Start of week 3. Roldal to Bergen

Roldal is a nice wee village at the end of a lake and hemmed in by mountains. Its about 380meters above sea level and this was probably our coldest night so far. Not that bad bit we did have a heater on in the evening before bed. We were up and breakfasted and took a wander over to have a look at the Roldal Stave church (stavkirke). Named after its construction method, its load bearing pine posts were called stafre in Old Norse, Stav in modern Norwegian.. Its a lovely looking wooden structure and it was a real disappointment to find it closed so we didn't get a look inside. Roldal is a place that looks like it deserves a bit more exploration, its such a pity there are no direct links from the UK to Norway.

After a quick shop for a few supplies were back on the road, passed the closed Roldal ski centre-given the amount of snow up there it would definitely be open for a while yet if it was in Scotland,  and over a pass heading down towards Skare, or should that be scare- I had to stop the van and check the coolant level as during the run downhill the temperature gauge had been doing a strange thing, normally it sits at half way but on this occasion it had been dropping quite significantly. We had the heater on full blast for the first time as it was cold and I'm not sure if it was something to do with this. I had a coolant pipe replaced before we came away and I wonder if there's a bit air in the heater matrix, or if the thermostat is maybe faulty. The coolant level appears to be perfect and after the heater was turned down normal service seems to have been resumed but then again the main decent was over. The situation will be monitored closely. We need to drive a bit differently here, the engine is working hard on the uphills but she plugs away quite happily at that, however on the big decent's the brakes get cooked if you try to just brake, so you have to use engine braking much more than I have ever done before. The hills are so steep that even in 2nd gear down hill the van still speeds up and it sounds horrendous hearing the revs rising until you feel compelled to help and brake some more before the looming hairpin bends. The brakes still get mega hot and the smell is enough to make you pull over and let them cool a bit.











Anyway, after Skare we stopped at the impressive Latefoss. Logan needs his waterfall addiction satisfied and this one lasted him for a few hours. We carried on down the narrow but unfortunately busy road towards and along Sorfjord one of the branches of the Hardangerfjord, its a lovely road not too dissimilar to driving along the side of one of the bigger Italian lakes and with the sun out picnic time was pleasantly warm.

We deliberated about what to do afterwards, should we head west towards Bergen or head east towards Eidfjord and the Hardangervidda, these are the questions that raise themselves after a study at the map and there just isn't enough time to see it all. So after a recommendation to visit Bergen (and its not that we didn't want to) we turned left at the cool as f@*k roundabout inside a mountain and headed over the big bridge, through the tunnel and on towards Bergen, only one problem we had forgotten to turn left onto the road we wanted. The error was soon realised, a handbrake turn performed and soon we were on the right track once again. The no7 road was supposed to be good, and it was but nothing spectacular. Maybe I miss a bit with always being the driver. We passed a couple of large fosses and negotiated some narrow bit of roads and had a stop at the Steinsdalsfossen just west of Oystese. Its cool and just a 5 minute walk up and behind it the main fall.

We had covered a fair distance, the boys have done well and it was time to find somewhere to park for the night, and free would have been good. We were defending towards Bergen and passed a nice spot at the bottom of a waterfall but I had a queue of traffic behind me and was passed the bit before we knew about it. So we checked our app for the next spot and headed there and it was no good.......after a lot of humming and hawing and deciding we would just head to Bergen and find a campsite and that's been a mistake. this is the most expensive night yet by far. We could have and should have parked for free, but no, we have just shelled out 375NOK for the night!!! However, we are in Bergen a day earlier than I thought we would be, it might be whistle stop tour tomorrow and head on a bit, or find somewhere better or cheaper and stay a 2nd night, we shall see. We aren't even that close to town and the rains on this evening. Its all good however, the boys got a well deserved play on the swing park and were happy and tired at bedtime. A bottle of Highland Park has been opened as this is the start of week 3.