Friday, 2nd October 2009 – Jondal – Röldal – Jörpeland/Strand, 290 km (excludes the 50 km’s we went for- and backward – wrong way…;-)…)
Good morning Austria! Another awesome day! Blue sky, cold, snow shining down from the mountains. Our destination for the morning: Sommarskisenter Folgefonna… Along the way we passed…
…so some life was going on here… Although we didn’t see any people around but we still had to go further… Where were the skiers, were there any??? We went up there around 9 a.m. or even earlier but didn’t see any other cars driving up… Hmm??? Why;-)??? There was no sign were it said STENGT, so we drove up the mountain, passed the info board, went further and there it was again – a snowy road … The road was getting more and more slippery…
We should have turned around by that time but know it was impossible. The road was getting steeper and steeper – no possibility to turn around. I had to give everything but at the steepest point my caddy said: NO – don’t go further… Well, we didn’t make it up that hill, were stuck! Good that Vroni had an expert training for driving in snowy conditions in NZL last year… We both had to keep cool… So we were stuck, in the middle of nowhere – only possibility – to put up chains on my summertyres (I know, you don’t drive up snowy mountains with summertyres!!!;-)…-I really know and wouldn’t do that back home…)… One problem: the tyres didn’t fit! They were the old ones from my VW-Polo, were a little to small – I’ve been told they would fit – but Mc Gyver Vroni was so clever and with the help of two expanders she fixed the chains… So now we were able to go up the hill, turn around and go back into the valley. Slowly, very slowly I was driving down the road – no crash barrier would stop us if the car decided to not follow our strongest wish – get back down the mountain safely! We were quite “stupid” that we went that far… It happened but all went good…
…got back down safely – were requited with that gorgeous view…
…back on the road again… Breakfast along Hardangerfjord – again beautiful!!!
Next destination: Röldal – well known for the Freeride Comp @ the end of the winter season… I really wanted to go there, so we went for a hike up the mountain, viewing some skiable lines…;-)
…went into the wrong direction – had to drive back all together around 50 km’s… well, no worries…;-) Night stop near Stavanger – plan for the next day – hike up Preikestolen…
Saturday, 3rd October 2009 – Jörpeland/Strand – Preikestolhytta – Sirdal – Evje – Svenes, 275 km
It was raining that morning, so not the best circumstances to go hiking. We were both suffering from a cold, feeling not 100%. First we went to Jörpeland, to the tourist office – checking out the weather for this and the next days… Well not good for today and the next day… It turned out to be a shopping morning as the weather forecast predicted a bit better weather around noon. It was not right – it was raining cats and dogs! We drove up to Preikestolhytta to check the situation there – we really wanted to go up Preikestolen – it must be so cool up there – of course much cooler when the weather is fine… Preikestolen is known for it’s beautiful view over the Lysefjord, a lot of Basejumpers are coming here because it drops 600 m’s straight down… More info about that: www.visitnorway.com / Stavanger area…
We went into the Hytta, two people came just down, were soaking wet and said the conditions are just horrible… I kind of still wanted to go up but the weather was really bad, me and Vroni were both not healthy and the view would have not been good…
…back on the road again – the next ferry just waited for us;-) – we came there, had to stand in line for 5 min. before it took of… sooo lucky!!!
As we didn’t go up Preikestolen, we decided to drive all the way back to Horten – we would be home around midnight… but the plan changed again… The weather turned out to get better – so one more night on the road – this time in tent @ a really nice place…
Sunday, 4th October 2009 – Svenes – Heddal – Kongsberg – Horten, 285 km
Last day on the road – drove through again beautiful scenery – Telemark – stopped at Heddal and yes – we met an Austrian guy there. On the parking lot. He saw our car – came to us and asked what we are doing here? He was sooo happy to talk to some Austrians, was a nice talk… He started to work in Oslo two weeks ago and well again – was really happy to talk to some Austrians!!!
…back to Horten – my place – a nice long shower – dinner with Vroni and Stine – went to bed early – next morning – had to take Vroni to the airport – traffic jam in Oslo – we were both sitting on needles – but happily we made it an hour before her flight – so, all in all A HAPPY END!!!!
IT WAS A GREAT TRIP!!!!! Thxxxx Vroni for coming up!!!! WAS REALLY COOL!!!!
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