Saturday September 17 Bergen

A great start to the day

Woken at 7 this morning by a bus backing into a space, 2 metres from our camper…the joys of free camping! The fjord was so calm this morning, no one was in a rush and Ian even got his fishing rod out and had a bit of a fish, no luck, but still a pleasant way to spend a bit of time.

Talking over drinks last night we all decided that we needed to have a bit of a rest for a few days. We have seen so many amazing sights over the past few weeks that it was time to just slow down. Also with wild camping for a number of weeks, the laundry was well overdue.  Bergen was less than two hours away and after looking online we found a campground about 15kms out of town with a laundry, that looked like the perfect place with a view over a lake. So with GPS set we headed off.

There was a ferry crossing after about 20kms and we just drove straight on, well timed! We couldn’t work out why it was so quiet and smooth and Ian and Gerhart finally at the end of the short trip worked that it was an electric ferry. Fascinating to read about all about the Ampere online.

There was quite a bit of mist around in the mountains as we continued south to Bergen. This was real mountain country, no farms or small towns to be seen, just amazing scenery and waterfalls everywhere. But we didn’t have to do any major climbs as we passed through 21 tunnels in 125 kms, the longest was almost 5kms. Evidently there is one tunnel that is 25kms long, but we won’t be going through that one.

A stop just out of Bergen to get supplies then onto the camp and what a great choice, with a view out over a small lake and mountains and top quality facilities. After a late lunch I set too, stripped the bed and gathered the other laundry and in less than two hours had two loads washed and dried. Also gave Ruakiwi a good “wash” inside. Can relax now.

Conny said she would cook dinner (my turn tomorrow night!) and we ate like Kings with a shrimp cocktail entrée and then a really good Sengali chicken dish and couscous. So nice to relax with a few wines and good conversation knowing that tomorrow will be a rest day. 

On the ferry

Tonights view