So we stopped in Bergen for a couple of nights. And it rained the whole time.

 

So we decided to head indoors to the museums, most of which were pretty uninspiring, we found some Stave church bits, but most of the rest was very average and not worth the trouble.

 

Back out in the rain again… We were singing tho!

 

Museum again… Edward Munch (of Scream fame) exhibition – but only a draft of the picture.

 

Yep… out in the rain again.. singing!

 

Finally some Jumper shopping! Blimey those Norwegian prices are shocking!

 

What an end to our time in Bergen, Norway’s second city, still at least we got some jumpers as gifts.

As we left the church, the heavens opened up and it was now raining very heavily. When we got to the Ferry we realised it probably wasn’t going to be running so we’d have to go back on ourselves and all the way round the top of the lake to get us back on track towards Bergen.

 

On our way to Bergen in the pouring rain you’d think we would be happy to see a tunnel or two, but no, tunnels are very annoying and we went through the longest tunnel in the world apparently at 25km. This tunnel (and some others) have this occasional ‘blue light’ area which is the only things that keeps you awake! All in all we probably went through about 10-15 tunnels today.

 

Only in Norway would a little bloke be stuck up on a platform thing making sure the side of a mountain doesn’t come crashing down on the road below – in the pouring rain!
Just imagine being told you had to wait 22 mins before you could drive on – in London you’d get crucified!

 

But we made it to Bergen! Yippee!

 

So we left a wet Valdalen and headed towards our next location, the Urnes Stave Church. Just before we could get going another warning light in the car about Oil, so we stopped off near a garage (which was closed) and ended up buying oil in a local supermarket!

 

The rain was fairly persistent and so by the time we arrived at the port to take the ferry across it was already getting darker, so we decided to find a hotel and venture there next morning.

 

The hotel we stayed in was rather odd, no TV in the rooms and they were very expensive. People looking at you strangely as though we were somehow from another planet, not just English. However,  it was right next to the ferry! Next morning things were looking slightly brighter and we got across.

  

  

It was quite fantastic and we were extremely impressed with how they had managed to keep it preserved. And so onto Bergen…

 

We left Oppdal next morning and the weather was looking a bit grim…

Still we had about 100 miles to cover before we got to Kristiansund, which is the northernmost point we would be reaching on this trip. It also happens to be not too far from the famous Atlantic Road.
Although the weather was a bit overcast, it did begin to pick up just a bit.

 

There were stunning views all the way.

 

We stopped for a quick ‘team’ photo and a break.

 

Yep – we’d got to the Atlantic Road!

 

 

That last one is Kristiansund just as we went to bed, more Atlantic Road photos from the following day below. We now headed on to Trollstigen another wonder road up a mountain!

 

 

 

Bye bye wonderful road!

We left the lovely old Winter Olympic city early and headed up north towards Oppdal.
Definitely gloomier today, very overcast and a bit more chilly. We were certainly heading higher up too and after about an hour on the dual carriageway we started to ascend up the mountains.

 

This makes for much slower progress, as not only are you on smaller roads, but you just keep stopping every 5 minutes to look at the fantastic scenery!

We found a nice spot, parked up and got the beans on!

 

 

And so continued the beautiful scenery…

 

Time was flying now and so we decided we didn’t fancy getting stuck here in the middle of literally nowhere – so we headed towards Oppdal and here she is…

Whoops, no that is us jut enjoying a nice cool (non-alcoholic) beer. Here is Oppdal…

 

Good night!

Next morning we left the zoo – shame as it opened at 10am but we just had to make up for lost time.

Our first stop was to a site of the Vitlycke Museum and the world heritage site of Tanum which has some truly fantastic rock carvings.

 

Right next door is the museum which had some explanations for the rock carvings, as well as a nice Bronze Age farm!

 

And so we waved Sweden goodbye, even though we took a wrong turn looking for Burger King (other fast-food restaurants are available) and ended up going back into Sweden on a u-turn!
Maybe we just loved it too much.

Next stop… Oslo’s Viking Ship Museum! Real Viking Ships and items found with them. This place is pretty top of the list if you love ships (and boy does Shaun love ships!).

 
 

Oslo is pretty demanding in the driving stakes, we got held up by a man and his son urban skiing!
So as we slowly made our way out of the city (through tunnel after tunnel – more on tunnels later oh yes those Norwegians do love a good tunnel or three!) we had to find a good spot heading north towards Kristiansund and the famous Atlantic Road.   So we picked Lillehammer, the old 1994 Winter Olympic City.

 

Lovely hotel in Nyborg… Beautiful morning.

 

And so we went on to visit the Museet ved Trelleborg another great Danish Viking exhibit with the mounds of a fort and a re-created long house.

 

Had a spot of Danish cuisine before heading to Roskilde for their famous Viking ship ride.

 

Then we headed towards Helsingor to cross over to Helsingborg in Sweden, once arrived we drove north until we came across First Camp Lerbeget and began to set up tents for the night.

 

Dusk set in…

 

… and it was bloody freezing! So sod that camping lark, I woke up Shaun (in the car as had already decided it was too cold to be in a tent!), and I fumbled around on the phone a bit until I found a place not far and called them up.    Luckily the lovely lady was still awake (it was about 11:30pm) and her place would be available for us, so we booked a couple of nights just so we could re-evaluate the camping!

 

When we got to the place, we realised we had been very lucky, an entire house to ourselves for 2 days!   A huge thank you to Susanne for being such a great host.

 

Just as we left the Ribe Viking Center and headed East towards Jelling, we spotted this beauty just sitting on a lake as you do!

Anyway, on to Jelling where we are visiting the Kongernes Jelling Museum, one of the National Museum of Denmark sites which has had a good injection of funding and it shows. Together with well guided leadership this museum is a great example of how you can tell a story and keep everyone engaged without having to read pages and pages of text.

 

 

 

Jelling also has the famous stones…

The Jelling stones stand in the churchyard of Jelling church between two large mounds. The stones represent the transitional period between the indigenous Norse paganism and the process of Christianization in Denmark.

So on we went to stay in Nyborg for the night!