Southern Norway in June

Southern Norway - one of the classical destinations for big, white, german caravans. If we could also count some poison-green Jucy’s in-between, it would resemble New Zealand very well. Deep fjords, snow-capped mountains, sun, and wind, and wild weather, sea, beach, birds. Feels good!

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Just after we waved Goodbye to Eini, Stian and Kai in Kristiansand, we immediately said Hello to Micha’s parents at the ferry harbour in the same town. They arrived after a long drive from Germany, to Denmark and via ferry to Norway. We lined up our cars in a little convoy, the little Yeti leading, and their Caddy-camper following (a sequence, which should not change over the next two weeks :)) and drove a few kilometre further west to Loshavn. In this small village direct by the sea, Eini invited us and Micha’s parents for another delicious BBQ, this time at his parents place. We enjoyed this very relaxed first evening and started to make plans for the following days…. .

The next day we continued driving small and narrow coastal roads, soaking in the rough landscape and the salty wind. We passed by Lista fyr, an exposed lighthouse famous for bird watching during spring or autumn migrations, and little later found a wonderful parking between the Rv44 and a crystal clear lake for our second night. We set up the camping table and chairs, unfolded the German “Bild”-Zeitung (where did that one came from again???), opened a German “Tannenzäpfle” beer, laid back, let Roswitha cook, and acted as if we owned a big white camper van :)

The following morning we got up early, had a cold wake-up bath in the lake, and started driving towards the end of the Lysefjord where the hike to the famous “Kjeragbolten” starts. Although a very touristy hike, the way is long and steep, but rewards with fantastic viewpoints down the thousand meter vertical cliffs to the sea, and of course with a picture on the photogenic Kjeragbolten. This round boulder is locked between the thousand meter cliffs in a gully, but accessible by a reckless jump from one side of the cliffs. It might be more a big step than a jump, and the boulder is flat on top and big enough to stand on - however, looking down is not recommended!! :)

We spent the night at another perfect parking right at the quiet shores of Oltedalsvatnet, before hopping into Norway's third-largest metropolitan area: Stavanger. Also called “the oil capital”, Stavanger is one of Europe’s energy centres and home to the headquarters of several oil companies. Being famous for oil, we just crossed the beautiful old part of the town with its small alleys lined with white wooden houses, to get to the large and modern oil museum. A very interactive museum, displaying the advantages and disadvantages of hauling and using oil.

After a long day in the big city, we were looking forward to spend some more time in the wild, mountainous side of Norway. We therefore continued to Odda, a small town settled on an old glacial moraine between the long Hardangerfjord and the Sandvevatnet (north-south) and the Folgefonna and Hardangervidda Nationalparks (west-east). Unfortunately the weather-god had exchanged the nice summer sun for some clouds, thounderstorms and cold rain, which kept us from exploring the very high mountains and glaciers and restricted our urge for backcountry hiking to some easy walking to the Folgefonna glaciers edge.

Disappointed by the bad weather, we turned our backs to the “wild side” to experience Norway's second-largest city, Bergen, in its natural habitat - clouds and rain. Luckily, we planned two days for Bergen and on the second day Bergen was presented with an atypical shine of golden sun and warm wind… . We used this perfect conditions to climb Bergen’s landmark mountain, Fløyfjellet, which offers a beautiful view over the city and harbour.

On the same day, we continued along the coast and covered quite some distance until our next lake-overnight stop close to Førde. The lake was as beautiful as all others at the first view - however, after some time and some beers, really annoying sandflies started to turn up in swarms. Having had too much beer to drive on, we had no other choice than cooking and eating while walking back and forth to escape the plentiful but slow bloodsuckers, and then calling it a very early night.

The next morning, all sandflies were still asleep when we quickly packed together and sneaked out of this murderous place. We followed the coast up north, crossed the outer arm of the Nordfjord by ferry, and stopped for an afternoon hike in Måløy. We climbed up “Veten”, at the side of which the town of Måløy is picturesquely situated, and enjoyed the perfect panoramic view of the surrounding islands and coastal cliffs. The western side of the Island Vāgsøy appeared particularly beautiful from the top of Veten, so we drove across the island to the other side and pushed against the strong wind at Kråkenes fyr, another very exposed light house at a remote place that seems like the end of the world. On this beautiful island, we also found the best camp spot of the whole trip. A white and wide sandy beach, protected in a little bay by two mountain ridges, facing west to see the sun sinking in the ocean. Argggghhh… . !!! On top of that, this place was also an official but rarely used camp site, offering bath rooms with warm showers!!

It was very hard to leave this paradise the next morning, but cold wind and rain was blowing from the sea and made the departure a bit easier. Also, one of my personal highlights was waiting for us: The island of Runde with one of the largest, and Norway’s most southern Atlantic puffin colony. These birds are just adorable, they appear so clumsy, but yet are excellent fliers and fishers. They are pelagic sea birds, meaning they spent most of their lives on the open sea, only returning to specific coastal colonies for breeding and raising of their pufflings (juvenile puffins). When breeding, the parents put all their efforts into foraging small fish like sand eels or herring of which they can fit unbelievable numbers in their colourful beak. I was spending hours just sitting up at the cliffs and following the puffins coming and going with full or empty beaks. Towards the evening, more and more puffins were winding up the cliffs to sit on exposed rocks, seemingly enjoying the last sun rays and telling each other the adventures of the day. I could have stayed there forever, if not night was approaching and dinner was getting cold… . Definitely I have to come back one time!

Just a little bit further north lies the town of Ålesund, which we had already been visiting in March. We went back to have another portion of delicious Fish&Chips at the small take-away in the town center, and to climb “Sukkertoppen”, the town's landmark mountain, as training for a bigger hike the next day in Åndalsnes. Here we also stayed at a deluxe camp site with a big TV room. This was important, as the German soccer team was playing their first match in the 2014 world cup! It turned out we were not the only ones with this fine idea, and the TV room quickly filled up with other Germans, and German-speaking supporters from the Netherlands and Switzerland. It was a very entertaining game - not only because of all the black-red-gold decoration, but also because Germany beat Portugal 4:0!

Although the many beers were not particularly helpful for the planned hike “Romsdalseggen-Extreme”, we managed to get up the next morning, and even up the mountain - a steep unprotected grade 3 climb. At the top we met Micha’s parents, which had chosen an easier route up, and we continued together along the long and exposed Romsdalsridge until we finally got back down to Åndalsnes. We rewarded ourselfves with pizza and another beer at the same camp site, in order to regain some strength to manage the long way back to Oslo the following day.

As we couldn’t miss two of Norway’s biggest tourist attractions, Trollstiegen and the famous Geiranger fjord, we drove a little detour and let our cars climb up “Trollstigen”, the Troll's path, whose eleven hairpin bends lead up from the sea to a 700 m high plateau. From there we were passing a crowded Geirangerfjord (wow, what a contrast to the empty place we had experienced in March!), and one of the oldest Stave Churches in Lom. Only about 6 hours later we were back in Oslo.

Two days were left for Micha’s parents to explore the main attractions in Oslo. We did not miss the Vigeland park, the opera house, the Akershus fortress, Aker brygge, slottsparken, and the Norsk Folkemuseum on Bygdøy.

A perfect trip with pleasant company in a very beautiful country! I am looking forward to our trip up north, which we’ll already start next week. But don’t expect pictures before the beginning of winter… :)