Geiranger, the UNSECO protected, waterfall adorned, cruise ship visited fjord was calling.
We left the lovely island of Sandsøyaon a still morning, and motored into the Storfjorden, and onward towards Geiranger Fjord. An overnight stop at Ikornnes promised hot tubs and cafes, but delivered neither. The mad Australians were on the first cruising boat of the year and the soon-to-become-familiar older chap appeared and moved a water hose onto the dock and checked there was still power available for us. Hot tubs and cafes would remain a luxury to look forward to in the much anticipated ‘season’.
The next day we motored into a crisp windless morning, that became a troll breathing howling head wind and promptly returned to a windless meander. We noted that Stranda was the last real supply center before entering Geiranger. We made a slow pass of the dock and Fi took a giant leap for the Away crew onto the dock and completed a quick restock before we started the final leg into Geiranger.
After motoring all day, with one failed attempt at sailing, we arrived in Geiranger in the evening. Marveling at the massive cruise ship buoys, we were hoping, given how close they were to the dock, that the ships wouldn’t be visiting anytime soon.
With perfect weather in Geiranger, we decided to stay for a few days, and enjoy the local hikes.
First activity was a hike to a waterfall where you can walk behind the falling water, after ascending the steps built by Sherpas from Nepal. We found out that a lot of steps had been placed in Norway by Sherpas with their amazing ability to traverse heights, and carry incredibly heavy things. Being employed in Norway provides the Sherpas with a much higher income than in Nepal, and Norway get safer hikes for their tourists. Win, win. So up the stairs we climb, until we inevitably arrive at the snow line.
The waterfall, much like the waterfall in Flam, didn’t have a lot of water falling this time of year, so we sat and enjoyed some snacks, and made the trek back down. Oh and back to the little cafe with the yummy pizzas and soup.
After a day of relaxing, cleaning and doing boat jobs, we decided to tackle another of the famous hikes in the area. It involved us getting in the dingy with the big engine on, and blurting around the corner of the fjord to a small dock cut into the rock. From here it was a basically vertical hike up to the farm perched on the side of the fjord called Skageflå. Its a beautiful farm, and used to be the most profitable in the area. Now it has been restored to reflect its hey day.
Navigating down carefully with Bernie, we get back to our dingy and check out this waterfall of course.
We’d heard from one of our followers that we should be careful of the rock falls around Geiranger. Upon further investigation, we discovered that the worlds most monitored mountain face is in the fjord, as it is threatening to collapse, fall into the fjord and create a devasting 80m tsunami that would obliterate the local towns, including Geiranger where we were ‘safely’ tied up. This last happened in 1934 when a rock fall caused a 60m high wave that killed 40 people. So naturally, we decided to watch the Norwegian disaster movie called “The Wave” that dramatised a future rock fall event, just to freak ourselves out.
The next day, we chose to leave the fjord, and went past the threatening mountain face of Åkerneset and marveled at the number of monitoring stations on the side.
Our overnight stop, Stordal, famous for its furniture industry was closed in preparation for the forthcoming Easter break. Google claimed the residents were all at their ski lodges reading mystery novels, so after a quiet evening we headed on to Ålesund.
Arriving in Ålesund in the evening, after the odd sleet storm, we were excited to explore this beautiful city.
The place was burned down in the early 1900s and has been rebuilt in Art Deco style and it shows. Its a lovely town and we enjoyed a walk up the local hill with two million people from a couple of cruise ships in port to get some spectacular views across the sea.
We met the amazing team from “In The Same Boat”, a wonderful organisation that clears rubbish from the coast line of Norway (https://www.inthesameboat.eco/). You can volunteer on their sailboats and help to clear the worlds oceans of plastic. We were inspired, and at our first stop out of Ålesund we picked up a bunch of plastic, and notified them of the littered beach so they can go there with their team and do a more thorough job than we had time to do.
Our last night in Ålesund, we went out for a lovely dinner at one of the local hotels and watched the snow dump down from the roof top restaurant, and then clear to reveal the beautiful coast.
Next time we start the push north towards Bodø, the arctic, and our new crew member.