World Norway Hordaland Bergen

Peter and Vicki's Travel Page 2010 Heading north - Scandinavia & the Baltics

Oslo to Bergen 5 Jun 2010

Movie Clips - Playback Requirements - Problems?

Big day today. First up is a train west to Myrdal. This is part of the Bergen Railway. It is Northern Europe's highest stretch of railway, roughly 100 km of which runs through wild mountain terrain. One of the railway’s greatest challenges is the harsh and changeable weather. The Bergen Railway line is exposed to deep low-pressure centres from the west, which can mean strong winds and heavy snow for part of the year. The line crosses both the Langfjellene mountains and the Hardangervidda mountain plateau and was voted one of the 20 best railway experiences in the world. The highest station is at 1,222meters and there was still snow beside the track in places. At Myrdal we changed to the Flam Train. The Flåm Railway is one of the world’s steepest railway lines on normal gauge. It is only 20 kms long but the views are fantastic. It took 20 years to build and goes through 20 tunnels, 18 of which were dug by hand. The train journey provides some of Norway's wildest and most magnificent scenery. On the 20 km-long train ride, you can see rivers that cut through deep ravines, waterfalls cascading down the side of steep, snow-capped mountains and mountain farms clinging dizzily to sheer slopes. The train makes a photo stop at the Kjosfossen waterfall which are quite spectacular. Flam itself is a small town with a population of around 400. From Flam we took a boat that travelled down two spectacular fjords. The Aurlandsfjord is a 17 kilometer arm of the world’s second longest fjord, the Sognefjord. The surrounding mountains reach heights of over 1,400 metres and there are small villages perched beside the water. We then turned into the Nærøyfjord which is one of the narrowest fjords in Europe, only 250 meters wide at the narrowest and more than one km at the widest. This arm of the Sognefjord is amazingly beautiful. After the stunning boat ride it was time to catch a bus. Might sound a bit boring but this was no ordinary bus ride. Stalheimskleiva is the name of the 1.5kmlong stretch of road that winds its way up the mountainside from the end of the Nærøydalen valley to the top at Stalheim. The steepest gradient is 1 to 5, or 20 per cent, which makes Stalheimskleiva one of the steepest stretches of road in Northern Europe. On its way to the top, the road winds its way up 13 sharp hairpin bends. The road runs up a ridge between two cascading waterfalls that can both be seen from the road. The Sivlefossen waterfall, which has a fall of about 140 metres. and the Stalheimsfossen waterfall with a fall of 126 metres. The Stalheimskleiva road was built by manual labour between 1842 and 1846 in order to improve the post road between Oslo and Bergen. Originally this was a two way road but is now one way as an alternate route has been built through the mountain. The road is only open from May to September. After the bus we caught the train to Bergen arriving in full sunshine at 8:40pm. It had been a great day. As we walked to our hotel we passed a large free concert in the park. Apparently the Bergen Music festival which runs for a couple of weeks is on.

Advertisement