Visit shortly to my ancient family place in Norway.

Link now correct:

http://translate.google.co.uk/...%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den

Good evening George,

I don't remember Geilo specifically, but I took this train a long time ago and we stopped at Finse, a bit further to the West, to camp for one night. Fond but epic memories ! Let's say that camping on a Norwegian lake shore may not be the driest place... Not mentioning the military-grade mosquitos.

This is a very beautiful region you're going to. Do you intend to go cycling ?

I wish you a great and very interesting time.

Maurice

Dear Maurice,

My first visit was way back in 1963 though not a surprise that this is beyond memory - though photos show I had mastered two feet!

I know the mosquitoes!

I shall be inside in a log hut at night, like so many times before. Three years ago I planned to ride the route from Oslo up there, but these plans were wrecked by the crash two plus years ago where a car pulled out of a junction and domino'ed me resulting in a massively broken tibia. The cycle journey is not ever going to happen now, but my roughly twentieth visit to Norway is eagerly anticipated!

I expect some nice photos to share here when I get back.

I don't think I have ever looked forward more to a journey than this.

ATB from George

PS: I was last there in 2002 so time to catch up. I have two cousins who now have five children old enough to enjoy tennis and the ski, and are properly Norwegian looking youngsters now! All new to me.

Yes, I remember your accident, and that you were in Norway before, but I didn't notice it was to a place the name was familiar to me.

What's the program then ? Some walks and hikes, or just spend some time with your family and taste some fine Akvavit (a kind of oxymoron to me, sorry about that) ?

Of course, I was there as a tourist but I have a specific memory of a delicious smörgåsbord in Bergen. I tasted smoked reindeer and sea trout for the first time, among other things. I liked the former, but really loved the latter ! A kind of white salmon, served with a very creamy sauce. These poor fishes must be heavy loaded with lead, mercury and other exotic niceties nowadays, unfortunately.

Dear Maurice,

A very low key time! Family, and it is amazing that for all the times I have been in Norway, I have never stayed in a hotel or been in a bar! But I know that the trains and buses are first rate, and not as expensive as everything else seems to be. 

I shall take a litre of Glenfiddich to share with my Aunt over a week of evening talks! I have never had Aquavit! Hard to believe I suppose! Two nights in Oslo [near the famous ski jump] and the rest in Skurdalen. It might be quite cold up in the mountains shortly, though in 2000 it reached 20 degrees C in the day time in the first week of September. That was shortly after my grandmother died. My aunt is my oldest living relative I have in Norway. 

I always think a family holiday is a time when every one knows each other so well that there is no reason to be other than relaxed and enjoy being peaceful! Inactivity is commendable on holiday! Some fishing excepted! And some long but slow hikes ...

ATB from George

Tell me about the prices ! We were students at the time, and starving ! Once in Bergen we couldn't resist to have a proper meal. Norway still seems to be very expensive, I was told.

Strange about Akvavit indeed. You enjoy vodka, you might like it. After many tries, and of different flavours, I still can't find my way with it !

Sounds like a perfect program, so enjoy the calm and peacefulness.

I suspect that the avoidance of Aquavit was my grandparents' doing! There was a bottle, but it was never touched while I was there!

A bottle of Polish Wodka [Finish is even more expensive] used to be about £70 for what you can get for twelve or thirteen in the UK and half that in Poland [Polish of course].

In the 1960s the difference in cost of 200 cigarettes and a point seven litre of Malt was enough to buy one person's return to Norway! Always my visits to my grandparents involved me taking a Jonny Walker and 200 Benson and Hedges! They bought my air-ticket! They were not much out of pocket from this exchange! Even clothes are expensive, though they are properly warm for really cold Winters. Beer in the airport is horrendously expensive ...

In 2002 I bought a half litre of Kilkenny for the equivalent of £7. The aeroplane was late ...

ATB from George

The one thing that always gets me in Norway is the smell of the pine trees. Everywhere it pervades except the middle of Oslo ...

ATB from George

And near the paper factories !

Now that you mention it, £7 for 0.5 l of Kilkenny, that's what I pay in a bar in my hometown !!??

Yay ! Scandinavia has finally become affordable !

My grandparents' house was on the Island of Jeloy near Moss [on the east side of the Oslofjord], and the Norwegian paper money factory was only a few miles away the other side of the channel that divides the Ostfold from Jeloy. I promise that if someone has never smelt a paper mill in production no more rotten smell exists! Fortunately it did require the wind to be in exactly the wrong direction, and batch of paper being boiled up!

ATB from George

With only 50 years in front of you to make such a journey, I don't know why you'd say that.

Dear Winki,

Your confidence in my capacity is paralleled in the Polish birthday greeting Stolat! A hundred years!

It could be that I retire while I am still blessed with enough eyesight! I could certainly get fit enough in a short while. I am still, at 52, the same weight I was at 21, so that I have not let myself go into obesity. 

I have not entirely given up on the dream of riding from Oslo to Skurdalen and back which would certainly be easier. One night stop in a suitable hostelry [either way] that would once have been a coaching house before the railway ...I refuse to camp!

It is not really a question of high speed, but sheer steady marathon like stamina. Going up at least ...

Few tunnels, which are the real problem in Norway, but two ten hour rides [ten miles an hour] along very long but slight gradients. Okay there may be a pair of significant walks pushing the cycle, but one is allowed that in the sixth decade!

We shall see!

ATB from George

Looks fabulous George. Have a few (expensive) bevies and a great time. Loads of pics too.

Tom.

Uh ? Where's Mr. Fjeld detailed post ? Was it considered advertising ?

In any case, without naming any particular place the general advice was a good one: the scenery from the train to Flåm is beautiful. I fear it's quite a crowded ride nowadays, as the number of boats on the Sognefjord has probably much increased.

As for doing this particular ride on a bicycle: Finse is at around 1200 m, and the fjord is, well, obviously at see level. A healthy promenade !

I saw Mr Fjeld's lovely post and was going to reply to it now. 

It certainly was not in anyway offensive. If that was taken down for any reason apart from Mr Fjeld doing so then I propose the whole Best Jokes thread be binned also!

In reality this is about family and quiet, rather than visiting tourist hot-spots though. I have never enjoyed crowds. I'd rather be out on the lake in a boat, or walking very early in the morning as the dew evaporates, before breakfast.

ATB from George