Final Fjords

For our last day in Norway we decided to do an all day road trip with the diesel sipping Fiesta. I love driving this car. It is small and fun to hammer (granted a tack hammer) down these skinny twisty roads. Mixing it up with the big Mercedes buses and Scania trucks is as close to my motorcycle as I am going to get this trip. Deb figured out a great loop that took us up over some mountains, along some nice hidden fjords not yet promoted to tourists (emphasis on yet), and a couple of ferry rides just to make sure we were doing our fair share for the Norwegian economy.

It was supposed to be beautiful today but the day started off overcast and a bit misty(remember Bergen is called the Norwegian rain forest). We took the same road out of Bergen then turned east and followed Rt 7 over hill and dale. Again, these Norwegians love to drill tunnels. They put them everywhere, and they put tunnels in places with very little population but where some of the best fjord viewing is (are you thinking what I am thinking, future tourist kroners..). I think they are using their oil money to develop their tourist trade. These tunnels are big enough for buses and big trucks so they deliver the ingredients for a successful tourist industry (tourists' plastic Norwegian moose (meese?) and soft ice cream). We also noticed that in these parts today, they are growing cherry trees all over the place. They sell them beside the road, but have enough to wholesale them somewhere. It must be the fact that down in the fjords, the temperature is moderated a bit by all the water. The big amusement ride today was ducking and dodging travel trailers, buses and trucks on the ever changing twisty roads with lane widths varying from 1 to 2 lanes. Nothing like cruising through a deep turn and discovering that the lane just went from 2 to 1 and a logging truck is headed right for you. By the end of the day I got used to slamming on the brakes, hugging the right shoulder until the mirrors just kissed the guardrail, and creeping by whoever was coming the other way. I didn't have to but a lot of folks had to back up. There were a lot of mirrors getting quickly folded back, especially on the travel trailers with those extra wide mirror extenders.

The bus drivers are amazing. I first witnessed this last week on the snow road (previous post), but today I saw buses go places I didn't think my little car would go. These guys are good. And the buses run to all these tiny little remote towns, not like home!!

At one spot we got stuck behind a half mile of cars, campers and trucks because a big truck did something at the entrance to a tunnel and blocked traffic both ways. We finally crawled past him but did not see the damage so not sure what happened there?

The ferries are very efficient and you no sooner shut your car off, than the thing is moving. The minute they hit the dock on the other side, the ramp drops and 3 lanes of cars jockey their way out. I got real low on diesel and had a tough time finding more until we almost got back to Bergen ($9.33 per gallon!). Fortunately, this thing is a miser and I averaged 57 mpg this last tank. Take that you Prius weenies!

So by the end of the day the sun was brilliant and we caught some dinner and walked along the harbor with wonderful late evening light (dark around 10pm). Street was full of people, harbor full of boats.

So tomorrow we fly to Copenhagen. I gotta pack.