The next day was Lauren's Birthday and she was rewarded with some truly spectacular weather. It would've been better if she'd been born a couple of days earlier. Bright blue skies completely transformed countryside we were cursing just 24 hours prior, into something magnificent.
Alana and Lauren took the train while Chris and I drove from Abisko to Narvik, stopping every few minutes to take photos. The girls met us in Narvik and we snacked on meatballs and potatoes before driving out to our first fjord. The Norwegian countryside sparkled in the great weather as we explored the banks of the fjord, stopped for a picnic lunch on a huge section of flat granite, climbed down to a waterfall and at the Birthday Girl's insistence, frolicked in some purple flowers. It was good to actually have photogenic weather for a change.
While stopping to take one final group photo, I managed, very uncharacteristically, to trip over a road barrier and landed shin first on its sharp, metal edge. Despite the whole accident practically happening in slow motion, I carved a huge chunk of skin off the front of my knee, leaving me in significant pain, a state of shock and dripping with blood. Things were about to get a whole lot worse as my injury left ChrisV in charge of the driving.
Having acclimatised to right-side driving in Canada, I had no trouble driving out little Toyota, despite the fact it was a right hand shift manual. Chris on the other hand, had a few problems, primarily with the windscreen wipers which came on the first 20 or 30 times he approached a corner. After 15km of straight highway, his first corner was almost our last. Deciding at the last minute to turn right, he braked, engaged the wipers, cursed loudly and hooked into the left hand lane, straight into the path of an oncoming car. Both drivers jammed on the brakes, narrowly averting disaster. The look on the other drivers face as the two cars sat bumper to bumper, was pure gold.
Cruising around a subsequent bend he commented that "this feels more like playing a video game than driving a real car" which didn't exactly inspire confidence, although I he achieved a high score this time by getting us all back to Abisko safely. I was able to distract myself looking out at the spectacular midnight twilight.
We said goodbye to the girls the next day, Alana was headed to New York and San Francisco for some maths seminars while Lauren was back to Holland and her beloved Joost (who was mentioned so many times during the hike that he really felt like part of the group). Many thanks to both of them for a fantastic trip. You'll be hearing more of ChrisV's driving exploits soon!
Alana and Lauren took the train while Chris and I drove from Abisko to Narvik, stopping every few minutes to take photos. The girls met us in Narvik and we snacked on meatballs and potatoes before driving out to our first fjord. The Norwegian countryside sparkled in the great weather as we explored the banks of the fjord, stopped for a picnic lunch on a huge section of flat granite, climbed down to a waterfall and at the Birthday Girl's insistence, frolicked in some purple flowers. It was good to actually have photogenic weather for a change.
While stopping to take one final group photo, I managed, very uncharacteristically, to trip over a road barrier and landed shin first on its sharp, metal edge. Despite the whole accident practically happening in slow motion, I carved a huge chunk of skin off the front of my knee, leaving me in significant pain, a state of shock and dripping with blood. Things were about to get a whole lot worse as my injury left ChrisV in charge of the driving.
Having acclimatised to right-side driving in Canada, I had no trouble driving out little Toyota, despite the fact it was a right hand shift manual. Chris on the other hand, had a few problems, primarily with the windscreen wipers which came on the first 20 or 30 times he approached a corner. After 15km of straight highway, his first corner was almost our last. Deciding at the last minute to turn right, he braked, engaged the wipers, cursed loudly and hooked into the left hand lane, straight into the path of an oncoming car. Both drivers jammed on the brakes, narrowly averting disaster. The look on the other drivers face as the two cars sat bumper to bumper, was pure gold.
Cruising around a subsequent bend he commented that "this feels more like playing a video game than driving a real car" which didn't exactly inspire confidence, although I he achieved a high score this time by getting us all back to Abisko safely. I was able to distract myself looking out at the spectacular midnight twilight.
We said goodbye to the girls the next day, Alana was headed to New York and San Francisco for some maths seminars while Lauren was back to Holland and her beloved Joost (who was mentioned so many times during the hike that he really felt like part of the group). Many thanks to both of them for a fantastic trip. You'll be hearing more of ChrisV's driving exploits soon!
3 comments:
I think I am going to have to vote that post as number one for brilliant photos.
Glad to hear that everyone is alive (barely). Maybe I can ship up an Xbox controller for CV to plug into the car and use as a steering device if you think that will help.
Breathtaking scenery. What an adventure you are having.I will be back to read the next installment. Take care and travel safely, cheers Jan.
Having recently had the "pleasure" of experiencing ChrisV's driving 1st hand in the somewhat familiar surrounds of Adelaide I must bring into question the severity of your knee injury to warrant such a dangerous solution as to allowing him to drive.
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