Author: CaravanRamblings

Summary

Thursday was a longer than anticipated drive due to adverse weather conditions. 255 miles (@37.2 mpg) and we arrived at Knaus camping, Meppen in the late afternoon for a two night stay.

Saturday we drove to the Hook of Holland via Campercentrum Amersfoort. 178 miles at 46.3 mpg. The mileage rate reflecting the very flat Dutch terrain and preserving fuel to avoid paying not far short of 3 Euros per litre!

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Our original plan was to skirt around Hamburg and then camp at the Stellplatz near Heidenau, which we had used on the outbound journey. However, amidst another heatwave, temperatures around Hamburg were 37 C so we decided a long day in the air-conditioned Cali would be better than parking up.

We headed to our next planned stop, the Knaus Camperpark at Meppen. At £35 a night without electricity it was expensive but we figured a riverside location and top-notch facilities would be good for our final nights on the mainland. We weren’t disappointed. The facilities were absolutely 5* although the pitches themselves perhaps lacked a little TLC. This campsite is in a great location close to the centre of town so there was some road noise at nighttime.

Meppen is a lovely town. The centre appears to be quite modern but beautifully maintained with lots of outside bars, cafes and restaurants.

On our first night we ate at the Schmidt Markt, a fine recommendation from the campsite.

On Friday, we hiked 5 miles around the town which is at the confluence of several rivers and a canal. The rivers Ems, Hase and Nordradde meet with the Ems – Dortmund canal. Meppen is at the centre of the Emsland region and actually boasts 12 centuries of history.

After our hike around Meppen we had lunch at the Rathaus (town hall). Another stunning building put to great use!

Moe’s attempt to order an extra spoon for her desert backfired. Instead of two spoons we got to cakes. Fortunately there are no bounds to how much cake Moe can eat. It was very nice though.

Saturday we drove the final stage to the Hook Of Holland via Campercentrum in Amersfoort. Our Stena Line ferry to Harwich is scheduled to depart at 10pm, later tonight.

Campercentrum gets a lot of rave reviews but we were rather underwhelmed. We were expecting a much larger accessory shop and whilst there was an extensive display of new Californias, that was not of particular interest to us.

Summary

Monday morning we awoke to another cold day – but the sun appeared and we had a pleasant trip South to Stavanger (103 miles at 34.4 mpg).

In the evening we caught the Fjordline ferry to Hirtshals (I think about £450 for the Campervan, two adults and a windowless cabin in the depths of MS Bergensfjord).

On arrival into Denmark we had a very quick drive south to Uge Lystfiskerai and campsite just north of the German border. We were off the ship in exactly 15 minutes and arrived at a very hot campsite, precisely at noon. 214 miles @ 33.6 mpg which was rather good as we weren’t hanging around!

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After a very wet Monday we woke to blue skies and a chilly but dry morning. We managed to get the awning washed, dried and dismantled before our drive to Stavanger.

Moe spotted this device in the sanitary block and wished she’d seen it earlier (her walking shoes are leaking!).

The first part of our drive was up the Kjerag mountain and across the “lunar-like” landscape we had previously traversed just 48 hours earlier. It was no less spectacular the second time.

We arrived at Stavanger in the afternoon and parked-up near to the ferry building from where we had a walk to a nearby island. Stavanger is known as the oil capital of Norway and everywhere around the port area was covered in equipment and pipework for drilling. Oil has of course brought huge prosperity to Norway.

Our boarding onto MS Bergensfjord was un-eventful but frightfully efficient. The time in dock was scheduled for 1 hour which meant unloading the Bergen – Stavanger passengers / cars and loading the passengers / vehicles from Stavanger to Hirtshals.

Nevertheless, our departure was around 1 hour late due to traffic in the port area; in particular this container vessel took a long time to maneuver out of our way.

Despite the delayed departure, we arrived bang on time at Hirtshals and were invited onto the car deck 30 minutes before arrival. An equally efficient disembarkation and we were on the road south at 08:15. Having crossed the North sea from Norway, we have arrived to blue skies and high temperatures. Just North of the German border and the temperature is a lovely 30 C. The last few days in Norway the temperature was fluctuating between about 6 C and 12 C!

Uge Camping and Fishery is a lovely site. Spacious pitches and immaculate sanitary facilities. It even has a fishing lake stocked with Trout. Time for Moe to go and catch our dinner!

Journey time from Camping Flothyl to Kjerag Camping in Lysebotn was around 3 hours 40 minutes. Distance travelled 108 miles at 32.1 mpg.

