We used Norwegian May holidays to visit Vestlandet, the land of fjords. We stayed on a spring farm cabin Kålsete situated above a charming town Vik. It was an excellent basecamp for our trips around Sognfjord. It was great to experience the fjords without huge cruise ships and with not so many tourists around. Weather was excellent, almost summer temperatures, flowers and green forest till 600m above the fjords, snow above 800m, lakes in the mountains were starting to melt.
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| This is the northern portal of the Storehaugtunnellen, the last tunnel we encountered on our way to Vik. There are some very looong tunnels in the area - for example Lærdalstunnelen with its 25km is the longest road tunnel in the world. |
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| To reach Vik, we had to climb up and drove through Vikafjell, really nice mountain area, where people were still skiing. |
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| View down from the road nr. 13 to Myrkdalen, just before reaching Vikafjell |
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| On our way there we stopped in Auralandsvangen. This is a view to Vassbygdevatnet from road Fv50 |
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| We enjoyed very nice weather and walked a few km into Aurlandsdalen, following an old farm road from Aurland to Hol. We were amazed by the contrast of almost summer conditions and winter that we experienced higher up. |
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| Next day we hiked from Tveiti camping to Hola - Kallbak - Kongsli and back. Very steep start provided some excellent views. The path connects several old spring and summer milkmaid farms. |
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A typical profile of a hike starting from a fjord level.
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| Second day we skipped a steep part, drove up to Skard (570m) and did 7km round trip to Middagshaugen. Amazing views to Fresvikbreen glacier and to Sognfjord, especially from Jentestein. However, this picture shows a view towards another direction - towards Aurlandsfjorden. |
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I tried some evening fishing in the fjord, but without any luck at all. I have some theories about that, but...
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Third day we walked to
Kyrelvi waterfall above Vik. Fantastic view from there.
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| The only raining time during our stay we used for walking around Vik. We liked the place a lot and we must come back to taste the local milk products and visit an organic slaughter house. |
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Charging station in Vik...
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| Our stay was too short and we had to go back to Oslo...we chose a longer way back, because we wanted to take a look at Hardangervidda. And as a bonus, there are several major tourist attractions along the routes nr. 13 nd 7. This one is road Stalheimskleiva, one of the steepest roads in the north. An old one-way road with 13 sharp curves. |
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Start of the Hardangervidda plateau and very impressive Vøringfossen. Almost no tourists, great weather and several breath taking viewing platforms.
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Driving route nr. 7 along the northern edge of Hardangervidda was long and monotonous .
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| and I am not sure this place will make it to my list of future destinations. But maybe... |
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| Finally we came down from the mountains and found some green colors in Numedalen. And as a bonus, there are many old churches and farms along the route that are worth to visit |
