This cruise called earlier at Bergen and Flam and then went onto Olden and Stavanger on P&O’s Aurora. This cruise was immediately after our earlier short cruise to Belgium and Guernsey.
Day 5 Friday 20th May Olden
After such a sunny day in Flam what a change in the weather as we reached Olden and the temperature had fallen and the rain had returned. We had an early start for breakfast in order to be ready to go on our visit to the Briksdal Glacier.
We caught a coach up the valley away from Olden along past the rivers and lakes that we had visited in our visit on one of the open top tour buses. The water from the glacier is bottled and sent all over the world and has been dated as being over 5,000 years old.
Briksdal glacier
Once at the bottom of the valley gouged out by the glacier we set off walking. This was about a 45 minute walk up to the glacier of which 10 minutes was past where the troll cars stopped at the head of the road.
For a time we walked along the same road as the troll cars but after a beautiful waterfall our paths diverged and we had to climb a series of steps.
After the troll car stop the path became more rugged and everyone had to walk those final 10 minutes. Over the last incline there was a lake at the bottom of the glacier and the micro-climate changed completely being colder and as I walked closer to the glacier the air became more damp and it felt like a wet mist had descended.
On the way back I paused to take pictures of the signs that marked where the glacier had stopped in earlier times. If we had ever need proof of global warming then the these signs were there showing the glacier literally hundreds and hundreds of meters further down the valley.
Here is a view of the steps on the way back. Not taking the troll cars is definitely for the fitter among us.
After a buffet lunch in one of the restaurants we left the glacier to go back to the ship. We did stop at the beauty spot where the local buses take tourists so we could get a better look at another glacier across the lake.
Some of the Varde that we saw(cairns)
On the way to the glacier we passed cairns of stones (varde), all very carefully made and more decorative than simply being there to mark the path.
And here is my favourite, alongside the lake on the way back to Olden.
Local Beer in Olden
There is a bar next to the dock and close by where the coaches and buses pick up tourists. It is the white building to the right in the picture above. On the ground floor is the office of the port authority and above the bar with an awning covered veranda.
After our local beer (brewed near Flam) we boarded the ship. The ship left early and set off back down the fjord to get to Stavanger which is way down the coast.
Leaving Olden
To accompany the ship leaving , the port authority turned up their music and played Rod Stewart’s ‘Sailing’ so loudly that it could be clearly heard on our friend’s balcony as we sailed away in the rain.
After dinner in the main restaurant with our friends (beef stroganoff for me) we went to the Curzon Theatre to see the second show of the Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons Tribute band.
And then onto see the house band Catch-22 perform.
