This is the part everyone’s been waiting to hear about, partly because it’s the part most out of character for me. When I first told my parents, my mom was like “but you don’t even like camping” which is totally true… unless I’m the one who’s decided to go camping, apparently. And partly because holy freakin cowbells, Norway’s nature is nature at its finest. Anyway, we started out with a train from Oslo to Myrdal. (warning: longer post is even longer)

It wasn’t long before we started seeing patches of snow. At first we were thinking ‘that snow must be in shadow all day’ but then… I’m not seeing a whole lot of shadow in this picture, yes?

When you have freakin baby glaciers, it’s probably high and cold enough for snow. And it wasn’t even that far above sea level, only about 1200m at the highest point. I have to confess to being motion sick through most of this part of the ride, although the free tea/hot chocolate in the reserved car was nice. Hugs helped too.

Myrdal, which is basically just the train change to the Flåmsbana rail and nothing else. At least, nothing else besides spectacular views. The Flåm valley is over on the left.

Looking in the other direction

The first waterfalls. Not the last. This is where 1) you can point your camera anywhere and get a nice picture, and 2) Norway officially went into overdrive.

Views from the Flåmsbana. I didn’t get pictures of the MASSIVE waterfall on the way down… but I’ll tell you about it on the way back. Also, to get down the 860m drop from Myrdal to Flåm, the train goes into a tunnel that then does a 180 loop. So the view is first on one side, then the other. There’s also a road up that same cliff; it has 21 switchback turns. Also, it’s only about 20km from Myrdal to Flåm, and it took a whole hour. Nobody minded; everyone was taking pictures and chatting about how great the views were. Also it’s a good thing we came by train; there was a rockfall on one of the highways.

Puppy on the train : )

Nearly to Flåm. Glaciers are crazy, carving out these valleys.

The water is crazy, being all these colours.

Norwegians are crazy, but they’re not crazy for having their actual town away from all the tourist crap down at the water’s edge/by the train station. If you look carefully, you can see the church in the middle of town just to the right of the bridge. I’m told it’s very old.

A farm above Aurlandsvangen. You can’t really see the rest of the town from here; it’s hidden behind the spur of the hill. It looks small, but it’s really not. This is a place where distances are incredibly deceptive. What might look like a five-minute paddle is really more of a 20-minute paddle. Which means there’s plenty of room for both our little bunch of kayaks and the MASSIVE cruise liners which put in at Flåm every day. And the ferry. And the coast guard. And the motorboat tour. And whoever else wants to be out there.

Click for larger: A crude panoramic view of the west side of the fjord valley, looming like a cupped hand over the touristy portion of Flåm. (fun fact: I learned that ‘fjord’ actually means something like ‘passageway’ or ‘travel route’, so if vikings can sail it, it’s probably a fjord, regardless of shape.) On the beach you can see tomorrow’s destination, the Njord kayak huts. The slash across the mountainside that’s supposed to join up but doesn’t is the road to Gudvangen, which goes through about 20km of tunnel through the fjord mountains. More on that later.

We stayed at the Flåm Camping and Youth Hostel, where we had two bunks in a six-bunk room… but there was an actual kitchen upstairs so we could do actual cooking. The first night I think Martijn made something involving pasta, bacon, spinach, and cream cheese, which I replicated at home last night in vague approximation. The front desk handed out shower tokens worth six minutes of hot water (additional hot water was 20 NOK/6 min, but I didn’t need it), but the bathrooms were very clean. This might have been my favourite hostel of the trip, noisy Dutch teenagers upstairs notwithstanding. (Martijn: “If anyone asks, I’m Canadian too D:”) We climbed a hill on the other side of town and also got some good pictures, but I didn’t bring my camera so none of them are mine. And then the next morning Martijn woke up crazy early, looked outside, and went for another walk with his camera. (He let me sleep, yay. I’m not a morning person.)

