Geiranger - Hellesylt - Bøyabreen - Lærdalsøyri

Tuesday, 6.9.16

Clouds and some sun, 18 degrees Celsius. The somewhat impersonal restaurant offers a good breakfast with a view of the cloudy fjord.

I have already booked the ferry from Germany to Hellesylt at 11:00 a.m. to experience a Geirangerfjord trip practically, so I am already in the car at 9:30 a.m. to get to the viewpoint Flydalsjuvet above Geiranger. 

Fortunately, the view is not veiled and already breathtaking. I strike up a conversation with a couple from Sweden who have stayed here at Hotel Utsiken - definitely a better alternative than Geiranger Hotel. I drive a little further, but it will be too tight to reach Dalsnibba, so I have to turn around.

The ferry is on time to the minute and quite small, but there aren't many people. Maybe 10 cars and two buses. 550 Norwegian Kroner (around 60 EUR) for a little over an hour is quite a lot. Just as we leave Geiranger and turn the first corner, the wind whistles in my ears. 

I stand on deck and try to keep the camera still. The slopes on the left and right are very high, but not as gigantic as I always thought. 

The plastic chairs fly over the deck, I stand on deck with my fleece jacket and hood on my head, hoping to get some pictures without waterdrops. The Seven Sisters - the seven-part waterfall - doesn't impress me that much. 

But well, now I've seen it too. The rain drums on my hood, so I take refuge inside. You can only open the door to the salon if someone pushes from the inside while I pull from the outside because of the storm. I finally reach Hellesylt at 12:15 p.m. in pouring rain. I have now completed the last part of the ferry trip on the Sunnylvsfjord, which branches off from the Geirangerfjord.

It's a shame not to have some sun in Hellesylt. The little town looks quite cute. But I follow National Road 60 towards Skei and drive around the smaller Innvikfjord until Olden. 

There are many tunnels on this route and it's raining continuously. In Olden, you can take a detour to the big Briksdalsbreen, a glacier at the end of a valley. 

The road runs on the left side of a smaller lake and then crosses another lake over a bridge. Now you can see a little further into the valley, and the clouds hang almost to the ground there. I decide that it doesn't make sense to drive the remaining 35 km here and then drive another 50 km back to Olden. I can only drive at a maximum of 40-50 km/h here because the road is rather single-lane and you have to stop occasionally due to oncoming traffic. 

Besides, it's also pointless to drive up to a glacier that you can hardly see. I turn around at a campsite and enjoy the view in Briksdal for a bit and a very pretty church before I turn left in Olden and stand in front of the construction site again. 

Here, the national road is being refurbished for 5 km, and traffic is directed over a mountain road with tight hairpin bends in one lane over the mountain and down again. These are real hairpin bends and not such comfortable curves as on Trollstigen. 

The wind is blowing quite forcefully again, and now it's raining again. After Utvik, the road continues curvy, and at some point, I drive through Skei, which is only 130 km away from Hellesylt, and I feel like I've been driving for 5 hours already. I now follow European Route E5, once again through numerous tunnels. There is a glacier hanging over a slope in front of the Færland tunnel. 

But I can hardly keep the camera steady because of the wind. Still, a great view in one direction over a waterfall into a valley, and on the other side of the road steeply up the mountain to a waterfall that flows from this glacier.

Just behind the 6.4 km long Færland tunnel, on the left side, is the Bøyabreen Glacier, which belongs to Jostedalsbreen National Park. Unfortunately, it's drizzling again, but at least it's 15 degrees Celsius. The parking lot at the café here is empty, with this weather, few tourists are willing to walk around the glacier lake, which would be accessible via a muddy path. I take some photos, read about half of the information boards, and then flee to the car.

On the way to Mannheller to the ferry, I pass Kaupanger and drive off on a small side road to see the stave church here. 

It is - oh wonder - bathed in beautiful evening sun in front of me. I would actually like to stay here now and enjoy the sun. The church is almost 900 years old and the oldest stave church in this province. However, the interior dates back to the 17th century. Like all the other stave churches so far, this one is also closed. Well, it's almost 6:00 p.m. by now.

After 6 hours of driving and only 210 km, I reach the ferry in Mannheller at 6:30 p.m. and I'm lucky again. Departure after 10 minutes, and they collect 106 kroner from me (about 12 EUR) for a little over a ten-minute trip of 1.3 km across the Sognefjord. In my next life, I'll be a ferry owner in Norway and take tourists around.

The ferry route is part of European Route E5. Fortunately, it's not far from the pier in Fodnes to my destination for the day in Lærdalsøyri. Here, I have booked a room with a private bathroom at the "Ferie- og Fritidspark". 

The facility has small cabins, the option to camp or connect your motorhome here. There are shared rooms and a motel section that offers rooms as well as a communal kitchen. It is located right at the end of Lærdalsfjord, which branches off from Sognefjord. I get my bed linen and a towel and make my bed first. Bed linen and towels cost 75 kroner (about 10 EUR). Of course, for me, with only one night's stay, it's a bit uneconomical, but the room only costs 64 EUR including breakfast, which I added for 10 kroner.

Since it's still light outside and I've only been in the car so far, but I can't quite estimate where the next civilization starts, I drive towards the town and park in the town center of Lærdalsøyri after one kilometer. 

Except for two large supermarkets, there is also a hotel here, and most of the town is closed to cars. A narrow road winds through historic wooden houses, some of which are even inhabited. 

I'm quite excited to have found something so beautiful by chance today. Because I only drove to the town because I really want to see the famous stave church in Borgund, which I will do tomorrow. 

The sunset over Lærdalsfjord is dramatic and beautiful. I sit on a seesaw in front of my hotel for a short while - there is a large playground here, but no children - and enjoy the air, the tranquility, and the view until it simply becomes too cold.

In my room, I have some homemade rye bread, Norwegian crispbread, and sliced sausage, cream cheese, and yogurt. Delicious.

From Geiranger to Lærdalsøyri - 224 km by road (6 hours) plus 20 km ferry ride (1 hour and 5 minutes).