Week 5. 28th June to 4th July 2025. Briksdalsbreen to Gudvangen – 271 miles
Saturday 28th June – Briksdalsbreen – day 2
Water, water everywhere… We have had a good night’s sleep, but all you can hear is the waterfalls around us and the river that runs through the campsite. We now have more water… Rain… Lots of it, heavy rain, which is forecast to be on and off all day today. We are keen to get out and walk.
We are in need of some laundry and they have machines here, so to kill some time, Hayley legs it out in the rain with an Ikea bag full of washing. Where would we be without Ikea bags? Del gets on with some homework for future work.
Finally, there is a break in the rain. The campsite has a smart little coffee shop, and they do waffles with brown cheese and jam. Brown cheese is a speciality of Norway, so when in Norway…
We sat and chomp through them with a view of the fast-moving river. There has been a lot of rain, and it’s running fast, so much so that the ice pool has been closed due to flooding.
We get our waterproofs on and get booted up. We are setting off for another glacier, which is a good two hours each way. It’s a fantastic walk as we do a steady climb up through the woods.
The scenery here is big… We stop now and then to take it all in. There is the odd shower of rain, but they are short.
It’s a long way, and Hayley is still aching from yesterday’s hike (and the day before that too). Just past halfway to this glacier, though, we decide to call it a day, turn around and head back to Jess. It’s a good job that we turn back when we do. When we get back to Jess, just as we open the door, the heavens open with heavy rain and strong wind, but this time for a prolonged time. Even though we have some waterproof gear on, it would have made for a very wet walk back.
We have done a good walk despite not going all the way to the glacier. We saw the best one yesterday. We spent the rest of the late afternoon in Jess. We have showers and dinner on the van.
The rain and the wind is occasionally battering Jess. Meanwhile, at home in the UK, there is a heat wave, again…! But we know where we’d rather be!
Tomorrow we are moving on.
Sunday 29th June – Briksdalsbreen to Dragsvik- 122 miles
Hayley went to bed very early last night. She was wiped out! Del stayed up and caught up on some homework for a few hours. At 11:45 pm, he called it a night, looked outside, and it was still daylight!!!
The rain and some very strong winds started at about 10 last night, and it hasn’t stopped. Real heavy rain for over 12 hours with no sign of it stopping. We had a bad sleep last night.
We are doing a full service on Jess, as we expect to be off-grid tonight. Hayley is starting the drive, and she will have her work cut out. Heavy rain, some wind and some very narrow roads as we head north again, then do a left, then back down south towards…? Well, we don’t know yet.
You can’t just cut across, you have to drive around. There are some rather large mountain ranges here.
There is no let-up with the rain. It’s just constant. On the way, we find a supermarket. There are strict rules here in Norway regarding opening hours and square footage of your shop! If the shop is over 100 square metres, then you can’t open on a Sunday… We pull into the town of Skei, where there is a supermarket measuring 99 square metres, so it’s open. It does, however, have a big sign on the alcohol shelves. “SUNDAY. NO ALCOHOL AVAILABLE”, which is stuck over the door of a big fridge full of cold beer. Humans. The things we dream up!!
Back on the road, this time it’s Del at the wheel. No change in the conditions. Still lots of rain and narrow twisting roads. It’s great fun. We are heading for a place where you can park for free overnight right next to a waterfall on the Fossestien trail, which is a 27 km long trail of 14 waterfalls and 7 lakes, with bridges and boardwalks. There are a couple of vans and cars parked, but enough room for us. As it’s still raining, we put on boots and waterproofs and set off for the short walk to the waterfall. Wow… Amazing.
It’s the loudest, fastest flowing body of water we have seen up close (apart from Niagara Falls last year), and there is a small steel bridge that you can walk over. It’s a shame the weather is a no-no, as we would have liked to have followed the trail. We head back to Jess cold and wet. Del gets the kettle on!
It’s only 3:30 pm, and we are thinking that maybe it would be best to carry on and see some of the Norwegian countryside, rather than just settle down here, watching and listening to the rain. We both agree to press on.
Despite the terrible weather, the views are just jaw-dropping. The views from the roadside of massive lakes, mountains, and so many waterfalls and streams coming off them are just breathtaking, even in bad weather.
We make our way to the Gaularfjellet viewpoint, where you can look down into a very deep ravine. You can see the narrow road winding its way down.
This place has been redeveloped to expect a lot of tourists, but not today. We mostly have the place to ourselves.
We get soaked and cold, but it’s worth it. The view, the low cloud gliding through the valley, and the heavy rain are just as good as a bright sunny day!
