Janet and Steve's TRavel Blog

Mandal

We arrive by ferry in Kristiansand, near the very south of Norway, with a short hop by car to Camping Mandal.

We took Daisy out for a walk by the beach that afternoon. Lots of kids toys by and in the water, including an arial runway.

We also visited the Mandal town centre. Lovely footbridge over the water. interesting to see a big Specsavers branch.

Trouble at Camp (part 2)

We set up camp – to discover that the kitchen tap was spurting water everywhere! The tap had a hole in the side. I believe that the Viborg camp manager had pushed it too hard while opening our door through the kitchen window.

We felt a bit deflated to be honest (what else can go wrong with the Eriba?), and calling the Norwegian caravan shops didn’t give us much hope for a quick fix. Finally, with lots of help from the lovely Helga (owner/receptionist), she found us someone near to our next site (2 days time) that offered to help. So no water for 2 days … we decided to do what we do best, and take Daisy for a long walk.

Walking around Skjernoy:

We leave Camping Mandal drive up the coast to the repair shop, where they have the spare tap available (hurray!), and replace it for us…

Preikestolen, or Pulpit Rock

Pulpit Rock is an overhanging rock over 600m above sea level, with an almost sheer cliff below it down to Lysefjord below. It turns out also to be popular with tourists, and quite a hard 4km climb from “base camp” (or the car park). The views are spectacular, however.

(click on the photos to see full size)

Stavanger: Camping Wathne

It’s fair to say the weather is not always dry! In fact we eventually did not go to Stavanger as the weather so so wet. But we managed a lovely walk in the hills near the campsite by the coast.

Drive to Gudvangen, on the Lysefjord

316 miles to the next site turned into a 9 hour trip, rather than Google’s 6.5 hours. The roads were surprisingly winding, with photo and lunch stops, but we also turned round to avoid a (Google) recommended shortcut (even narrower roads perhaps?), which again slowed us up.

Finally we got to the tiny road to the campsite, with apparently 5km to go. The site is in a tiny village called Bakka, but the road turned out to be surprisingly unclear, narrow, and included a 1.7km narrow tunnel! Having spoken to the driver of a camper near the start – yes this is correct route – the site is actually beautifully located right on the Nærøyfjord.

Bakka, Campsite

The next day Daisy and I took a walk along the whole village access road, walking on the old road parallel to the access tunnel. This had good views as well as being relatively flat and smooth. I could also let Daisy off (actually not often possible here in the summer).

Fjord Cruise – Gudvangen to Flam

We decided to take the Fjord cruise from Gudvangen – close to our site, to Flam, via the Nærøyfjord and the the Aurlandsfjord.

The ferry is interesting. It is an electric powered catamaran – charges each time it docks, and very quiet when sailing. The zig-zag decks means there is a lot of space for tourists to take pictures. Some sailings are very full though – many coachloads of tourists on Norwegian tours come through.

Bergen

We decided to stay another day, and do a day-trip to Bergen, about 2.5 hours away by car. Bergen is Norway’s second city, was the northern port in the Hanseatic League, and very pretty.

Last night in Bakka

Arrived back at Bakka to find tents pitched around us. It was a group of people from the UK, a mix of disabled and able-bodied, come for the canoeing on the fjord. It was great to chat with some Brits, and Daisy got a lot of attention, of course.

They also swam in the lake, and while we looked on we saw lots of mink appearing from the rocks by the water.