We had wonderful days at Strandevatnet. The weather was really good and our place almost directly on the lake was just fantastic. Now it went on. In winter 2018 I was ice climbing in Rjukan – basically the ice climbing Eldorado in Europe with ice between October and April – and since it was on our way, so to speak, I wanted to see what it looks like there in summer. Funnily enough, there was not a single word about ice climbing in the travel guide. We continued up the valley along the Lågen and crossed the ridge to Tinnsjå near Skirvedalen, a beautiful plateau, called Vegglifjell, on one of the many perfect gravel roads. Along the Tinnsjå we drove to Rjukan and what can I say - not particularly spectacular in summer and almost no waterfalls visible (except for the Rjukanfossen).
We stopped near Vemork power station and enjoyed two more beautiful sunny days before continuing west. We made a short stopover very lonely at a beautiful reservoir just before the Hardangervidda. Here, too, we had nice but already cool weather. Later, in the Hardangervidda, there was still some snow and Luisa in particular was very keen to go into the snow and touch it. We had avoided snow this winter, so to speak 😉 The weather in the Hardagervidda was, shall we say, local. It was cool, windy, light rain and completely overcast. We didn't stay long and continued towards the fjords. The weather wasn't any better there, but it was a little warmer (we hoped so).
On the way down from the plateau we were able to marvel at countless waterfalls, which were probably primarily due to the meanwhile really bad weather. On the one hand, it was very nice to see nature like this, but on the other hand, the four of us in our bus didn't like the idea that it was raining all the time - but that's what we wanted, otherwise we wouldn't have left for Scandinavia. When we finally arrived in Odda, at the last tip of the Eidfjord - also known as the Cherryfjord - we decided to spend the night at a nearby campsite, as we slowly had to do our laundry again.
Our further way led us west along the Hardangerfjord until we finally arrived at Tysnes. On Tysnes, a slightly larger island near the sea, I once stayed in a small, simple holiday home with my parents and sisters when I was a child. This time the island was no less beautiful than I remembered. Here I put my fishing rod in the water for the first time - of course with Luisa's support - and what should I say: a few small cod, a larger cod and a mackerel. We threw the little ones back in and cod and mackerel were quickly put into the fridge to eat at the next opportunity.
After the successful fishing we took the ferry at the same quay to Halhjem, from where we drove about an hour further towards Bergen to start a little earlier than usual the next morning. From here it was only 25 minutes to the city center. As before, we looked a lot for parking opportunities in advance. But it wasn't easy to find anything higher than 2 m. I ended up dropping Juliane and the kids off in town and parked the car a little further away for only 130 NOK (about 13 €). Then I walked into town and we first strolled through the fish market and along the harbor and then took the funicular up to Fløyen. From there you have a wonderful view over Bergen, there is a very large playground for Luisa and Jonathan and lots of other tourists.
After a slightly late lunch and an unbelievable number of slides and jungle gyms, we hiked back into town. The path is very easy and goes steadily downhill. Luisa sat on my shoulders about ¾ of the way, so they didn't get cold when we were in the shade of the forest. As in other cities, we then drove a few kilometers further and looked for a new place for the night near Odnåstjørna, just north of Bergen.
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