We are off and on our way again. We are so cold and damp. Del takes us down the narrow, winding road and back to sea level. High revs, low gear to keep us from using the brakes too much. It’s a fantastic drive down.
We are now making our way to a campsite in the small town of Dragsvik. We all need a rest. Jess has worked hard today, hauling us up steep inclines and back down again through terrible weather. We are cold and wet, and tired; everything in the van feels damp. We arrive at Veganeset Camping, which is right on the shores of the biggest fjord in Norway, Sognefjord (known as the King of Fjords).
The rain is now very light, but there is no other noise of waterfalls or rivers and streams, which makes a change. Peace at last…
Hayley goes for a shower while Del sorts out the van, drying her out, cleaning the floors and setting up a little heating for when H gets back. We swap over, Hayley gets some dinner on, which goes down a treat. After dinner, we sit and look at the spectacular view of the fjord from our warm, cosy van. A good day. We are hoping for a quiet, restful night tonight. Fingers crossed.
Monday 30th June – Dragsvik to Tyinstolen – 77 miles
We both had a good night’s sleep last night; it was so quiet and peaceful. We are not exactly sure where we are going today; we know our route, roughly, but where we will stop for the night is not so clear. After a full service, we set off to catch the small ferry from where we are, Dragsvik, for the ten-minute crossing to Hella. The ferries here are something else. There are lots of them. With all these mountains and all this water, there is a need to get about, so the ferry service is modern and efficient. So modern that they are electric.
The boats are clean and well-maintained. We hardly notice when we slip away from the port; it’s so quiet. Wonderful. We dock at the other end, and the plugging and unplugging for charging is fully automated.
Once the boat is lined up, a box opens up and a large cable with a magnetic plug lowers and plugs itself in…!
After a quick shop and dropping off a birthday card at the local post office, we set off for a campsite on the other side of the huge fjord that we stayed at last night. When we arrive, we’re not crazy about it, plus it’s a bit too early in the day to be pitching up, and there is stuff to see. We set off onto another ferry, this one is a 15-minute crossing, so it has a full lounge and cafe service, amazing. Being from the Isle of Wight, we have low expectations for ferries but have been pleasantly surprised by the Norwegian ones. We head for the Hjellefossen waterfall, which is 365 meters high. There is some debate about that, but who’s bothered, at around 365 meters it will be impressive. Located in the valley of Utladalen, a valley that has the highest concentration of untamed waterfalls. Another wonderful drive, every corner is just a fantastic view.
We park up at the carpark next to the waterfall and do the short walk. Yes, it is big… very big, very wet and very noisy. We try and get as close to it as possible, we get soaked for our efforts, but it’s worth it. A wonderful force of nature. We head back to Jess and get the hiking gear on, and set off for a 2.5km hike upwards, following the waterfall. It’s quite a challenge, and sadly, we don’t make it as it’s a bit treacherous because of the slippery rocks. We enjoy what we do manage, however, as we make our way back to Jess.
It’s now late in the afternoon, and we probably need to find a place for the night. We are making it up now. Do we do a free park up or a campsite? Hayley finds a nice little free spot just off the road and about 30 minutes from the waterfall.
The route involves a steep climb again, with hairpin bends inside unlit tunnels, very strange. When we arrive, there are a few cars in the small place already, but there is enough space for us, and the cars won’t be staying the night.
Once the cars are gone, we move into a better space.
They get a lot of snow up here, and there are still huge piles of it. There is one right outside the van, a big one that never melts over summer because of its size and then gets lots of heavy snow on it again during the long winter they have here.
It’s a lovely spot, so we get settled in and set off for another hike up the side of this “mini glacier”. Another challenging walk, almost vertical and very wet. We get quite a way up, and while looking at it, Hayley is not happy. “What happens if there is an avalanche, and all this snow hits us? I’m not happy…” So we trudge back down, decamp and set off to look for another spot. It’s now 6 pm. Granted, it doesn’t get dark until gone midnight, but we want some dinner now…
We pack up and drive east towards another spot, which will costs us £8.00 to stay in. We are about 1.2 km up, and the scenery is fascinating. As we are driving, we see lots of little cabins and bungalows scattered all over the place.
These are private places that people own; they don’t necessarily live there permanently, but they have them as “getaways”. It’s an extraordinary sight to see. Some are on their own for miles, others are in clusters, all with grass roofs.
We arrive at the spot. It’s well worth the move!! It is stunning. We have a view of a massive lake. We are high up, so we are seeing the tops of the mountains all around us, and below us are lots of these cabins. It’s a fantastic spot to stay the night. There is a little cafe next door, we are in the middle of nowhere, mind you. He is just closing and will open at midday tomorrow. We will be there!
