BERGEN TO OSLO

 

Wednesday 14^th July 2010

At nine fifty am I was again at the Bergen railway station, this time with bag in tow. A quick visit to the deli and I had some yoghurt for breakfast and some food for later on the train. I was able to eat the yoghurt as I sat waiting for the train doors to be opened.

For this trip I was facing the direction of travel, but in one of the group of four seats at the end of the carriage. Quite soon an Asian family came and took up the remaining three seats, although it was obvious that one of their seats was across the aisle. Just before we departed the passenger booked next to me turned up and the man had to shift. No the lady would not swop seats as she did not like travelling with her back to the front. So this was our seating until Myrdal when the family headed off to do the Flam railway trip. For a few stations the facing seats were empty.

The route out from Bergen quite quickly runs into a tunnel or two or three and we leave the city behind. I must say that the Norwegians are a nation of bridge and tunnel builders. There are certainly many examples of them both – and I have been through a lot of them.

This trip I was sitting on the opposite side to arriving and yesterday's travel to Myrdal. So I was getting a different view of the countryside.

For the first forty five or so minutes after leaving Bergen we wound our way along fjord coastlines. Into a tunnel and out into a different bay or cove. There were a number of small towns some of which we stopped briefly at. There were also some much smaller groups of housing. Occasionally we past a factory or some type of industry but over all there did not seem to be much of this along the whole trip to Oslo.

We left the fjord and travelled along a pretty river valley for a while. Not a very wide valley and the mountain sides did tower up, especially as the valley narrowed. This quickly became yet another 'tunnel countryside'.

Not much in the way of farming as we recognize it although I am aware that there could have been some inside barns.

Soon we were back into the high alpine landscape. On this side of the train I began to see different water falls to what I had seen from the other side. Some of these were really magnificent with wide tumbling white water courses. Certainly Norway has some spectacular water falls.

We emerged from the Myrdal tunnel to see the tail end of the Flam train heading off. But then there was not meant to be a connection with that one. Standing at the station was a Bergen bound train waiting to move onto the single track we were vacating. Actually most of the line to Oslo was single track with passing loops, mostly located at a station.

Unlike the mist of yesterday, Myrdal was basking in brilliant sunshine and I got a quick glancing view down the valley before we moved into a tunnel. For the next 30 minutes or so we travelled through more alpine landscape. This had numerous cabins spread across the rocky out crops. Vegetation was largely tundra type. Moss, brown sledges and grass with just a few stunted scrub like small trees. There were small ponds and lakes. Interestingly, there were several formed cycle tracks with individuals and small groups of cyclists riding along. Most were on mountain bike but one man I saw was riding a small wheeled cycle which I thought was a folding commuters bike.

At one station my fellow passenger got off and I was just thinking it would be nice to have all the space, when three old ladies arrived. One very old and the other two could have been her old daughters. They fussed around quite a bit getting settled and they stayed on for the next few hours, right into Oslo.

Besides mountains, Norway is trees – large forests rolling across the landscape. I could watch the height of the trees vary with altitude. Also on the lower areas the tree species mix seemed to be greater. I spotted some great views of lakes in tree filled valleys but it was not easy to get a photo without a tree or two or three flashing past and creating a green blur just where the view was meant to be.

I looked down on the white water of a river in the gorge below and watched traffic wiz along the parallel roadway on the other bank.

We travelled through some wide flatter areas with large farms. Some times plastic tunnels over rows of vegetables. I was interested to spot that beside the tunnel, the plants also had a covering of clear plastic sheeting lying over them.

But the farm area didn't last long and soon we were back amongst the trees on a hillside.

And that is pretty much the overall story of the trip. Waterfalls, alpine, forests, lakes, farms, small towns. I did see a few cows all lying down in the grass and some sheep – less than a dozen – on some poor hill side grass. There were ploughed fields, evidence of hay and silage gathering and fields with grain crops growing in them.

Soon after 5 pm the express pulled into the Oslo Central station. I got some tram tickets from the information centre and checked which direction a north travelling tram would be heading in. Then off I went on tram 12 for a couple of stops.

Across the road from the stop was the sign Anker Hostel so in I went only to find that I should be at the Anker Hotel 50 metres further along the road. This was a 13 floor hotel which turns out to be in the Best Western chain. I had not picked that up when booking through Hostelworld. The desk clerk told me that the hotel was booked out and that was not uncommon because of its low price. It may be low priced but it is the most expensive stay per night for the whole trip.

I have a nice room on the fifth floor with ensuite. It is a comfortable sized room over all. It will do for the next four nights.