Travelling north to Geiranger

Yesterday we had a moderately lazy day in Balestrand. We did a 3 hour return walk from the top of a forestry road - from 620 m altitude to 890m. G moaned a lot because there were clouds blocking the view and it was quite boggy, but it improved by the end. After relaxing by the fjord in the afternoon we checked out the stave church, and watched a film "Winter in Balestrand" at the art gallery.  Wow - soooooo much snow!  And I discovered that Father Christmas does not wear a red suit; he wears a traditional hand knitted Norwegian jumper.

 initially poor visibility on our hike

 Kvilhytte - at 890m altitude

 much better visibility on the return trip

 St Olav's stave church in Balestrand, built 1897

Today it took nearly 5 hours driving to do 275km, ending in the UNESO World Heritage Geiranger Fjord.  The trip included 3 national scenic routes, so all day we drove up and down mountain passes on narrow roads. Here is what we saw:

5km from Geiranger there is a great lookout overlooking the fjord

On the last stretch we must have passed 20 full size buses, ferrying cruise ship passengers up to Mt Dalsnibba at 1500m altitude.  What a waste of time and money as there was no visibility that high up today.  We could not have timed our stay here better as there are NO cruise boats here for the next 2 days; almost unheard of for the whole summer.  So hopefully we can go up to Dalsnibba tomorrow without contending with passing buses on the narrow road.

We are staying at the Grande Fjord Hotel, the first hotel we've stayed at in Norway.  We have a room with a balcony overlooking the fjord - very nice. But the weather has turned a tad cold - max of 9 tomorrow.