June 15 - Trondheim to Andalsnes

After a second comfortable night in Are’s flat…complete with handmade, trendy, black and white curtains by Are … we headed out of Trondheim on E6, in search of E39 to Kristiansund. Thanks again Are for allowing us to enjoy your place for a couple of nights. It was a great place to slow our pace down a little .

We timed our departure perfectly from Trondheim, and missed the morning rush-hour. We headed south on E6 with a mixture of sun and cloud, and successfully found the turn-off to E39. We quickly left the farmlands behind, and were soon winding our way through mixed deciduous and coniferous forests. The first part of the E39 was on brand new highway with wide roads and new tunnels. The weather became unsettled for the rest of the morning … sun, clouds and rain.

As we approached Orkanger, the toll road portion of E39 ended, and whoops, we found ourselves in the wrong lane with regard to paying the toll … or not paying. We should have been in the ‘manual’ lane, but found ourselves in the ‘automatic’ lane. At the time, we were following a large truck, so could not see the toll lanes coming at us until it was too late, and there was no where to turn around safely and try again. We’re not sure what happens for missing a toll.

Once we got past Orkanger, the road really began to twist and turn, and basically became one-lane with periodic pull-offs to allow traffic to pass each other. The winding road clung to the edges of Vinjefjorden from Vinjeora to Halsa. There were many small farms with big houses along the side where the road was located. The other side of the fjord was cliffed. The rounded hills on either side of the fjord rose up to 600 - 1000 m with mostly spruce covered lower slopes.

We had a close call with a ’BIG BLUE’ truck along this road. As we came around a blind corner, traveling quite slowly on our side of the road, a large truck came barrelling around the corner well into our lane. We headed towards the guard-rail (as close as we dared), applied the brakes hard, held our breathe and hoped that the truck would find its way by. We’re not sure how the truck missed us. It was so close that we were sure that the truck had touched us, but we couldn’t find a mark on the car. As the truck roared past, he almost lost control into the rock cliffs on his side of the road, but kept on going. Whew, that was too close!

The road eventually became a little wider, and we relaxed somewhat until we reached the ferry from Halsa to Kanestraum. E39 eventually connected with Hwy 70 to Kristiansund, including a long tunnel of 5+ kms under Freifjorden. Kristiansund seemed quite busy, so we decided to press on. We caught the ferry across to Bremsnes, took a right turn out to a rocky headland near Sveggen and found a nice spot for lunch. We could see the lighthouse at Grip in the distance.

Back on the road again, we headed west along the ‘Atlantic Road’, Hwy 64, to Farstad, Bud, Elneswagen and Molde. Along this stretch of coastline, the coastal plain was well used for farming. The adjacent mountains rose to 900 m most with their summits in the clouds, about 1-2 km from the shoreline. The ‘Atlantic Road’ is a sinuous highway that connects one small rocky island to another by a series of beautifully curved bridges. Strong tidal currents and maelstroms were evident in the channels separating the islands. This road has to be spectacular during a storm off the sea because it is so exposed to the North Atlantic.

Bud was a pretty little town with a nice harbour at the end of Hwy 664. One of the things that we’ve noted along the way is the extent to which Norwegians disperse their industries and businesses. While some businesses are concentrated in larger centres, such as Elnesvagen and Molde, even the small towns seem to have important businesses, e.g., Bud had a BMW dealership, and a bus servicing depot. As a result, both small and larger towns seem to prosper.

From Molde, we headed south along Hwy 64 to Andalsnes via a 3 km tunnel under Fannefjorden and a ferry across Langfjorden. This is where we settled for the night at the base of the Romsdal Alps with cloud and snow-capped peaks over 1800 m, not far from the famous Trollstigen (Troll’s Ladder), but more on this tomorrow. By the end of the afternoon, the weather had improved … mostly sunshine with a few clouds, but still a cool breeze from the sea.

It’s good to have internet access again. When we don’t, we begin feeling out of touch with everyone.