On Tuesday morning time nosotros woke upward alongside the Sun – non that it e'er fully went downward – as well as headed downward our lilliputian mount to the town of Sogndal. Sogndal isn’t a peculiarly large town , but it’s a lot larger than the other scattered settlements nosotros had seen along the fjords. Halfway downward the colina nosotros stumbled upon a ruby stave church building , which actually laid the musical note for the twenty-four hr menstruum , which was to live filled alongside visits to the beautiful , fairytale-style buildings.
After picking upward groceries as well as repacking the bags , nosotros caput to the tourist data centre – a counter at the halt of a takeaway as well as ice-cream store , where nobody spoke dandy English linguistic communication – as well as got on a coach that would conduct hold us to our hire car. Despite wanting to , a) fossil oil it a lilliputian combat as well as , b) run across Kingdom of Norway on the inexpensive , nosotros needed to hire a machine for a twain of days for an activeness nosotros had planned for Wednesday.
We hopped inward the machine – Nicholas repeating to himself over as well as over that he needed to drive on the right-hand side of the route – as well as laid out to notice some other Stave church. One incorrect plough as well as several tunnels subsequently , nosotros were inward a graveyard that surrounded some other of the foreign structures. The tombstones inward the graveyard dated dorsum a few hundred years , but in that location were many recent ones too. While nosotros stood roughly taking pictures , 1 immature man child came over as well as polished a fresh headstone. This made us experience a lilliputian combat similar bad tourists , thus nosotros left.
Snaking our agency along the tourist route side past times side to the fjord , through tunnel after tunnel , nosotros managed to encompass a lot to a greater extent than Earth than nosotros were able to alongside packs. This machine had heated seats – the holy grail of machine features – as well as nosotros position them on despite non beingness peculiarly cold.
After driving along every bit good many narrow , windy roads (on the incorrect side of the route , alongside non plenty passing places if nosotros happened to run across some other traveller) nosotros made our agency to a Stave church building listed on the tourist brochure. The Urnes Stave Church is a UNESCO listed site (I experience similar Kingdom of Norway is basically comprised of UNESCO listed sites?) because of iii reasons:
1. It’s the oldest Stave church building soundless standing inward Norway
2. It’s the oldest wooden edifice soundless standing inward Norway
3. It’s the oldest wooden edifice soundless standing inward the world
We rocked upward at the Stave church building subsequently than anticipated , but didn’t actually conduct hold whatsoever intention to instruct inward anyway , thus weren’t looking at the time. When nosotros pulled upward the machine as well as went to the lilliputian trace solid where the tickets were beingness sold , but a human shut the door on us. Nicholas knocked on the door.
The Urnes Stave Church
“Is the Stave church building soundless open?” he asked.
“No , it’s merely shut ,” he replied.
A pretty middle-aged adult woman alongside a long blonde plait interjected , maxim that she could conduct hold us into the church building , despite the fact that she’d merely locked it up.
“They tin terminate conduct hold 10 minutes ,” the human told her.
“They tin terminate conduct hold every bit long every bit I give them.” She turned to Nicholas. “You conduct hold to live certain that you lot desire to instruct inward ,” she said.
Nicholas looked at me as well as I nodded , thus nosotros paid our fare as well as wandered upward to the (very) onetime , wooden church. While other visitors were given a pair of brochures as well as left to peruse at their leisure , the lady followed us upward as well as started giving us a thorough guided tour. She walked us roughly as well as explained the carvings , the edifice techniques as well as how the church building was arranged. The argue the wood was lasting thus long , she explained was because the people who erected the church building had produced the wood to live self-preserving. 15-20 years earlier they felled the tree , they cutting off its limbs as well as left the tree to make sap that would course of report through the tree as well as add together an internal layer of resin to the wood.
My favourite carving at the Urnes Stave Church - a horse/dog capturing a wingless dragon
Very lilliputian had been done inward modernia to keep the site , because it was thus good preserved , but a few years agone they institute 1 side of the edifice was sinking. They came inward , fixed the sinking business office as well as catch their undertaking was done. However , because the belltower was added to the church building roughly 600 years after its initial create , the belltower was instantly off-center as well as they had to ready that too.
We thanked her profusely as well as and thus caput dorsum onto the route to run across Feigumfossen – a 218m waterfall , considered 1 of Norway’s most beautiful. Despite the pelting , slippery mud as well as moisture mossy rocks (all a recipe for disaster) nosotros climbed upward as well as upward to run across the waterfall upward close. The woods nosotros walked through felt to a greater extent than similar a subtropical rainforest than anything you’d hold off to notice inward Norway.
