Voss, Norway

Friday 10th September 1999

We were looking forward today to what we hoped would be one of the highlights of Scandinavia, a trip around the arms of the Sognefjorden via train, ferry, and bus. The first segment was on a local train from Voss to Myrdal. As the train arrived from Bergen we could see that throngs of other travellers were making the same journey. After almost a month away from the crowds it was strange to see them again.

After an hours journey along the valley to Myrdal, stopping at all the small stations, we arrived at the start of the real journey, the 20km line down to the small village of Flåm. With a descent of almost a kilometre it's the steepest conventional railway in the world. The trip was quite spectacular with rushing waterfalls, tall mountains, the lush valley with small villages below and the constant engineering wonder of the railway.

We reached the bottom with a couple of hours to spare before we'd catch the ferry for the next part of the trip. We decided to treat ourselves and headed in to the restaurant of the local hotel and all ordered salmon for lunch. Not quite up to the standard of our grilled salmon in the arctic but pretty good nevertheless.

Satiated by the meal we headed down to the ferry wharf. We had a two hour trip ahead of us along a couple of arms of the Sognefjorden, including the spectacular Nærøyfjord, the narrowest in Norway. The boat was packed with sightseers but the trip was marvellous, with the huge mountainsides always looming high above us and the occasional tiny village clinging to the shore, often with no outside connection other than by water.

At the end of the ferry trip we began the next part of the journey, a bus ride back to Voss. Normally not something that sounds very exciting but they decided to take us up one of the steepest and twistiest roads I have ever seen. With an average gradient of 18° it's the steepest in Norway and the hairpin turns are so tight as to run into one another. After we reached the top the passengers applauded the driver for his skill. It was a remarkable trip.

The rest of the journey back to Voss was comparatively calm and we returned to the van quite exhausted by the long day. We travelled just a short distance down the road to a marvellous spot by the nearby lake. The end of an excellent day.