0325 Austrheim to Solvorn

12^th Aug 2015

Tunnels, ferries, and improving weather

It was overcast when we woke up, and while I was trying to pack up the car, it rained several times – But Reagan was cooking up breakfast and there was hot coffee – A bit of rain certainly wasn’t going to hurt ! Eventually we left at about 10.30 am and Reagan and Grete led us out in their car – We had a ferry to catch but there are so many Larviks and Laviks and Leirviks around here, all seemingly with ferries, that when my GPS had such a low battery that it didn’t want to tell me anything for a while I

asked Reagan to take me to the first ferry just to make sure we didn’t go to the wrong Leirvik !!  It wasn;t far down the road, and the ferry was already unloading when we arrived, so five minutes later we said our farewells to Reagan and Grete and jumped on the ferry to set off on the next part of our adventure.  We have had a really great time here, relaxed, eaten well, discussed everything that could be discussed, and really had a great time with good friends.  Thank you both VERY much. 

These fjord ferries go “both ways”, so there is a bow at each end which lifts up even as the ferry is coming into the jetty, so cars drive off as soon as the ramp is down.  Loading is equally fast, making the turn around time very rapid, and minimizing travel delays. Ferries and tunnels are so frequent and important in Norway due to the mountains and fjords, so anything less than high efficiency would not be acceptable.  We landed in Slovag and set off across the next island to Oppedal, which we reached an hour later, once again only having to wait about 5 minutes before we boarded our next ferry. 

This Oppedal ferry took us across the Sogne Fjord. This is the longest fjord in Norway, extending 206 kms east to Skjolden. It has a max depth of 1308 metres, and while the first part is fairly straight up to Balestrand, after that it branches all over the place, with 5 major arms which then subdivide into long fjord fingers, and these offer some amazing sights as you drive along the narrow roads beside the water.  Our road followed the Lustrafjorden to the north, but all of them lay rightful claim to encompassing some of the finest natural scenery to be seen anywhere in the world. 

Today we wandered alongside the main Sognefjorden, through little villages, through tunnels, and past not only sod roofed houses, but also a whole sodding hotel !!  (I think they mowed their roofs, because they all look very manicured !)  We then came into Oppedal where we caught the ferry across to Lavik, and while the weather was still overcast and quite cold, especially in the wind on the ferry, at least the rain had stopped.

From Lavik we then drove east along the edge of the fjord for about 2 ½ hours,

through some delightful little villages, and through many tunnels (maybe 12 or more) the longest of which was the Hoyanger Tunnel at 7.6 kms.  While mentioning tunnels, we went through one on the way between Voss and Bergen last week that was 12 kms long.  You may have read in the paper a couple of days ago that a tourist coach caught fire in a tunnel over here, and while the coach was burnt out, no one died, which is good news.  But that was this 12 km tunnel that we had passed through just a few days earlier !  When you have so many tunnels (the longest one is over 24 kms) problems do happen – Fortunately on this occasion not while we were in it.  But some people do carry gas masks in their cars because it is the smoke that can kill people in a tunnel. 

We stopped briefly in Balestrand to admire some of the old wooden houses and hotel Kviknes, and a wooden church, and then we thought we were going to catch a ferry from there across to Hella.  The signs said “Ferry”, and there were lines painted on the road for queuing, but when we asked we were told that ferries no longer went from Balestrand, and we had to drive about 15 kms around one of the fjord fingers to Dragsvik in order to catch a ferry to Hella !  But this was not a chore to drive round even more of this beautiful scenery, past fields filled with buttercups, with waterfalls tumbling off the cliffs above the fjord.

Very short ferry ride to Hella – And at Hella there seemed to be ferries all over the place – there were two others manoevering as we pulled up ! Once off the ferry, the road quickly got much narrower, with passing places along the way.  This means you are continually having to pay a lot of attention when driving (more so than usual) looking across water and through trees to check if there is traffic coming.  We got behind a big semi trailer on this bit of road for a while, and there were several occasions when all the traffic behind him (including us) had to wait for 5 minutes until he had got past whatever it was coming in the opposite direction – Often motorhomes !

We then wandered along the fjord to Sogndal, making several detours down to little villages along the way, and then not far after Sogndal we found a little camp site beside a lake in a little place called Solvorn.  We stopped at about 4.30 pm and once again, it was fortunate we did, because a virtually empty camp site when we arrived filled steadily until by about 6 or 7 pm there was not a lot of space left.  But we had our spot backed onto the lake, and had a very pleasant nights sleep.  It is getting colder though as we head north !

 Pics are here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0325AustrheimToSolvorn?authkey=Gv1sRgCKWakN7JxOCm-gE