MY STALKER. The next morning we went to Njord on time, and passed by this goose. It followed us for the next hour while we met our guide, Daniel, a lovely Irishman, and (still don’t know how to spell her name) Liselotte, the Norwegian assistant guide, and all our kayaking companions: Mike and Gala from England, Leonora and Thijs from the Netherlands (fun fact: Mike also spoke Dutch from having lived in the Netherlands a long time, so there were four Dutch-speaking people on the trip), Nina and Elli from Australia, and Jessica from California. Everyone was paired off except Jessica, so she went with Liselotte. Daniel had a single-seater kayak.

First we learned to pack our luggage in dry-bags (#1 tip: if it doesn’t fit, stuff it in harder lol (especially if it’s a sleeping bag, not so much if it’s a camera)), and I picked up my sleeping bag and inflatable mattress that I was borrowing. Then we stowed the stuff we weren’t bringing in the kayaking shed, and got changed into bathing suits over which we were going to put wet suits, wet suit booties, kayaking rain jackets, life jackets, and spray skirts.

THEN we went down to our kayaks to practice self-rescuing, because you didn’t think they were going to let a bunch of n00bs out with kayaks for three days without some basic safety knowledge, did you? …But I didn’t realize that self-rescuing started with self-capsizing, and I was… well. Apprehensive. We did it on dry land a couple times before going in the water. Still, when we flipped and I found myself upside down under COLD water, I panicked. Couldn’t do the “hit the kayak three times to let people know you’re still conscious”, didn’t even reach for my spray skirt, it just came off by itself, and I struggled somehow to the surface, where I discovered that the human body is buoyant in some very inconvenient ways. I kept losing my ‘balance’ because my legs wanted to be places I didn’t necessarily need them. Then I couldn’t figure out how to use my meagre upper body strength to get back in the kayak, so Liselotte paddled over and helped haul me on to the deck of my kayak where I could roll over and slide into my cockpit. (Daniel held onto my glasses during all this.) The water, despite being cold, was not super salty. It’s far away enough from the actual Atlantic that all the freshwater streams and rivers constantly pouring in make it brackish. And that was all we needed the bathing suits that they said to pack for. No bracing dips in the fjord water, no lounging on golden Norwegian sands in the sun for us. XD (I mean, when there was sun.)

After that, we got changed into dry wetsuits, and then we had lunch. I discovered that sweet brown cheese might be good, but white Norwegian cheese is even better. Also, to reach for whatever you want rather than asking politely is known as “using your Norwegian arm”, and we were encouraged to use it. Norwegians are all about efficiency. It might actually be more polite in Norwegian culture, because you’re not bothering the person next to you for something you can get yourself. We all had personal meal kits, including sporks, which all fit into a neat little package. To clean them, we had to wipe them with toilet paper (minimize the amount of waste left on them) and then rinse them in the fjord. ‘Leave No Trace’ is basically the Golden Rule of Norway.

And THEN we packed and launched our kayaks for real… and it began to rain off and on for the rest of the day. Mostly on. Martijn and I had some trouble with our kayak, because the rudder was not really configured correctly so we had a tendency to steer to the right. Paddling was a bit difficult, but after half an hour or so my shoulders started to ache less, which I guess means I was warmed up by then. We took a break at the little town of Undredal, but otherwise we just paddled until we reached our campsite at Stokko, where we learned to set up tents. These were super easy, which was good because ick wet cold rain. There was an inner tent which clipped to the collapsible tent poles, and then an outer tent against the rain with extensions on the sides to store baggage under. Dinner was excellent, especially considering Daniel made it all in little pans on a camp stove, but I don’t remember what it was except that there were cashews on top and Leonora outed herself as a cashew junkie. I think it was fish? Fish sounds right. With salad and… rice? Rather spicy, too, with hot peppers or something.

It was quite cold at night, even with new pants and two sweaters, but I survived. Also, I wore the same clothes all three days, because changing was a pain, and no one can tell under the wetsuit anyway, and no one gets close enough to sniff you except maybe at dinner or in the tent at night. Also, bras not necessary with all those layers.

The view across from Stokko, I think. Not a lot of sailing vessels in the fjords; not a lot of wind. (except if the wind is blowing down the fjord, then you get too much.)

