Norway
At the beginning of June, my little camper van (Bulli) and I set out on a road trip through southern Norway. I had not yet traveled to western Scandinavia, but I had heard a lot about the impressive fjords and its fantastically beautiful landscape and enjoyed them on pictures. Now I wanted to see this beautiful landscape with my own eyes and experience it live.
After spending a lot of time over the winter repairing the injection system of the Type 4 engine and restoring the interior of my Bulli, he was now (hopefully) ready for his first big trip.
After a short stopover at the Baltic Sea, I reached Hirtshals, from where I took the ferry to Kristiansand. Luckily, the Bulli with its height of 1.95m was classified as a car, so that the costs for the crossing was reasonable.
From Kristiansand we went leisurely , with three overnight stays, to Tau, a small town close to Stavanger.
The temperatures at this time of the year were not really inviting for swimming and so I was able to enjoy a relatively lonely coast with many deserted beaches.
Tau is not a particularly exciting place, but there is a regular ferry service to Stavanger from there. I used it for a short day trip to the fourth largest city in Norway with its pretty old town full of small white wooden houses.
The next day I went to Preikestolen, which is not far from Tau. The hike to this famous rock platform is not very difficult but very nice. The scenery here in Rogaland is truly beautiful and the views breathtaking.
It is worth leaving very early. Since the days are very long here in June, it is never really dark. The “official” sunrise was at 4:28 am on the day of my tour, so it was no wonder that at 8:00 am, when I left, the first hikers were already coming towards me on their way back.
In the coming days we continued towards Lofthus in Norway. Located on the edge of the Hardangervidda National Park, this place is used by many as a starting point for hikes to the neighboring highland plateau.
One of my personal highlights was Vøringsfossen. The view from the Fossli Hotel down into the gigantic gorge, together with the roaring masses of water, is an extremely impressive experience.
I can also highly recommend the subsequent drive on the Rv7 through the Hardangervidda National Park.
After the high plateau we went back to the fjords and via Flåm to Skei.
My next stage took me via Loen, Stryn, Geiranger and the Trollstigen to Ålesund.
Geiranger is a lovely little town at the head of the famous and beautiful Geirangerfjord and definitely worth a visit.
The further drive along the provincial road 63 over the mountain pass to the Trollstigen was no less impressive for me. In particular, the view of the Isterdal from the Trollstigen vantage point is simply fantastic.
With its eleven hairpin bends, the Trollstiegen is probably the most famous mountain road in Norway.
I only caught a glimpse of Ålesund from the Byrampen viewpoint, because I wanted to continue to Vestkapp and Ervik on the Stadlandet peninsula. Ervik Beach is a perfect place for relaxing and walking. As on the southern beaches of Norway, it was quite lonely here in mid-June. A stark contrast to the previous tourist attractions of Geiranger and Trollstigen.
Unfortunately, one of the cylinders of my engine had said goodbye on Fehmarn. The boxer ran very rough when idling and it quickly became clear that cylinder no. 3 was running without power. Nevertheless, my Bulli brought me home safely with the remaining 3 cylinders, where it later turned out that the seat ring of the exhaust valve had worked its way deep into the cylinder head and the cylinder could therefore no longer build up compression.
After a closer look at the engine block, a repair was no longer worthwhile and I therefore decided to carry out a complete overhaul, which will take a few months.
Hopefully next spring we will be heading to new destinations with a new engine.
Schöner knapper Reisebericht mit vielen tollen Bildern! Ich war noch nie in Norwegen, aber jetzt habe ich richtig Lust auf das Land bekommen.
Grüße, Uwe
Ich liebe deinen Bulli! Und was für eine tolle Landschaft. Norwegen steht auch auf meiner Liste. Habe nur gehört, dass es unheimlich teuer ist. Mal sehen. Werde noch etwas sparen.
Liebe Grüße, Anne
I had a car like this many, many years ago and where traveling through California. Was the best time of my live!
Sorry to hear that your engine broke down. Hope you can fix it soon.
Great pictures btw.!
Pete
Du machst wirklich tolle Bilder Florian.
Wir waren schon 5 mal in Norwegen und nie wird es langweilig.
Besonders schön ist es weiter im Norden in den Lofoten.
Wir werden nächstes Jahr wieder hin.
Vielleicht schaffst du es mit neuem Motor ja auch weiter in den Norden! 🙂
Ha, ha, I like the Cow! It’s so cute!
But all your other pictures are great, too.
Also like your camper. Especially the color.
Sehr schön! Macht Lust auf Norwegen!
Liebe Grüße
Andrea
Wow, super Bilder, Florian. Das erspart fast den eigenen Urlaub dort ;-).
Habe den Link schon an Freunde weitergeleitet.
What a marvellous pictorial guide to Norway, capturing the most exquisite and magnificent natural beauty of the wonderland! Yearn to visit there following your guide Florian!