parked up prior to visiting this 12th century Viking church, made entirely of wood, a World Heritage site.
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parked up prior to visiting this 12th century Viking church, made entirely of wood, a World Heritage site.
Looking back down the highest road in Europe (2,000m+) from which you can see the sea, back to the little village where the cruise liners come in, all the passengers then being taken up the road for the views. Having driven from Leknes over Norangsdalen to Hellesylt, we got the worlds most expensive car ferry to Geiranger and stayed the night in a very nice holiday cabin. Following morning we left at 7:00am and drove the Trolls ladder to Dalsnibba (twice - absolutely EPIC). Back through Geiranger and over Eidsdalen (Eagles road) to Eidsdal for the first ferry of the day.
top of the mountain,Gaustabanen is a funicular deep inside the mountain Gaustatoppen. Started by the Germans during WW2 and unfinished in 1945, it was subsequently taken over by NATO.
As the Cold War threat from Russia receded, it opened to the public for the first time for testing in 2004, these tests lasted until 2007, during which time it was only open for a few days each year.
In 2008 the Norwegian government finally signed an agreement with the NATO/Norwegian Armed Forces, and Gaustabanen opened for as a tourist operation in 2010.
The views are breath taking, as is the cold, at nearly 6000ft altitude!!
Looks amazing !
Been following this on Instagram, looks like a brilliant trip!
There's more to come on Instagram as well, just need to get the photographer/drone pilot back from various foreign trips/weddings, etc
Is it only jj_rallies feed on instagram or are there more somewhere else? What I've seen so far are fantastic.
JJ_rallies is John Whalley (junior) hence the JJ, he is away at various weddings/holidays/family gatherings currently. There is loads more to come, particularly some of the drone footage (hopefully)when he gets back.
It was quite difficult reviewing it each day on a Mac screen, whilst in a holiday cabin, clearly some editing is required, but the final footage should give an indication of how good it was.
The big vertical hairpin in the map below is actually a tunnel over a kilometre in length, with a gradient of about 7%. Fortunately John (senior) had all the lights on as he approached at a rate of knots, and suddenly appreciated the severity
of the hairpin and was able to (just) negotiate it!!;)
One of the most surprising things on the trip, was the presence of two roundabouts inside a mountain tunnel system, and a huge suspension bridge (The Hardanger bridge) linking two under mountain tunnel systems. Quite spectacular to drive through and over.
We were so gobsmacked by the first roundabout, we went round it twice, just to get a proper look!!!