Ice melts and water falls.

On our way to Oldendalen, we stopped, as usual, for a lunch at the side of the road and to walk Aily. As the ladies were vast asleep, the guys decided the spot to stop: Brøyabreen, a branch of Jostedalsbreen, with its 487 km2, the largest glacier on the European continent. The first glacier and characteristic lake of our trip and with that a very nice experience!

After lunch we continued to Oldendalen and met Tone at her work place: Briksdalsbreen. She is a guide and brings tourist up to the glacier with small cars. Unfortunately they had decided a couple of years ago that cars were a better alternative to horse and carriage to take the people up and down the mountain. The day we arrived, the kids were too tired to climb and no car was available, so we decided to wait till the next day. Then we got really lucky -again- because Tone arranged a car for us and her friend drove us up and down the mountain! Passing the point where the glacier used to be less than 100 years ago was a bit of a chock, with only a glimpse of the glacier in the distance.

The list of other things to visit in the neighborhood was very long according to Tone (next time we'll stay for two weeks ;-)), but we decided to go for a walk to Tvillingfossen, a waterfall where you can pass behind the water! As we had read on the internet, there was a grill place available, so we took charcoal and the whole chabang on our trip. The waterfall was amazing! However, there was no place to grill, so we had to carry everything back down and survived on nuts and raisins. The kids spent the rest of the day playing with Emil, one of Tone's sons and really loved that! It was really great to meet Tone and her boys!

From Briksdalsbreen, we drove to Geiranger (over a very beautiful road and mountain plane) where we camped for one night at the side of the fjord and walked the waterfall walk: 300+ stairs next to a waterfall. The next day, before leaving for Åndalsnes, we wanted to visit the Geiranger sky walk, Dalsnibba: a spectacular view point over the fjord, but the morning fog didn't give a lot of confidence about the view. However, our phone did promise sunshine, so off we went: 1500 m driving uphill. And as we arrived, the skies started to clear and we got a view on part of the fjord!

From Geiranger to Åndalsnes, you have a choice: Trollstigen or about 100 km's extra driving distance. We decided for Trollstigen, got a bit scared about the horror stories on the internet, but decided to be brave (and stupid?) and continue. On top of Trollstigen, again, the clouds dissolved and showed us a very quiet and good to drive road! We drove down calmly and without any problem, and -honestly- it wasn't the hardest road on our trip so far... very beautiful and with a great view point from the top, though!

In Åndalsnes, we stayed with the Dutch (Friesian) family Pomstra: Anneke, Johannes and their three lovely daughters. As we already did our day excursion, Trollstigen, as part of our journey, we decided to take a relax day: coffee and a chat with the Pompstra's, while the kids played, followed by a dip (feet only! cold!) and some play in the fjord at a rock beach and some grilling. Again, we had fantastic hosts in a fantastic environment, including a box full of home-laid eggs!