Shy Mountains in Åndalsnes, Norway

Yesterday was a sea day which was great for those of us still adjusting to jet lag. After minimal sleep on, the plane, and interrupted sleep in Rotterdam, it was a delight to have two good nights of sleep on the ship before being a tourist again. A fine way to begin Canada Day with many Canadian friends (and of few of us impostors). 

Unlike most ports, we arrived in Åndalsnes after breakfast. This meant we got to enjoy the foggy and rainy trip in a fjord. Gorgeous mountains that drop almost vertically into the water, with countless waterfalls along the way. So many shades of green — most of the mountains appear to be coniferous forests, though any horizontal place is most likely a house and a field or perhaps a small village, and the excessively vertical spots are either bare rock or waterfalls. There were occasional snow or ice patches that could have been glaciers. And lots of clouds and fog. Alas, the rain made picture-taking difficult. But I was able to take a nice picture of the two men on the dock waiting for the people in the boat to deliver the ropes to be able to tie up the ship. 

After disembarking into the rain in Åndalsnes we took a walk (ok, guilty as charged, we intrepid cachers do what we do best, even in the rain and found a few caches) before getting onto the “Golden Train.” Along the way we found a troll that we commemorated in a picture which I’m not attaching because I didn’t confirm that I have permission from the other person in the picture.

Our train traveled for an hour or so along a jade-colored river to the stop of Bjorli which is apparently 574.65 meters above sea level. I know this because we took many pictures of various people posing by the sign with the altitude. The rail was an engineering marvel that includes two rather long tunnels, each including a switchback. Seems the railroad was very strategic during WWII when the Nazis invaded Norway and wanted to steal the gold that had been mined, but the locals were able to transport “the heavy baggage” to safety by rail. We saw a few sheep, cows, and horses, though most of the farms seemed to consist of vibrant kelly green fields. 

Along the route we saw more waterfalls, some beautiful wildflowers, lots of conifers, some red-trunked trees, and a few homes and villages. One village seemed to be rather long but appeared to have only a single street. Several homes had ladders attached to the roofs near the chimneys. Lots had the flat tiles with rounded bottom ends that seem common in Scandinavia. 

At home we will comment on sunny days that “the mountains are out.” Today, because of the low clouds, we were informed that “the mountains are shy.” We also learned that the clouds mean that the trolls were cooking food. 

After returning to Åndalsnes we took rode a gondola up one of the nearby mountains for what would have been spectacular views on a clear day. But all was not lost — first, we found the cache. Then some of us ventured a bit higher on terrain that wasn’t quite level but had a lot in common with tidepooling (never mind that it was granite and not the rocks we find at the coast). We saw faint views of the town and water below, a small to medium sized bird called a meadow pipit, hardy plants and lots of lichens. I’m familiar with a variety of colors of lichen: green, yellow, brown, black, white and gray…but today also saw orange and red lichens which were beautiful in their own way. And plants that reminded me of tundra: Swedish Cornel (its flowers are maybe an inch wide (2.5cm) and have four almost round white petals with black stripes, black seeds in the middle), Black Crowberry which look almost succulent-like, and short conifer-looking plants that an app identified as Dwarf Birch. We also noticed quartz and granite in the rocks, and spotted a very orange piece of granite. Such a great place to explore geology, botany, ornithology, and mycology! 

The view we didn’t see and the top of the gondola: 

The view we only sort of saw: 

Fascinating lichens and plants on top of the gondola: 

We continued walking (ahem) for awhile before returning to the ship for dinner, a Canada Day group photo, and more picture-taking as the clouds finally cleared about 8pm. Leaving the fjord was amazing and it was fun to take pictures of the amazing views and just a couple of the countless waterfalls we saw. 

It’s now about 11 which means sunset is half an hour away (sunrise is about 4 hours after that). Yes, there will be a few days later in the trip without sunrise or sunset.