Aurland National Route

Travelled: 203km plus 2 ferries

Stay: Naeroyfjord - rest stop in the E16, WC 60.8435 6.7229

Our first stop this morning was just past a lake and before the zig zag decent on the R13, at the Utsikten lookout. Again it had a very unique design, as it has been the custom along the national tourist routes. 

We made our way down into the fertile valley until we reached the fjord which we travelled its shores until we reached Dragsvik where we took the ferry to Hella (6m - 94 nok- no charge for extra persons). 

We then continued on the shores of the Sognefjorden past Sogndal (completing a loop as we passed through here yesterday) and then crossed the bridge and through a tunnel before boarding another ferry from Manheller to Fodnes ( Bluey managed to be 6m again instead of 6.5m -114nok with no fee for extra person). 

Shortly after, we were once again underground in a tunnel to Laerdal where we took R 243 -Aurland National Route instead of the 24.5km worlds longest tunnel. It was another spectacular road with numerous stops reaching 1316m in altitude.

At Vedahaugane an artist showed a bear in his den on top of 'hard rubbish'. 

The views of the mountains from here were amazing. 

Next we stopped at Flotane close to the summit, which had a very interesting design for a toilet block. 

The snow was still very prominent and very beautiful. 

As we descended we came across a 'walk' parking area that looked quite busy, so we decided to have a look (60.91808, 7.23203). We followed some young men up the path who were going parasailing but we turned off before the summit to only stumble across the a fantastic view of the Aurlandfjord all the way to Flam. 

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We sat and watched the parasailers float past and the ferries go up and down the fjord before braving the very busy next lookout, Stegastein, a little further down. This is another unique design which is 650m above sea level, although it didn't offer the views as the previous stop. 

As we approached Aurland we encountered some tight spots where for the first time we had to back up a couple of times, to Mark's curses! Anyway we made it to the bottom unscathed to Flam. This town is all about the the Flam Railway which is the steepest adhesion railway on standard gauge tracks in the world. There were plenty of buses and people waiting to get on the train and also the ferries. 

We had a walk around and a look in the museum before, once again, travelling through a tunnel- this one 11km long. Google tells us there are 900 tunnels = 750km in Norway! We did at least 30km today! Just after this tunnel we turned off to have a quick look at Naeroyfjord, the narrowest in Norway! 

Then it was down the E16 to find a spot for tonight.

 Bluey's curtains needed a premature cleaning when a pot bounced onto the table knocking over both a glass of red wine and the bottle! OMG....there goes my quota for the day.. We also met a lovely young couple from Mount Isa, Australia who were taking videos with their drone.