Norway 2007: The Fjords - north of Sognefjord
Saturday 16th June: Øysand - Sunndalsøra (168 km)
The country life can be appealing. City dwellers will sometimes dream of moving to the country, but it is usually just that - a dream. Increasingly, all around the world people are moving in the other direction, from the country to the cities. Compared with other countries, Norway still has many people living outside the main urban centres. To some extent this is through government efforts to provide employment in rural areas.
At Sunndalsøra there is a large Aluminium smelter. It is not visible in our photo, but it is at the base of the mountain at the end of the fjord.
In Norway it probably doesn't matter whether you live in the city or the country. There are only 4.5 million people, so there is plenty of space for everyone. And as far as we can tell, almost every house has a great view.
Heading southeast on route 70 along Sunndalsfjorden
Cooking the evening meal at the campground in Sunndalssøra
Karen's diary:
When we began our journey at Nordkapp our aim was simply to ride back to Oslo if we had enough time. Due to the fine weather conditions we have made very good progress and now we realise that we have enough time to visit the fjords before we go home. We have decided to ride southwest to Sunndalsøra and then to Åndalsnes to gain access to some of the most famous tourist roads.
It was a fine, sunny day. We had an easy start on the coast road to Orkanger (most of the traffic goes on the new bypass). Orkanger is a big industrial place with a large shopping centre but it is almost deserted at 8.00am on a Saturday morning. Route 65 took us southwest on a pretty, quiet road. We had an easy climb up a very long valley. There was farmland on the valley floor and steep, wooded hills above. Flowers were everywhere, mainly buttercups and lupins. We had a strong tailwind and made very fast progress; it was great fun to charge along in top gear with almost no effort. After stocking up with more food at Surnadal (shops are closed on Sundays so we have to buy plenty on Saturdays) we climbed over a small range and down to Kvanne to catch a ferry to Rokkum.
All of a sudden the hills and peaks above were taller, steeper and capped with snow. We were in the fjords! Another climb and down we went to Sunndalsøra, a magnificent sight. The town is nestled in the confluence of two rivers, each with its own breathtaking gorge. It was very busy - there is a culture and music festival this week and there are people everywhere. We looked in vain for a campground up one of the valleys but couldn't find it, so we backtracked all the way to the other valley, where we found a campground at last. It was turning into a long day. All the huts are full so we are using the tent and have a lovely campsite on a green lawn ringed by snow-capped mountains. I could hear several men in the showers, singing folk songs in harmony. They were all going to the festival, but not us - we needed our sleep.