Twenty years after the publication of Notes From a Small Island Bryson makes another journey around Great Britain to see what has changed. …
The book has received mixed reviews. …
I’m a huge Bill Bryson fan. Loved his 2010 book – At Home: A Short History of Private Life.
Sadly I didn’t get through Dribbling. Bryson comes off as a grumpy old man, not the observant, humorous observer I expected.
Dribbling is not recommended.
A couple of weeks have passed since I left Norway. I’m now in hot Morocco.
But what sticks most in my mind are the Lofoten Islands. I’d highly recommend you add this unique destination to your travel bucket list.
Here were my first impressions.
Finally made it to this unique, fascinating destination.
Å (the town) is located towards the southern end of the Lofoten archipelago.
I arrived there first, starting at the beginning. Later I learned Å is actually the LAST letter of the Norwegian alphabet.
Raining and late, I decided to get a hostel room (in the museum) rather than tent.
Needing to eat, I ended up with a gourmet salmon dinner at the only restaurant open late Sunday night.
Next morning I wandered about enjoying the quirky, end of the road fishing village.
Why do people live on the Lofoten Islands?
Stockfish (mostly cod) and now tourism. Massive annual harvests here were historically dried on racks for export to nations including Portugal and Italy.
Stockfish is a staple of Nigerian cuisine too. And they like the fish heads in Nigerian cooking.
Like many other places in traditional Norway, sod roofs are popular here.
Until the late 19th century, it was the most common roof on rural log houses in Norway and large parts of the rest of Scandinavia. …
… it helps to compress the logs and make the walls more draught-proof.
In winter the total load may well increase to 400 or 500 kg per m² because of snow.
Sod is also a reasonably efficient insulator in a cold climate. The birch bark underneath ensures that the roof will be waterproof.
How did I travel without this awesome technology?
It was no problem to find my way through the narrow labyrinths of souks (bazaars) in the Medina of Marrakesh.
Google maps offline is better, but only provides directions for automobile travel. It’s ideal if you are in a rent-a-car.
Maps.me is better if you are on public transit, bike or on foot.
For any new area I’m traveling I download both while connected to wifi. Then compare results offline.
Maps.me gets the data from community-based OpenStreetMap. It’s not as up-to-date or complete. But it does give you voice turn-by-turn navigation like Google.
I love them both.
The process of downloading an offline map is more complicated in Google. It’s one click on Maps.me.
Click PLAY or watch Maps.me on YouTube.
I’d hiked this area in 2009, so with a day free I had planned to cycle down below in the valley.
But the weather was so gorgeous I couldn’t resist revisiting one of the most beautiful mountain areas on Earth.
I much prefer multi-day hikes, but walking with a light day pack makes it easier to do more thrilling routes.
It turned September while I was above the Arctic Circle in Norway. Winter was coming.
Where to hike next?
Looking at my list of the best hikes in Europe I considered at least a dozen options.
But the hike that most intrigued was a ridge walk out of Interlaken, Switzerland. A climber, Brendan Leonard, claimed the Hardergrat, or Brienzergrat (“grat” = ridge) was the best hike in the world. I’d never even heard of it.
But his photos could not be denied. This looked amazing.
So I flew to Zurich, my first trip back since the World Gymnastics Gymnaestrada 1982. It did not look familiar. My memory is terrible.
Trains in Switzerland are super efficient, super expensive. It’s easy and costly to zip around. After a day in Zurich, I hopped the train to Interlaken East.
I’d hiked the Jungfrau region in 2009 specifically skipping Interlaken as a tourist trap.
Interlaken is a tourist trap filled with rich Arab, Asian and Indian suitcase tourists. But it was worth staying just to enjoy one of the best hostels in Europe – Backpackers Villa Sonnenhof. In fact, I can’t recall any hostel with more amenities.
On arrival at the hostel I asked the girl at the desk about Hardergrat. She cursed Brendan Leonard. Told me he’d single handedly popularized a very dangerous route. AND they’d hiked it in the wrong direction. All locals KNOW you should do it starting in Brienz, finishing Interlaken. She gave me some good advice.
A really long, tough day, I made it. Almost 10 hours with only very short breaks.
I posted my trip report over on my hiking site.
As I did in 2009 while I was here, I reread the Eiger Sanction by Travanian (1972). It holds up pretty well. Lot’s of violence and murder and politically incorrect sex. Clint Eastwood directed and played the starring role in the 1975 film.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Though I’d booked the least expensive vehicle available, Hertz gave me a free upgrade to a Rav4 Hybrid. They suggested it would be cheaper in fuel costs overall.
Loved that vehicle. But the electric hatchback was already broken when I picked it up. Modern vehicles have too many automatic features.
Rentals are expensive in Norway. Fuel expensive. There are many toll stations, and almost all of them are automatic. Fees keep racking up. I paid about $80 in tolls over 2000km driving.
Fast, efficient ferries whisk you across fjords with minimal delay — at cost.
Still — like the USA — having your own wheels is definitely the best way to see this gorgeous scenery.
I drove up the mountain to visit one of the Lillehammer Olympic venues.
Norway has generous freedom to roam laws so travelers can set up a tent or sleep in their own vehicle in almost any public or wilderness area. I tented like this several times from highway rest areas. Many have toilet and picnic table. It’s very common in Norway though not actually allowed at some.
For driving enthusiasts, Norway is ideal. They ride official most scenic roads.
I drove Lysebotn road, for example, through a 1,100 metre tunnel before continuing up to the mountain round a series of 27 hairpin bends. At the top of the ascent (640 metres) lies the Øygardstøl trailhead for the Kjerag hike.
Highest point is by Andersvatn lake, 950m above sea level.
The road is open May to October/November (depending on snow conditions). The Lysevegen is part of the well-known Suleskarroad from Telemark via Setesdal and Sirdal to Stavanger.
Norway’s roads have many tunnels, some very long. I expected to do the 24.51-kilometre-long (15.23 mi) Lærdal Tunnel … but somehow missed it. Google maps must have decided an alternate route was better.
It’s nice to be able to pull over and find a restaurant that offers free wifi.
There are great dedicated cycling routes, but stay off the smaller highways as much as possible. Many are one lane only!
I’d planned an ambitious 7 day circuit … but ran out of time. You average far less than 60km / hour on all roads aside from major freeways.
If you plan traveling Norway, research rental vehicles. In general Sixt offers the best prices though I ended up with Hertz.
related:
For 2018 Lonely Planet named Oslo one of the ten best cities in the world to visit in 2018, citing the Norwegian capital’s “innovative architecture and unmissable museums alongside cool bars, bistros and cafés”.
I wandered much of the city within walking distance of the Opera House.
Young people are not visiting much as there are few hostels. And those few area crappy.
It’s quirky. I like sculpture and there’s some kind of weird sculpture — mostly nude — at every turn.
When one torrential Norwegian rain storm arrived, I ducked into the nearest interesting restaurant to take shelter.
It was called San Francisco Bread Bowl and served me the best I’d ever had. I ordered some kind of seafood. Delicious.
The little one is called a Baby on Board. They gave me a Chili baby for free.
You can order an assortment of babies, if you like.
I was keen to visit this attraction because Warren recently organized two groups to sail the locks of England. At Falkirk I could see how it worked for myself.
The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift in central Scotland that connects the east and west coasts for the first time since the 1930s.
The Falkirk Wheel is the only rotating boat lift of its kind in the world, and one of two working boat lifts in the United Kingdom, the other being the Anderton Boat Lift. …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
About 400,000 people a year visit. Including me.
I followed the tourist boat up through a tunnel under the Antonine Wall. And back.
Rick McCharles 