Day 10 - Tretten to Aurlandsvangen



Drive west of Lom

 Today was a harrowing day of driving in the mountains.  We left Tretten on E6 and turned west at Otta, went through Lom, and turned south on FV302 at Turtagro to Ovre Aurdal, and then on to Aurland.  The part to Lom was pretty, but not very adventurous.  The drive from Lom to Turtagro was very mountainous: the temperature dropped to 8 C, and it was windy, sprinkling, and there was snow.  There was enough snow for the a big snow machine to lay cross country tracks all over the place at Krossbu.  It got rockier with more switchbacks and amazing vistas down valleys for huge long distances.  Then at Turtagro we took a smaller road to the south.  We had a full tank of gas, so felt pretty solid in that regard.  And I drove cautiously as there are no shoulders or many guardrails.  This road was about as wide as our driveway if it were paved.  You can get 2 cars to pass, but it's tricky so it's always better to wait for on coming traffic (if you can see them) at a wider spot in the road. 

Stacked stones

Ibsen Monument

Other than just being geographically interesting: frozen lakes, melting rivers, humongously long water falls dropping down the face of cliffs, landslide areas (in the distance for the most part) there were a few other things that were also interesting.  First, everywhere you look on highway 55, there are stacks of rocks dotting the landscape.  This road is called the Sognefjellsvegen, and after doing a little online research, it looks like the road is the most scenic mountain road in northern Europe.  I can't find any information on the rocks. They were pretty and (I can't say this enough) everywhere. Second, there was a monument at the summit of the road to Henrik Ibsen and another Norwegian writer.  The other fun things along that stretch were that I got to parlare un po' italiano with some people at a viewpoint; there was an unmanned gated toll booth (see video: http://youtu.be/2_5g-E1u6hQ); and there were loads of roaming sheep.

Ovre Aurdal



Coming into Ovre Aurdal was absolutely crazy.  There were maybe 10 (maybe more?) hairpin turns leading to the town.  The views were stunning!  We took several videos of driving today.  They are short (most of them).  After watching them tonight, I think that Mom is a saint for having the patience of being my passenger.  It's honestly been a little nervewracking sometimes driving here, but I don't think I'd be a very good passenger. 

Igloo!

We went through about 5 tunnels today including the world's longest road tunnel (as opposed to a non-road tunnel??).  It was 24.5 km long.  After the drive through the mountains I actually welcomed this.  It was darkish, but you could drive fast-ish and straight!  They put 3 areas in the tunnel that looked like we were in a giant igloos that broke up the monotony.



View from scary road down to Aurland

 Aurland is absolutely lovely and is 8 km north of Flam on the same fjord.  This is the first place in entire trip that we've met other tourists from the U.S.  It's proof that this is a more touristy area than the other places we've gone.  We went on a drive to (another!) scenic viewpoint at the recommendation of one of the receptionists.  It was treacherous and so when we got to a lookout, we stopped and took pictures. We never made it all the way up the mountain to the "best" lookout, but the road was truly crappy, SUPER narrow and not very well maintained.  Anyway, while we were stopped I chatted with some German tourists from Berlin who were driving a MOTOR HOME!  I was happy that I got to speak both Italian and German today, even though it wasn't stellar it was good to actually understand a foreign language and be able to respond.  :-)