We get settled in, and we are staying here for sure. We get Jess working… Gas is on for the heating and the cooking, her battery will be working hard tonight, we have a full tank of fresh water, an empty grey water tank and a fresh empty toilet, we can stay off grid for 2 to 3 days. It’s the toilet that’s usually the first to go!
Dinner is fantastic. A nice pasta dish with salad and white wine, looking at our lake and mountain view, helped along with some Norwegian jazz that had to go by the cheese course…
A good day. We had no real plans; we had a rough layout on a map, but today we went off-piste in another direction. It was well worth doing…
Tuesday 1st July – Tyinstolen to Gudvangen – 71 miles
At about 4 in the morning, Del just happened to wake up and could hear the tinkling of a bell, a bell that sheep wear. It was getting closer and closer, then it stopped. Suddenly, there was a light bang that rocked the van, just a bit, and the tinkling started up again, fading away into the night. Clearly, one of the sheep doesn’t approve of us being there!
After an excellent night’s sleep, we wake up to the pattering of rain on the roof…, again. We are having a relaxing start to the day, a light breakfast this morning as we want to try the cute little cafe next door and have some waffles, again with the famous brown cheese and jam. We have a productive morning planning. Del gets on with some homework.
After 12, we take the short walk to the restaurant. We are greeted by a very nice, friendly chap who serves us delicious waffles with the traditional Norwegian brown cheese and jam, served with tea and coffee. Just how we want it. It’s delicious.
The man continues to tell us that in April, there’s normally 2 metres of snow here and the lake is frozen solid to about a metre, golly. This is an extraordinary place. Huts are scattered on the hillside, and this fabulous restaurant is out here, high up in the middle of nowhere. Despite its location, it’s a popular place.
We leave our beautiful park-up spot and head down the hill towards the Borgund Stave church, which is 30 minutes away. This is the best-preserved example of this type of traditional Norwegian wooden church, which was built in 1180. We’ve seen pictures and videos of this.
It always looked bigger, but when we see it for real, it almost looks like a model. It’s tiny compared to the other stave church we saw a few days ago in Ringebu. It’s still quite spectacular, though, with a fabulous visitors centre that explains all about the history of stave churches and how they are built.
Next, we are heading for a campsite that we have booked for 3 days in Gudvangen. We have had a lot of damp, mucky weather, and Jess and everything inside her needs a good airing, so we are hoping to get some dry weather and do a good clean out and freshen the van up.
To get to Gudvangen, we have to travel through the Laerdal tunnel, which is the longest road tunnel in the world – it’s 24.5km (15.23miles) long and even has 3 rest areas inside which are large caverns lit up in blue where you can get out and stretch your legs. Work started in 1995 and was open in 2000, 5 years to build a 15 and a half mile tunnel. Amazing… Quite an experience.
In total, today we have spent over 40km in tunnels by the time we eventually pop up out and into Gudvangen.
Our campsite is such a wonderful place, quirky, and it has the most magnificent views of many waterfalls along the mountains that tower over us; we are situated in an impressive valley. The campsite is also very reasonable. Tomorrow we will be taking a (rather expensive) fjord cruise on the stunning Naeroyfjord here, the next day we are going to a Viking village to do some axe throwing, watch out, Del.
Wednesday 2nd July – Gudvangen – Day 2
Finally, at last, we have woken up to a spectacularly sunny day! It’s beautiful here in the Gudvangen valley. It’s not hot, but it’s warm enough for us to have the first coffee of the day outside, followed by breakfast. No rain…!
Today we are taking a two-hour cruise along the Naeroyfjord to the town of Flam, that’s later this afternoon, so this morning we spend some time giving Jess a good clean and getting some laundry done, and just generally give the van a good airing and clearing out after all the wet and damp weather we have had this week. Del also gets on with some homework.
With all the jobs done and Jess all clean and smelling fresh, we take the short walk to the ferry port here in Gudvangen. It’s busy here at the port today. This is the port where the local fjord cruises and ferries depart from. It is also where the Viking village is located, where you can see how Vikings lived and try your hand at some axe throwing. That’s tomorrow.
At 2:30 sharp, we set off on the “Legacy of the Fjords” for our two-hour cruise to Flam. The boat is fantastic, five years old and done out in a very Scandinavian fashion, all minimalist but excellent. No corners have been cut on this boat; it’s immaculate.
We are cruising through one of the top 2 most beautiful fjords in Norway (the other being Geirangerfjord), the views are just some of the best we have seen, the mountains tower over us, with many streams and waterfalls carving their way through the rock. Spectacular.
