June 17 - Geiranger and area

Geiranger and the surrounding parts of the West Norwegian Fjords became the first ‘nature site’ in Norway on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Natural Sites in 2005. That should tell you something about the scenery here. Thus, it was a tough decision to decide to stay 2 nights!

Today has turned out to be our day of ‘hairpin turns’. We estimate that we made our way around over 100 switchbacks, up and down.

We drove up and out of Geiranger, stopping first at a roadside turn-off that looked right down the valley to the fjord. These roads and the look-off points are not for anyone with a fear of heights. From here, we continued up through 20 hairpin turns to an elevation of 1034 m above sea level … well above the tree-line, and very definitely above the snow-line. Again, the road was narrow, and instantly brought memories of the Trollstigen road from yesterday. When a bus goes around a hairpin, up or down, it has to use the whole radius of the road. This means that you must give way to the ‘bigger’ more awkward vehicle and cross lanes when you meet a bus in a corner. The first time for this manoeuvre is a little daunting, but afterwards with that experience, it’s like a choreographed ballet of vehicles dancing along narrow rope.

At the top of the pass, we headed up another 20 odd hairpins to an elevation of 1500 m above sea level to the top of Dalsnibba. In some of the hairpin turns, the accumulated snow pack was about 2.5 m. From the top, we could see all the way back to Geiranger and the fjord. We could also see many of the hairpins below. Most of the adjacent peaks were at or around 1500 - 1600 m; several in the distance were up 1800 - 2000 m. And of course, there was snow everywhere, and the lakes were still frozen.

Back down the 20 or so switchbacks to a 1000 m, we continued along the main highway and drove part of the way to Lom. The main attraction along this road was the beautiful Otta River with its many rapids and falls glistening in the hazy sunlight.

Sounds a little dull having to travel along such good roads with such scenery. So, we turned around and headed back uphill to Grotli, and headed across the predominantly one-lane gravel road into Gamie Strynefjellsvegen. Along this road, we encountered snow banks over 4 m high, other cars, several dozen MG sport cars (MGA, MGB, TR7 and newer models), and a few RV‘s even though the road was not recommended for them. The eastern portion of this road is not open in the winter (not a surprise), but the western end is … a surprise! The reason is that there is a large downhill area at Tystigbreen which offers skiing during both summer and winter.

The Gamie Strynefjellisvegen owes its origin to tourists who traveled from one fjord to another back in the early 1900’s. By 1937, as many as 17,000 tourists who stayed on floating hotels in the fjords traveled across this area.

For a change, we headed down the other side of Strynefellet through 15 or more switchbacks until we reached Hwy 15, and down through another 9 hairpin turns to Folva. Since this is the route that we would be traveling tomorrow, we decided to head back to Geiranger, this time following the all-season road, Hwy 15. So, we drove back up the last 9 switchbacks, and through 3 tunnels totalling 10.5 km out of a distance of 12 km to the Geiranger turn-off, and back across the snowy pass at 1034 m near Dalsnibba, and down the 20-odd hairpin turns to our hotel at sea level. There were a lot more cars and buses on the road going back, and of course, many motorcyclists (not as many as yesterday though).

And so, here we are sitting in our hotel room after dinner looking down Geiranger Fjord. After being on a boat for an extended period, you tend to feel a rocking deck under foot for 24 hours or so after you’re back on dry land. I suspect that we will have to overcome the ‘switchback’ motion from today’s traveling as we head to bed. What a lot of ‘hairpin’ turns in one day!

The day finished with a surprise phone call from Kara. It was nice to be in touch just before heading to bed