Norway

Random Impressions of Norway. (June 2018)

Being the first time that I have been to Norway I became aware of various differences between Scotland and Norway.

In Scotland the hills are largely bare of trees except for Forestry Commission plantations of serried ranks of conifers beneath which all is dark and lifeless. There are remnants of the original or near original forests - the Rothmurchus Forest, the Black Wood of Rannoch and some oak and ash woods on the west coast but by and large trees have been stripped from the mountainous landscape. It is possible to see what the tree cover might have been by observing islands in lochs, for example in Loch Maree, Loch Lomond and Loch Liadon. Even tiny islands show tree cover where the pressure of herbivores is reduced. It's not that deer can't swim to the islands, it's just that they are reluctant to do so. Herbivores are not the only reason for lack of trees. The burning of heather to create habitat suitable for Grouse moors also prevents regeneration of forests. The hills of the Southern Uplands and those of northern Perthshire alongside the A9 seem particularly barren. It is here alongside Loch Garry that Ron Greer has attempted some reafforestation - it is only possible when deer fences protect the trees.

The mountains of Southern Norway (the only part that I have seen) by contrast, are covered in trees up altitudes greater than 4500 feet. The conifers and mixed deciduous trees grow up to at least 3000 feet and when the conditions become too harsh for them woods of birch, juniper and dwarf willow take over. I did not see any Rowan or larch.

The impression given when travelling by train or by road between Oslo and Bergen is that Norway is essentially one big forest.

Norway has a far greater proportion of electric cars and hybrids that Britain. Everywhere you see Tesla Model S cars, Nissan Leafs, BMW i3 s and Toyota Prius's as well as many other makes of electric cars. We spoke to an interesting man in Beitostolen who owned a Morgan and toured Scotland and England in it. I pictured a classic three wheeler but no! It was a new model with a 4.2 litre engine and 350 brake horse power. He had been to the factory in Great Malvern. He told us that Norway has great incentives for electric cars - There is no road tax; there is no import duty; there is free charging; the cars are allowed into bus lanes and are provided with free parking. I said, "it looks like the Norwegian government is doing the right things" but he had doubts about the green-ness of electric cars as in a few years the batteries will need to be recycled and also because of the high CO2 emissions involved in their manufacture.

Oslo and Bergen have trams and trolley buses which have mostly disappeared from British cities. Edinburgh is an exception, of course, where the new trams cost a fortune - well over budget and the line had to be shortened because it was too expensive. Oslo and Bergen have bendy buses which Boris Johnston got rid of in London.

For all the forest in Norway we did not see a single wild mammal. It is perhaps because of the trees that we didn't see them? We did not even see a rabbit. Around Oslo there are plenty of road signs warning of Elk but as we passed through during the day we perhaps, were unlikely to see them. We did not see a single bird of prey either, not even a buzzard. It may be that endless forest does not suit buzzards and that the forests are full of goshawks?

The birds that we did see were - fieldfares, redwing, magpies (lots), jays (not lots), jackdaws, swallows, swifts, great tits, willow tits, Bramblings, house sparrows, herring gulls, common gulls, black-headed gulls, lesser black-backed gulls, robins, wrens, mute swans, mallards, blackbirds, ring ousels, house sparrows, starlings, hooded crows, house martins, feral pigeons, heron, eider ducks.

The houses in Bergen's old town are very quaint. Near the docks is the world heritage site with ancient wooden houses. This are is a tourist trap hoaching with tourists of all nationalities. The original wooden houses and their narrow alleys are now shops.

The place where we stayed called the White House is in a quarter of more normal wooden houses but still with quaint narrow streets and very attractive. It is reminiscent of the Shambles in York.

Bergen has a large central park with a lake which gives it a spacious feel. To the north is the Foyen hill with a funicular railway up it. Apparently one million people a year use it - now one million and two since we went up it. On our first visit we went on the railway and walked down. On our second visit we're walked both ways. At the top there are panoramic views of Bergen and you can walk off into the forest on trails which are sign-posted to within and inch of their life.

We took a ferry to the Viking museum and there is also a Kon-Tiki Museum which we did not visit. In the centre there is an Edvard Munch gallery.

Oslo is the bigger city and does not seem to have the ancient quaint houses that Bergen has but it has a good waterfront, a pleasant castle in the grounds of which you can walk an is set up for the leisured people to go swimming from a long wooden esplanade designed for the purpose. We didn't swim but the water, as test by the hand was surprisingly warm.

Apparently there are walks in the woods close to Oslo which are frequently by the inhabitants at weekends where wolves, bears and Lynx are to be found. According to google the wolf population of Norway is concentrated in the south east near the Swedish border and consists of 68 animals - not much chance of seeing one then. This is not much better than a zoo population. It seems surprising when you see the immense forests that there is not room for more and actually surprising that scientists would know that there are only 68. There are about 50 brown bears in Norway - a pitifully small number. Hunting is responsible for their near extermination.

Norwegians have a propensity for tunnelling that would leave a mole flabbergasted. The E16 goes through dozens of tunnels, to longest of which, the Laerdal Tunnel, is 15.23 miles long. Every so often there is an expansion of the tunnel with blue light that is meant to simulate daylight so that drivers can have a rest and avoid claustrophobia. Oslo has a lot of its road network in tunnels. Even the Avis car hire drop off point at the airport is below ground. It was not easy to find. They did not seem in the least interested in examining the car (a VW UP) and we just had to drop the keys in a box.

The airport is enormous with internal shopping malls.

The Oslo to Bergen railway is very scenic and grows up to over 4000 feet. Only there very highest ground is without trees. There are many gorges, rushing crystal clear rivers and dramatic mountains. There's is a side shoot to the north to a place called Flam which is described as the most scenic of all. We did not go on that but we did pass through Flam on out drive from Bergen to Oslo and there we encountered two cruise ships that had come up the fjord and many coaches carrying the numerous tourists eager to go on the railway.