We had a quick breakfast at the hotel amid a gaggle of excited youngsters. They were a big group on some kind of field trip and it looked like they were heading home.
We walked over to the train station, bought the tickets to Myrdal which included a ticket for the bikes. We rented 2 bikes from a nice guy (I could be nice in Norway for what they charge for everything), and since we had some time before the train went up the mountain, we rode down the fjord and walked the bikes 500m up the side to a farm that was really old and available to tour, get coffee and buy pancakes (they eat a lot of pancakes here). It used to be a multi-family (3), multi-generational farm and the last man held on up there until 1981 when he died of cancer. Imagine his children choosing between TV, cars, hot and cold running water and living up on this mountain with 60 some odd goats. A woman bought it after he died and has been slowly preserving it. She has been through only a few buildings (low budget operation). The house that the last man lived in has not been changed at all, as per his request so it should be more modern but it looked like he didn't go for anything new-fangled so everything was pretty old. He had a nice old radio from the 30's to liven up his evenings with Norwegian folk songs. There were 2 young women running the place. The one in charge, sort of in charge, was very quiet and shy and seemed like she had only given tours a few times and her English was so-so, but I had to smile as I quizzed her about growing up here, and learned that she was only 15. Very cute. The other woman was a college student from Finland who had never given the tour but was following the 15 year old around trying to learn what was what. I am guessing dad talked the younger one into helping out until they could get the summer student in. They did great. I like these small scale, low tech, sites. Thanks to the woman who is protecting this little peace of heaven. The barns had the standard posts tapered with flat disks carved so the mice could not climb into the barns to nibble the stores. The floors of some of the buildings had floor joists that hang below the walls. They use the crooked part of the tree as it goes out to the roots to make all kinds of interesting things. The churches did this too and I guess anything that is still working after 3000 years must be a good solution.
So back down the hill and back up the fjord to catch the famous train up the valley to Myrdal. A small herd of young guys in black jackets with red piping were riding shotgun on the tourists (that would be us). The tourist were in 2 rivers, one group from the big boat and one from the dozen or so buses. We joined the boat folks who seemed to be all Dutch and seemed like they would be more fun. They left Rotterdam a week ago and cruised all the way here. Mostly older folks, but having a great time. We sat with a trio of whom only the younger (a mere 70 or so) woman spoke much English. She was one of those people who enjoyed herself anywhere and dragged anyone she met into the fun. Very pleasant.
Speaking of old women, we kept seeing older women dressed in as much purple as they could dig out of their closets and all wearing red hats. There is some red hat society thing that people kept telling us had started in the US. Again as a demographic, these women were having fun and were not shy about it. Let's hear it for acting silly in public.
The train ride was great and the train climbed very steep tracks. I was expecting some kind of cog like setup but did not see any signs of anything but regular old tracks and wheels, so they must get enough traction somehow. I did see a box next to one of the tiny stations labelled "sand" which is a little un-nerving if you think about it. Gotta research that one.
Lots of tunnels going up and waterfall after waterfall. It takes an hour to get up, more if the train coming down is late (it was), and there are 8 or so stops at tiny stations that pickup and let off hikers and bikers. There is a road that also comes down the 20km from Myrdal, which many folks walk down all or part way. We, like others, planned to ride bikes down. We stopped for a 5 minute photo op at a huge waterfall that sprayed the crowd and the train due to the enormous amount of runoff right now. We saw pictures of the same waterfall and they were nothing like what is going on right now. This month of rain they have been having has to go somewhere..
At the top Deb bought some chocolate and we headed down the hill. We actually had to walk down the first few km of road because it is nothing more than a washed out road bed. They had tiny excavators (Kubota) parked here and there to rebuild the road. I keep seeing work sites in the middle of the week with nobody working at them, so not sure when anyone works here?
So the boulder strewn goat path (walk) turned to a steep gravel goat path (walk and ride) and we finally got down to where you could ride all the time (just plain old goat path).
We soon had to stop because lo and behold the trail was filled with sleeping goats (about 30). Two women have a milking goat farm right between the railroad and the road. So if you have 100s of tourists walking or biking by each day, you had better start selling cheese (and pancakes), and they did. They stay up here all summer pasturing and milking the goats and making chese, then head down the hill when the weather goes bad (and the tourists are all gone). From here down the road follows a roaring river of glacial clear blue/green water. The water is so clear you could read a newspaper on the bottom of the riverbed. We passed lots of locals and tourist picnicking beside the road. There are really no cars on these roads, so they must hike or bike in to picnic. One couple built a makeshift wood fire in the stone wall and were cooking something for their lunch (goat stew perhaps?). Now and again the train would go by (up or down) with pointing fingers and cameras hanging out the windows.
We stopped at the small church in Flam that the 15 year old told us to not miss and it was very old and cozy and looked like they had regular services (stacks of Norwegian hymnals). I think they leave these buildings alone so they remain the antiques that they are.
We turned the bikes back in careful not to disturb the rental guy from washing his Rolls, and decided a burger and beer sounded great, which they happen to serve at the train station. The tourists were all gone so it was pretty quiet. Nice end to another sunny day.
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