From Bergen, Northward!

Something about leaving Bergen and heading north gave me the sense that the real adventure had now started. I loved the highlands and was hoping to spend more time in them before departing, but now I was amongst the Norwegian fjords. Time for epic peaks, aqua-colored waters, and lots of ferry travel.

The entire first day heading north turned into one spontaneous stop after another, admiring and picture taking…

I had some trepidation approaching my first ferry in Ytre Oppedal. All the unknowns weighed heavily as I approached the queue of vehicles lined up. However, I quickly realized that Norway’s stellar infrastructure extended to their ferry system. Firstly, the payment system for ferries is the same as that of toll roads- for the most part. I would learn in the coming weeks that the vast majority of the ferries have an auto payment system utilizing cameras just like the road tolls. Those that don’t, still use the auto-payment method but a human scans your license plate with a handheld device. This first ferry had the latter system in place. A young man scanned my license plate and smiled as he walked to the next vehicle.

My first ferry ride across Sognefjord from Ytre Oppedal to Lavik

I would also learn in the coming weeks that all ferries, except the smallest few have cafes, heated indoor seating, and bathrooms. Coffee and fresh waffles were among the most popular items served at the cafes.

When the first ferry ride came to an end and I got in my camper and turned the key over, I noticed that the oil level was lower than it had been even a day ago. And it was low then! I had assumed that Indie Campers had just not filled it properly after the last oil change but the level falling even lower dashed that theory. Do I have an oil leak? How can that be?! I have only had the vehicle for 4 days and it is going to break down! I started to feel panicky. The remainder of my day turned into a stressful quest to find oil. I eventually made it to Forde where I purchased 2 liters of oil for $30 USD each. Yikes! The van took an entire quart of oil and I crossed my fingers that that was the end of it.

More on that and my entire experience with the camper in the next post.

Lessons: From Bergen, Northward!

Pictures do not do justice when it comes to fjords.
Ferry travel is completely effortless.

Something interesting- What is a fjord, and why are Norwegian fjords special?

A fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs that is created by a glacier. The glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by ice segregation and abrasion of the bedrock.

There are fjords along dozens of coastlines from Antarctica to Maine but Norway’s coastline is unique as it has nearly 1,200 fjords on its estimated 29,000 km of coastline. If one subtracts the kilometers marked by fjords from Norway’s coastline total, only 2,500 kilometers remain.

*info from Wikipedia