Pining for the Fjords

I've always had something of a love affair with Scandinavia; I think its something to do with the fjords, waterfalls and girls in incredibly tight pants. When I discovered that my Norwegian airlines flight had free wifi that love was instantly re-kindled.

I arrived at Oslo airport to find that my travelling party were waiting for me with a tiny rental car in tow. From left to right my road trip crew were Daniel and Ramona a Romanian couple currently based in Dusseldorf and Tim a friend from Adelaide who is one of the few people who works less than I do. 

We immediately headed north towards Trondheim and Daniel took the wheel to give me a taste of Romanian driving. Nightmares of ChrisV's driving on my last visit road-trip in Norway came flooding back as he powered through traffic on narrow and continuously winding roads while Tim and I tried desperately not to watch. Remind me to pack plenty of tranquilizers when I get around to visiting them in Romania!

We never actually made it all the way to Trondheim, choosing instead to veer West along the somewhat underwhelming Golden Route. The scenery picked up as we headed South into the highlands and one spectacular road carved sharp switchbacks over a giant waterfall.

Although we brought tents and sleeping mats, we ended up mostly staying in picturesque campsites with comfortable 4-person cabins.  They were cheap, rain-proof and had cooking facilities, internet and showers. Although having the internet was handy for planning our trip, I didn't want to completely ruin the camping experience so I drew the line at daily showers. 

A couple of days later we stopped near Skala, one of the tallest mountains in central Norway and, much to the dismay of Tim, decided to actually climb it. Starting from sea-level we hiked out of the forest and past several glaciers before finally reaching the 1850m summit about 5 hours later. As we started our descent the thick clouds shrouding the summit cleared for just a couple of minutes and gave me a chance to snap this impressive panorama of the fjord peeking through the mountains.

The next morning Tim and I were even slower than usual to get out of bed but fortunately Ramona and Daniel have experience dealing with hopeless children and usually had the car packed and ready to go before we were even awake. Ramona also took on the role of head chef and although she cooked up lots of healthy and delicious food, the lentil soup was definitely a mistake. Insert obligatory pull my finger joke here. My main role was as team morale officer, but I offered some basic photography advice, conservative driving and an iPhone full of Wesmusic.

Although Bob Dylan and Van Morrison were vetoed very early on, I did manage to win over the Romanians with Xavier Rudd and Bon Iver. I spent a lot of time listening to "Boxer" by the The National's however, the soundtrack of the trip was definitely Shearwater's, 2008 album "Rook" - an absolute masterpiece!

My favorite photos of the trip came from a short walk through an old ruined village that had been overrun by sheep. Most evenings Tim and I would compare photos and argue about the best angle, cropping ratio and lightroom adjustment. My photography skills have definitely improved as a result. 

On the final day of our trip we headed out for a short 3 hour hike towards Preikestolen, an iconic cliff that towers 600m above the fjords. Unfortunately the conditions were a little wet and about an hour into the walk  I rolled my ankle on a wet rock and tore a bunch of tendons along the side of my foot. With several weeks of travelling still on the horizon, I decided not to risk any further damage and hobbled very slowly back down the path to grab some ice while the others continued on to the summit. Ramona came back with this spectacular shot of Tim standing by the edge. 

Although my foot glowed an impressive bright blue colour for about the next 2 weeks, the good news is that it was never particularly painful and is almost back to full strength now. Many thanks to Daniel, Ramona and Tim for a fantastic road-trip.