, sea and mountains.

Norwegian church.

More Art Nouveau.

What you would buy.. .

First FishnChips since NZ!

Offshore of Ålesund are a couple of small islands - all connected by scary undersea-tunnels - that gained our attention with offering excellent bird-watching and hiking opportunities.

We spend the night close to the coast on Giske island and I got woken up by a concert of sea bird yelling and goose chatter that made me jump out of the bed, armed with binoculars and my bird-guidebook, and without breakfast I spend the morning trying to identify Norwegian birds.

Catching cod?	Ålesund habrbor.	Light house on Godøy.
Birds to watch out for..!	Happy to see Oystercatchers again!	And Turnstones!
Pretty Godøy.	But a scary view point ;)	I also dared to climb it ;)

Afterwards (and after having breakfast) we tunneled over to the neighboring island Godøy where we climbed the peak Storhornet (497m - but still with snow on top!) which would have offered a grandiose sight of Ålesund if it wasn't for the clouds and fog to come in just a minute before we reached the summit. It was a nice hike anyways and as soon as we reached the coast again and followed it pack to the parking, the sun came out again and suddenly it was warm like in midsummer.

The morning view on Giske:

First signs of spring!

Some other signs ;)

Hiking up Storhornet.

Summit of Storhornet.

Finally, the clouds are disappearing	and give away the view of Ålesund.	Feeling like midsommer!
The coast of Godøy..	.. has some fine granite..	.. to boulder on!
Approaching Godøy ligh house.	Colorful boathouses.	Pointing the way to Sjurvarden.

After this adventure we dove north again to reach Molde and our fieldwork site. As the weather on sea was not as good as on land, our fishermen came back with only a "hand full" cod to sample each day, leaving us plenty of time to explore the area. We drove along the famous "Atlantic Ocean Road", an 8 km long section along the coast, built on several small islands and skerries, which are connected by several causeways, viaducts and eight bridges! In 2006 it was declared as the world best road trip by The Guardian. Actually, I found it driving on it less impressive then looking at it from the peak of Sjurvarden, a 667 m high mountain next to it. On the food of this mountain some massive boulders also invited for hard granite-bouldering. Chalk traces told us that people have climbed here before - but obviously not enough people as the vegetation had the boulders in its grip, making it difficult to get through.

Atlantic Ocean Road from the peak.	Such a nice landscape...	.. makes me happy!!
Build almost on water ;)	Home for the week: Hustadvika.	Wild weather again!
Hustadvika	Bridge on the Atlantic Ocean Road.	Bye bye sun, see u 2morrow again!

Panorama from Sjurvarden:

Bouldering at Sjurvarden.

Sealife.

Seaview.

Seatools.

The boat with the cod is coming!	Our "work place".	Cod!
Aha, the species I'm working on.	Taking samples.	The leopard skin of a cod.

Finding the cods otoliths.

Weighing the cod.

The cod team!

What an attractive beard.

After a successful cod sampling week, we've chosen another way to drive back - passing by famous Geiranger fjord and crossing part of the Hardangervidda mountain plateau. The whole stretch took way longer than expected as several roads were still closed due to snow and some ferries shut down since it's not tourist season yet. Also Geiranger fjord was mainly dark and cold and not a bit inviting for a stay or hike. So we drove on, slept in Hellesylt since the guidebook claimed "no shadow on the campground" - which was not true, either for the campground still being closed or the clouds hanging over the fjord in the morning. Also Norangsdalen, promoted as a prime hiking and outdoor spot showed itself in snow and ice cover. So we drove on until finally the sun came out again and a mountain called "Middagsfjellet" attracted us for a sunny midday hike. With 840 m it was the highest climb on this tour and also the one with the most snow on top. Getting stuck until the hips in the snow made the way up a long several hour journey. However, running down was done in 1 hour ;) The view from top was again spectacular with lots of snowy mountains around us and Europe's deepest lake, the Hornindalsvatnet, to our feet. This lake is 514 m deep but only at an elevation of 53 m, which means that it reaches 461 m below sea level. Brrr, spooky.... .

Norangsdalen.

Eidsvatnet, on the way to...

... Geiranger fjord.

Typical encounter.

As well. ;)

Up to Middagsfjellet.

Norangsdalen.

Bud.

On top of Middagsfjellet.

Eider.

Panorama view from Middagsfjellet:

After the hike we more or less continued straight back to Oslo, realizing tons of snow and weekend tourists on the mountain plateau (the ski season is not over yet - still time to go! ;)) and arriving well after midnight back home. To sum it up: We've had an awesome week with lots of sun, sea, mountains and cod! Happy smile!!