The theme for our time in Norway was “follow the sun”: we wanted to get outdoors and enjoy the beautiful scenery, so kept a close eye on the weather to plan activities in sunny places. Sunday (June 19th) was meant to be quite nice in the Aurland area, and Monday looked to be spectacularly sunny, so we planned three activities across the two days. On Sunday, we would ride the historic Flåm railway from the village of Flåm to Myrdal station, and then cycle back down through the valley. On Monday, we would get up early to hike Mt Prest, a short summit with views over Aurlandsfjord, and spend the afternoon kayaking on Nærøyfjord.
On Sunday morning, we drove from Hemsedal (where we stayed after the Ranastøngji hike) to Flåm, a small village at the foot of Aurlandsfjord (pictured above). Flåm is very popular with tourists, and we were amazed at how many campers and RVs there were there! Flåm’s claim to fame is the historic railway, Flåmsbana, which now carries tourists up through the Flåm valley to Myrdal station and back down. Alternatively, you can take your bike on the train (or rent one at the top) and cycle back down - so of course we jumped at the chance for a scenic bike ride in addition to the train ride!
From NorwaysBest.com:
Construction of the railway started in 1923 and was completed in 1940. It is said to be one of the greatest engineering feats in Norway. The 20-km long railway line is one of the steepest standard gauge lines in the world, with 80% of the journey running on a gradient of 5.5%. There are no less than 20 tunnels, 18 of which were built by hand. One of the tunnels even takes a 180 degree turn inside the mountain.
(Is it too pedantic to be annoyed by the incorrect use of “less” vs “fewer” in that blurb?)
Going round a bend on the Flåmsbana
The train itself was very neat, with a wood-paneled vintage interior. Before we set off, I’d looked up which side to sit on for the most scenic views, so we showed up early and got a spot on the right-hand side with a window that opened. (On the boat tour in Copenhagen, we were seated on the left-hand side of the boat. Every time the tour guide pointed something out, he’d say: “Coming up on your right…” - I wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice!) The scenery along the way was breathtaking, and we even got a chance to step off the train to see the Kjosfossen waterfall up close. At this stop, some mystical music began to play from loudspeakers and a woman dressed in apparently traditional Norwegian clothing appeared near the waterfall and did a short dance. To be honest, I found this rather cheesy, and would’ve rather just enjoyed the natural beauty of the waterfall, but to each their own!
Kjosfossen waterfall
As we made our way up to Myrdal, I became a bit apprehensive about what came next, as we got a preview of the road we’d be biking down. This road, known as the Rallar Road or Navvies’ Road, was a construction road used when another rail line was built around 1900. It features 21 steep hairpin turns before evening out to a more relaxed grade down through the valley.
The view of the Rallar Road (to the left of the waterfall) from the train - we made it around all of those turns!
After we disembarked at Myrdal station and Jacob had taken his fill of scenic train station photos, we hopped on our bikes and … I immediately hopped off again at the first turn! Those hairpins are tight! But I had many opportunities to practise, so each time I would try to make it around without putting my feet down. Eventually I succeeded! We also took lots of stops to enjoy and photograph the lovely waterfall which cascades down along the road.
Practising my turns on our way down from Myrdal station
After the intense start, the grade became less steep and we were able to coast down slowly, taking in the scenery. I had a blast, cruising along in the sunshine with imposing mountains on either side, waterfalls cascading down, and some surprises along the way, like the herd of mountain goats chilling underneath a rocky overhang. (It did not smell great under there, let me tell you!) As we got closer to Flåm, there was also a surprise rain shower, which thankfully we were able to avoid by sheltering in one of the little train stations! After five or ten minutes of heavy rain, the sun came out again for the last part of our ride back into Flåm.
The Flåm valley
The next day we had a double-header of activities: hiking in the morning, and kayaking in the afternoon! Once again, we parked at the trail head the night before so we could set off first thing. The trail head is past the popular Stegastein viewpoint, which sits 650m above Aurlandsfjord. The road up is a precipitous, winding single-track road, which I was extremely apprehensive about going up in the van. Once again, Jacob demonstrated his excellent driving skills and we made it up with no issues (although a few close passes!). We skipped out on the viewpoint itself, as it was pretty crowded and we guessed (correctly) that we would get better views from the summit the next day. There were already a few other campers in the small lot, but there was still enough room for us to park. In addition to our human neighbours, we also had a herd of cattle wandering about from the nearby farm. They were very noisy (between the loud mooing and the cowbells around their necks) and also nosy - they enjoyed getting to know our van by licking the front!
Anyhow, we awoke on Monday morning at 6am to get an early start on the Mt Prest hike. With several other vans in the parking lot I was worried it might be busy on the trail, but we actually only saw one person on the summit, and another two who had camped out the night before on a lower plateau. So for the most part, we had the trail to ourselves! It was glorious, rising early and feeling the morning sun on my skin as we climbed. The sky was perfectly clear, and the fjord was so calm the reflection was like a mirror of the mountains on either side. The peace and beauty of that place, at that time of day, was incredible.
Some mountain goats we saw on our way up Prest
The hike itself was not too strenuous, although there were some steep sections and we definitely got a work out. There was one tricky ledge with some exposure, which we realized on our way back down was not actually part of the trail! It was obvious from above but easy to go the wrong way on the way up. In total we went 5.6km, with 580m of climbing.
Jacob taking in the view at Prest
Signing the logbook at the summit
After that amazing start to the day, we drove back down the winding road, past Flåm and on to Gudvangen, where we had booked a double kayak rental. After some initial annoyance with the rental company, who seemed pretty disorganized and ended up wasting 40 minutes of our rental time, we were on the fjord! Nærøyfjord is the other “leg” from Aurlandsfjord (where we were in the morning) - it looks like a pair of legs on the map. Once again, we were stunned by the beauty of the scenery. I kept saying to Jacob, “It looks fake!” The mountains loomed on either side of us, capped with snow, with numerous waterfalls cascading down the sides. The rippling dark waters of the fjord reflected the scene. We were in awe the entire time, and I was filled with gratitude that we were able to experience such natural beauty. When we looked back at the photos after we were done (taken with Jacob’s phone, the cheapest photo-taking device we had, just in case!), I was shocked to see how poorly they captured what we’d seen. We often think to ourselves, “The photos don’t do it justice!” after our adventures, but this was the most extreme case I can remember. Regardless, I’ve included some here so you have some idea of what it was like.
Setting off in our kayak on Nærøyfjord
The tiny village of Bakka, with Bakka kyrkje visible
Waterfalls cascading down to Nærøyfjord
As you can probably tell from the photos and my flowery language, Norway was incredible and we had an amazing time. It wasn’t how we planned it, but that’s the beauty of this trip and being in the van! I wish we could have stayed longer, but we had exciting plans with friends in Berlin, and then family in the Netherlands to get to. More on that in the next post!