Yesterday I said Alesund seemed nice. Well, I’ve had second thoughts about that statement. We spent this morning mooching around the town and we were both struck by how miserable everyone is. Yes, I know there are those who would say that’s rich, coming from me, but really, I’ve never seen so many miserable faces. Also, it being a Monday you would have expected a few more shops to be open than there were Sunday afternoon. Seriously, there wasn’t much difference although there was one shopping mall open but that was as soulless as anywhere I’ve ever been. Absolutely no atmosphere whatsoever. Everywhere you go there seem to be lone men wandering about aimlessly with a hangdog expression and nowhere to go. We did go into a supermarket and do a little shopping. The guy on the checkout didn’t look Norwegian, wrong shade of brown and long black hair that looked like it hadn’t been washed in two weeks! Yuk! Anyway, to top off the glowing impression we were getting of Alesund, it decided to chuck it down with rain again. I must say I’ve loved most of the time we’ve spent in Norway but the incessant rain was starting to wear a bit thin now.
So that was Alesund, not a place we’ll be hurrying back to any time soon. We topped up with drinking water and dumped the grey water waste. As I was filling up with drinking water Lynne was waving at me from in the van and it seemed the alarm was switching itself on and off for no reason. I went to take a look and tried to set the alarm with the key fob. It didn’t work. So I started the engine and then switched it off again, the only problem was it carried on running even after I had taken the key out of the ignition. Now that’s strange! I messed about with it for a while and finally it seemed to be functioning correctly again. I had no idea what could have caused the problem but for now at least it seemed ok again. So we set off for Trollstigen. Shortly after leaving the motorhome park we were on our way out of the town and I used my left hand indicator and found it was blinking twice as fast as normal. That could only mean one thing, I went out to check, and sure enough the front left hand indicator wasn’t working. I got a spare out of the set we’d bought shortly before leaving England and swapped it over. Lo and behold, that didn’t work either.
As luck would have it I knew we had just passed a Ford dealership as this problem was manifesting itself. Having exhausted the full extent of my mechanical knowledge by changing the bulb I decided the only option was to throw ourselves at the mercy of the men from Ford! They were actually very helpful in a begrudging sort of way. I gave them the keys and they drove Nellie into the workshop. We only had to wait about 10 minutes before the gentleman I had first spoken to came out and said there was nothing wrong and that the bulb hadn’t been fitted right. I don’t know how he knew that as I’d given him the bulb in its holder when I walked in. However, I wasn’t about to argue as he now assured me that everything was working fine. I shook his hand and off we went, happy campers. Literally!
Back on the road to Trollstigen we were both noticing an extremely irritating noise coming from the back of the van. It was like a rattle combined with a screechy squeaking noise. It turned out to be the slider in the track at the foot of the bed. It has some kind of a tensioner which presumably stops it rattling but is now broken. I’ve still to work out a solution at least temporarily to stop that driving us both up the wall as we still have a good many miles to do before we get home!
Anyway, we carried on and it didn’t take long before we were in amongst the mountains again. I have to say that makes me a lot happier than being in any of the towns we’ve experienced up to now. We pulled in at a rest stop which turned out to be more or less at the foot of Trollstigen. Having parked the van we decided to take a walk. There was a signpost nearby which told of a walk that started right there and was only two and a half kilometres. That should be easy we thought so off we went. I was in my element again with loads of beautiful waterfalls to photograph.
Unfortunately two and a half kilometres began to feel more like 10 miles as, at what I imagine must have been the halfway stage we started having doubts about whether or not we were on the right track. But keeping faith in our navigational abilities we soldiered on. Eventually we reached a point where we could see Nellie on the car park but she (really) was the other side of the river! I thought there must be a bridge somewhere but couldn’t see one anywhere. I decided to get Lynne to wait while I went off ahead to see if there was indeed, a bridge. It only took two or three minutes for me to see that, thankfully there was a small bridge so I went back to help Lynne down the track to it. I thought she might freak out when she saw the bridge as it was basically just planks of wood and wire! She never batted an eyelid and came across with no fuss at all. Very impressed I was! It certainly was a relief to find that bridge as the only other alternative would have been to have gone back the way we came and it was already getting dark. As I sit writing this I’m looking out the window and this location has to be the darkest blackest place on earth. Absolutely no light pollution whatsoever. I popped my head out the door and It’s a bit scary to see such compete blackness!
Lets hope the Trolls aren’t about tonight! If I’ve got it right, the name Trollstigen means something like the Trolls path and that’s what we’ll be driving up tomorrow. I’m looking forward to fantastic views from the top.
What started out mediocre with niggling problems turned out to be a pretty good day!
Wandering Wildman 