From Hamlet to Greig

Another week has passed so quickly it is hard to keep up. From Elsinor Castle (Hamlet Prince of Denmark) we have stopped at Roskilde where the rather macabre cathedral houses the coffins of 37 Kings, spent a day round Kilding while the Landy had the seals on the transfer box replaced and then visited the rather splendid Aarhus to see the remains of a Viking settlement. From there we headed back north to Hirtshals to catch the ferry to Norway.

What a contrast - as we approached Norway (in pouring rain) there were cliffs, rocky outcrops and hills disappearing into the clouds. Within 15 kms of docking we had driven through 8kms of tunnels. After procuring a local SIM card we headed inland towards Stavanger, pulling off onto a side road and parking up overnight in a pull off by a lake. Unlike Denmark Norway encourages wild camping and provides numerous locations for mobile homes to empty waste and refill water. The first major town we headed for was Stavanger by way of Pulpit Rock. Staying nearby we made sure we arrived reasonably early and started the 4km walk up around 1200ft along the well made path along with many other people; it was a Saturday and the first fine day for a while. Pulpit rock is fantastic, a square lump of rock sticking out over the fjord with a vertical drop of 605m - impossible to describe, but not a place to be if it is windy!

A couple of nights in Stavanger gave us the opportunity to relax for a day and wander around the city's old quarter with rows of old wooden houses before heading north to Hardanger Fjord. What scenery! vertical cliffs, deep green bottomed valleys, cascading waterfalls and incredibly variable weather - bright sun one minute followed by hail and sleet the next. We have been told it has been the coldest May for 30 years - no consolation really!.

So first impressions of Norway - the roads are good with fantastic engineering of bridges and tunnels, but ferries cannot be avoided and are expensive; scenery fantastic; weather mixed; travel is not quick; food is expensive, but fuel is not.

We have just passed 60 degrees north and are heading for Bergen in a couple days.