Raining! End of blog!
Seriously though, yes, we woke to more rain this morning. I know, it’s getting boring now! The car park which last night had been packed with lorries and cars was empty except for us this morning. We left at about 9.30 to head for Flam. On the way we filled up with diesel and also adblue. The system here for adblue is brilliant. Just as well really as our motorhome seems to drink the stuff. This was the third time I’ve had to fill up since leaving home. Lots of the gas stations here have adblue pumps on the forecourt so you authorise your card in advance and fill up just like pay at the pump petrol at home. Why on earth can’t we have adblue pumps at home? We’re supposed to be a great nation but sometimes when you see how things are done abroad it seems like we’re just a little bit backward in a lot of ways! I know, other man’s grass and all that but there’s no escaping the fact that in certain ways the people here are so much more switched on. The roads in Norway, for instance. We’ve been in Norway for more than a month now and I have to say they have some of the best roads I’ve ever driven on. We’ve driven past teams of workers laying road in some difficult terrain and they make it look so easy it beggars belief. Anyway, back to the adblue. I’m not aware of any pumps for it in the UK. So I suppose the only option for the forseeable future is to buy it from Halfords and get it all over the place like I did the only time I ever tried topping it up myself and it’s bloody awful stuff. Sorry, rant over, again!
We made good progress and with the obligatory ferry ride included we arrive in Flam slightly before midday. That is to say that the sat nav took us to the wrong end (the dead end, literally) of Flam. We sat and puzzled for a few moments thinking, this can’t be right it’s meant to be a tourist destination. On consulting google earth we realised she had once more thrown us another curved ball and sent us to completely the wrong place. The road we were on was a dead end so I had to do a u turn and go back the way we came. Ten minutes later we got to the proper Flam. We easily found the campsite we had in mind and booked in for one night. Once again this was mainly to get all the electrics charged up and to use their internet. This was one of the more expensive places we’ve stayed and cost approximately £40 including the use of their laundry facilities!
By 1.00 pm we were walking round Flam which, it seems to me, is no more than a railway station and a handful of souvenir shops packed with Japanese tourists running amock all over the place. I recall the recent world cup when Japan had played a game and the reports said that the fans cleared up all their rubbish before leaving the ground and how polite they always are. Well, my findings are rather different. When they disembark from whatever coaches or trains they come in on all hell breaks loose. They don’t have a quiet setting because otherwise why when they speak, do they have to sound like they’re addressing someone half a mile away. Imagine a shop with 50 or more of them running round shouting at each other! They must be the noisiest group of people you could ever meet. Sorry, this is turning into another rant! Suffice it to say I find them all slightly irritating and needless to say, anyone who knows me will attest to how easy going I am! We could have done the train ride which takes you through some majestic scenery but I couldn’t see the point as we’ve already overdosed on majestic scenery for the month that we’ve been in Norway. Also the idea of being on a train full of Japanese people shouting up and down the carriage would be my idea of hell! And another thing, I love photography as you might have gathered, but the Japanese photograph EVERYTHING! What on earth is that all about?
As usual when we stay on a campsite we took advantage of the facilities and got a load of washing done. Lynne sat outside watching Coronation Street on her iPad (seriously) for a while. After the initial rainy start, today was one of the nicest days we’ve had for a while so because she suddenly wants to be seen as the outdoorsy type she insisted on being outdoors while I sat inside in comfort! While we were in Flam we looked in at a restaurant and were quite impressed with the interior of the place. From the outside it’s built like the old stave churches and inside is very atmospheric with lots of rustic wooden furniture and a fire in the middle of the room. We decided then to eat there later tonight. Back at the Motorhome as we were getting ready to go out we were visited by an Indian family who asked very politely if they could take a photo of the ‘car’. My immediate response was “why”. “Oh, to send back to our family in India” came the reply. I have no idea why they picked on us and not some of the much bigger motorhomes on the site but I said “by all means, go ahead” and went back inside. It left me thinking that they definitely need to get out more. I shouldn’t be nasty really as they were very polite about it and like the Chinese people we met at Dalsnibba probably never see small houses on wheels where they come from.
So later in the evening we went to the restaurant, which was quite busy and when we asked about a table we were told it would probably be an hour to wait. We agreed to wait and got drinks to pass the time with. We both had beers and they came to 198 NOK which is approximately £18.50. The hour passed quickly though as I estimate we had waited about 15 minutes when they called us to our table. Why do they always do that? It’s almost as if they try to put you off by saying it’ll be an hour and then 15 minutes later your table’s ready! Lynne had a chickpea burger and I had a steak burger. Burgers sounds a bit basic I know but the food was beautifully done. Not your average burgers at all. Good job really as with desert thrown in it came to 745 NOK. (near enough £70). We had a really nice evening and it made a pleasant change to eat out because in more than a month of being in Norway we’d only eaten out once mainly on account of how horrendously expensive everything is.
Back ‘home’ we settled down and watched an episode of Sneaky Pete on Amazon Prime. This was the best WiFi I think we’ve had at a campsite so we had to make the most of it. Oh, by the way, did I mention that it rained all evening too! As I’m writing this it’s blowing hard and hammering down on the roof. Yes, after quite a nice day of sunshine, normal service has now been resumed!
Wandering Wildman 