The first part of the journey was south on route 9. This appears to have been the subject of a huge amount of construction and progress was good. One can still see the old road in places and this is most certainly a fantastic improvement. There were lot’s of opportunities for wild camping along this section, and also many cycle routes (note for another occasion!), but our destination on Sunday was Lysebotn.

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The second half of the journey (the last 41 miles) was a different story. The road is barely wide enough for two vehicles although there are numerous passing places. Lysebotn is a village located at the end of Lysefjorden in a very isolated valley which is only accessible via a summer seasonal road or by boat.

It’s a popular tourist destination with over 100,000 visitors each year and it is an access point for the Kjerag mountain, a popular base jumping spot. The final section of road drops over 900m into Lysebotn down a very steep cliff, going through 27 hairpin bends including one inside a 1100m tunnel that is actually inside the mountain. The road was opened in 1984 and it is only operational during the summer months when it is free of ice and snow.

From the Sirdal valley the road runs through impressive mountain peaks and has a lunar-like terrain. It reminded me of the Yorkshire Dales but in a much more extreme and almost endless manner.

The weather hasn’t been kind to us in recent days. The temperature has been as low as 6 C over the mountain roads and we’ve had persistent heavy rain in Lysebotn. Today we managed a five mile hike from the Campsite but we needed all our waterproof and thermal gear.

The campsite and its facilities are first rate and there’s even a cafe / bar on-site.

Tomorrow we re-trace our tracks over the Lysevegen and head to Stavanger where we hope to be boarding a ferry to Denmark…

Summary

What seemed like a reasonable 199 miles from Kjornes camping to Flothyl Camping expanded a little when Moe decided we would visit the Borgund Stave church. It was definitely worth the small detour.

217 miles in an elapsed day of 8 hours including 6.5 hours actual driving. Returned 35.8 mpg.

We seemed to spend more time underground in tunnels than above ground including passing through the longest road tunnel in the world – the Laerdal tunnel – at 25 km. Another was some 12 km and we even encountered sub-terranean roundabouts!

On-site at Camping Flothyl and Nellie’s twin is alongside!

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Built around 1180 and dedicated to the Apostle Andrew, Borgund Stave church is exceptionally well preserved and is the most distinctive stave church in Norway. Some of its finest features are the lavishly carved portals and the crosses and carvings of dragon’s heads on the roofs.

Borgund Stave Church was purchased in 1877 by the National Trust of Norway.

A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church characterised by a structural framework of load-bearing vertical posts, called “staves”. Primarily built in north-western Europe, mostly in Norway, between 1150 and 1350, these masterpieces of Viking-era woodworking feature overlapping roof shingles and a blend of Christian and Norse art. Tar and charcoal is used to further preserve the wood.

We arrived at Flothyl camping late afternoon, after an interesting journey, traversing numerous tunnels and narrow mountain roads. We encountered our first underground roundabout.

Summary

We left Geiranger on Wednesday morning. The nearby mountain, Akerneset, didn’t collapse and we we were not subsequently consumed by the predicted 80m tsunami.

A drive of 133 miles (at 35.4 mpg) and we arrived shortly after 2pm at Camping Kjornes, Sogndal. This is probably the best kept campsite we have stayed on.

Progress south is slow – I think we are running out of steam and we are finding any excuse to stay longer on sites. Our ferry from Holland departs in 8 days, shortly before all our insurances expire, so I guess we need a plan…

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Kjornes camping was our next stop, some 133 miles from Geiranger. On the mountain tops above Geiranger there are still pockets of snow and the outside temperatures drops to single digits at altitude.

Progress was slow (nothing unusual) with the occasional “hold-up”.

Moe had chosen camping Kjornes, as it seemed to have plenty of facilities and washing machines / dryers. The reality is that when the site is full (and it is by around 5pm every day), there’s always a queue.

However the sanitary facilities are clean and high-spec and this is probably the nicest campsite we have stayed on. This is also reflected in the price of 500 NOK per night without electricity and another 60 NOK for electricity. That’s about £45 for the night. Tokens (and a long wait) for the laundry services were also pricey. Anyhow, we have now added a second and third night here!

Still, the cost clearly wasn’t an issue for this pair of Morelo Palacios (about 1m Euros worth). His ‘n’ hers maybe??

The site is nicely laid and plenty of space between us and the neighbours. Views across the Fjord to and towards the town of Sogndal are lovely.

Thursday we walked to the Sogn Folkemuseum, catching a bus back. It’s a 3 – 4 mile walk and quite a demanding ascent the entire way – the cafe was a welcome stop on arrival, with lots of homemade cakes – of course, Moe ate two!

If you wanted a less strenuous visit, best to take the bus and walk back! It is a lovely walk though so it’s definitely worth doing.

