Our petite grass roofed cabin is delightfully placed on the top of a hill overlooking a fjiord with views also to distant snow topped Mtns - not bad at all to take in when starting or ending your day.
12 kms from Stryn our daily drive involves taking on a narrow road back to the main Stryn road. The stunning views of the Fjiord are offset by having to be on the watch for the speeding manic local who often appears from nowhere !
If that wasn't enough we have two short tunnels to pass through. One in particular is rock hewn and dimly lit, about the size of a passageway with just enough room for 1 car going through on 2 wheels although it does come with a small passing bay in the middle no doubt for those needing an urgent toilet break !
We were set for another perfect day in paradise ! With H having a much better nights sleep and now able to lock the front door, we jumped into the car and headed for the famed Trolligsten Road.
En route we could tell we where getting close to some form of scenery near Hellesylt when we were passed by 25 tour buses in short succession ! Sure enough a climbing tunnel took us on to a lookout with superb views of the Gerainger Fjiord and the Hellesylt ferry terminal. Amazingly yesterday we were looking to this point from our boat on the Gerainger Fjiord !
Arrival at Stranda saw us pull up to our ferry within 1 minute of its departure the third consecutive time we'd done this in Norway !
Off the ferry at Liabygda we took a quick lunch at the side of the road courtesy of our cabin master chef "KH" !
While the sandwiches were good they sure as hell didn't help our navigation as we were soon lost taking a steep narrow Fjiord road direct to a farms front door !
While backtracking with our GPS now switched back on, i told H to be on the lookout for any Tsunamis as the tragic history of this area included the loss of 40 lives when a huge chunk of the surrounding mountainside fell into the fjiord creating a 60 metre tidal wave that struck the village of Tafjord. Thankfully H kept his usually noisy rear end silent until we'd left the fjiord !
Back on the right track we climbed inland through beautiful scenery reminiscent of the rugged areas of Scotland before finally making our way to the tourist centre at the top of the Trolligsten Road !
The road built in 1916 might be short in numbers of switchbacks (only 11) but makes up for it in terms of breathtaking scenery with views down the valley towards Andalneses coming of course with the obligatory Norwegian waterfall in close proximity.
Having taken numerous photos we drove the Trolligsten in both directions pausing on the way back 1/2 way up near a waterfall to congratulate one cyclist in particular for her great effort in making it up the steep climb !
It was hard for me to come up with a response when she replied that she was in fact using an electric bike but H did although his few softly spoken words are unprintable !
With self taking control we drive back to Eidsdal amazingly going 4 for 4 with our ferry once again just departing.
From here we climbed once more to finally descend by way of switchbacks on the aptly named Eagles Road into Gerainger Fjiord.
Not as spectacular as it was yesterday (because the setting sun provided shadows over the Fjiord) it was still beautiful - this time with 3 cruise ships sitting in the harbour including the MSC Stupenda.
After a relaxing break at the waterfront it was back the same way to Stryn that we'd gone the day before dodging buses on very narrow roads as we climbed out of one incredibly steep valley into another !
Numerous scary tunnels later and with H back in control we arrived back at Stryn stacked up on supplies and headed back to our lovely cabin by way of "our" tunnels.
While i thought my dinner was pretty basic - oven cooked pizza, H showed his versatile cooking skills as well as his economic eating style heating packet soup in a saucepan, throwing in some pasta and then eating it out of with just a single spoon !
Master Chef material indeed !
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