Thursday 8th July 2010
The Trondheim to Oslo regional express left right on time at 8:25 am. It was a sleek modern train which looked rather like the interior of a modern jet airliner. The main differences were the generous space between rows and the large panorama windows. My seat number 29, again proved to be a window seat. So I had good views of the route travelled.
Beyond the city area, the farmland was wide and genteelly rolling. The farms all looked well groomed and prosperous. On this trip, not only did I see several small herds or cows (white ones, brown ones and spotted ones) but also several small flocks of sheep which were grazing on some rougher hill side grass land away from the coastal lowlands.
Once again though, this trip was to take me up into the mountains and along river valleys. Some were narrow with just room for a road the river and the rail higher up the hill side.
From time to time the train briefly stopped at stations. Some seemed remote from anywhere. One thing about these stations though was the manner in which the buildings were all well maintained and that they had colourful decorations painted on above doorways and windows. They had that 'storybook Norwegian look' about them.
At one stage we arrived into high landscape that had the ' I am covered with snow in winter look' about it. Much less vegetation and rounded bare stone areas. A few cabins but not as many as you would expect. Perhaps this is too far to come to ski? As we travelled along the guard announced over the PA system that we had reached the highest point on this line. I know it was over 1000 metres and I believe it was 1025 metres. Quite soon after this we travelled past several small mountain lakes.
I didn't take very long to be back into the tree line again and also areas of farming where there was sufficient flatter land to carry it.
We did pass a lot of wider flatter land given over to farming. There were small settlements and an occasional church.
Finally, after three and an half hours travelling and again in at a higher altitude, the train pulled into Dombas, which was where I was to disembark and have a 30 minute wait for my connecting train.
Actually I realised that the connecting train was standing there but was waiting for the express from Oslo to arrived. So I went into the waiting room and filled the time in typing some of the previous day's blog. Seated at one side of the waiting room were a couple of older women chatting happily away. As it was difficult not to listen, especially as they were speaking in English and that they mentioned terms like 'the South Island' I had to assume that they were New Zealanders. Later I was to prove this correct.
At the ticket counter a Frenchman was attempting to re organise his group's itinerary. It sounded like he had made a planning mistake and was attempting to correct it. From time to time buses called in to drop of or pick up tour parties.
Finally the Oslo to Trondheim express arrived and it was time to board the train to Andalsnes. This was what New Zealand used to call a rail car, except that it had two large carriage units. I was in the second one which somehow had the number 3. Once again this was up to aircraft standard although the seats were not as wide as the ones on the express. Fortunately no one sat beside me. It was all allocated seating. As with all the trains I have been on in Norway, this unit also had a small snow plough attached at the front.
My seat was again a window one but backward facing. Because it was near a wall in the compartment I had more space and was able to place my bag there without restricting my leg room.
Just before we took off the guard came through to hand out descriptive leaflets. Then I remembered about the line.
I was on The Rauma Railway, 'The Most Beautiful Train Journey' they claim. The claim would be hard to challenge.
Essentially the hour and bit long route travelled from 600 plus metres to 4 metres above sea level at the fjord side town of Andalsnes. Along the way there were some technical marvels of railroad engineering to be experienced.
At first was just travelled fast along but above, a fairly wide valley. This was a rich looking farming area. I guess at some stage the valley had been carved out by a glacier as on the opposite side I could see the high sides typical of a glaciated valley. We gradually came down to the valley floor and ran along side an 11 km long lake. The interesting thing here is that it is the division between east and west Norway. A river flows out of each end of the lake. One drains east while the other drains west. We were to follow the west river down to the sea. On the way it carved out narrow steep sided valley and gorges. There were several spectacular water falls coming right down from the mountain summits to the valley floor. Plenty of water in them too.
Because of the steepness, the high rock faces and the narrowness of the terrain, the railway construction had a lot of problems to face. So the rail route does hair pins across the valley and in one tunnel it does a turn to come out facing the opposite direction but only a few metres above the entrance it went in at.
We past the Troll Mountains. Actually we stopped for photos as the train did at several special points. The Norwegian legend has it that these mountains are actually Trolls. Trolls that were caught by sunlight and transformed into mountains. Here there is the highest perpendicular rock face in Europe. The total drop is 1800 metres and yes it did look spectacular. It was only climbed for the first time in 1965. However there is a roadway that goes up at the back behind the mountains and BASE jumpers like to use it to leap off the top. However, this is now banned following several accidents. And I suppose that it would not be a good idea to have the train passengers watching someone kill themselves.
Finally we were down to sea level. The river which had been a white water kayakers challenge further up was now a genteelly meandering flow. Apparently it is a famous salmon fishing river. Then I was able to catch sight of the small destination township. It only has a population of around 3000, but today a large cruise ship was in port and the population must have jumped by at least a couple of thousand more.
Beside the railway station and a few shops and cafes there is not a lot to the town. But the scenery in the fjord was pretty top notch and right out of the picture books. It looked good and looking up at the high mountain sides around me was rather special.
The HI Hostel was a 20 or so walk from town into the county but I had noted that one bus went past it. That bus was parked across from the station and ready to go, so for 13 NOK I was able to get a ride right to the hostel driveway. The driver even pulled right across the road so that I would not have to cross it. That was considerate.
This was one of the original Norwegian hostels and that building still stands, but there are more modern buildings in use now. The first floor, male dorm I was in had six beds. The showers and toilets were close and there was a guest kitchen. On the ground floor was reception a lounge and dinning room for the included breakfasts. There are a couple of other accommodation blocks as well and they are similar except for the ground floor services.
I arrived off the bus just as the Kiwi ladies arrived in their taxi. We struck up conversation quickly and later walked back into town together. There are sisters. One lives in Taupo but the other now lives in Florida. They meet up often by travelling together and on this trip have been going almost as long as me. They started with five weeks in Greece and the Greek Islands which sounded fantastic and was just ahead of the tourist rush. They said it was cheap but they did have a lot of salads. I sounds like they have been travelling extensively for years and have even been to Albania, Rumania and Bulgaria although they indicated that it had not been quite as easy there.
One of the men in the dorm is an architect from Uruguay and another is a man from Poland. I had a good chat with each and with both together.
Oh and the hostel had a laundry. So for 25 NOK I put a wash through -twice! Front loading machines and me are not compatible. It seemed to have finished but I could not get the door to open. As a result I ended up restarting the whole cycle again. Then I got the door open at the end. What was the difference? I do not know. However the clothes are clean and dried out on the line.
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