Finding our way to Flam

 Friday, August 28, 2026

The king of Norway, Harald V, died this morning at age 89.  He has been in the hospital the past week, and our guide yesterday said they were expecting him to recover, so when we heard the news this morning, it was a bit of a surprise. All of the flags are at half mast.

We are headed to the city of Flam (pronounced Floum).  The a is one of those special characters with a circle above.  I haven't figured out how to type it on the computer.   Å. 

Yesterday I mentioned the unbelievable number of tunnels we went through--well today we went through 38 tunnels...no kidding!  

It was fun to see what would pop out at the end!

I kept track of the tunnel distances--it totaled 47.85 km. Almost half of our 119 km trip today was through tunnels! But that didn't keep the stunning scenery away.

Along the route, we stopped at the Dale Factory (pronounced Dahl-Eh) for a tour.  This is the company that knits all of the cool outfits for the Norwegian teams in the world ski championships and Olympics!  What a fun place to visit.  And guess what...you can buy sweaters too!

The "museum room" shows sweaters from over the years, including the actual sweater worn by the last Norwegian female to win a gold medal in the ski jump.

The Company was founded in 1879 as a sheep farm, making and spinning their own yarn. 

Everything was hand-knit until 1967 when machine knitting began.  In the mid-80's computers were introduced, and now much of the work is automated. 

It takes anywhere from 20 - 40 minutes to generate the pieces for one sweater!  

All of the sweater pieces are produced in the factory that we visited, but many of the pieces are bundled and shipped to Poland where assembly is completed.  (Labor costs are more affordable.)

Each piece is ironed to make it easier to work with in assembly.

 The assembly area uses special machines to piece the sweater together.  It is detailed work to ensure that the stitching perfectly matches at the seams.  Watching this guy work made you realize why these sweaters cost so much!

Dale had planned to announce the new line for the season this weekend, but delayed due to the death of the king.

What a unique and fascinating tour.  And, yes, I bought a sweater!

On the way to Flam we stopped by the Tvinde waterfall, but this one wasn't quite as impressive as the last.  They say the falls are best with the spring thaw when the water rushes down from the mountain snow melt.

When we finally got to the Flam Campground, our luck with the weather wore out, and it began to rain, just in time for our trip on the historic Flamsbana railroad.

But the rain didn't dampen our spirits or the experience.  This railroad was built in 1923-40.  It is one of the steepest railway lines, and quite an engineering feat.  There are about 20 tunnels and most were dug by hand.

The views were still spectacular!  The camera just can't capture what the eye can see.  It is truly nature's majesty!

One of my favorites is the Rallar Road--a cycle route.  Imagine taking your bike on this winding road down the mountain!  And what a fantastic view.

I'd love to talk to some of the folks that live here to find out what life is like as a local.  The houses and farms are so remote, but look very peaceful.

More exploring tomorrow!

Bustling around in Bergen

 Thursday, August 27, 2026

Bergen is a bustling seaport on the west coast of Norway.  It has already celebrated it's 900 year anniversary!  Hard to imagine, when our country is just celebrating 250 years!  

Bergen is well known for its wooden buildings along the harbor which served as a trade center.

The area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its historical significance. There is quite a history of a self-contained German merchant community.

There are narrow walkways and houses very close together. 

Our guide said that Bergen is at the same latitude as Anchorage Alaska, but the Gulf Stream keeps the temperatures moderate--they get only a few snows each year.  He also said Bergen gets twice as much rain as Seattle, but we enjoyed a beautiful sunny day exploring the city.

A couple in our group named Sorensen found this spot.

...And Jim found a spot he could relate to. 

A touching area we visited was the St. Jergens (St. Georges) leprosy hospital area. In the 1700's, to fight the spread of the disease, people were quarantined in this hospital which could hold 150 people, although thousands were infected.  Eventually a Norwegian physician discovered the bacteria that caused the disease which led to effective treatment. It's hard to imagine what life was like.

A funicular (cable car) to the top of the mountain was built in 1919--we felt pretty brave getting on!

 (found out it has been through many restorations, the latest in 2022--whew!) 

 At the top, there were spectacular views of the harbor and the city.

Also found out the idea for the funicular came from John Lund in 1895!  (Another long lost relative?) Here's a view from inside the carriage on the way down. 

Trolls are a part of Norwegian folklore.  We hiked through the troll forest at the top of the mountain.  The path was made of tree roots, and troll figures carved from wood were found throughout the trail.

The fish market at the harbor had a little bit of everything.  Jim bought some reindeer sausage!

And we finally found a Starbucks mug for our collection!

Saw this small sweet painting on the side of a building.  14,000 steps today!

Barbeque in Bergen

 Wednesday, August 26, 2026

It was another crisp morning off on a new adventure.  Today took us from Rodal to Bergen with a ferry ride in between. The countryside is just gorgeous here--stunning views everywhere.

 The beauty of travelling in a camper is to experience the "feel" of the area, and today we really got to feel it!  The roads here are in excellent condition--very smooth and no potholes; however they are not very straight and not very wide!  Check out the GPS as we travelled through a tunnel in one section of our route!

Something new we saw today was an avalanche gallery.  This is where there has been a rockslide and they build a structure to protecting the road and cars from further damage.

We thought yesterday we had a lot, but today I kept track of the number of tunnels and we travelled through 26!  Each tunnel has a name, height marker and distance. 

I wish I had kept track of the distance of those tunnels--one was 10km and one was 11km.  On the long ones there are signs to tell you how far you've gone, and how far you have to go.  It was hard to get a pic because it was so dark, but you get the idea....and it's always nice to see light at the end of the tunnel

It's hard to imagine how long it took to build these tunnels, or how long it would take to drive to different places without these tunnels.  Norway seems to have figured out how to do it.

Where there is not a tunnel, there's a ferry to help shorten the distance.  The "small" ferry held a couple of semis about 8 rv's and several cars.  It was only about a 15-20 minute ride and you have the option to stay in the vehicle.

Another new term we learned is "fossen" or waterfall.   They were everywhere around us as we drove through and around the mountains.  We saw these from the camper as we drove by.

One fabulous fossen is the Steinsdalsfossen which you can see from the road, but we stopped and walked to it to get a better view.  You could even walk behind it!

I'm ready to make postcards or jigsaw puzzle pictures from some of the views.

We finally made it to our campground, Bratland Camping in Bergen, and had a group barbeque to enjoy the evening.