Norway 2010

We knew that we were somewhere far north when it was still light, well past midnight on the evening we arrived in Stavanger. No apologizes for that, nor much sleep either. Even better, we knew Jane (London 1993) and we stayed at her lovely 'fisherman's cottage', overlooking the harbour and the daily arrival of cruise ships.

Jane had orchestrated a mini-reunion with former members of a London hiking club with Stephen & Angela (also London 19993) who came over for a long week-end adventure on the granite of nearby Lysefjord. The hiking club tours are well know for mad-cap days which often included misty conditions, disorientation, groups splitting off, midges, etc. The reunion was not to disappoint.

Excerpts from Stephen's summary capture the spirit of the week-end: "Make no mistake. This is no virtual reality challenge: this is the real thing.It progressively gradually morphs into something entirely different. Once your stamina is reduced by many hours of walking, selective use is made of exhaustion, dehydration, lack of sleep and disorientation to leave you nothing short of helpless. Gradually picking off the team-members, she uses psychological techniques such as travelling to very remote (but locked) huts, selective use of starvation and identification of midge-prone sites. The most compelling technique is use of what look like standard Norwegian topo map, but with the scale changed so that the distances are in fact doubled. Through all this Jane remains, confident and matter-of-fact "Don't worry it's only another 6km" in an apparently supportive way. Stephen, a recent tour member, says "We went with two Canadian friends who are experienced bush-wackers. They were persuaded to ditch their extra food before the left and by the end reduced to a bread and water diet. When we saw them they were being eaten alive by midges and in bad way. That was the last we saw of them."

After climbing on exposed granite, watching base jumpers take the plunge and barely surviving Jane's tour, we were ready to head further afield. Jane went off to thrills in the French Alps and generously lent us her car. It wasn't just any car; it was a Mini Cooper and it was perfect for the winding, narrow roads of fjordland which offers plenty of thrills on the road for the traveling public. The straightest sections of road were inside the myriad of tunnels, including in the world's longest road tunnel at 24.5km in length.

We dodged showers (Norwegian weather has personality), tried to stay on our feet in some of the big winds, stood on glaciers, succumbed to midge swarms and walked the wonderful Bessenger ridge and beyond.

We often took advantage of the Norwegian law that permits free camping if you are over 150 meters away from buildings, after all, Norway is the most expensive country we have ever visited.

Tourist brochure pictures of a narrow rock overhanging a deep, glaciated lake (you know, the photos that always feature perfect blue skies) enticed us for an overnight trip to the Trolltunga (Troll's tongue) which was every bit as exciting as the pictures suggested.

We even had the heavily visited Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock) all to ourselves in between successive waves of tourists. If you do look at our photos of the grand overlooks, don't simply rush out and book a Norway cruise to see them. The classic overlooks are more than a drive to the parking lot with a quick stroll to the edge. The shortest approach walk was near about 2 hours over rugged ground and then there is the fickle weather to consider....