Roundtrip Norway, July 2003

Åndalsnes and Trollstigen

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Map of this part of my roundtrip

Today's journey will start of with a trip along the E136 through the Romsdal valley. This is a 105 km trip from Dovre (close to Dombås) to Åndalsnes, and offers some beautiful scenery along the road. From there we will be driving up the famous Trollstigen and the end of today's journey will be at the amazingly blue and picturesque Geiranger fjord. The total trip is approximately 215 kilometres.

After a rainy night

Campground close to Dovre

It's time to pack up our tent again! We had a fantastic day yesterday in Rondane National Park, but today will be without a doubt just as spectacular!

And it seems like we are having some luck with the weather as well. I was a bit worried as it rained during most of the evening and night, but this early this morning the skies cleared up and we even see a glimpse of sunshine. It looks like it's going to be a great day! So don't waste any more time. it's time to discover more of beautiful Norway!

Vermafossen waterfall

Our first stop is at Vermafossen. We found this fantastic waterfall by luck actually. Through the trees I spotted the waterfall and there was a parking spot on the side of the road at this point. So without hesitation we parked the car and tried to get a glimpse of the waterfall.

A small trail brought us to a lookout point where we could see the waterfall in the distance. At this point in the river two waterfalls seemed to meet. The first one was wide, and it is part of the river rushing down. The second waterfall was smaller and coming from high up the mountain adding more water to the already wild river.

Climbing down the hill

Vermafossen Waterfall

The view from the top of the slope was nice, but I wanted to have a closer look at this beautiful Vermafossen waterfall. That wasn't easy though as there was no real trail going down the slope. But that wouldn't stop us! Hahaha, Åke and I tried to make our own way down, and we succeeded to our joy.

The path was steep at points, but never too steep, and there some bushes and scrubs in the way, but those didn't make too much of an obstacle either. So with some effort we were able to walk down and got to a nice lookout point, were we could had a great view over the waterfall.

I loved this waterfall, as there were no crowds here, no tourist shops, just the awesome force of nature. This crazy climb down and than the amazing waterfall is one of my best memories of this Norway trip. Hahaha, I don't want to talk about the climb up again though.... phew, exhausting! lol :-)

The wild river at Vermafossen

This point at the river was just fantastic to see. Not only there were those two great waterfalls, but also the river continued its way in full force. The rocks weren't a problem for the river as it cuts its way through there with so much power. And the trees looked more like little sticks than full-grown trees. All in all it is an impressive landscape to look at.

Slettafossen

The next waterfall we made a stop at was Slettafossen, close to the village of Verma. Here the river Rauma runs trough a 30 to 40 metres deep gorge. There is a bridge crossing the river at this point. I am leaning over the bridge to have a good look at the falls and while doing that took this picture. You can get closer to the falls by taking some stairs that bring you to a lower level. Fences protect you from getting too close the falls and falling into the gorge. On the left hand side you can see Åke relaxing leaning against the fence taking in the view over the wild river.

These falls are much easier to reach than the previous one, but that also has made them very touristy and to me less enjoyable. Across the bridge is a little souvenir shop offering you everything from images of the falls to little trolls.

Slettafossen

Waterfalls on the way to Åndalsnes

On the way to Åndalsnes

The closer I got to Åndalsnes the spectacular the landscape became. The wide valley became smaller and smaller, ending in only a narrow passage. The mountains became much higher and steeper as well, and everywhere I looked there were waterfalls. It is really an amazing thing to see! Hahaha, one thing made me really laugh though! Only a few days prior to my trip to Norway I made a lot of effort to visit the highest waterfall in Sweden. Sigh. I wonder why I did that?! The highest Swedish waterfall is very modest compared to all the waterfalls I saw here in Norway!