This year's tour of the west coast - day two (part III)

I finally reached my destination of Urke, a tiny settlement along the beautiful Hjørund fjord. It is home to a friend of mine, Jon Hustad. He's a well known journalist here in Norway and has a reputation as a cranky, show-me-the-numbers type of guy who doesn't deal in the platitudes most others in his trade do.

He took me on a trip around the fjords, over some mountains and along some valleys I never would have found on my own. I got the full tour, sprinkled with anecdotes of his youth and especially about the history of the regulated waterfalls in this area, which have provided billions of dollars to Norwegian coffers over the years. He'd just finished a book about the subject and was therefore especially enthusiastic.

We finished off with a very good dinner at a hotel in the marginally larger settlement of Sæbø, having even visited the summer vacation home of the current PM of Norway, Erna Solberg. We joked about the complete lack of security, what with it being the Norwegian equivalent of Camp David.

On the west coast, you will often see food and wood just stored by the roadside, with a note giving the price and a box for the money. It is a quaint, very Nordic way of trade and can only happen in a society where people trust one another.

The sign says "Wood for sale".

The area is very, very pretty.

The aforementioned waterfalls.

Naturally, I was skeptical of the waterfalls.

This group of buildings belongs to the PM's husband, it is their ancient homestead, so to speak. Here, she passes the summer playing candy crush and pokemon, I fucking kid you not. I wish I was.

Dinner was had at the Sagafjord Hotel. Yum, yum, YUM. The fish soup was ok, the beef was great and the dessert was possibly the best I've ever had.