Jostedalsbreen - Briksdalsbreen

Another glacier tongue of the Jostedalsbreen is the Briksdalsbreen which is located in the Oldedal. Actually, there are twin glacier tongues in the valley - Melkevollbreen and Briksdalsbreen and the road is supposed to be quite panoramic. However when we were there, we had either rain or heavy clouds. In summer, the Briksdalsbreen is very touristic with busses driving up there and horse carriages or some kind of motorized vehicles bring the people to the glacier where they can go by boat to the ice (horrible!). Luckily, it was not the tourist season, so we met only one group of Japanese (go figure!) who took pictures of us walking in the rain (no comment). Ah, forgot to mention that there is a waterfall going down the valley and that the path is about 5 km both ways - so if you are not even willing to walk this do Norway a favor and don't plan a vacation there.

Jostedalsbreen - Kjenndalsbreen

Jostedalsbeen is with 487 square km the biggest ice cover on the European mainland. At places the glacier is up to 400 m thick. Kjenndalsbreen is one of the less frequented glacier tongues. It about 17 km away from the village Loen at the Nordfjord. The valley leading to the glacies tongue is very picturesque with the glacier lake Lovatnet.

Fjords

This is just a collection of Fjord pictures from the beginning of Geiranger Fjord (we didn't make it to the village of Geiranger itself because some roads were still closed) to the Nordfjord close to Stryn. The day was quite rainy but the few moments of sun were used for some pictures.

Trollkirka

The Trollkirka is also close to Bud. These are three connected grottos which the water created while finding itself a way through the marble. One of the grottos has a 14m high waterfall. Unfortunately, the place is not as easy to reach since the hike is very steep. On an information board at the bottom, they say that is can be done in 1 1/2 hours but one should take at least an hour more. At some spot, there was only water running down the mountain and we couldn't spot the trail anymore (no markings) so we lost a lot of time looking for the trail again.
However, the hike is really worth it - it is a special experience and one has a fantastic few. Needed are good hiking boots (preferably also water proof), flash lights and warmer clothes (or rain jacket) for the grottos.

At the beginning of the hike:



Up it goes:



The waterfall:





View from the top:



And the other direction:



The second grotto:



And the way down there.

The Aslakstein near Bud

The Aslakstein is a refuge castle dating back to prehistoric times. Since there is only one way to access the top, it was easier to defend. Archeologists found human activity in the early stoneage, around the year 0, during the times of tribe migration and then during the Viking times. The path up there is quite steep and it had rained before so it was quite slippery - not a very pleasant condition. On the top, there are still a few water holes to be seen - otherwise mother nature took back what belongs to her ;)



View from almost the top on the other peak of the mountain, the flatlands around and the ocean:



Lichen on the trees - makes the forest look enchanted ;)



View of the mountains on the other side - the last sunrays on the fresh snowy top.



Funny moss:



The sun didn't want to come to us - it liked it more on the ocean ;)



And another impression of the forest:

Kristinasund - Bud via Atlanterhavsveien

The island Averøya and Vevang are connected by 8 bridges over 17 small islands. This road is called Atlanterhavsveien. In order to reach Averøya from Kristiansund one has to take a ferry but there is a tunnel already in construction. The numerous ferries over short arms of the fjords and to islands are not really cheap and one has to plan much more time for a certain distance because reaching the ferry exacly in time is not that easy. Anyway, the ferries are a good way to see the fjords from another perspective without taking a stupid turist cruise ship ;)













Close to a small village called Sandvika there is also a quite beautiful beach:





Eggs of the oystercatcher - we almost stepped over them:



Some grave mounts just next to the road:





And an extremely curious gull:

Tingvoll rock drawings

Although not mentioned in any bigger guide about Norway, there are numerous rock drawing in the ares of Tingvoll dating back to the stone age. These are not like the rock carving in Tanum(Sweden) or Alta. In order to produce the figures the rock was scratched many times so that the iron in the rock got oxidized and the resulting red color was preserved until today. The drawings are not easy to find but the area is beautiful anyway. We saw the fish and the reindeer/moose drawings. There are more drawings in the area but not accessible for the public so that they are not destroyed.

Mountain collection from Røros to Tingvoll

I think the pictures speak for themselves ;)