Our campsite, the next morning after having removed all the tents. We didn’t use the firepit you see on the right. On the left behind the low-lying clouds, there is a farm which is now used as a bed-and-breakfast. You have to book a year and a half in advance and the only way up with a tiny narrow footpath from a tiny dock. Straight ahead is the continuance of our journey. You can see the weather is looking up.

This day we passed from the Aurlandsfjord into the Nærøyfjord, which are just two little fingers of the great big Sognefjord. I didn’t take any pictures until we reached our campsite in the afternoon, but it was fantastic. The sun actually shone for a lot of the day, and while I was a bit motion sick in the morning again, especially when we got rocked by the wake of the frequent ferries, Daniel reminded me to use my water bottle and I felt fine after lunch. Steering and paddling were both easier today. There were sheep all over our lunch site, because it was actually a farmer’s field… which is normal in Norway; as I understand it you can go anywhere you want as long as you keep your disturbance to an absolute minimum and don’t interfere with the people who live there or their livelihood (Leave No Trace). Also, there were outhouses at every place we stopped to camp, which was much better than going in the woods.

I spent a lot of paddle time singing, and the others encouraged me. So I sang whatever I could think of: Transistor, J-pop, Delain, choir rep… Sometimes Martijn even joined in when he knew the song. : )

Look, it’s me! In a kayak! With a waterfall!

Now here’s where selecting pictures gets really hard: our second campsite at Odnes (I think?) was in such a spectacular location…

The view across from our campsite.

Over our tent towards the kitchen area. There was a sheep lounging majestically on that built-up bit, but it left when we arrived. And then it and all its friends went and pooped around our kayaks. : P

A swing! Which I used! Of course! The others apparently thought I was crazy, but it was okay. It was a sturdy piece of wood tied firmly to a nylon rope tied to a very strong tree branch. It was fun.

Mike went fishing at the mouth of the river. Don’t think he caught anything, though.

The view south-west (onwards) from our campsite.

And the most spectacular part. Martijn thinks that’s a cave up the mountainside; I’m not convinced, I think it’s just a dark spot under an overhang.

After dinner (which was once again fabulous, shredded turkey with coconut sauce and rice and vegetables (and cashews)), we went for a bit of a walk. Daniel warned us it was slippery right up by the waterfall, so we stayed lower down. Still amazing.

And once you’re past the waterfall, you’re in a moss-covered fairy-tale wood. My favourite.

Back towards the campsite. After a minute we saw Daniel waving us back for dessert so we ran back. Well, Martijn ran and I pretended to, because blah running, even with good hiking boots. (dessert was cheesecake with raspberries. : D)

Next morning, the sunlight came through the clouds. It always had this silvery quality about it whenever it was around, as if it was reflecting off a giant pane of glass somewhere…

Big fat black slugs everywhere! : D There were brown ones in Bergen, too.

On the river again. I think it’s Leonora and Thijs on the left, Jessica and Liselotte in the yellow kayak, and Nina and Elli on the right. Paddling and steering were both much easier today, especially when we occasionally stopped to take pictures and then had to paddle hard to catch up. And since Martijn was both steersman and navigator and map-reader and best photographer and much stronger than me at making the kayak go forward, we tended to fall behind today. XD

The water isn’t perfectly calm here, but when there was absolutely no wind, it was as reflective as a mirror. It was incredible. And there was one particular view in which we counted eight or nine little waterfalls trickling down the cliffs. I guess the recent rain helped make extra waterfalls, but still. Overkill. XD (Leonora and Thijs were apparently rating the waterfalls lol)

It’s hard to take pictures over my shoulder okay

I think Jessica and Liselotte, Gala and Mike, and Leonora and Thijs?

Norway you’re just showing off now

And that’s all for the kayaking pictures. I didn’t get a picture of the last beautiful waterfall right over Gudvangen, which had sun shining through it until it looked like it was made of light. We made it to Gudvangen, brought up and unpacked the kayaks, ate lunch, loaded up the kayaks onto the van, said goodbye to Elli and Nina who were staying in Gudvangen, and took the van back through the oh-so-scenic tunnels back to Flåm in about 25 minutes. After three days of paddling. lol

Here’s the map of where we went.

