First stop was the Stegastein viewpoint - a wooden pier built on the edge of the mountain, 650m above the fjord with stunning views & a glass panel at the end. Needless to say Vanda didn’t make it to the end, but she did walk onto the pier & enjoyed the view looking out rather than down! The drive up was pretty dramatic on a narrow, often single track, hairpin bend road ( the only road before they built the 24km tunnel that we arrived at Flam through) The drive to Eidfjord was through more spectacular scenery - up winding mountain roads, across high plateaus with snow, past numerous waterfalls, including the Vorringfossen, with a vertical fall of 182 metres. We stopped at a small campsite right on the edge of the fjord surrounded by mountains.
A storm came through in the morning - it was amazing to see the clouds rolling in across the mountain tops & the lightning forks hit the summits. Decided to sit it out (luckily Connie is watertight) & made soup & caught up with chores. Visited an interesting museum in afternoon once weather improved.
Headed to Bergen, only 140km but 36 tunnels - felt like we drove more underground than over! Waterfalls cascading down the mountains wherever you look - this country has a lot of water (a bit like Scotland) but think the recent storm might have added to their intensity! Stayed in campsite 16km out of city - there are more road tolls to pay if you drive into city & city car parks are underground, so have height restrictions (no good for campers). Bus stop right outside the campsite so easy to get to & from city.
We enjoyed visiting Bergen, a colourful port city with quaint painted wooden buildings along harbour & historic traditional wooden houses in alleys right behind the modern shopping streets. The heritage buildings of Byrrgen on the harbour, reminded us of the Popeye films, with rickety wooden steps up to uneven wooden warehouse buildings, they were used by German traders in the Middle Ages and have been lovingly restored. We used the bus & light rail (like a tram) to get around, and visited the home of the famous composer Edvard Grieg and enjoyed some culture in the form of a piano recital of his music. We treated ourselves to fish and chips at the famous fish market - only £50! (Don’t think we’ll be doing that again in a hurry..).