The Trolls Ladder

Day 60 – July 23^rd 

We made an early start and continued on route 15 heading towards the 63 where Geirangerfjorden and the famous Trollstigen Pass lie. 

Trucking down route 63.

For once it wasn’t raining, we had a nice crisp clear morning.  So clear that we spotted a moose!! In fact we saw two! The first one was just chilling out in a clearing to the side of the road.  He was large, strong and had huge antlers.  Luke slammed on the breaks when he saw him then put maxi in to reverse so we could go back to get a better look at the fella.  By then he had run back into the forest and we were only able to see his antlers bobbing up and down in the distance.  We drove on in excitement and soon after we spotted another, a female this time as she didn’t have antlers. Luke had said that morning that he felt like we would see a moose today and to get the camera ready. 

We continued our journey onto the first part of route 63, which is home to Geirangerfjorden.  Another amazing Norwegian fjord that has towering cliff walls breathtakingly high waterfalls and cruise ships at bay in the water.  We snaked up and down the tiny roads battling with passing buses and took in the amazing views that the camera couldn’t do justice to.

Snapshot of the drive.

You would have thought it was winter with
large iceburgs still floating about!

Mountain top road.

You had to keep an eye out for stray sheep!

Geirangerfjorden.

We took another ferry crossing and continued on the 63 towards the Trollstigen pass. 

Back side of Trollstigen.

Happy snaps.

The Trollstigen essentially means ‘Trolls ladder’ and is a thrilling road with 11 hairpin bends and a 1:12 gradient and single lane width used as a two-way road.  We approached the road from the south meaning we had to descend the ladder.  We made a stop off at the look out that hangs out over a cliff face.  The views were spectacular.

Heading out to literally hang off a cliff. 

Luke presents -The Trollstigen Pass.

Panoramic of Trollstigen Pass.

More happy snaps.

The bus negotiating the hairpin bend. 

Stigfossen waterfall.

About to head down the pass - a little excited.

Admiring the view.

Scandinavian design getting a little too clever for itself.

Luke did a fantastic job at getting us down safely and we continued on towards to the town of Andalsnes.  

We had lunch in Andalsnes and pushed on towards Alesund as there was not too much to see probably because it was heavily bombed during WW2.

Mid afternoon we arrived in the lovely costal town of Alesund. Alesund is a nice little town that burned to the ground in 1904 and was rebuilt but young architects in art nouveau style.  It is very picturesque along the waters edge and downtown.  

We parked at the aquarium as recommended through fellow campers, looked around and decided to ride the motorbike back into town to get some wifi.  Once again the weather was poor and we were out of luck with the wifi so we returned to maxi and I convinced Luke to let me cut his hair. 

Not really knowing what I was doing I took the scissors and hacked away.  The end result was pretty, pretty, pretty good if you ask me, a few strays but no bad for a second attempt! (First attempt was in Jackson Hole last year where I really made a mess!)