Fjord fiesta - Scanorama

FJORD FIESTA
No landlubber: Noralf Reitun
has been trawling the
waters off Kristiansund
for almost 35 years, but has
yet to get around to driving
the Atlantic Road
region. A bare cliff plunging into a fjord takes me
back to Bohuslän on Sweden’s west coast. The next
fjord could be Lake Como. As we approach a small
white timber church at the foot of a mountain, it
reminds us of a mission chapel in the southern
Appalachian Mountains.
Work began on Trollstigen (the “Troll’s Path”)
in the late 1920s, and the road was opened by King
Haakon VII in 1936. The 11 winding hairpin bends
climbing out of the Ister Valley cut hours off your
journey time compared with driving around the
Trolltindene mountain range.
Our tiny car puffs and pants up to the highest
point 850 meters above sea level. When we left
Åndalsnes and Ister Valley 30 minutes ago, it was
a gorgeous fall day and 15C. The temperature falls
1C with every U-turn. When we reach the lookouts
at the top, it is a cold early winter’s day and
3C. On the western side of Trollstigen is Trollveggen,
Europe’s tallest rock face, almost 1,000 meters
straight down.
As we continue south through Norddal, the
late-summer green gives way to rich autumnal
mustard- yellow. We sit in silence for a while,
having run out of words to describe our surroundings.
“Oh my God, how beautiful” just doesn’t
do it anymore. At a waterfall streaming down a
mountainside, we start laughing. In the face of
such majesty all we can do is laugh.
For the first time in three days of nonstop driving
it is time to fill up the car. In a country where
gas costs $3 a liter and a speeding ticket can easily
top $3,500, the editor’s choice of car – slow, fuelefficient
– suddenly makes sense.
54 FEBRUARY 2013 SCANORAMA