On Sunday, we moved on to the second location in Norway. From Geilo we set off at an easy pace towards Marifjøra. It's about 190 km and a little under four hours of driving. From experience we can already tell you that driving in Norway is fairly intense. The maximum speed in this region is at most 80 km/h, and the Norwegians had already told us to plan for an average speed of 60 km/h. Why? Campervans, mountains, narrow roads, long stretches through built-up areas (40 km/h), 8% gradients, blind corners, trucks, and I could go on. To make our trip to Marifjøra more manageable, we made a stop along the way in Flåm.

Flåm

A very well-known spot in Norway and also a popular port of call for cruise ships. Why? Between Flåm and Myrdal runs the Flåmsbana. The Flåmsbana is a short railway line, a train route that's famous, and notorious, for the scenes of Norwegian nature it passes through. It's actually one of the steepest railway lines in the world, with a climb of nearly 900 m over 20 km of track. Lots of tourists therefore try to get a ticket for this train ride. We didn't, of course, since for us it was just a stop. In the end we just had a lovely lunch there, did a bit of grocery shopping, and drove on to Marifjøra.
Is Flåm worth it? For the Flåmsbana, yes, but not necessarily just to wander around.

Marifjøra, Lustrafjord, Sognefjord

Aside from the fact that it's a fantastic area, a really beautiful fjord, and we had a fantastic location, this was the perfect spot to book a tour to climb the Austdalsbreen glacier. Our travel guide gave us the tip to check out IceTroll. An organisation that offers various activities in and around the Breheimen and Jostedalsbreen national parks. We got so excited about it that we booked the Stygge tour. We did this straight away on our first full day in the area, the Monday.
At 9:30 AM we had to check in for the tour, 30 minutes further up. There, at the Breheimsenter, we got a short introduction and met one of the guides. From there it was another roughly 20 minute drive uphill to reach the actual starting point. That was in front of a dam, in a car park, and there we very quickly got our kayak gear.

Yes, just like Jesse, I went kayaking for the first time in my life. First we had to put on a 'skirt' that gets pulled over the kayak's opening as protection against water. Then we got a life vest, which by the way had a really easy spot for my phone in the front. After that we walked across the dam, to the kayaks, more instructions, and then hop, into the kayak. We had to paddle 6 km across a mountain lake to reach the glacier.

I'm never kayaking again.
Distance: 6 km
Total time: 1 hour 24 minutes
Average speed: 4.3 km/h

Glacier Hike

Once at the glacier, it was of course a lot colder, so on went an extra layer of clothing. What was I wearing, by the way? A wool baselayer, wind- and waterproof trousers (a bib), wool socks, waterproof hiking boots and a wind- and waterproof jacket; for the kayaking. Once we got close to the glacier, on went an extra fleece layer under my jacket, a pair of gloves, a wool hat on my head, and quick sunglasses. Before we headed onto the glacier, we ate the lunch we'd brought ourselves. After that we got instructions on our crampons (for our boots), our harness (which ties you to each other and to the guide), and the ice axe. In the end I was attached to the guide first (which I actually found really nice afterwards) and Jesse behind me with the rest of the group. In total we walked 2 km across the glacier, which took an hour and a half. I had to overcome quite a few fears, since the guide liked having us step across some really deep crevasses that weren't easy for me to get across. An awesome experience? A really awesome experience?

After the hike we got back into the kayaks.
I'm never kayaking again.
Never again. That was so tough, I got so sore, and we made such slow progress.

Urnes Stave Church

On our second day, we mainly wanted to take it easy. So we decided to drive to Urnes, home to Norway's oldest stave church. As fun, awesome and bucket-list-worthy as the previous day had been, that's how much of a shame this day turned out to be. On Tuesday afternoon we got in the car to drive to Urnes. First you drive along the fjord towards Skjolden, which is quite manageable. But from Skjolden to Urnes, what a nightmare. For at least 20 minutes you drive along the fjord on a single-lane road, with the mountain on your left and a drop to the water on your right. Of course you DO occasionally get a passing spot, but sometimes you'd only come across the next one after a full kilometer. What happened to us, of course? We ended up facing a car head-on, with two young girls who'd rented a car, and behind us a campervan. The campervan genuinely couldn't reverse a single km, so neither could we, and those girls didn't dare to.

Stress peak.

In the end, a Norwegian man who'd ended up behind those girls' car reversed his own car to a wider spot, and then took over the wheel from one of the girls.

Beautiful to see up close, genuinely really special. To go inside, you buy a ticket and are required to join the 'tour'. On this tour you're told the history of this remarkable church from around 1130. Definitely worth it. Other than that, there isn't a huge amount to do there! So spare yourself a stress peak and just take the ferry across from Ornes to Solvorn.