Wednesday, September 16, 2020

This year's tour of the west coast

I was bored throughout much of September, so eventually I decided to spend a day or two on the west coast. My plan was to go to Hardanger, a very beautiful area just south of Bergen. The next day I would drop off some stuff from a friend of mine in Bergen, then head north to another friend's place. Along the way I'd stop and take a shitload of pictures. You be the judge on whether I succeeded.

I started out driving over to Valdres, then over Golsfjellet to the mountain plain of Hardangervidda. These pics were taken not far from Ustaoset:

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My first planned stop was at the lovely waterfall of Vøringsfossen. Not nearly the largest in Norway, but probably one of the most accessible and picturesque. Since I was there last, they've gone and built a bridge across it (probably to lure even more German tourists to their demise).

The upper fall & the bridge:

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The lower fall:

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There's a bit of water coming down the other side of the mountain as well, and this one often creates a very pretty rainbow.

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I then reached Hardanger proper. This is from the small village of Kinsarvik, at the opening of Sørfjorden (South Fjord).

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I drove alongside Sørfjorden all the way down to the industrial town of Odda, where the fjord ends and there's a tunnel beneath a big ole' glacier, Folgefonna:

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Now, I could have gone south and attempted a tour of the southern part of the peninsula, but I knew I didn't have the time, so that's probably for next year. Instead, I went north to take a ferry across the fjord. As I had almost half an hour to wait, I decided to stretch my legs and stuff face.
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The ferry port.

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View from the ferry, half way across:

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There were nice settlements and farms all around me.

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Lastly, I went up to Voss. On the way, I took a quick detour to see Steinsdalsfossen, which is much smaller, but even more accessible and lovely than Vøringsfossen:

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How this hasn't been used as the setting for a Norwegian "Sherlock Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls"-type of movie scene, I'll never know.

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The 300 gram hamburger w/cheese and bacon I devoured at the Esso Deli de Luca gas station in Voss. Yummy!

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