Glaciers, waterfalls, green ice cold lakes and more epic mountains disappearing in to the clouds...

Having left Bergen behind us obscured by the drizzle that had descended, we headed on towards our next destination for the night, Olden. We had read about Olden and it seemed like a nice small place with great scenery. We were not dissappointed.

However, the journey to Olden treated us to some more spectacular views on the way. There is beauty everwhere you look in this country, and not spoilt by becoming tourist attractions and have herds of tours passing through taking the exact same photos as the previous visitors.

Our first stop was purely by chance as we saw a brown sign pointing us towards Huldefossen. This was a waterfall and river that was hidden away from the main highway behind some traditional buildings perched on stones off the floor.

The house on stones, Huldefossen, Norway

We found the car park easily and took our time walking around the old buildings. There were new buildings too, like the school, but these held little interest as they were boring concrete boxes with little design or imagination, just practical. I felt that it was a bit of a shame as the scenery was so inspiring, I felt that the building housing the local kids learning about their surrounding were less than stimulating.

Having found the head of the walk, we followed a grass and rock path for about a mile alongside the river. This afforded us a nice view of the falls, but the view was a little obscured by the tree lined river. So as we started to head back towards the motorhome, we came across a small bridge made of steel and planks. It didn't feel like it was designed for my weight, let alone the weight of a vehicle, but we did see one large truck crossing, so it must have been ok.

The second path led us right to the foot of the falls through a field of cows with just two wooden buildings placed in the middle.

Huldefossen, Norway

After our short break from the road we were ready to move on to explore further. We arrived in to Olden on the main road and had the opportunity to look down upon it from higher up the mountain. Initially, it looked little more than a few homes surrounding a supermarket and garden centre style building. As we needed a few supplies, we headed in to the supermarket and foudn that it seemed to sell absolutely everything someone would need ona day to day basis. Unlike busy cities, there were many products but only one type of each... choice without choice. But nevertheless a great selection of fresh fruit, meat and vegatables. Everything we needed for the next few days.

As we decided that the centre of Olden didn't hold much appeal, we found that there was a campsite further up one of the valleys not far from our current location. We headed up the near single track road and met many cars, busses and motorhomes coming the other way. We knew that this was either a really good sign or a really bad sign. Pleased to say it was definitely the former. 

It was a shame that we needed a site (for motorhome servicing) as there were numerous opportunities to off-grid camp next to the turquoise green lakes as we passed by the first couple of peaceful waters. We soon came across a small stone bridge with our intended campsite next to the road. We swung in and went to see if they had a spot for us as they looked a little busy. However, they had a great little spot just the other side of the road in a little hollow where we could camp within a couple of feet of the water. We reversed ourselves across some soggy ground, but this is the view that we had from our spot. Probably my favourite camp site so far on this trip.

The view out the back of the motorhome, Oldevatn Camping, Olden, Norway

The view from the shoreline, Oldevatn Camping, Olden, Norway

That afternoon we started by borrowing one of the kayaks, that were included in our pitch fees, and heading out on to the water. We love to getting the opportunity to kayak, and this more than made up for not bringing ours with us. We were out on the water at least and hour and a half and only started heading back as we were losing the daylight. It was definitely a highlight of the trip. We were loving this place already. The waterfalls were numerous and each very different from each other. Sadly many of the mountains were hidden by the clouds sitting on their peaks, but still stunning.

Us kayaking in Oldevatnet, Olden, Norway

The following morning, having enjoyed a leisurely coffee we headed on up the road towards the head of the valley. As we left our camping spot for our venture out the clouds have lifted and exposed the mountain summits and glaciers, many of them, and they looked so bluish white. At the top of the road we arrived at a carpark and a sign confirming that we could take a hike up the first part of the near mountain to get close to one of the glaciers. So we donned our cold weather gear and found the entrance to the pathway up the hillside. The walk was certainly steep in places and the waterfall, halfway along the pathway, spilled out over the path as the wind blew the cascading water in to a light mist. The view at the bottom of the glacier was magnificent, even in the mizzle. And it was cold, only 6°C, we were very grateful for our hats and gloves.

Briksdal Glacier heading in to the clouds, Olden, Norway

After our outting, we returned to our campsite and settled in to plan the next part of our journey. One of the few places that we stayed more than one night, but it was well worth taking the time. That's what this trip was all about.