After helping unload the kayaks and gear and getting our stuff back, and dumping said stuff at the hostel again and having a shower (and saying hello to Jessica, who ended up being our roommate), we went off to the Ægir Bryggeri (brewpub) for dinner. Funny, the day we arrived in Flåm we had seen the brewery and said “let’s have dinner there when we get back”, and then the others suggested meeting there for dinner/drinks after we were done kayaking. There’s a mural on this wall. Kind of hard to see in a photo…

I didn’t get any good pictures of the interior, but it was fantastic as well; it looked pretty vikingish. Much recommended to visit if you happen to be in Flåm. Leonora and Thijs were there early because they had to catch the bus to Aurlandsvangen where they were staying, but we managed to hang out with them for a bit. I had the deer burger with blueberry sauce, I think, and Martijn had the pulled pork burger with jalapeño sauce, and then for dessert we had the chocolate fudge cake with raspberry sorbet (and creaaaam) and the cheesecake and it was all very good. Daniel and Liselotte were a bit late because they had so much gear to put away, but they showed up for drinks as well.

Martijn got the tasting selection. From left to right, it was Bøyla blonde ale, Rallar amber ale (Martijn liked it), Siv Witbier, Ægir India Pale Ale, and then they were out of the Porter so I think the glass on the end is the Nut Brown Ale. To me, I think it was “cornflakes, bitter, watery, weird, acceptable”.

We were pretty exhausted the next day, and managed to ‘sleep in’ until about 8:30 (we’d been getting up at at least 7:00, 7:30 most days even from the start of the journey), but we still went for a walk around the east side of town while we discussed what other adventures we might like to go on in the future. (Iceland, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and BC/Canada roadtrip are all at the top of the list. Then there’s Slovenia, Czech Rep, Indonesia, Japan, Peru, California, New Zealand, and Mongolia. Not to mention France and Germany (of course (organs!)) and maybe Spain, Italy, and Greece for the history.)

(We’ll save our pennies.)

One thing that’s come out of this trip is that the safety course at the beginning of the trip granted us a certificate that will permit us to rent kayaks from anywhere that recognizes the certificate (which is most places, I understand) and go out exploring on our own. Pretty sweet.

We also poked around the many tourist shops and looked at all the stuff; the Norwegians do “tacky and cheap”, “clever and cheap”, and “elegant and expensive”, but nothing in between. I did see a gorgeous shawl/poncho made of knitted wool and trimmed with fur; it was INCREDIBLY soft and beautiful – and at least $300 CAD. So I got a $15 red scarf of synthetic wool instead to guard against Ontario winters. Close enough. XD

Apparently the ferry is designed after the Opera House. You can also see the exit of the tunnel to Gudvangen in the background.

The train back to Myrdal (and from there to Bergen) was just as beautiful as the way down, and now I had a better idea what to look for. There’s a five minute photo-op stop at this waterfall both on the way up and the way down… and a bit of a show.

You remember the legend of the huldra? Beautiful women spirits, with tails and hollow backs like a hollow tree, who sing to entice young men into the mountains, where the huldra would hold them prisoner unless they married her. But if the man manages to get the huldra into a church and marries her there, her tail falls off, her back fills in, and he’s left with a beautiful wife who does everything perfectly. Apparently even today it’s a great compliment for a man to refer to his wife as ‘his huldra’ because it implies that she’s beautiful and perfect.

Daniel told us the legend while we were rafted up one day, and he’d asked me beforehand to sing a bit while he was explaining (I picked the Estonian piece we did in Chorale this year). The others picked up on what the singing was for, and teased Martijn for getting huldra’d… or maybe me for getting reverse-huldra’d. It was a bit confusing. But on further contemplation, Martijn’s probably the huldra. He did sing for me, after all.

ANYWAY, at this waterfall, the Kjosfossen, where the misty spray blows over everything, they play mystical music through big subwoofery speakers that fill the entire valley while a woman in red (red is a huldra colour) dances as if beckoning tourists to come join her.

The waterfall flows away somewhere under the tracks.

 

Next: Bergen/Netherlands