Plans, forget them!!

Gaular campsite was lovely and after an early rise and breakfast we got out for a walk by the river. I had chatted to the campsite owner last night when we arrived and he had been running his business since 1971, the same year I was born. His little Hytte (huts) were very rustic, they are small single room huts with no facilities inside them, they all had grass roofs, but even better than that the grass roofs had little pine trees growing out them also, some looked like they needed a wee bit work done on them, and he said he was too old now and some friends and family helped him run the place. He also spoke about the weather patterns and snow volumes saying that things had definitely changed since the 70's and 80's with less snow at these altitudes now. It was dry morning but not for long. Big clouds were building above the hills and we didn't go too far. The plan for today was to try and get too Alesund. We had a couple of options, the E39 runs pretty much there and we could make that today, the weather was wet and perfect for driving. It would mean that we missed out the Trollstigen, but this wasn't a problem as we can always do this when we leave Alesund again and are heading east. We decided we would leave the final decision as to which road we would take when we got to a place called Stryn, this was where the routes diverged.

So, we headed out of the Gaular valley on the 13 and turned right onto the E39 at Moskog. The weather was pretty damp and the scenery around this area had calmed down a little, to be honest it was very like parts of Scotland, no bad thing but just a bit less impressive, and it continued like this for a fair distance. At a little place called Skei things started to change again, the mountains were getting bigger and everything was closing in again. The E39 swung to the north and then we were going down a huge valley, very reminiscent of Glen Coe, but the mountains were bigger on either side, 1300 to 1500 meters high. The road was busy as its a main artery north and there big herds of goats wandering about at the sides. Soon we reached the town of Byrkjelo and the no 60 road forked to the right, this was about 60km from Stryn-decision town. We stopped for lunch in heavy rain at the Karistova pass after a steep climb. The ski poma's here are all redundant for the year, there was no snow to be seen. We were making good time and given the poor weather were confident of being in Alesund by the end of the day.

I had clocked a wee place called Briksdal where you can park up and walk for an hour or so to have a look at the Briksdalbreen, breen is Norwegian for glacier. However, it was still murky although was showing signs of improvement. There was a huge Royal Caribbean cruise ship moored at Yris and this sealed the deal-we were NOT going to the glacier as it would be swarming with tourists-of course we are not tourists, lol. And besides the boys were asleep, no point in waking them. The mountains around about this area were impressive and it was a shame to leave, but Alesund it was to be.

Until, on the other side of the fjord we saw a Gondola going up the mountainside. We soon arrived in the carpark, it was the new, built in 2017 Loen Skyway, just a big gondola similar to Aiguile du Midi and many others, we had done all that.......BUT....the boys hadn't. They were still asleep, we hummed and hawed for a bit and decided against it, however on checking reviews it was supposed to be pretty good and the boys would get on for free. Hmmm, a couple of miles along the road, and with the weather looking really much better
another whiplash inducing handbrake turn was performed and we headed back to Loen, this the boys would like.

Cash paid and within 10 minutes we were aboard the Gondola heading up around 1000 meters to the top station, the views were stunning along the fjords, its not as dramatic as say the Aiguile du Midi, but the fjord views more than compensate for the lack of jaggy mountains. We got out at the top and headed onto the mountain for a wee walk up to the summit, probably about half an hour away. Although chilly it was fine, the weather is definitely on the up. Joyce and Callum headed down to the top station for a coffee whilst Logan the Brave and myself went up to another wee top and then we all met and got ready to head down. Callum had been telling us he was gonna buy us all an ice cream so now was his chance, we headed to the bottom and got the ice creams, he had forgotten his money, there's a surprise, just like his mother..........The ice creams in the now sunny weather were good. We had chatted to the gondola operator on the way down and he recommended we come up an adjacent Lovatnet Valley to visit the glacier here, its much cheaper and not the tourist trap like the Briksdalbreen, so we have headed up here for the night. the basic campsite is situated amidst the most dramatic scenery. 1700 meter glaciated peaks dropping sheer into the lake below, and, bonus it was now warm enough to eat outside. The plan could go even further adrift tomorrow, its supposed to be 27 degrees, not exactly driving weather, lol. I may need another sabbatical next year....!!