Our trip today was the second last day of our journey from Trondheim to Bergen. Today’s leg was taking us from Stryn to the Vesterland Holiday Park which was about two and a half hours away. Our first stretch was to get around the end of the Innvik Fjord and then head south through mountain and fjord country. The image on the right below shows we had a couple of incidents of goats escaping on to the road but luckily no damage to car or goats.
On one section of the road along the Innvik Fjord we came out of a mountain tunnel to find ourselves beside a glacier heading down towards the road beside the fjord. The overcast and cloudy sky did not allow for a classic shot of the glacier.
Our journey to Vesterland Holiday Park was one marked by lots of road tunnels. It was a mountainous region we were driving through so the national road system of Norway no longer bothers with tedious winding roads over hills, it merely drills a tunnel through the mountain. This certainly cuts down travel time but I must admit I never became fond of the experience of driving through the semi-darkness of these tunnels. The longest road tunnel in Norway is Laerdals Tunnel which is 24.5 km long and is in Vesterland County. It was a very strange experience waiting for the daylight to return in such tunnels.
One of the very interesting areas along our route was when we arrived in the area around the Fjaerlands Fjord. Just before climbing up the ridge above this Fjord there is a Glacier Museum. It was opened in 1991 and is dedicated to issues around climate change, particularly as affecting the nearby Josterdals Glacier that dominates this region. The museum sits at the edge of the Jostedalsbreen National Park which was also established in 1991.
Further along from the Glacier Muiseum there is a very well developed stopping point above the Fjord with plenty of car spaces and magnificent views up and down the fjord.
The locals have gone to a lot of trouble to provide lots of information about the fjord and the glaciers in the region. There are explanations about the history and development of the glaciers from about 2 million years ago and the links with the fjords of the area. Below is one example of a poster from this excellent stopping point.
The extract from a map of the region to the left below shows the route of the rest of our journey; note the dotted lines that indicate where the road goes underground. We were heading for the village of Sogndalsfjora which is on the edge of the river that runs out of the Sognefjorden
There is a small icon in the bottom right hand corner of this map that indicates one of the major tourist sites of interest in the area. It is an old Stave Church which is amongst the oldest in Norway. There are timbers in this church that have been dated from the 11th century which makes it more than a 1000 years old. Decorations within the church illustrate how the Viking Culture of the region changed with the adoption of Christianity.
After arriving at Sogndal, the road took us up onto the mountain above the town and its fjord. Our destination was some distance beyond the town and on the way we passed another local tourist site of interest, the open air Sogn Folkmuseum which is a collection of historical buildings ranging from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. The image below is from the entrance to the museum.
We were staying at Vesterland Holiday Park with a two-bedroom cabin, fully equipped with everything we needed for an overnight stay including a grass roof. It was clearly a great place for families to get away for a short holiday. It was not only in a great area, the facility had a gym, golf simulator, squash courts and a pool.
We dined out in the restaurant that night and were very happy with the quality of the food and service. Even the art work outside the restaurant was worth having a look at.
FOGTRAVEL 