12 June - Geilo to Andalsnes. 268 miles

Geilo is a skiing centre, but outside the season everything is shut. With nothing but a pizza on offer, I dined in and rushed my far from wonderful supper in order to escape before a French and two Korean coach parties invaded the dining room. The Koreans were inescapable at breakfast, unfortunately.

There was a box marked Scandinavian White on the bathroom wall. Norwegian cocaine? No, just soap.

Clouds shrouded the surrounding ski slopes when I left this morning. Rain was falling and it was not going to be pleasant on the road. Limited visibility through a visor and a wiper-free windscreen, slippery roads, easy-lock brakes and 4" wide tyres raised the hazard level somewhat and restricted us to second and third gear for the morning. I found a lorry to follow, happy that I could at least see its tail lights and that it would regulate my speed on the narrow country roads we took today. Steep drops on both sides offered added incentive to concentrate.

Today's itinerary tackled two Scenic Routes, starting north to cross Valdresflye and driving the famous Trollstigen at the end of the day.

I would have liked to offer you some of my own photos of Valdresflye, but I can't. First, because it was not only raining but perishing. It was not long before I could not feel the pedals or the wheel. My fingers were so numb that it took both hands to remove the fuel cap. And second, because the camera decided to give up for a while and I only revived it later in the morning. So here are a few that I pinched from the internet. The snow cover today was about the same as in the top photo but it was a lot greyer - a similar vista to the Highlands on a dreich day. And as I was limited to 38mph I had a long time to take it in.

The rain had abated a little and my phone had rejoined the party when we reached Lom, which has a fine Stave Church (second half of the 12th Century).

A few miles after Lom, we turned onto Route 63, another Scenic Route and the finest drive I can remember - up to a point. It had been closed by snow only a few days before, and the Langvatn lake was iced over while to our right snow was banked up beside the road. The bottom photo is a view from only a couple of miles back.

The approach to Geiranger, a series of hairpin bends with beauty at every turn, was memorable. The Up To A Point bit is that it would have been better but for the endless crawl of tourist and cruise coaches for which the road was never designed and which have to struggle to get round. But just look. This is what one sees from the top of the descent.

Geiranger itself is nothing but tourists. The locals must hate it. That aside, if the opportunity arises to drive Rte 63, preferably on a dry day and early in the morning when no-one is about, take it.

And beyond, we were pretty much coach-free as we ascended the Ornesvingen, another hairpin-fest that took us to this, looking back on Geiranger (my camera gave up again so this is another stolen photo).








We drove straight onto the Eisdal ferry with two minutes to spare and headed for the final part of the journey - tackling the Trollstigen.

Thankfully largely free of coaches and RVs. A couple of mean cascades right by the road. On a par, but no better than, the snake leading to Geiranger.

Tonight we are in Andalsnes. Two views from the hotel

How do the locals put up with such eyesores? I suppose they do not give it a second glance. It is what they have always lived with.

Tomorrow we head west to follow the coast for a few days. And more rain is due in the morning.