The outdoor museum is situated amidst a beautiful natural and cultural landscape, with crop fields, meadows and pastures.

It occupies around 28 acres of land, containing between 30 and 40 different houses that have been relocated from various Sogn villages. Many of them have been arranged as homesteads. There are examples of most historically common Sogn village buildings. The oldest are from the 1500s, ranging from a Middle Age log house to an old vicarage building and a 1980s prefabricated house. There are arches, lofts, barns and other farm buildings, mills and boathouses, smithies, dryhouses, wood storage and outhouses – as well as a remarkable beacon house.

The wood burner in the old school house is awesome…

The project of turning the museum into a cohesive cultural landscape was prioritised in the 1980s, and is still evolving. A lot of the cultural landscape relates to 19th century agriculture, and during the season you will be able to see examples of the various farming work. In the summer there are animals of local historical breeds, including cows, sheep, pigs and chickens.

There are a number of hikes from our campsite in Geiranger and we chose to hike to a hillside farm, which now hosts a cafe with spectacular views across the valley and Geiranger.

Only a mile there and back but it’s a tough walk. If you want to see the head of the waterfall, it’s the same distance and probably even tougher.

A little bit of information about Geiranger and its geology.

Geiranger is a world-famous tourist village in the Sunnmøre region of western Norway, situated at the head of the spectacular Geirangerfjord. Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005, it is renowned for its sheer mountain cliffs, dramatic waterfalls, and historic, abandoned mountain farms.

Despite having a year-round population of fewer than 300 residents, the village serves as one of Norway’s premier cruise ports and travel destinations.

Geiranger faces a continuous, scientifically monitored threat from a potential 80-meter-high (260-foot) tsunami generated by a catastrophic rockslide from the unstable Åkerneset mountain. This natural phenomenon, which inspired the Norwegian disaster movie The Wave, is caused by a massive crack in the mountain that grows by several centimeters every year.

What about Vinje camping?

Well, we were greeted by a very friendly lady (possibly the campsite owner) and she helped us chose a nice flat pitch. I’d suggest arriving before 2pm if you want to guarantee a pitch for the night.

Perfectly sized for our Campervan but wouldn’t be great for a larger unit. There’s a little shop and the sanitary facilities are clean and modern.

Here’s the “but”. Two working gents toilets for a campsite with up to 200 tents, caravans and campervans is nowhere near enough. Even if the third one had been operational, it’s still not enough. Waiting to use the facilities in the evening was more akin to being at a music festival! The reason we chose this site over Geiranger Camping in town was because the latter has a number of reviews stating there aren’t enough toilets and showers. Must be a “thing” here!

Summary

It’s time to move on again and this time we drove a mere 90 miles in something like 6 hours at 30.4mpg. This is the worst economy we have experienced and a reflection of the mountainous terrain we traversed. I’ve lost track now of how many ferries were involved but it was probably two – and we always seem to arrive just as the barriers are coming down.

Trollstigen is an impressive mountain pass that twists through eleven hairpin bends up the steep mountain sides in the Romsdalen valley.

After walking around the top of the mountain and taking in the various viewpoints, we arrived at Vinje camping, Geiranger, in the middle of the afternoon. We found a nice pitch but this area is a real tourist honey trap and it wasn’t long before the “Campsite Full” signs were out.

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Trollstigen (or the “Troll Path” in English) is a serpentine mountain road and pass in Rauma Municipality, Norway.

It is part of Norwegian County Road 63 that connects the town of Åndalsnes in Rauma and the village of Valldal in Fjord Municipality. It is a popular tourist attraction for its steep incline of 10% and eleven hairpin bends up a steep mountainside. During the peak of the tourist season, about 2,500 vehicles pass this landmark, daily.

The road is narrow with many sharp bends, and although several bends were widened during 2005 to 2012, vehicles over 12.4 metres long are prohibited from driving the road. At the 700-metre plateau are a car park and several viewing balconies overlooking the bends and the Stigfossen waterfall. Stigfossen falls 320 metres down the mountainside. The pass has an elevation of approximately 850 metres (2,790 ft).

Trollstigen is closed during late autumn and winter. A normal operating season stretches from mid-May to October but is sometimes shorter or longer because of weather conditions.

Once we had chosen our pitch at Vinje camping, we set off down the hill into Gerainger. The town was very busy, mainly due to the visiting Cruise ship. However, the cruise passengers, inevitably on an “all-inclusive” don’t spend much time in the cafes or restaurants so we found a nice cafe with shaded patio area for a couple of beers and a snack. A tough walk back up the mountain to the campsite thereafter.