Towards the last 40 minutes of the trip, we go below decks and have a glass of prosecco served in old-fashioned champagne glasses, how charming, and sit indoors at the back of the boat watching the world go by. What a trip…
We arrive in the town of Flam, negotiating our way around the moored-up P&O Cruises IONA, currently on a 7-day round trip from Southampton. This thing is enormous – 5200 passengers and 1800 crew. We would love to do a cruise, but for us, this is way too big. We fancy at most a couple of hundred people, but that would probably be way out of our budget.
Flam doesn’t really have much to offer. It’s an interchange really for the cruise liners, railway and ferries. A few shops are selling overpriced clothes and souvenirs, plenty of places to eat and drink, but that’s about it. It’s from here that we are getting on the bus for the 20-minute drive back to Gudvangen and the short walk back to the campsite.
Back at Jess, we get showered and relax in the late afternoon sun. The campsite has a fire pit on, so we wrap up a bit more and have a cocktail and a glass of red wine by the fire to end the day.
Back at the van, we have a light supper outside before calling it a day, and a good day it was too. Tomorrow is our last day in Gudvangen.
Thursday 3rd July – Gudvangen – Day 3
We wake to a bit of a dull day today, but at least it’s not raining. Today we are off to Viking Valley, which is right on our doorstep and is very popular with the tourists, of which we are one…! We have a light breakfast, as there could be some fighting in the village! We set off pretty sharpish before it gets too busy.
The village is a reconstruction of a typical Viking settlement, and there are about 30 people living and working here in traditional Viking roles, such as blacksmith and textile production.
We get a chance to try our luck at axe throwing and archery with mixed results. Axe throwing is a lot harder than it looks. “Just throw the axe…!” No, it’s much harder than that, especially if you want it to go in and stay in…
There is a free guided tour which runs for about an hour; it’s very informative. We learnn lots of interesting facts about Vikings from our tour guide, Richard.
We learn stuff like the Vikings had shallow light boats for creeping up rivers and surprising the English, they also used them to get as far as Asia. They also used different types of weapons, from daggers to axes. We also learn that they never had horns on their helmets; that was something made up for an opera by Wagner. The stuff you find out.
We spend a good couple of hours there. We watch the blacksmith making rivets for a shield, a fight between two drunk Vikings, and the tourists having plastic sword fights with the “locals”.
It was very good and well worth the time and money to go to. We finish our visit off with a hot drink and…, yes, some waffles with Brunost, brown cheese.
We wander back to Jess just in time for the rain to start. We are leaving tomorrow, but we still have a bit more laundry to do. We take turns getting wet, going back and forth, but we get it done. We have had to fill our shower with some wet chairs and table covers that we left outside in the rain while we were out. It’ll be ok by tomorrow.
Our stay in Gudvangen has been excellent. We managed to get everything done that we wanted, so despite the weather, it has been an excellent stay, but tomorrow we have to move on. We have 12 days left in Norway, and there is still ‘stuff‘ to see.
Friday 4th July – Gudvangen – day 4
We have woken up late today, very late, not saying how late! After careful consideration and a lot of thinking, not, we have decided to stay for another day. There is rain all day today, which is expected to be on and off for the most part. It’s nice here, and there is a short 2km hike we can do, and we have Jess where we can just chill out.
To wake ourselves up, and to feel more with it, we have a shower and just read for the most part of the morning until the afternoon. We get spells of sunshine, which makes it all look and feel very pleasant. We finally get a spell of no rain, so we get the hiking boots in and set off for a 2km round trip hike with a 190-meter climb, so whilst it doesn’t sound much, 2 km, it is steep.
The weather holds. It’s a good hike, but we are ill-prepared, with no water and no sticks, as some of the walk is quite challenging, with a few rocks to climb over, and steep, slippery tracks.
Del finds a couple of sticks which he wrangles to a good size to help Hayley with the climb. Finally, we reach the end of the trail, which is exactly 190m high, and it does feel like we have done a 1km uphill climb.
The view is spectacular. We can see the Viking Village below and the start of the Fjord that we were on yesterday.
After 15 to 20 minutes, we start the descent, which goes a lot smoother and a lot quicker than the ascent. The weather is still holding, so we nip into the Viking Village restaurant for an early dinner. We have read good reviews, and it certainly matches them. The food is excellent, and because of the rain, it’s not very busy.
Back at Jess for more relaxation, we still don’t know where we are going tomorrow. We read and have early showers, and just settle in for our final night. We mean it this time though…! Hayley goes to bed early as she’s not feeling great.
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