I’ve seen a few of the waterfalls nosotros conduct hold inward Commonwealth of Australia , as well as we’ve seen a few on our travels , but none thus high thus close. The H2O appeared to autumn inward tiresome motion , falling over itself as well as into the puddle at its base. The violently flowing river at its base of operations seemed to current at a completely dissimilar speed. It looked frantic compared to the meditative current from the oral fissure of the waterfall.
Nicholas , beingness the clever lilliputian rockhopper that he is , clamoured upward the rocks to the base of operations of the waterfall , becoming thus little as well as thus dwarfed that he disappeared completely , blending into rocks twice his height. It’s non such a stretch that people believe giant humanoid trolls alive inward these places.
We institute this wedged betwixt some branches on our agency back
We bought some huckleberry jam from this tiny self-serve kiosk on our agency back.
Perhaps because it was raining heavily , or mayhap it was because nosotros wanted to relive our fourth dimension inward Scotland (or , to a greater extent than probable , mayhap nosotros were feeling lazy) nosotros slept inward the machine nearby , shielding our faces from the midnight halflight.
The next morning time was a morning time I’d been waiting for since nosotros planned our Kingdom of Norway trip inward Oslo – nosotros were heading out to kayak through a glacial lake as well as hike on the largest glacier inward mainland Europe!
The catch came nearly after a conversation nosotros had alongside our hosts inward Moss , who pointed us inward the direction of a glacier nigh Bødo. There was a lot of glacial hiking in that location , but none that agree inward our cost range. Then nosotros institute Ice Troll , who offered the form of trip nosotros were after.
Our guide , Sam , was a Kiwi who got his experience climbing glaciers inward New Zealand. Most of the glaciers in that location had melted to the holler for of becoming inaccessible , thus he’d come upward over to Kingdom of Norway to guide hither instead. He was pretty excellent. He piled us into the dodgy-looking Ice Troll van as well as drove us downward to the glacial lake that pools at the base of operations of the glacier thus that nosotros could kayak across it to the glacier itself.
We rock-hopped as well as climbed upward , until nosotros reached a dingy , sandy piece of snowfall , where nosotros could strap on our crampons as well as select handgrip of some ice-axes to conduct hold alongside us. I confessed to Sam that I wasn’t super confident on H2O ice , as well as when he harnessed our grouping together he allow me instruct behind him.
The other v people inward our grouping were American as well as all had a lot to a greater extent than coin than nosotros did , but this meant nosotros could bond alongside Sam over our mutual wild camping ground experiences.
The glacier itself had many to a greater extent than crevasses than I’d expected , which all looked to live lit past times a vivid bluish light. Sam also pointed out a few wells he referred to every bit Moulins , which nosotros could climb as well as abseil inward if nosotros did an overnight trip. Nicholas as well as I decided to pencil 1 inward for some other twelvemonth inward September.
A lilliputian H2O ice cave nether the glacier
A moulin - did you lot know you lot tin terminate abseil inward these things? Definitely keen to give that a go.
We followed Sam along inward unmarried file as well as occasionally he had to carve out a few steps for us alongside his H2O ice axe. I generally used mine to ease myself , past times sticking it into the H2O ice walls. A twain of times I used it to clit myself out of lilliputian H2O ice bridges I slipped into , created when soft snowfall falls over the oral fissure of a crevasse. I wasn’t the exclusively 1 to autumn into these repeatedly , as well as I was glad nosotros were all connected past times rope , thus nobody could autumn every bit good far.
I came to prefer walking on the H2O ice to walking on soft snowfall – as well as mayhap fifty-fifty on grassy mountains – because in that location was thus lilliputian to instruct far the agency , as well as it was thus tardily to carve your ain path. Crampons are pretty nifty inventions , as well as I decided I could definitely instruct into to a greater extent than ice-based activities (even if they were a lilliputian combat terrifying sometimes).
For likely iii hours nosotros were led roughly on the H2O ice , alongside Sam producing a thermos of hot chocolate at 1 holler for , as well as all of us sitting downward on the mutual frigidity snowfall to conduct hold dejeuner at another. Sam talked nearly the dark sediment that collected inward the snowfall as well as mentioned how adept it was for the peel , too. Naturally I was curious , as well as smeared it all over my olfactory organ as well as cheeks on the agency dorsum downward the glacier.
The pelting held off for most of the twenty-four hr menstruum hiking as well as luckily in that location was almost no current of air – all inward all , a perfect twenty-four hr menstruum for beingness outdoors. We were , all the same , grateful to live retiring to the machine that nighttime , because our shoes as well as socks were soaked through.
So much snow!
