We arrived
safely around 6.30 in the evening to our camping place and I got to see the
“car tent” for the first time. It was a pleasant surprise. It was very easy to
mount, takes only 5 min to get it up, and you are far away from all the
humidity and bugs on the ground sleeping on the car’s roof. See below the
pictures of the tent. J’ had of course brought a bottle of sparkling wine to
cheer the start of the trip.
We started
the day in Oslo by re-arranging the car. J’s had rain in Germany when he packed
the car and also when he had to spend one extra night at a camping site (when
he missed the ferry). So he had no chance of putting everything in order. Then
I arrived with an additional 3 bags, so it became even more chaotic. But it was
just nice to spend the morning in the sun re-arranging the car. We found an
order we are hoping we can keep.
The
afternoon we spent in Museums. We checked out the Wiking ships, Kon-Tiki and RA
II and finally the Norwegian Maritime museum. It wasn’t my first choice of
museums (I would have rather visited the Munch museum), but we didn’t have the
time for everything and these museums were all close by each other. And J was
happy that he could see all the things he wanted.
When we
started our drive to Flåm and Näröyfjord we were expecting a long boring drive
on the E16, but my GPS kept nagging about that we should take the 7 and 50. We
decided to listen to her, since she has been right about a lot of other things
and we are both glad we did. What an amazing drive. We had a view the whole
time: lakes, rivers, high mountains – some even with snow. It was absolutely
amazing. We took it easy stopped and several times to look at the view.
Unfortunately we arrived too late to the camping site (we arrived 23.15) and
ended up spending the night next to a small road. But it was just nice. We had
fresh water from a stream nearby and everything else we needed we had in the
car. The advantage with camping in Scandinavia – you will find a place to camp
everywhere you are.
The next
morning we took it easy and left the place around lunch time. We went back to
the camping we had planned to stay at the previous night and decided the place was so
nice that we would like to stay there 2 additional nights (see below), which now means that
we are 3 days after our original plan. J Funny, first we started one day later due to the traffic jam in
Germany, and then we took it a little bit too easy out of Oslo, so we arrived
one day later to the camping site than planned and finally we enjoyed the place
so much so ended up staying 2 extra nights. But isn’t this what vacations is
all about? That you can change your plans as you go along? We of course have to
cut something else out of the original plan and that is up for discussion
later.
When I met
J in Oslo he told me that the original foldable kayak that he had bought was
destroyed (it was a used one), so he had bought a brand new one. It was the
display kayak from the store and unluckily they had NOT included the manual how
to mount it. So yesterday we spent the evening mounting the kayak. I’m happy
that we are both able to look at things and figure out how they work, so we
managed to put it together without the manual in 1,5 hour. We made some minor
mistakes on the first trial, but then we redid it, it all worked out just
nicely. So today we tried it out. It was a fantastic tour on the fiord, the sun
was shining with no clouds at all and the water was calm. I would have loved to
show you pictures of this, but my underwater camera (which I use in the kayak,
since it can take water) seems to have a quarrel with my computer. She refuses
to talk to her. So you just have to take my word for that it was a fantastic
trip. Now I’m waiting for the dinner J’s is preparing, drinking a beer and
blogging.
The first night in the tent.
The weather changed when we came closer to Oslo
Näröyfiord where we paddled
