We woke at 6.45 this morning to the sound of steadily falling rain. It didn’t stop all day. We decide to sit it out. Originally the plan had been to take a walk on a trail that starts right where we were parked and goes for almost 4 kilometres. It also promised fantastic views of the mountains on the other side of the valley but the heavy rain had rendered visibility almost zero. The mountains were a vague shape in the distance so we waited in the van and relaxed trying to decide what to do next. In the end we moved on at about 1.30 pm. It didn’t take long to reach Olden. From there we carried on out of the town which in spite of the fact that there seemed to be a lot of tourist coaches, looked pretty deserted. Not surprising really when you consider it hadn’t stopped raining all day.
The road up to Melkevoll Bretun was very narrow in places but there were plenty of passing places so oncoming traffic was never a problem. As we approached the campsite we could see how awesome the place was going to be. Looking ahead at the glacier and the surrounding mountains it was hard to imagine how the road could go much further. On arrival at the site we checked in for three nights which cost us 770 NOK after the cool dude on reception gave us a 5% discount for showing our Camping Key Europe card from the Caravan and Motorhome Club. The card cost us £7.50 so it paid for itself in one transaction.
Having checked in we went to look round and pick a pitch. We saw two British registrations on the site which surprised me because in the past two or three days we’d only seen a couple on the road. I filled the water tank and we chose a pitch further up the hill. We were surrounded by spectacular views in all directions, to the rear of the van a massive waterfall that roared constantly. Right behind us a small river of fast-moving water making its way down to the lake. To the right a huge glacier called Melkevollbreen (Melkevoll Glacier) carving it’s way through the mountains and directly in front of us the Briksdal Glacier. To our left and down the valley you could see all the way to the Oldavatnet Lake nestled in amongst the mountains. I did some photography but conditions changed so quickly that I found it really difficult to capture anything I was really happy with. It just goes to show that just because you’re surrounded by magnificent scenery doesn’t mean it’s gonna be easy to photograph.
As I’m writing now we’ve just had our first full day here. We walked up to the Briksdal Glacier which according to the signposts was meant to be a 45 minute walk but took us more like 90 minutes with all the stops for photography. I took a number of photographs and was relatively pleased with the results but I have to say I don’t think Photographs or words can ever do this place justice. It’s almost impossible to convey the sheer size of the place. It truly is EPIC!
First photo is of Nellie (Lynne’ idea not mine. Women have to give names to everything!) at the campsite with the waterfall right behind. The waterfall is called Volefossen and is huge. I said before that a photo can’t do it justice, it’s just impossible to capture its sheer magnitude in a picture. We’re camped right by it and surprisingly its relentless roar didn’t keep us awake although Lynne did think about asking what time it gets switched off at night.
Next is a picture of Briksdal Glacier taken with a longer lens from right by the van.
To finish off, a few photos from our walk up to the Briksdal Glacier. One is of another waterfall. I’ve deliberately left the woman in, in the bottom left hand corner to give a sense of scale. There are various information boards on the way up and one tells you that the water coming down is all melt water from the glacier and is flowing at a rate of 10,000 litres per second! Absolutely mind-blowing!
Here’s Lynne posing delightfully in front of the same waterfall.
Both of us at Briksdal Glacier.
Finally a shot down the valley from the campsite. I’d tried a few times to get a decent shot of this view but never was quite satisfied. With a wide-angle lens everything ends up looking too far away and it loses impact. This time I used a 70/200 mm lens at about 135 mm and took 6 shots to put together as a panorama. This compresses the image and gives a better sense of the scale of the mountains!
We had a great day today, I did loads of photography in a place that I think is as awesome as anywhere I’ve been in my entire life so I was like the proverbial pig in muck. I’m not so sure Lynne was quite as happy as me but, hey ho, can’t have everything!! We have one more full day here so lets see what tomorrow brings!
Wandering Wildman 