30th May 2009
Mags dropped me off at Düsseldorf Weeze in plenty of time for my 1120 flight.

The decent into Torp airport was one of the most beautiful I have seen – the view from the window of the coastline with tiny islands dotted in amongst the brilliant blue of the sea was breathtaking. The whole approach was over the forest area; including the moments just before touching down on the runway. It really did look as though we were going to land on top of the trees, as you couldn’t see any tarmac, or any buildings at all amongst the trees.

Torp is the strangest airport I’ve ever flown into – there didn’t seem to be any passport control whatsoever. If there was, I must have missed it – sometimes you come across an unmanned passport control, but there did not seem to be any immigration area at all – clearly everyone welcome! Hurrah!

So, my feet were now solo on foreign soil for the first time. OK, not technically the first time as I do go out and about a lot in Germany on my own; and I travelled to Cyprus on my own (but it was to see Nige who met me at the other end); and I did drive to Germany from the UK on my own to get here in the first place; but we live here so it doesn’t count!

Finding the coach to Oslo was not a problem. Torp airport is like a prefab building the size of a large petrol station in the middle of nowhere. All it took was to wander out of the airport door, and there was the Torp Expressen. Easy! The journey from Torp into the centre of Oslo took about 80 minutes, but the time passed quickly with the wonderful views and just being able to daydream out of the window.

By 1530 in the afternoon, I was checked in and changed out of of jeans and walking boots into cropped trousers and flip-flops which were much more suited to the 25°C heat, and set out to wander around Oslo.

Oslo is a relaxed and happy city. Lots of people were out and about on this Saturday afternoon, just sitting in the sun and wandering through the parks.

Nige would not have been impressed, but I left the Rough Guide in the hotel room and wandered around with the little map I picked up on arrival at the Tourist Information Office at the Station. This was more than enough to help me find my way, especially as it was already late afternoon and I really only had a few hours before it was time to find somewhere to eat.

With my trusty map I still managed to find and wander around the Town Hall, Palace (which although it had a guard, interestingly had no fortifications from the general public) and harbour area. This picture is the unguarded palace, which is at the top of the main high street, in lovely grounds where loads of people were stretched out in the sun catching the late afternoon rays.

I was quite surprised at how many other lone travellers asked me (as a fellow lone traveller I suppose) to take their photo. This gave me an opportunity to ask them if they would mind doing the same, and as a result, I probably have more pics of me from this short trip than any holiday Nige and I have taken together! This is in the harbour area, with the fortress behind me.

The harbour area was beautiful; especially when you took in the view from the quay out across Oslo Fjord, and the fortress off to the left. The quay itself was lined with lots of shops and restaurants, all competing for the tourist bucks or the Krone of the wealthy Norwegians. No cheap quick bites to be had here. As the sun dipped down, I ate in a little Italian and had the most expensive pizza of my life (at 169 Norwegian Krone, about £17) and wished Nige was here to share the experience (not the pizza obviously, but just being in this lovely city).

I did miss Nige more than I thought I would. I am fairly independent, although I suppose if you have a partner you want them there to share the good things. Not having him there however gave time and space to just sit and people watch, whilst sipping my tap water (if the pizza was £17, you can imagine what a bottle of water would be – especially when a beer was £9!).

Although everything was closed or closing (it was a Bank Holiday weekend here too), I could still walk around the fortress which was impressively watching over Oslo with cannons pointing out to sea, and at 7pm a military guard actually patrolled the site – walking from point to point looking out to sea to spot any incoming attack. There were not many people around, and the sun was still blazing low in the sky. The views over the harbour from the fortress were stunning, and you could actually pick out the tiny tiny islands dotted through the Oslo Fjord.

31st May 2009
It was up early this morning to check out of my budget hotel in Oslo, and make my way to the train station for my 0811 train towards Bergen. Although the journey to my stop at Myrdal was almost 5 hours, it seemed to go quickly when the views from the window were so stunning. I tried to resist looking from side to side through the journey – knowing that all I had to do was to ensure I was sitting on the other side on the way back for a completely different view.

I suppose it’s only right to admit now to paying 9NK to go ‘Komfort’ class. Not very rock and roll, and certainly not in the true backpacker tradition, however with large comfortable seats and bottomless coffee, it was well worth the cost for the 5 hour journey – especially when 2 seats like this were available, and I managed to ‘bags’ one!

The changes in scenery throughout the journey were quite marked – and it was clear we were getting higher, as we went from this:

To this:

To this:

At Myrdal, we had a half hour wait at the station before a transfer of trains onto the Flåmsbana. This is a scenic 50 minute journey along 20km of track with a 1/18 gradient – one of the steepest railways in the world. Also, one of the most beautiful.

During the wait for the next train I was approached by two other backpackers (I say ‘other’ like I am one, instead of just playing at it; but it does seem if you have anything larger than a daysack on your back other travellers will immediately come over and strike up a conversation). I do feel a little like an imposter in this secret world of backpackers where people will come up and chat by virtue of the type of luggage you have! I am merely an imposter; a fake packpacker out for a long weekend away from the grind of work and responsibility; interloping in their world of adventure and freedom for a brief moment before going back to the banalities of mortgages and day jobs that are pressing to be done.

The first couple I met were serious backpackers – zip off trousers and huge great sacks on their backs with various sew on patches for places like Peru, Nepal and Kathmandu. I was almost embarrassed when they asked me about my journey (not having much to tell), but then I figured all these travellers had to start somewhere, right?

If I had thought the journey from Oslo to Myrdal was beautiful, from Myrdal to Flåm was just amazing! Shear drops into breathtakingly beautiful valleys, waterfalls cascading down snowcapped mountains – a feast for the eyes in every moment.

I arrived in Flåm at about 1430 and went straight to find and check in to the hostel. What I should have done (as it was a Bank Holiday weekend) was find the supermarket first instead, as what I didn’t know until I went to buy some supplies later was that the supermarket was going to close at 1500 and not open again until after I had left! This was going to leave me at the mercy of the touristy eateries on the Flåm quayside.

Picking up a map of hiking trails at the tourist information office, I set off at about 1600ish on a short hours hike just to stretch my legs after sitting down for most of the day and build up an appetite for the unappetising fare available at the quay. On the hike, I met a girl from Asia on her travels through Europe, and after I had obliged and taken a snap of her over the Flåm quay to the fjord, she returned the favour.

The walk probably only took me 40 mins or so, but I decided I had done enough to earn a beer – the first one of the weekend – and so bought the most expensive beer of my life (a cool £7, which I suppose was cheap by Oslo standards). I don’t think I will be having too many of those over the next couple of days. The cost was almost compensated by the view over the Sognefjord and the superb sunshine as I drank my liquid gold.

Tomorrow, a trip down the fjord becons!