We left the park-up around 7am and continued north along Road 40, all excited that there was a Circle K a mere eight minutes up the road to start the day.....of course, we had failed to consider that it was Sunday, and it didn't open until 10am. So.....we headed further up the road to a rest stop and pulled over to make coffee in the van instead.
Caffeinated, we meandered north along the 40 as it followed and occasionally crossed the river. We stopped briefly at the quaint stave church at Nore, built around 1167. It was much smaller than the other two we had seen, but still very interesting.
We "drove into autumn" towards the end of Road 40, as it climbed significantly (and steeply) towards its end and into obvious ski country. The trees were decidedly more deciduous and were showing signs of seasonal change already at altitude. After a significant downhill stretch on the other side, we then hit Highway 7 at Geilo and made a drastic turn westward.
As a major artery connecting Oslo and Bergen, we had expected Highway 7 to be a little more mundane, with gas stations and wider highway and so forth. We were surprised that instead it was fairly remote, leading up and over a very windy and barren mountain plateau, with very few services along the way. The non-existent shoulders and stark landscape reminded us of northern Iceland.
Eventually we arrived at Voringfossen, a major waterfall we had just missed a few days back, as it was a little out of the way. Unfortunately, a fog descended at pretty much exactly at the same time, which limited the view of this stunning natural wonder, but also added to the mystique. Moreover, there was a crazy arch bridge over the gorge, which Jane was able to walk in the fog as she couldn't see what she couldn't see....more on that later!
Continuing westward, we passed a particularly scenic section along Eidfjord and then followed curving mountain tunnels as they spiralled 360 degrees downwards.....literally. Further along, we crossed the Hardanger bridge again but in the opposite direction, at which point a roundabout under the mountain spit us out onto Road 13 as we continued west.
We drove until just past Voss, stopping for the night at a scenic rest stop on a lake - it turned out it was a busy stop for truckers and travellers, but it was well positioned for tomorrow's plans. We had a simple dinner and spent the evening watching Youtube travel videos to take advantage of excess data (thanks to both e-Sim and router options) and following the ABC's - Always Be Charging!
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