June 1st

So we left our little base of 2 days in Eidfjord, a place I would recommend, well at least if you like sleepy villages draped with dramatic mountain and water scenery, motorbikes purring away ready for another day's adventure...

When does a bend never end? When are you always turning left on yourself, going around in circles but not retracing your steps. And all this in the dark. No, not a Norwegian riddle but the road east out of Eidfjord which has two long corkscrew tunnels. We didn't know this in advance and found the experience quite disorientating. Not sure how many rotations we did but I would guess around ten, almost dizzy at the end.

Having gained the best part of 1000m in altitude we were close to the snow line again, part of the Hardangervidda National Park. We stopped at what is supposedly Norway's most visited natural site the 150m high waterfall at Voringfossen. It was amusing to read the guidebook saying it had up to 42 coaches in the car park at one time, probably around 2000 folk. Well, dad and I, rode around the empty car park and stopped almost at the viewing platform's edge, only the park wardens, busy setting the new season's safety tape, for company.

Higher still and we were on the snow covered rolling plateaux which makes up Hardangervidda. The road running alongside the spectacular Bergen to Oslo railway. The whole area was scattered with wooden clad huts, the summer holiday retreats for Norwegians. I often wondered what Scotland would be like if we scattered such accommodation in the wilds. Would it be for good or bad? Despite lots of huts near the road, it was in this area a couple of years ago that two Scottish cross country skiers died in bad weather, which locals had told them not to go out in. Further along the road is one of Norway's largest ski centres at Geilo, though hardly large by French standards.

Loosing height more slowly we left the snow behind and enjoyed, our now daily ritual, of a coffee by a lake in a stunning setting.

Colin had recommended at trip called Norway in a Nutshell based out of Bergen which involves a trip on the Bergen-Oslo train, a bus ride, a fjord trip and a spectacular ride on the Flam (pronounced Flom) Banna railway). We had pretty much covered the other elements to decided to go on the little Flambanna ride. This is now purely for tourists but was originally built to take goods from the sea level at Flam right up to Myrdal at 900m to meet the Bergen-Oslo train line. It does this in such a short distance (20k) that it is the steepest non cog railway in the world. Watching the world go by as we climbed the steep valley, seeing Aurlandfjord drop way, was a pleasant break and soporific experience in the heat. Dad briefly dozing off despite or because of the clickity-clackity railway and the huge drops below. After an hour on the way up, and a 10 minute stop at Myrdal, we rejoined the train for the way down.

During the descent we spoke to Manda and made a change of plan. We had debated joining the ferry back home from Bergen on Tuesday or Thursday. It turned out I was wrong and the option was Monday or Thursday. Monday being the following day. I had been thinking we had already seen much of the spectacular scenery of Fjord and high mountain plateaux and more would be just pleasant, and somewhat expensive repetition, so was inclined towards the Tuesday ferry. Discussing this with dad he was of similar mind and we decided to head to the ferry in Bergen. Manda did a fantastic job of booking and confirming everything online, as we enjoyed a fish and chips tea in a deserted open-air railway carriage restaurant, surrounded by more fjordland scenery.

On the 100 mile dash to Bergen that night, via Voss, I was taken with how fantastic the now main road from Oslo to Bergen is, surely one of the most stunning roads linking two many cities in the world, as it passed through impossible valleys, snow-clad tops and vertiginous waterfalls.

Stopping to wait for dad to catch up I phoned ahead to book a hotel room and was surprised to find out that due to a big concert in Bergen that it was almost full. We may have got one of the last rooms in the whole city, in the Thon Bryggen Hotel. On the final run in to Bergen I thought that it would be Norway's most famous composer, Grieg, who's concert was filling the town. So you can imagine our surprise as we hit the city centre to see lots of fans dressing like they were going to a rock concert. We saw more and more folk in long hair and black t-shirts. Our surprise was compounded when, having located our hotel, to find that it was on one edge of the large park that was hosting the concert. The bass was thumping away with screaming guitars and vocals as we unpacked just laughing a bemused laugh to ourselves. The hotel receptionist informed us it was the ageing rock band Kiss that were playing. A band that I saw about 25 years ago, and they were not young then!

After showering and at around midnight the concert ended. Dad and I just hung out the windows of our 7th floor hotel room and watched the amusing antics of the drunken revellers pouring out through the narrow space between the hotel and the park entrance.

Once the majority had gone we enjoyed, a still light, midnight stroll along with the loud revellers, around Bryggen and the harbour. Both of us were still stunned at the contrast from this morning's sleepy and idyllic Eidfjord to this.

Ambling back we saw the huge ferry that tomorrow would take us home and mark the end of our fantastic road, rail and sea voyage. Quite an incredible trip for one that was heading to the Alps the day we left!

Pictures to follow