Wednesday, 30th July – Laerdal to Kristiansund

Today was the biggest drive of our trip, it was also the most highly anticipated. We drove from Laerdal to Kristiansund via the top of Norway and the Atlantic Road. An 8 hour trip in theory but we knew it was going to take a lot longer than that, there would be plenty to see and lots of rest stops.

We thought the view from our accommodation was beautiful the night before however, if possible it was even more lovely this morning.

It’s impossible to describe just how amazing this drive through Norway was, we were left completely speechless 99% of the time and couldn’t believe how beautiful this country is. Driving from the hotel we immediately came upon incredible green water fjords.

As we began our climb up the mountains over the top of Norway, the terrain changed dramatically, we drove through a lot of ice and huge glaciers right on the side of the road. As we had prepared for a very long day by leaving early there were no other cars and we just took our time, stopping to take photos and staring in amazement out the windows. We noted the highest point of our journey being at 1400m above sea level.

The descent down the mountains bought new terrains again, lots of small plants and shrubs initially, until the bigger trees and usual plant life re-emerged.

Continuing our journey through Lom saw us take one exit too soon on the roundabout, stumbling upon the Lom Stave Church! We had no idea it was here so as we came off the roundabout and saw its roof we looked at each other and laughed, no it wasn’t a wrong turn after all!After driving back 200m to the roundabout and taking the ‘right’ exit we were back on our way.

Today one of the many many highlights was all the Waterfalls. There are so many mountains and when the ice melts the water comes down the side of the mountain creating natural waterfalls, many of them are so high up and look spectacular. We’d stop the car to take a look around and/or get a picture and often not be able to hear each other because of the noise of the water crashing to the ground.

The last part of our day was to drive via the Atlantic Road into Kristiansund. We were driving along a country road one minute, the next seeing and smelling sea water – we had reached the Atlantic Ocean! The drive was beautiful and we saw yet again another face to Norway.

Not to be outdone the view as we entered Kristiansund was beautiful as the Lake/Forest terrain reemerged.

What an absolutely incredible day! It’s difficult to put into words all we’ve experienced. Choosing the photos to share was not an easy task, it was one of those days where nearly every photo we took turned out like an imaginary place on a postcard.

In the end because we just couldn’t help but stop and walk around this beautiful country we were on the road for close to 12 hours. One of the advantages of travelling through Norway in summer is the long days, sunrise at 6am and sunset at 11pm. We had researched this before the trip, and were thankful of the sunlight and long day enabling us to take our time and not be travelling in the dark missing everything.