The Huldra

Woken up this morning by a strange noise. Upon closer inspection, several rocks that apparently deemed their place in the 300-meter high wall as no longer sustainable or stable, have made their way down. Impact point about 50 meters behind the van. It does create a slightly uncomfortable feeling when something the size of a color television digs into the grass behind you... but well, nothing happened after all.

Today, we're going 20 kilometers up in the Fjell with the Flåm Railway and then cycling back. The Flåm Railway is one of the steepest conventional railway lines in the world and, according to the relevant guidebooks, worth every Øre of the 520 NOK. But first, I need to outpace the hordes of cruise tourists whose ship has secretly docked in the much too small harbor this morning and who are now tumbling towards the train station. Luckily, there's a souvenir shop on the way between the ship and the train, so I easily have a lead of two Norwegian sweaters and a plush reindeer.

The journey itself is relatively unspectacular. It's steadily uphill, but you don't really want to call it steep here. The highlight of the journey is a small performance by students from the Norwegian Ballet School. During a short stop on the hour-long journey (here, the photo-happy Asian tourist gets the opportunity not to have to snap the tenth waterfall of the journey through the window), a pitiable young blonde lady from the ballet group plays a Huldra, a Norwegian forest fairy, who according to legend lures men into the Fjell with her singing. The whole thing takes place to esoteric medieval music. Beautiful... well... funny... in any case, the cheering crowd seems to like it.

Arrived at the top, I, as one of the few cyclists, have to wait until all trains have found their passengers and started their way to Oslo, Bergen, or back down the valley, as otherwise the tracks cannot be crossed. So, there's time to admire the glaciers in the surrounding area with a coffee and a cigarette. After the last train has left the station, the descent into the Flåm Valley can begin. The first kilometer also heats up the brake discs properly. It goes down over 21 hairpin bends in the shortest time. But the remaining 19 kilometers are sightseeing by bike at its finest, and after a good two hours, I'm back at the Flåm train station.

Flåm Valley

As the crowning finale of the day, I get to witness a major event. The Costa Favolosa departs with its 3800 passengers from the harbor, wildly applauded by a small delegation of the 300 locals. It cannot be conclusively determined whether they are happy because or that it departs. Probably a bit of both...